Jonathan Popowicz, Katherine Basick, and Vivian Prost discuss how to break into luxury real estate in Fort Lauderdale, Boston, and Calgary. They cover marketing strategies, client relationships, and the networking moves that actually work in high-end markets.
Okay, let me grab a couple things. I am going to pull up our panelists today, which is Jonathan Popowicz, Katherine Basick, and Vivian Prost. I'm going to pull all three of you up, and I'm going to let you introduce yourself, tell us a little bit about you and your market, and we will get going on our way. So let me pull you up first. Spotlight, there's Vivian. Hey, Spotlight, there's Catherine. Let me grab Jonathan. Geez, we have a lot of J's. Wait, where's Jonathan? Oh, there he is. Hold on. Spotlight that. Spotlight. There we go. All right, perfect. Okay, so, Vivian, why don't you start. Tell us a little bit about your market, how long you've been in real estate and what you love about luxury, and then we'll move on.
Well, I was actually born in Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, and my first license was in 1992. So it's been a long journey. But starting in Rio de Janeiro and then in Denmark and then in Spain, I did real estate in Spain and Marbella for about 10 years. And then since I've been here, in 2015, I got my first license here. I was five years in Sotheby's, a year and a half in Compass, and now very happy to be an exp. I've been following Janie because Janie is amazing. She really is such an inspiring person. She used to be paid by some to come to our regional offices. I'm based in Fort Lauderdale, by the way, so if anyone ever needs any assistance in Fort Lauderdale area, I would say up to Palm Beach. Fort Lauderdale, up to Palm Beach. I'm happy to help. And so Janie, she would come to our office, and I was so impressed with how she conquered a new market in two years. She knew no one, and with her strategies, she was able to conquer the market. Now she's probably. It's not number one in the top five, for sure. And so I would say that each person has a very different way of approaching their market. And it depends a lot on the market as well, of course. But if you're starting out or if you are in a new area, I would. The first thing I would do when you're starting, and this is what I did here in Fort Lauderdale as well, is go to all the open houses of the areas where you want to be working in so you really get to know the inventory and pay attention to those realtors. Ask them to explain those houses to you. What are the best features of the house. So you really start learning what Luxury means in the sense of, for example, any really luxury home will have very good finishes. The doors will be very high, the light fixtures will be very high quality, all the cabinetry and the counters. You'll feel the difference with, let's say a regular property and a luxury property. They really have that. And your buyers know that. They are educated, they research, they buy the grocery grown up with luxury or they aspire to luxury and so they know what's going on. So you can't just, you know, say, oh yeah, this is a luxury home. Well, you have to point those things out. Look, have invisible hinges and look at the linear air conditioning or whatever it is, whether it's a walk in pantry, whether it's different little features of the house that make it stand out, or apartment, of course. And so I would say that's the starting point because if you don't know any, you're not going to immediately get a high end listing. Right. You have to first really understand your product.
And then before, before Vivian, before you give us any more tips, because I want to make sure and like ask some questions because we got them kind of rolling in. Nope, it's okay. So let's finish introducing everybody and then we'll ask.
Okay. Sorry about that. I just wanted to say that I only have half an hour, so I'm sorry I can't stay to the very end, but I have to head up to. So I'm not going to be able to stay.
We'll take you for as long as we gotcha. Sounds good. So, Katherine, tell us a little bit about yourself because you have kind of an interesting history with the first person. So I'll let you tell that. So tell us a little bit about yourself and the markets that you sell in.
Hi, I'm Katherine Basick and I serve the greater Boston area, pretty much all of Massachusetts, including Cape Cod, Nantucket and also Martha's Vineyard. I moved to Massachusetts five years ago after getting married to my darling husband. We're going to have our fifth year wedding anniversary on September 3rd. So I'm excited about that. Yeah, yeah, we made it. So I originally started my business in Silicon Valley. I sold the first house over $100 million in the history of the United States. And then because, you know, real estate isn't difficult enough, I wanted to start in a whole new market, go to Beverly Hills. And by the way, I was with Sotheby's during the whole, the first 16 years of my career. I've been in real estate for 20 years. Then I went on to Sotheby's in Beverly Hills and. And in Beverly Hills, I was the number two agent in Sotheby's, you know, out of the gate really consistently. And then I moved to Boston. And the first year in Boston, I did okay, but it wasn't as, you know, crazy as I had thought. A lot of it is because the prices here are just not as high as they are in San Francisco and in Beverly Hills. But in the, in the five years, I'm. I, I know I'm one of the top five agents in the state of Massachusetts. I don't do that real trends thing because I think it's all made up and people make stuff up. So you will not see my name on there, but just rest assured that I am and right now building a team. We just got the exclusive marketing partnership with Forbes Global Properties for the whole state of Massachusetts, which is huge. Huge. And they love the fact that, you know, what we're doing with exp. All the other partners with Forbes Worldwide, they do over a billion dollars a year in business, and I'm looking forward to getting to that level. What else can I tell you? I just started building a team for the first time in my life, and I'm loving it. The people in our team, we've just become a family. Great news is that they're with exp. I joined EXP with Jamie as well and our little Stacy, who my whole team, big crush on. Just so you all know, they always say Stacy. And one of the reasons why I joined exp is after being with Sotheby's for 16 years and then with Christie's for two years, I really wanted to do luxury the way I felt like it needed to be done, and I felt like it had not been done. So when I spoke with Janie and she showed me how I could be with the xp, they take care of all the back end and I can take care of the front and be the face of my own brand. That was, I think it took me 72 hours and I was on board. And I. I've been beyond grateful for her for bringing me this opportunity. And I think I tell her all the time. So thank you, Janie, again, if you're there anyway. But I have just made being with the XP and doing luxury this way has given me a whole new lease on life. And it has enthusiastically propelled me to far greater things than I thought I could be capable of.
