10 Things To Do Before Selling Your Luxury Homevegasho.me /THh0we

Low inventory means that homes are selling faster than they have since the peak of the market. In LasVegas, 52% of the homes that sold in May were on the market 30 days or less. It may seem that homesare selling so quick you don’t need to do anything other than put a sign in the front yard and wait for theoffers to come in.

It isn’t quite that simple. Homes sell in less than 30 days because the sellers and their agents take theright steps to get the home sold. And, it’s more likely that your home will sell quick if it’s in the lower pricerange. If you are considering selling your luxury home you still need to pay attention to the little details.

What steps do you take to get your luxury home sold?

Any home seller can benefit by following the tips in “10 Things To Do Before Selling A Home” . BillGassett’s common sense approach works in Las Vegas as well as Massachusetts. “What Steps AreInvolved in Selling a Home” covers getting your home ready for market to celebrating after it closesescrow.

Most of the homes that sell quick are in the lower price ranges. In Las Vegas, 87.8% of the homes thatsold in less than 30 days in May were priced at $300K or less. Only 36 of the homes that sold in 30 daysor less were priced above $500K and 7 were priced above $1 Million.

Homes in the luxury price range are selling. They just aren’t selling as quick as in the lower priceranges. In May we sold 112 that were priced above $500K in Las Vegas and 25 of those were pricedabove $1 Million. NAR reports this is the segment of the market showing the most growth.

Did You Know? More than 11% of homes sold had a sales price over $500,000, and salesgrowth was highest among homes in above-median-priced categories.

Ready to Sell Your Luxury Home?If you’re ready to sell your luxury home, this may be the perfect time. There are some areas that deserveextra attention when selling a luxury home for top dollar.

1 – Gather Paperwork and Find Out How Much You Owe On Your Mortgage. Custom home? See ifyou still have the blue prints. New owners will appreciate those if they decide to remodel. Luxury homestend to have a lot of high tech features. Gather all your paperwork for appliances and the systems thatoperate your home. You’ll need the manuals for the new owners once you’ve SOLD.

Most of our luxury home buyers do pay cash for their homes. Over recent years, low interest rates haveled many affluent home owners to take a mortgage on their home. Before you make the decision to sellyour home you should find out how much you owe. The balance on your mortgage won’t influence theprice you get for the home. You’ll want to know that your home has enough equity to cover paying off themortgage after sales expenses. If it doesn’t, you may have to come out of pocket to pay the difference orconsider whether doing a short sale is an option. It’s better to find out how much equity you have in yourhome before listing rather than getting an unpleasant surprise later.

New owners will appreciate having manuals to help them learn how

to operate all the electronics.

Luxury Homes deserve professional photos. This is the day viewfrom a luxury high rise condo.

2 – Hire a Realtor with Knowledge of theLuxury Home Market. It may be tempting to hireyour relative who just got their real estate license. Your best friend may have a kid in college who istrying to earn extra money by selling homes. While it is admirable that you want to help out, itmay not be the best idea when you’re selling oneof your most important investments.

Start by interviewing your local luxury homeexperts. Find out what steps they will take tomarket your home to qualified luxury buyers. Dothey have a team to help them with showingswhen they’re on other appointments? How manyother listings do they have in your neighborhood? Having more listings in your specificneighborhood may give them expertise. It mayalso mean they have similar homes that arecompeting with yours. Do they have a blog thatoffers expert advice for the luxury home market? Do they have a custom website that ranks wellwhen you google “luxury homes for sale in ____”?

An experienced luxury home agent is usually yourbest choice but you may want to consider a neweragent. If you hire a less experienced agent, askhow they will promote your property. Make surethey’re prepared to spend money on professionalphotographs, ads and marketing. Ask if the officethey work with has other agents who work in theluxury market? Can they call on those agents for advice? Do they network with luxury home agents inother areas? If the answer to those questions is yes, they may already have a network of agents who hasthe right buyer for your home.

