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Baird & Warner Naperville
bill@billwhitehomes.com

Monthly Archives: April 2015

Apr
19

Discreet Path to Marketing Naperville Luxury Homes

According to the Reuters news service, the home market for those with high net worth incomes (HNWI) has remained surprisingly strong — even when there were dips in other sectors. Luxury homes are hot on the radar of those with the means to swing multi-million dollar purchases.

One listing tactic for the marketing of luxury homes — whether in Kenilworth,, Hinsdale, or here in Naperville– is the “pocket listing.” Pocket listings give the owners of luxury homes the ability to conduct a discreet, private sale by keeping it off the Multiple Listing Service. The most common reason my sellers opt to steer clear of the MLS is to give maximum leeway concerning general public knowledge of the offering.

I recall seeing one notable recent example (I believe it was reported by TMZ): the simultaneous pocket listings of both of their high-end homes by celebrity pair Kim Kardashian and Kanye West. For public personalities whose careers are dependent on careful nurturing of their images, maintaining control of public access to their domestic doings can be viewed as a business necessity. Instead of being exposed on the usual multiple-listing services, it’s marketed directly by their agent.

Selling Naperville luxury homes through pocket listings can also provide the homeowner and agent the maximum ability to vet potential buyers. Too, business people wishing to avoid upsetting customers or employees can avoid speculation that they may be leaving the area. And for those who are wary of listing their luxury homes during a less than roaring market, a pocket listing leaves the door open to selling to the right buyer for an ideal price.

However (and it’s a big however), the same qualities that make pocket listings an attractive path to a discreet sale also carry a notable drawback. By their very nature, pocket listings severely cut down the number of potential buyers — considerably cutting down the chances of reaching the best possible sale price. If you are an adherent of the axiom any publicity is good publicity, a pocket listings word-of-mouth technique (the first cousin of no publicity) probably isn’t an attractive alternative.

If you are looking to sell your home with little fanfare, call me to discuss your options and the pros and cons of each. Local luxury homes can sometimes be well served when they stay in the pocket!

Apr
09

Who really is “Naperville’s Best Realtor”?

When you Google “seeking the best professional,” in about a half a second you are presented with 403 million candidates (not to play favorites, SearchEngineWise, when you ask Bing the same thing, it gives you a mere 62.6 million…which might actually prove more useful, since it would only take you a little more than a year to scan each for 2 seconds).

Narrowing the quest, when you Google “seeking the best Realtor®,” it gives you just a few less than 2,000,000 likely results. Since anyone seeking the best real estate professional to buy or sell their home isn’t after one eight states away, almost everyone quickly narrows the search to ‘best Realtor in Naperville.’ That number varies from time to time, but almost always more than 500,000 show up (the ones at the top are paid ads).

This isn’t actually as whimsical a quest as such results suggest: it’s a quite serious undertaking. Even if you are a veteran homeowner—someone who has bought and sold homes multiple times in the past—today’s market is so vastly different from what it was even ten years ago (thank you, Internet!) that you need to connect with a Realtor in the Naperville area who will bring you success in this vast new arena. This will be someone whose marketing know how is as current as this morning’s Tweet—but whose depth of knowledge and experience in adroitly handling the old-fashioned local workings (and, alas, paperwork) are also encyclopedic. Today, your “best Naperville area Realtor” will have mastered it all.

So, what’s the right way to go about finding her/him? What’s a homeowner or prospective home buyer to do when they are bound and determined to actually find the best professional in the area? There are positive steps to take:

    1. Word of mouth: ask around to people whose opinions are substantial. Even if you are looking to sell and someone whose opinion you trust has experience only as a buyer, take the agent’s name. The best Realtors in your area are great on both fronts!
    2. When you are out and about in the neighborhood, note the “For Sale” yard signs planted in the lawns of appealing-looking properties. Jot down the agent’s contact number.
    3. Check the newspapers (and even notices posted on local store bulletin boards) for open houses…then attend them!
    4. Check the local MLS: see which agents are prominently represented in the Naperville listings—especially for properties in the same general price range. Look for eye-catching, well-written listings.

And finally, having compiled a list of your likely suspects, take the final and most important step of all:

1. Stop Googling—and start interviewing!

The search for the best Realtor in your town will take a bit of energy—and a bit of your time—but given the significance of the task ahead, is guaranteed to be worth your while. Since you’ve found my western burb blog, I hope you will put me on your list of best area Realtors—please don’t hesitate to give me a call!