Awesome. Well, thank you for that. And Jonathan, tell us about you.
It's a pretty boring story. Listening to These other two. Yeah. So I'm north of the border. I am in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. And our team is a very small team. We've got four agents plus myself, and then we have three Rockstar admins this year to date, we're currently sitting at about 160 million in total sales volume, and that works out to be about 180 transactions this year. We're hoping to kind of wind up where we're pushing for 250. Don't know if we're going to get there or not. I would say our team's approach is one that's sort of a little bit boutique, a little bit more grassroots and down to earth. We're not flashy, we're not driving Maseratis as much as we would like to, but that's sort of our approach and happy to say, super proud of our team. Last year we did over 63 transactions above a million dollars. And in our market of about 6, 500 agents, that put us at the top of the list for sales above. Above a million bucks. So, yeah, so that's kind of us in a nutshell. My background is not one from luxury. Middle class, family, kind of blue collar. Wanted to be a firefighter right out of high school. That's what I did. So as a professional firefighter for a long time until they kicked me off the department for selling homes, and here we are. So.
Yeah, nice. Well, look, you can sell someone a house and if they happen to have a fire and you're around, you can, like, take care of it. It's like a one package deal.
I love it.
Yeah, Perfect. Okay, so when I'm going to ask you guys some questions and. Because I want to make sure that we get through the questions and we also want you to share as much tactical as you can, but be succinct so that we can make sure and get through all the questions. Because I know everybody is wanting to ask some questions about luxury. So I'm going to start off with, you know, knowing what you know now about luxury. How would you break into that market today? So, Kathryn, why don't you start? You know, if you're breaking into luxury, knowing what you know about the market and, you know, luxury today, how would you break into luxury?
I can tell you from my personal experience moving here five years ago, I think Vivian really hit the nail on the head. You have to go and know your product. You have to know everything there. And more importantly, you have to go and meet the other agents. Having relationships with other agents has been my Greatest asset. And by the way, all of the luxury agents that I know are really, really busy, so they really don't have time to for having you pick their brain. So you better offer something. You better offer something really good. So if they're having an open house, ask if you can come and help them turn off the lights. Ask them if there's anything that they need. Ask them if they would like to have you bring some bottled water, whatever it is that helps them. You've got to give, not not to get, but just give. Because just the universe works in that way. You are going to get. So that's how you do it. They're going to remember you. And maybe they'll be really snobby to you the first couple of times. But guess what? They will be nice afterwards from personal experience. So that's number one. Always go to your meetings, go to your state meetings, go to your like. Unfortunately with COVID it's been terrible because we couldn't but go to the association of Realtor meetings. Any kind of trainings that they have, any kind of networking opportun. Go and talk and talk and talk. That's a really good way. Another really good way. I'm in Boston, so we have luxury condominiums. And if you are in that sort of market, and I know, Jonathan, you are because of Toronto, I think your national or your city bird is called the crane because all I see are cranes when I get up there building stuff. So anyway, go to all the new developments, introduce yourself, let them. Ask them if they're willing to let you market one of their properties. Believe me, they will say yes 100% of the time. It costs them nothing. And while you're there, they're starting to pay two and a half percent. Say, listen, I'm going to do this to you, but I need 3% commission. The other thing is go and volunteer like crazy. I'm on the Rotary board and I just got a $4 million listing because I'm on the Rotary. I'm on the Boston Lyric Opera. I love opera. I've been doing. I was on the board of the Opera in Los Angeles and in San Francisco. Find what you're passionate about and go and work those things. Work at your church, go work in your city, go pick up garbage on Earth Day. You will make more friends than you could just dream of. And those are your clients. And never forget, write letters. Those are also very important.
I love that. I love the tips that you gave because I think whether you're luxury or not, they Were all great tips. Right. Those are all things that we all should be doing anyway. So, Jonathan, let's go to you real quick. Something different than that. But what would you do to break into luxury today?
Yeah, and this is me speaking to my younger self sort of thing.
Yeah.