3 – Decide if Your Home Should be a Pocket Listing? A pocket listing is when you list your homeexclusively with an agent but don’t allow them to put it in

the MLS. Most sellers who insist on pocket listings do not want their home advertised in print, online or tothe public in general. The listing agent is only allowed to promote the listing by word of mouth to theirbuyers and/or other agents.

We only advise a pocket listing in situations where the seller doesn’t want anyone to know they’re selling. Listing your home in the MLS is the most effective way to get it sold for the best price in the least amountof time. From the MLS it can be syndicated to a host of websites that will expose it to buyers all over theworld. The more eyes that see your home, the better your chances of getting it sold quick for a good price. A pocket listing may protect your privacy but it handicaps the marketing efforts.

4 – Price it Right. Pricing a luxury home is more challenging than pricing tract homes where there maybe several comps that are similar. In addition, custom features and upgrades vary from one home to thenext. The luxury home with the latest tech features and a view will get a better price than the outdatedhome next door with no view.

Night time photos can add glamour to a luxury home. This is thenight view from the same luxury high rise.

Price It Right!

A good agent will be able to take these differences into consideration when helping you price your home. There are dangers to over-pricing your home. Anover-priced home that sits on the market for morethan a year is stigmatized. Buyers will wonderwhat’s wrong with it and assume that it’s over-priced.

In the end, you get a better price if you price itright from the beginning. If you under-price yourhome, you are likely to create a bidding war thatbrings multiple offers and bids the price up.

5 – Insist on Professional Photographs. Today’s home buyers start with the internet. Theylook at the photos and virtual tours of homes. Inthe lower price ranges, a home might sell quickjust because it’s priced right and in a desirablearea. In higher price ranges, you need goodphotographs. Luxury homes can have finisheslike dark wood that do not show up well whenphotographed with a cell phone.

A professional photographer will be able to capturethe detail of your home. Luxury homes may needtwo photo shoots. One during the day time andanother at night. The night time photos maycapture the glamor of a home when all the lightsare turned on or a view of the Strip.

Many top agents are now providing videos of theirlistings as well as photos and virtual tours. This isespecially important in a luxury home market likeLas Vegas. Many of our affluent buyers live in other States or Countries. A good video of the home may bethe touch that gets an affluent buyer to fly in for a viewing.

6 – Decide Who Can See Your Home. When working the luxury home market, agents need to qualify“buyers” who ask to view a home. Sometimes a caller

will want to see a home that’s worth millions. When asked if they can provide a proof of funds or pre-approval letter, most serious buyers will comply.

Others may not be so forthcoming. Sometimes they’ll admit they don’t “have it yet”. Sometimes they’rewaiting for the settlement from a lawsuit. Sometimes it’s an investment that’s about to mature. Your agentneeds to tell them to come back when they have a proof of funds.

You don’t want to be so protective that you drive away qualified buyers. Before the housing collapse, itwas common to ask for financials to view homes of $2 Million or more in Las Vegas. Over the past fewyears, we’ve seen requests for financials on homes over $1 Mil and now we sometimes see them onhomes that are only $500K. Asking for financials in the lower price ranges may discourage qualifiedbuyers who are just beginning to look at a move up home. We don’t recommend requiring financials onhomes priced below $1 Million.

An experienced agent will use discretion in deciding who

views your home.

Buyers may understand that your home is “lived in” but clutter couldmean that you’re still living there in a year.

Qualified affluent buyers can be private. Rather than a blanket statement that no one can see the homewithout financials, it’s better to use discretion. If someonecan be found on google and it’s obvious that they own anestate in Malibu, you might want to let them see yourhome.

