by Stephanie Sims
Despite what you may hear people say, there is still a luxury market, and there are still are homes on the market with listing prices of more than $5 million – case in point: Coldwell Banker Realtor Jeannie Emmert’s listing, pictured on our cover, which is currently listed for $6.2 million.
The key thing agents should learn from this issue is that, regardless of listing prices and the number of price reductions in the luxury market, luxury clients are still the same. When it comes to buying real estate, they’re not as concerned with the market itself – they’re more concerned with quality. Luxury clients are used to a certain level of service. They buy cars from high-end dealers and experience a quality of service there; they dine in certain types of restaurants that show guests a special kind of customer service; they shop for clothes at stores with a high level of customer service. Why wouldn’t they expect the same high-quality level of customer service when it comes to real estate? And that’s not just in terms of customer service, it also is true in terms of agents they hire – luxury clients are used to doing business with and want to work with competent and intelligent people.
Keep in mind that this doesn’t necessarily mean luxury clients should be treated differently than other clients. This should just mean your customer service level should be enhanced across the board with all your clients, no matter the price point they’re looking for. Homebuyers and sellers should want to hire you, not only because you are an expert in the real estate field and have the experience and competence needed to help your clients in whichever way they need, but also because you treat them like they are your most important clients. Luxury clients expect this type of treatment, but as RE/MAX Elite agent Diana Ivas says on page 16 (“Keeping the Deal Together”), “You have to manage the deal with lots of caution…it’s nothing out of the ordinary really to keep a deal together with any client – you have to do due diligence no matter what the purchase price is.”