I would say like the, the thing that, that I would probably do a little bit differently is I would actually join a team right out of the gates. I would choose like whoever is top in the market, in the luck in the luxury space, and I would align myself with them just to get a crash course on luxury. I think the thing that I did wrong was that I tried to figure it all out on myself and I screwed up a whole lot and that was okay. I do screw up a whole lot. But I think I could have got a bit of a crash course in all things luxury if I had aligned myself with the right team. And then I would have broken away pretty quickly because I'm that kind of personality where I would have hit the ground running. I think the things that I did right was really identifying a niche. And I think that when people use the term luxury like it's a, it's a pretty broad thing. Right. Luxury just means expensive or it's, you know, big and flashy or whatever. I think if you can look at that and then you can further break it down to say what really grabs you? What are you passionate about? What market do you know? Where do you maybe want to live if you don't live there already? But what really grabs you that you're going to be able to know inside out and backwards better than anybody else and then focus super hard on that. So I would start small. I wouldn't cast this massive luxury net because everybody's doing that. I would pick a neighborhood, I would pick a street, you know, of 30 houses and I would become the expert with that street and then go from there. Similar to like a geo farming strategy.
Love it. Love it. So, Vivian, I'm going to change the question a little bit just because you shared with us some of your strategies up front, which were great. So. So if someone like you are selling in multiple markets in luxury, how do you get into multiple markets and become a luxury agent in different markets because you've sold in other countries as well.
Well, I think a lot of what Katherine and Jonathan have mentioned have to do with who are you. So you're never going to be authentic in neighborhoods or in circles where you don't identify. If you're a sports fan, for example, try and really hook in with your NFL or your Miami Heat, in my case, and really try and get into that sphere because we always. Well, I think a lot of people tend to think about that affluent buyer as being potentially a hedge fund manager or entrepreneur or whatever. But nowadays that's not really true because depending on your demographic and your, your own age, if you're younger, for example, so many of these buyers are millennials. They're in their late 20s, 30s. So if that's your case, that your younger self, I mean, I'm talking to my younger self, right? I was. I happened to be at that point in marketing and fashion. So then obviously my sphere of influence was more that world. But I would say that, and that is a fact that here in the United States now, seven years in this market, more than ever, you realize that it's not necessary. And that's one of the things I love about Exp And Janie made me really crystallize that in my brain. It's not about the, the brokerage you are, the brand you are, the person that that buyer or seller trusts and likes, because otherwise they're not going to give you the listing. There are thousands of agents in any area, wherever you are, so why are they going to want to work with you first? Because they like you and they trust you. And so luxury can be a condo, it can be a mansion, it can be an area. But as Jonathan was saying, really get to know, and Catherine as well, really get know that area, whether it's your neighborhood, your street, your club. I happen to pick up a couple of good listings in the Yacht Club where I'm a member here, because people get to know you and they see how you dress and they see that you're someone that's knowledgeable and polite and you know that you have good work ethic. And so eventually you gain their trust. And that's how I think eventually you will. I mean, I'm not a very, let's say, how would I say? I'm not very much about sending a lot of postcards because I get 20 postcards a week in my own home and I'm a realtor and I'm. And most of it just goes to the trash. So I think that a lot of those luxury sellers, for example, they might be doing exactly the same thing. So it depends on the market here in Fort Lauderdale. Extremely competitive. I mean, I know personally at least 20 very successful luxury brokers, but they don't know everyone. Keep that in mind. They don't know everyone. And your sphere of influence that you take the time, as Catherine was saying, she's from Rotary, or if it's your junior league, or if it's your. Whatever it is, where you can start really captivating people's trust. And you are knowledgeable. You can't just bluff it. Right. You do actually have to know it. Hang out with architects, hang out with interior designers. Go to designer stores or art exhibits and try and learn more about that. So what's the difference between a specific kind of furniture or just any furniture? Well, that person in the store will tell you, no, this is because this wood is like this, and this is from Italy, and this is from. And that's how you will sell or show to your buyer the value of what you're presenting or representing.
So very good. Very good. And that kind of leads into. My next question is, you know the difference between regular real estate and luxury real estate? So, Jason, or Jason. Jonathan, you answered this first. But what's the difference in, like, the sales process, the daily activities that you do? You know what's different between regular real estate and luxury?
Stacy? I mean, I don't really do a lot, to be honest. I'm just kidding. It's.
But.
But in all seriousness, there is some truth to that, because when you think about the whole luxury space, I learned very early on that it's pretty much the same amount of work if you're selling a $300,000 house or if you're selling a $3 million house. Right. Like, let's. Let's be honest here. It really is. So I think the difference that I found, and in many ways, the $3 million house is a whole lot easier based on not all the time, but a lot of times who the client is that you're working with. So for me, one of the things that I love to do is I love to ask the seller, like, what's their expectation? You know, I think first thing is you need to make sure that. That it's not this relationship, like where they have hired you and you are their employee. You need to scrap that right out of the gates, and you need to align yourself with them to be on the same team. This is a. This is a long play, especially in our market. You know, homes over the last eight years, they haven't been selling very easily. The rest of the country, rest of North America has been going crazy. We're in an oil city, and so it's been a little bit of a challenge since 2015. So sometimes when we take one of these listings, we know that we're going to have this listing for years. So that relationship between they have hired us to do a job or we are their advisor and we are on the same team and we're trying to get to a common goal together is a very different thing where you almost sort of become friends with the client and they don't expect you to talk to them as much. But that's the other question is that you ask them, you know, what, when do you want to hear from me? Like what? And some clients are going to say, especially in this space, Jonathan, can you please stop sending me your, you know, listing activity reports? I don't care about hit counters. Call me when you get an offer. Right. So that's one of the other big differences is, you know, high price point, which means bigger commissions, which means you can focus more on those individual listings. And then the other thing is that you can really sort of set out that wholesales process and understand expectations for that specific client. A lot easier to do that with fewer clients than trying to spread yourself super thin across lower transaction price points.