7 – How and When Can Buyers See Your Home? Asking for 24 hour notice before showings is notunreasonable. However, you should be prepared to makeexceptions. Serious buyers may only be in town for a fewdays. They may have flown into town with a list of homesto view. Maybe the homes they’ve seen aren’t quite asperfect as they hoped. They notice your home online butthey’re leaving the next day. You have two hours to getyour home ready for them to view. You can ask for 24hour notice, but be prepared to accommodate qualifiedbuyers when necessary.

You and your agent will have to decide if your home shouldbe on an electronic lockbox that only other Realtors canopen. Or do you want it shown “by appointment only” with your agent present for showings? The answerto this is going to vary from one home to the next. If you’ve already moved, it may be easy to put up alockbox and let agents show at their convenience. If you still live in the home, having your agent do all theshowings may be advisable. In either case, make sure you and your agent agree in advance how yourhome will be shown.

8 – Cover your Assets. Any homeowner shouldtake precautions when inviting strangers to viewtheir home. It goes without saying that valuablesshould be put away.

You should also use judgment when the home isbeing photographed. Do you have a rare piece ofart that shouldn’t be photographed? Do you reallywant to show your car collection? Take the photosbut put away things that might attract someonewho is more interested in those items than buyingyour home.

Theft isn’t the only concern. You own anexpensive home and appear to have assets. Takea look at your home before putting it on themarket. Is there a crack in the sidewalk that could cause someone to trip and fall? Is there a rug in theentry way that wants to slide on the travertine floors? Take a good look at your home and fix anything thatmight be an accident/liability waiting to happen.

9 – Get rid of Clutter, Clean and Set the Stage. This is good advice when selling any home. It’sespecially important when selling a luxury home. When buyers are looking at a million dollar home, theyexpect to see something that looks like a million dollar home. They don’t expect to see your clothes strewnon the sofa and your closets crammed full.

Clutter includes your photos that are all over the place. That photo of you and your favorite politician may

300 days of sunshine per year, No State Income Tax & ReasonableProperty Taxes….Welcome to Las Vegas!

be something you’re proud of. It may also turn off a buyer who votes for the other guys. Leaving a fewphotos of sports teams isn’t likely to be a deal breaker,even if your team is the Dodgers and the buyers areGiants fans. The photo of you with President so andso may make a cash buyer turn around and walk out. Better to put them away. You’ll have a head start onpacking when your home is sold if you’ve alreadypacked the personal items.

Most luxury home owners have household help tokeep their homes clean. It’s easy for someone whocleans a home to get into a routine. The surfaces getpolished but do they get into the corners? Buyers mayopen cupboards and look under sinks that you nevernotice. Make sure they don’t find a collection of dust. Ask your household staff to give everything athorough cleaning before you list.

Take an honest look at your home and decide if it looks like a luxury home. Would you be wowed by it ifyou didn’t live there? If the answer is no, you may want to do a bit of staging. These 5 Staging Tips toHelp Maximize Price and Minimize Time on the Market provides a good checklist. It’s important to stageand maintain your home if you have moved out. Make sure someone keeps it clean. Leaving a fewpieces of furniture will give potential buyers a better perception of how large a bed will fit in. Fresh flowerswill make it seem less abandoned.

10 – Consult with your trusted professionals. You will want to discuss your plans with your financialadvisers. Your accountant will help you prepare for any

tax consequences that may result from the sale. Your financial advisors may have suggestions forinvesting the funds you receive from the sale. Ifthe home is your primary residence, you maywant to buy another home in a “tax friendly”State…..Nevada comes to mind.

Selling a luxury home for the best price

Selling your luxury home for the best pricerequires knowledge of the local market. It alsorequires an agent who will take necessary steps toprotect your security and privacy. Selling yourluxury home in another city? Let us know. We’llbe happy to refer you to a Top Luxury HomeRealtor in your area.

Debbie Drummond has over ten years experience in the Las Vegas Real Estate Market. She specializes inluxury homes and high rise properties. If you’re buying or selling a Las Vegas home, call (702)354-6900 oremail Debbie@LVHomePro.com. We’ll be happy to assist you in your move.