subject: Luxury Real Estate Roster: Holding Out or Moving On? [print this page] Luxury Real Estate Roster: Holding Out or Moving On?
Copyright (c) 2010 Jack KhaLuxury home marketing and sales, even in the midst of an economic slump, has a tendency to follow its own path, depending on the discretion of the homeowner. Sellers often have the distinct ability to wait patiently for the market to recover to gain the full asking price from a sale. Others however, based on desires and circumstances, have softened their sales price to the softened market, to shed the property in exchange for their desired sales amount. Recent Wall Street Journal news article titled, "The Holdouts," by Juliet Chung, says that luxury home sellers who are eager to move on from their mansion have slashed their prices as much as or even more than $20 million since they first decided to sell. She writes, "Thursday Peter Sperling, son of the University of Phoenix founder John Sperling, dropped the price on his San Francisco limestone mansion to $47 million; he had been asking $65 million since 2006." Many of these individuals have benefitted - and likely even profited - from their flexibility.Yet, despite the opportunity for success, some luxury home owners are not even budging a penny. According to the article, Ms. Saperstein, ex-wife of the Metro Networks founder, is sitting pretty on her asking price of $125 million for the over 40,000 square foot mansion near Beverly Hills, without budging one bit. The French-inspired chateau has been on the market since early 2007, but the seller is confident of her asking price, and unwilling to waver. We understand both sides of the coin for luxury home owners. If you're a motivated seller, the loss of profit from a reduced price can be worth it in exchange for the hassle of keeping a home long after your heart has packed up and moved out for a better abode. For Jamie Dimon of J.P. Morgan, lowering his home's price was the incentive buyers needed to bite. "Originally listed for $13.5 million in 2007, the home as of August was listed at $6.95 million. It went into contract in late September," Chung says. On the other hand, if you are in a position more closely to Tommy Hilfiger founder Joel Horowitz and his wife, your home might contain too much sentiment and personal investment to you to justify accepting any offer that's less that your dream price of $100 million. Chung comments that the Horowitz couple "spent a year designing the home and three years building it and bought items for the home on their travels before it was even built-including lighting fixtures, fireplace mantels and 400-year-old flooring from French chteaux." Their personal touches mean too much to discount.