Yeah. So just because you mentioned this, and I want to go a little bit deeper with it, you know, if, because the market's changing right now, so you might be sitting on a property for a year, two years, three years, and maybe that is more common, right, with luxury. But how do you communicate differently then to that luxury agent or luxury client? And how do you market like differently for them? Because I'm sure with a higher commission, much more is expected.
Yes, much more is expected. But I think it all comes down, and we hear this so much in the industry, but it's, it's expectations. Right. So when I go into one of these situate like one of these different clients, I'm not promising helicopters, I'm not promising, you know, these massive wine and cheese parties because let's be honest, they're a waste of time. You know, it's, that's not what you're promising. You're, you get into it and say, hey guys, here's the deal. We have had X amount of properties sell above this particular transaction price point ever. So your chances of being able to sell this property, they're not good. But what I'm going to do is I'm going to do this, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And you kind of lay out a bit of a roadmap and a bit of a plan and just being honest into how who you think the buyer is going to be for this property, the markets that you're going to explore to try and extract that buyer and then what it's going to look like. And I think. I think it's always powerful to have some examples and going back to really knowing your market better than anybody. You know, many agents are going to show up and they're going to say, hey, here was the house that sold $5 million. What they maybe neglect to say is, here's the house that sold at $5 million, that the build cost was $32 million, and it's been on the market for the last nine years. Right. So all they see is, hey, there was a sale above 5 million, but they don't see anything else that goes along with that. So big on level, setting expectations, and then proactively kind of setting expectations as you're. As you're going through that market shift as well. I would also say just to sort of maybe protect yourself as a luxury agent, because maybe some people are sort of discouraged listening to this. Like, holy crap, I got to sit on a listing for three years. Like, that's horrible. And it is. But there's ways that we as agents can sort of hedge some of that risk. So a common strategy that we would do on our team is that we'll take a retainer. So right out of the gates, like many people kind of think you don't get paid unless you sell the house, which is mostly true. But there's nothing to stop you to say, okay, here's the deal. For me to be able to market your property in the best possible way, it's going to cost a lot of money, and I am prepared to make that investment into it. But what we would do is I would ask for a $5,000 retainer, $10,000 retainer. The number is not important. And what that's going to do is it's going to better equip us to be able to strategically market your property. You will own all the photos, all the measurements, floor plans, all of the assets. Those are your property. And when we sell your property, that retainer would then be applicable towards the commissions. So it's not that you're paying anymore. It's just a mutual investment to get into it. What that does is it first of all protects you and your business so that you're not doling out all this cash and you're, you know, you don't have anything coming in. But the second thing that it does is psychology. Like, the psychology of it is, is they have now invested into you. They've invested into the process. They're a whole lot less likely to say, see you later. I'm now going to go hire Catherine because they have no cost into it. If they've invested into it, they're going to stick around.
Yeah, very good point. So Katherine, I know that you have aligned with Forbes, which you mentioned in the beginning, but if before you were aligned with Forbes, what are some specifics that you would do to market a property and then show, show your value throughout the length of the listing agreement?
