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Elite handful earns millions brokering high-end deals
Those multimillion-dollar homes in the
Valley's elite neighborhoods don't sell themselves.
It takes a certain kind of person with a certain set of skills to broker
those deals and make a living at it.
It helps, too, that Phoenix's luxury-housing market is thriving,
even as the rest is stumbling. The number of million-dollar properties
sold since 2000 has spiked, and so has the number of deals for $3
million, $5 million and much higher, a signal that the Valley is moving
into the big leagues of luxury homes.
So who are the big hitters making those big deals?
They are members of one of the most exclusive clubs in metropolitan
Phoenix. Of more than 95,000 real estate licensees in Arizona, maybe a
dozen are players when it comes to putting together deals for the elite
properties in Paradise Valley, north Scottsdale, the Biltmore and other
parts of the Valley.
For these agents, the financial stakes are higher than they are for
their mainstream counterparts. And their clients can be unusually
demanding. Even the social milieu - what they drive, how they look - can
make or break a deal.
After all, their clients often include big-time athletes, business
executives and entertainment figures.
The agents are lesser known outside of their field, but they are in a
supercompetitive business that can deliver the sort of financial rewards
that let them live in the same neighborhoods as their clients.
"The people who do this are highly intelligent. They're independent.
They're Type A personalities," said Nick Antonicello of Unique Homes,
a national luxury-home magazine. "A lot of them are single. It is a
24-hour job. They don't get paid unless something sells. Agents who sell
in the superhigh end can make from $500,000 to $5 million in commissions
a year."
They head to listing appointments in Beamers, Benzes and Bentleys and
play golf at expensive courses. The casual Friday look doesn't cut it.
Think tailored.
"If you were going to go look at a $5 million house over in Paradise
Valley, the person showing it would be stepping out of a luxury vehicle,
a Mercedes of some sort," Antonicello said. "She'll probably be wearing
a Chanel suit, have a $200 haircut. She's got a $10,000 diamond ring on
her hand and a Rolex and a $2,000 Gucci bag. She looks the part."
The luxury-home market in Phoenix has stayed strong while housing
in general across the region has slumped. There were 440 sales of homes
priced at $1 million or more in the Valley in 2000. The figure hit 687
in 2003 and rose to 2,413 last year, according to the Information
Market, a property-records research firm.
Experts say baby boomers are helping drive the trend as they accumulate
and inherit wealth and look to buy a statement home.
The Phoenix-area record home sale is $11.4 million for a new home in
Paradise Valley. That deal closed in 2005. A resale home in Scottsdale
sold for $10 million last year. At the end of last week, there were more
than 20 homes going for $10 million or more on the Arizona Regional
Multiple Listing Service. And that doesn't include homes owned by very
private people that are sold discreetly through the agent network,
without the typical publicity.
If you're thinking you could retire off the sale of one $10 million
home, forget it.
Agents say the commission system is similar to the rest of the market.
Although negotiable, the standard is 6 percent of the sale price. A $10
million sale would generate a $600,000 commission.
But the listing agent splits the commission with the buyer's agent,
unless one of them represents the buyer and the seller. The broker for
each agent gets a split.
In "100 percent" firms, the agent keeps the entire commission and pays
the company a monthly fee for office space, cost of processing
paperwork, even office supplies.
Agents who don't work in 100 percent companies are responsible for all
of their expenses, including the national and international marketing
that elite properties receive.
So that $600,000 commission? It goes pretty fast.
Glen Creno
The Arizona Republic
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Information Deemed
Reliable But Not Guaranteed.
The
Fair Housing Act
prohibits discrimination in housing based on color, race, religion,
national origin, sex, familial status, or disability. Copyright © 2004 (ARMLS)
Arizona Regional Multiple Listing Service, Inc.
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