Inside Story for Luxury Real Estate Brokers

Luxury is different. Luxury agents are different, luxury homes are different, and luxury buyers are different. When you are representing the affluent, you must carry a distinct conversation and have a distinct perspective.

As a consultant, I had the opportunity to work on LuxuryRealEstate.com, the worlds’ top global location for Luxury Real Estate. Each day, the site receives early 7,000 wealthy home enthusiasts, 200,000 per month, viewing nearly 3.5 Million listings. London and Lake Tahoe Luxury broker, Shari Chase of Chase International reports that LuxuryRealEstate.com drives more traffic to her properties than LeadingRE, Trulia, Realtor.com, and other popular real estate portals – representing 17% of her referring traffic to her website.

Here is a snap shot of the visitors to their website:

The website is great, and provides tremendous value to their network. In many ways, the traffic to your website justifies the value of membership. But the real story is the Who’s Who network. Their conferences are different, comprised of real professionals who do not pretend to be experts in luxury – they are experts in luxury. They must qualify in order to be a member. They are not pompous, they do not brag incessantly about their hyper wealthy customers who pay cash for $60 Million listings (but there are some good stories). They are real experts who share insights into what is working and what is not working in their business. Moreover, they build relationships around the world with trusted colleagues that they can refer their clients to.

The luxury home segment is soft right now for US Domestic home sales if you are selling to American buyers. Focus on international buyers who can take advantage of a weak dollar and ample inventory selection. Best way to do so is networking with International agenents

Fresh off the winter conference in Lech Austria, a posh destination in the famed Arlber Mountains, Who’s Who in Luxury Real Estate announces their spring conference in Amsterdam, April 27th-29th. I cannot provide a link to the conference because it is for members only – but you can visit their website for information.

The luxury market is increasingly gaining in significance on a global level. This conference is a great way to get involved and increase exposure for luxury listings while attracting international luxury buyers.

Capturing business from American homebuyers has been tricky in the current housing market. But take heart. While real estate is local, foreign buyers are still buying in the US! REALTORS® focused on international homebuyers are seeing increases in that portion of their business.

According to a 2009 study by NAR, “The 23% of REALTORS® with international clients seem have seen an increase in overall business. “Fully a quarter of [REALTORS® with international clientele] indicated that their international business had increased.”

If you would like to learn more about recent findings about international luxury, please click here. 

If your focus is on the luxury market you can also join one or more of the global marketing networks like LuxuryRealEstate.com or Leading Real Estate Companies of the world to build awareness of your listings and your brand nationwide.

To learn more about Luxury Real Estate, please click here.

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