You know, I say this a lot and I use, you know, they say other people's money, I use other people's influences. So getting into Boston, the first thing I did is I start calling money managers and wealth advisors, got them to know me, befriended them, invited them to parties, really got to a divorce. Lawyers, all of these people. And the reason why is because they will have a client who's going through a death, a divorce or some other situation that they're going to need to, their client needs to dispose of the property or acquire property. And if you already have built a relationship, they're going to be thinking about you. Yesterday I, Last night at 11 o' clock one of these people texted me and said one of our clients is moving to Boston and they want you to represent them. Those are freebies, my friends. We get emails and phone calls 247 on how we can spend our marketing dollars by all these people, I mean, oh my God, everyone's trying to get into our pocket enough do these other things and you don't have to work as hard, spend as much money. And so as far as luxury real estate goes, I've never really had a property ever go over a year, maybe seven months is the longest I've ever had a listing. And I always charge 6%. I keep three and a half percent. I give the other side two and a half percent. I feel like that that's fair because I put in a lot of time and money. I do my videos like everybody else does, but I don't just do it like everybody else does. I hire the absolute best. And I hire the reason you want to hire the absolute best. Of course you want your photos to look good, but you also want these people to go and put your listing on social media. In their social media, they have a way bigger following than you do. So that's one thing I've also befriended myself with. And one of the things I do all the time is take my team over to the best luxury things, appliances or sound systems, and I have them give us a presentation of why they're so great and then believe it or not then they invite us to parties. And guess who are at their parties? Builders. Potential clients. So you have to really think strategically. And you can't just think about the sale that's going to happen tomorrow. And as far as I'm concerned, I try to be that. That realtor that sold the three $400,000 condos, it didn't work for me. My first sale was $2.7 million. And that did work for me. I find that that is like a lot easier than trying to sell the smaller, smaller things. Like, for example, right now, all you hear are the news, doom and gloom. Oh, my God, the market, the interest rates, whatever. Well, guess what? It doesn't really affect the luxury market. It does not affect the higher end. Those are cash buyers. Yes, maybe their stock portfolio was down, but in the world that we're working in, that's not really that big of a deal. And in that world, there's always a top dog. Somebody is always making money. It may. This sector may go down, but then the other sector goes up. One other thing that I do, LinkedIn is my best friend. I go on LinkedIn and all of you from Boston shut me down right now. Don't listen to this part. Anybody, do not listen to this part. Can we do that? Anyway, so what I did was, hey, Moderna is building. You know, we all know Moderna, they're our neighbor. So Moderna is building a 450,000 square foot foot facility in Cambridge, Somerville. So I've gone on LinkedIn. I went ahead and paid this ridiculous fee for the navigator. Sales Navigator. And guess what? I have befriended almost every single of the, what do you call, the recruiter executives.
Recruiters.
They are moving, like hundreds of people here a month. And I'm going to make their job easy by them having a person to talk to. So I'm constantly sending them things and I'm like kind of liking everything they do. Everything Moderna does, I like, I like. And someone says, oh, I got a new job, but congratulations. So they just started a job with Mature. I'm like, congratulations, so great. We're lucky to have you in Boston. And they're like, who the hell is she? It's fine. So those are the kind of things I really try to think strategically constantly and think of different ways that are in my market. And the only way you can really think strategically is you have to know what's going on in your market outside of real estate. You have to know what companies are moving in, what companies are moving out, all of that stuff. And what industries are. Industries are down.
Yeah, I love that. So, okay, so Jonathan shared a couple specifics on what he does. Catherine, did Vivian share one or two specifics on your marketing that's different from maybe regular agents or, you know, things you feel necessary for luxury?
Well, again, back to Janie. She helped me very much with the marketing that she does. Since I explained that I haven't been here that long.
Right.
I've only been here seven years. And although the first five years with Sotheby's, they market themselves very well, but they don't really help you market yourself. And that where the whole difference came with COVID everyone realized. Well, not everyone, but many people realized they could work remotely. And so I think the whole brick and mortar offices kind of went phased out in a way. And many of them are shutting down because what client wants to go to a real estate office and no buyer they want to go and the sellers to come see their home. So we really didn't need that anymore. I think that, yeah, mostly it would be Janie. And then I think that you market yourself. So be very aware whenever you're going anywhere, there is a possibility of networking, which could be your dentist, which could be anywhere. Present yourself in a luxury way. Be aware of how you're dressed and that your nails are clean, at least if they're not manicured. And I would say that in general, unless you're in the hip hop market or I don't know, some markets that go for that kind of style, those kind of like green nails with sparkles on, they're not so luxury. I mean, in general, so your hair is clean, your shoes are not scuffed. It doesn't mean you have to wear a designer clothes. But dressed in them, let's say for luxury, I would say that. And you're marketing yourself. Try to be more conservative when you're in a professional environment. So dressed in a more discreet way, I would say muted colors, you know, you don't arrive in like flashy big prints somewhere and you know, very low cut. Unless you know, that's your style. But in general, that's not going to project an image of professional. Well, a professional image, I would say, right. So it's a. And when people say, oh, but that's my style. And whatever they think about it. Would you trust a doctor if you went to be having an examination and he shows up in a Hawaiian shirt and flip flops? You go, I don't know about this doctor. You know, this is how he themselves to me. And so the same with real estate. And sure, if you're just selling, I don't know, boat slips or a condo in arena, yeah, sure, wear your shorts and Hawaiian shirt. But if you're wanting to go into luxury, you have to be more aware of your because you are your brand. Right. So I would say that would be an important way of marketing yourself.
Yeah, really good. And that's so true. Right. Because if you are trying to sell property on the ocean or on a lake, you're not going to show up probably in like a turtleneck and a suit and a scarf. You know, you're showing up, you know, if you're in a resort market, resort where if you're helping luxury clients, you're showing up that way. So a really good question we've kind of got it asked a couple times is, oh, let me address one real thing quick, somebody private message me Janie, who everyone keeps referencing is Janie Coffey and she's in our organization as well. And she shared a couple weeks ago about her luxury expired program. So that's who they're talking about. A question that I know people want to know is again, breaking into luxury. So if you see a development going up that has high end condos, maybe even, you know, office space on the bottom, like a new up and coming development or new and upcoming, you know, luxury homes, maybe it's a whole area that just has luxury homes. How do you break into that with the developer or the builder? So, Catherine, why don't you start us out?
