Wed, Nov 25 2009
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Luxury still sells “We do a lot of swimming pools, and it’s not uncommon to spend $100,000 on landscaping,” Kuehn said. “And we do a lot of full kitchens in basements. If you can afford one, two is even better. I’ve seen hallways that look like bowling alleys.”
But all those special features can make selling an expensive home more complicated once the original owner is ready to move on. Making the sale A small group of buyers in the Joplin area can afford these million-dollar homes, so Carlin said connecting the house with the buyer is a targeted marketing effort. Realtors don’t hold open houses for these homes, and they don’t list them in the newspaper. Instead, Carlin said she sends private invitations to after-hours cocktail events to individuals who she knows can afford a home of that caliber — regardless of whether the people are looking to buy. These potential buyers are doctors, lawyers, land developers and business owners. “Most of them are just normal people who have just been successful in business and worked very hard for their money,” Kuehn said. And most of them are very private, Allen said. In both buying and selling million-dollar houses, he said, these clients are willing to pay for confidentiality and discretion. “You’d think with all this stuff, they’d want to show it off, but most of them don’t,” he said. “They are very private people in this price range.” In an attempt to sell these customized million-dollar homes, Carlin said, Joplin Realtors often look outside the area for buyers, taking advantage of Web sites that specialize in luxury homes and magazines that target those who can afford them. Carlin said 38 homes listed at $500,000 or more may not seem like a large number, but with that kind of an inventory of luxury homes from which to choose, sellers will have to be competitive, both in product and price. “In this niche market, the buyer has to be able to walk in and not have to do anything to (the house),” she said. “And people in this price range are financially savvy. If it’s not priced right, they know it, and they are not going to buy an overpriced piece of property regardless of where they moved from or how much they sold their other house for.” Allen said staging a million-dollar house also goes a long way to selling in this buyer’s market. “We’re not talking about putting out a couple of towels and a couple of plates,” he said. “You really need to appeal to the hot buttons of what that person is looking for.” Allen said buyers in this bracket expect features like granite countertops, marble floors and extra garages, as well as lots of square footage, so Realtors have to take the time to understand what makes a house truly unique and play up those aspects. “It’s pretty much the same thing we normally do, just amped up a bit,” he said. 
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