Okay, so please follow me on LinkedIn, Basic, Forbes Global Properties or Catherine Basak. And I'm not just saying that because I need more followers. I do. I have 6,300 followers. So I'm fine. However, I want you to see what we just did. There's a new property going up. It's called the One Thorpe. I'm very, very excited about it. Our whole team is very excited about it. Again, Boston people, be quiet. Don't listen to this, right? So I had befriended the head of IT and so I said to him, I'd like to bring our team over. We want to have a hard hat tour. We had a photographer follow us around. We went and we did it. And this particular development is not hiring a sales company to represent them in house. They have like their own people. They are giving us all of their material unbranded. They're giving us carte blanche on how to market. And as far as anyone else is concerned, they think this is our listing. They think this whole building is our Listing we are the only ones who are marketing this best money you could spend. And then everyone that we sell, you know, we're going to get a commission on and perhaps their next development, they're going to see what a great job we did and maybe they'll hire us as the in house developer sales group. So especially when you're new to an area, you gotta think really differently and you gotta fight for the little things. And again you gotta give in order, you know, and then hopefully you will get. It may not be there, you'll get it somewhere else. So you know that sort of thing. But I just wanted to just talk about luxury really quickly because luxury means unique. How does something make you feel? It has nothing to do with the price point. Like if you see a beautiful sunset, that's you know, a luxurious on the beach or so you need to think about that. How is when you're marketing a home, how are you positioning that home? How are the people feeling luxury when they walk in? If it's overly staged or it's overly done, it's not going to feel good. I find that the homes that feel loved and aren't overly staged are the ones that sell immediately. People can tell when a home is pristine. So luxury means workmanship. Make sure everything is fine, make sure that there are no leaks or the roof or whatever. Make sure all of that is in working order. You are representing this property. Yes. You're just great. But you better make sure that house is also beautiful and pristine as well because it's representing your reputation. And just like that, like is a petite Philippe. Keep that much better time than, I don't know, like a. Another watch. No, it doesn't. But it's. People just perceive, wow, if I am going to buy this, it is going to last me forever. It's going to be worth more. The same thing you need, you need to be the petite Philip. You can't do it with your houses, but you, you need to be that luxury brand. So when people know that they're buying from you, they're getting that ultra luxury thing and that they know that this home is not going to be the money pit because you've already taken care of that. And then so one more I really wanted to share with you and I guess that's like the most important thing. You have to be luxury first. And the way you be like you can be luxury is make sure you surround yourself with luxury. Go to the Rolex store, go to Chanel, go to Bergdorf's. You don't have to buy a thing, learn about everything, go to the designer showcases. Because when you walk in and the reason I took my team to that designer place last week is there's all this new material right now, very luxurious material in kitchens and bathrooms. We want to be able to walk in. And when someone is proud that they had installed this latest and greatest, we want to say, oh, yes, that's a so and so. Congratulations on buying such an amazing thing. Well, guess what? Other people who come by probably will not have that level of knowledge. So it costs nothing anyway. Thank you.
Yeah, really good. That's. And you know, something that I'm getting from all of you in what you're saying is, you know, before, it's not necessarily that you're stepping into luxury. You know, maybe your first listing was 2.1 million, maybe it wasn't. But it's giving coming from like networking with the right people, giving to your community, showcasing others, understanding the product, you know, looking like someone that would want to do business with you. You know, someone that has maybe, you know, a more refined taste when you're in that ultra luxury market. Also that you are the brand. You're the brand. Your company is not the brand. Honestly, your logo is not even the brand. It's you, how you do business and who you are. And so I love that you guys mentioned that. Jonathan, I thought your retainer idea is amazing. So if you're not. Oop, we got somebody off of mute here. Hold on. There we go. All right. Your retainer idea was amazing because I think a lot of people are afraid to do really great marketing for fear that they won't ever close on a house. Maybe in their market, you know, maybe 3 million is like ultra luxury in their market. Maybe 5 million is, maybe 100 million is whatever it is. But that can be very nerve wracking. So getting the client to be committed to you and then of course with your retainer, I love that. And then another really awesome nugget. I thought like Vivian said, go to open houses, Catherine mentioned this to get to know the people and then also who is moving to your area, what companies are doing business and find those recruiters, find those people that are, you know, the executives that are probably helping bring people in as well. So really good shares so far. Okay, I'm going to go to some of the questions here. So let me look for them. Hold on one second. Because I know you guys were really awesome and typed a Q in front of it just like I asked you. Okay. Okay. This is a good Question. We answered it a little bit. But you know, Jonathan, why don't you answer this one? What are the extras that you feel sellers expect in your market when listing a luxury home? So, you know, not just like professional photography, but is there anything else that is kind of expected in that upper luxury price point range?
I think the consistent thing, like everybody is going to have slightly different expectations and there are specific clients that they do want to have the massive Ferrari event at their house and all that kind of stuff. But the one consistent thing that every single luxury client has is they want results. And if you can convey to them with confidence that you are the person that your team is the team to be able to deliver those results, you're good to go.
That's such a good answer because you're right, it's not about everything flashy because you could offer everything, but if you don't know what you're talking about, sound like you know what you're talking about and then actually do something you're talking about, it's not going to sell. So I appreciate that answer. That was solid. While I've got you your retainer, can you do just like a quick, like, how do you explain the retainer?
So, okay, so the retainer, where the idea of the retainer actually came from was again, downturn of oil in Calgary. Everybody's losing everything, prices are falling through the floor. Like it was a very drastic shift in the market to the point that like, I didn't want any more listings. Like we had a 1 out of 12, 1 out of 12 listings was selling in our market. And many times sellers, they sort of, you know, they come to you and they're like, hey, we would love to, you know, give you the opportunity to have this listing. And I'm like, man, I, I don't want another luxury listing. This just sounds like going to be hemorrhaging money and another pain in the butt. So then what it came down to is like, all right, well, let's see how badly they want me to list their property. And that's where the idea of the retainer came from, also to sort of hedge that little bit of financial risk as well. And then legitimately to better equip our team to be able to do some of the things that we felt we needed to do to differentiate our luxury listing compared to many of the other ones out there. So it's a very simple conversation as we know, like there is no standard real estate commission. Right? Like we've got all sorts. I'm sure you Guys do in the US as well. But in Canada, with competition law, price fixing, like, you cannot standardize commissions. You do tend to see sort of market norms depending on where you are. But my team and I have a ton of my competitors on this call, so. But like our.
Close your eyes. Are your ears competitors?
No, it's okay, I'm happy to share. Like, so. So we charge more than what our sort of typical commission would be in our market. And we do that intentionally. For one, we think that our service is better than kind of the average and the normal. Our results are better. And I think it's kind of like the luxury brand. It's the difference between, you know, the examples that Catherine was just providing with a watch. Right. Like people are prepared to pay for something that's better if it serves the same function, although our function is better. So, you know, first of all, we charge more. Second of all, when we say that we're doing a retainer, we're the only ones that are doing that. So really for them, they're like, huh, that's kind of an interesting idea. And it's received very, very well. I, I think maybe in the times that I've presented the idea of a retainer, there's been less than on one hand, like accountable. Unless in one hand people that kind of turned their nose up and said, I'm not into that. So yeah, I would encourage everybody to give it a shot sometime. Whether it's a listing that you just simply don't want or the people are mean or, you know, something, give it a shot. Don't be afraid of it.
Yeah, yeah, I love it. I think sometimes in that price and you know, in luxury, maybe you're worried, you're like, oh, this could be such a big commission. But Catherine, I know you had a specific experience with that. I think it was on your first, the one where you set the record where you were like, take it or leave it. And this is what I charge. I don't care if your property is 100 million or, you know, 1 million. This is what I've got. So talk about that. How did you tell us the little. Tell us the story quick. And okay, this is about pricing.
This is pretty confidential. So all I have to say, I'm going to say what I can say.
Say what you can. Yeah, say what you can.
So I was up against two other of hot top workers, like in our area. And one of them was Jeff Hyland who flew in Hilton Highland in la, you know, multi billion dollar producer. They came and so that's the level of people I was going with, and they liked me. So I said, okay, we're gonna do it. So then they said, okay, well, we are going to pay you 1%. I said, no, you're not. And so then I said, this is. And I can't take anything less than that. And then he said, how in the world can you justify, you know, making 6 million?
Yeah.
And I said, well, you have a house, you know, for 100 million, and nobody's ever sold anything like that, especially in California. The taxes alone are going to be 10 million a year. Like, do you really think I'm going to have a chance to get this done? And if so, I'm going to have to work really hard to get it done. And so he just kept going back and forth. And I said, you know what? I just don't think I'm the right agent for you. So perhaps you need to hire one of the other people that you're working with. And I really appreciate this opportunity. And I. I hung up on him. I think.
I'm not sure.
I think I did. Anyway, so then he calls up my broker, Jeff, and he's like, we're going to give you the commission that you want. And. And Jeff's like, that's fantastic. Thank you. Blah, blah, blah. And then he's like, but we want to make sure that we get Catherine. So, like, of course you're going to get Catherine. Catherine loves you. It's going to be great. So anyway, then Jeff calls me, was like, congratulations, you got the deal, blah, blah, blah.
I'm like, okay, so awesome. And so it shows you, you showed your value and you said, this is what I do and this is how I do it. And we're most likely uber confident about it.
And then one more thing. They did not want any photography. They did not want any advertising, anything. So, like, okay, so now we're secret agents. So this is really sums up the luxury market as a whole. I started dialing for dollars with other agents that I am friends with that I know are at that level. And I told them what I have. I sold that house in 12 days. And then we closed in 34 days total at 108 million.
So unbelievable. Very cool. And that's such a good. That's such a good point. Right? It's calling other. It's not always about trying to find the buyer by spending a ton of money on advertising and things like that. She couldn't, so she had to call other agents and really promote the product. And this is what we've got. And you know, hey, you gotta have good relationships with other agents. It's, it's your key to having a really great successful career. Luxury or not. But that was genius.
And this.
Okay. Oh, go ahead.
Never sold anything over $7 million in his career. So he was way over his keys. And I wound up having to do almost like both sides of things. So. Which is fine.
Yeah, I love it. It's. That's awesome. So any last thoughts? One minute or less. Vivian, you start. Any last thoughts about luxury?
I was just thinking about, you know, the retainer thing in our market that. But there is very much the standard commission here are around 6%. So 3. 3. Although I have seen quite a few of the very high end, let's say 20 million and up. Only offered two and a half because there will be some negotiation with the seller. My, my. I have two listings at the moment, $7 million. One is a new construction that's going to start building this month. And the other one is a turnkey beautiful home on the water, near the beach, near the park. And it's old designer furnished. The seller is going to go and live in the Caribbean. She's retired, hold her company. And so that's the reason for the sell. But she does not want any for sale sign. She does not want any open houses. So I did manage to one day do a broker's open, but she wasn't too delighted with the idea anyway. Frankly, maybe it was the wrong time of the year because it was the beginning of summer, which is low season here. Anyway, so finally I do have a buyer interested that found me online. So I guess if you can't do anything else, you do have to. I was sorry that Catherine couldn't even have any photography because especially since COVID so much of it does start online, right? Whoever they are, whatever price point they are, when people are starting to think of buying a home or even selling their home, they will start online. So I think that was an exception because even very high end homes, they may not want you to photograph the interior, but you must be able to have at least an elevation, the front elevation or an over, I don't know, some kind of image. And then really work on your, on your copyright on what you're writing about that house. Making it really through words express that the soul of that house, even if it's a condo. And what's about that lifestyle, what's about that location? Because in general the luxury buyer, he knows the location he wants. He may not know that exactly. Property. Because if you can't manage the.
Is that sound?
Vivian, we lost you. We can't hear you.
She's on mute.
Oh, well, let me ask another. She might not be able to hear us for some reason.
Can I answer that question as well?
I want to ask it just a pinch differently. So what's what for you and Jonathan? What's one thing that you haven't told us that we need to know about breaking into luxury or about luxury in general?
Yes. The thing that you want to remember is do not think you can throw money at the problem and become a luxury agent. It doesn't work. All you're going to do is you are going to waste your hard earned money. So do the hard work. The stuff that we talked about earlier today, do not just keep buying this lead and that lead, that lead. It doesn't work. Even if you do with Zillow, you're not going to get a big fish. Maybe you'll get a million dollar buyer, whatever. But anyway, that's my two cents.
Love it. Jonathan, how about you? It's one thing we need to know.
Yeah, I totally agree with that. I would say like the one thing that we maybe haven't talked about, but we've talked a lot about luxury buyers, luxury sellers, all that kind of stuff. Breaking into luxury. If I was to do it again, I wouldn't waste any time at all with working with luxury buyers. I think it's really difficult to get them. We all know that buyers are an incredible amount of time and effort and they're probably not going to buy anyways. You know, when we're talking about luxury specifically, there's a lot of weirdos out there that just want to see nice houses. I would focus like really pinpoint, penetrate a market, the niche that you want to be at and, and do it fiercely. Like I'm talking geofarm. Mailers every single week come up with a different differentiator. Everybody's sending out the same pieces, so do something different. So if I may just really quick like one of the things that we did into our luxury market was on Valentine's Day we did a die cut and it was a mailer. It was a heart simple. Like this thing was super, super inexpensive to do. Right. Like I think mailed in the door, we were something like 19 cents per piece. We hit 3,500 homes. Just has a poem on it. Roses are red, violets are blue. We'll help you find that house with the view. Love Pop Witch and company. This thing got me three phone calls. So, you know, just doing something that's a little bit different and just don't stop. Commit 6 months listing focused only and hit it hard. Also, just as a note, like, I don't. I don't care which brokerage you're with or who you're with or whatever in this organization. If anybody has any questions, feel free to shoot me a note. I'm always happy to chat offline as well.
Nice. Well, thank you all. You guys did such an amazing job. We've got nothing but amazing comments. Thank you for sharing your knowledge, your time, your experience. We appreciate it. And I feel like this whole call is just gonna, like, break into luxury right when we leave. So thank you, guys. We appreciate you and I hope you all have a great day. Take care.
Jonathan and Vivian. Bye, guys. Can we get a copy of the chat, Stacy? I can get a copy.
So I'm. I'm not sure I'll. If it records for us, definitely, but I'm not sure if it does. If it does, I'll get it to you.
You can go on the right and say, save chat. And it will save it. I just realized.
Oh, good. Did you do it?
Yeah.
Oh, sweet. There you go. All right, take care.
Okay.
