Talk to us about your first luxury transaction, your first luxury sale, and do you recall if you were on the buy side or the sales side, and how did they find out about you and vice versa?
I wish I could honestly remember my very, very first luxury sale. I’ve been doing this for 25 years now, so to recall my very first sale I think is challenging, but I can certainly remember one of my first.
At the time, I was selling upper bracket luxury lake homes, and I found out about a luxury gated community development that was going to be the first ever established in the area. I saw this as a unique opportunity to set my career in the upper-bracket market up for success and took the time to seek out the seller. He was from Naples, Florida, and here I am in Minnesota. I was able to reach out to him directly and took the opportunity to sell my services and myself to this developer. I think he recognized my uniqueness and one thing led to another, and I closed multiple luxury sales because of this. It turned out to be one of the greatest relationships I have to this day with a luxury buyer or seller.
If you were to pick one thing that sets you apart from other agents in your local market when it comes to luxury real estate, what would that be and what advice would you have for agents?
For me personally, the one thing that definitely sets me apart and makes me unique is that I really take a non-emotional, business approach to a real estate purchase or sale. A lot of agents can get caught up in the emotions of their buyers and sellers, I work really hard to make sure we can table those emotions and help my clients make good logical buying and selling decisions.
Of course, the buyer and seller, they want to love their home and be happy with their purchase. But at the end of the day, I feel that a lot of the agents really ride the rollercoaster of emotions with their clients and this often times leads to bad decision making. It’s important for a good agent to be the person that can table those emotions.
What inspired you to go into the upper price points? Some agents, they fear getting a call on a property that they have no business, maybe no experience selling. In other words, what inspired you and how did you overcome some of those limiting beliefs early on?
What inspired me was the realization that 90% of the agents lack the effort, skills and professionalism to succeed in the luxury market. The luxury consumer demands more from the professionals they rely on. They’re much, much more demanding and have higher expectations from those they do business with. I saw that I had those same high expectations of myself and I was willing to give more effort than my competitors to provide the services that a luxury consumer demands. I just think that too many agents do this part-time, they don’t treat it as a professional business and they sit back and wait for things to happen. They’re not that trusted advisor, they’re not that consultant the luxury consumer depends on. They’re just chasing that commission check. I noticed that early on in my career the high standards I had for myself matched that of the luxury consumer so it was easy for me to offer those services.
How do you approach prospecting when it comes to luxury clients and what strategies have been most successful for you from a prospecting standpoint as well as building your network?
I think that the prospecting aspect comes from treating the luxury consumer, buyer, or seller, like they’re your only buyer or seller. You need to be available to them and get them the answers they are looking for quickly. They swim in the same waters as other luxury buyers and sellers, and they’re going to refer you to their friends and family. Just making sure that you’re providing a very, very high level of service to these luxury buyers and sellers is your best form of prospecting.
I know a lot of people will buy country club memberships and try to “fake it until they make it”, but for me once I was able to secure that first opportunity in the luxury market, I then took things to a whole new level by providing a level of service that most agents are not willing to provide to be certain that my client had good things to say about me to others. You must be willing to be available and really be a good resource 24/7 for that client, because they’re going to refer you to their friends and family. For me, my prospecting comes from referrals.
Tell me a little bit about your network, and when we talk about networking, whether it be your circle of trust, people from a business standpoint, how have you connected with some of your most successful people in your network, referring sources?
This just comes over time, again, and treating people with honesty and integrity and they’re going to tell other people about you. You’d be amazed how quickly word travels, whether you do a good job for somebody or a poor job for somebody. Your reputation travels very, very quickly.
The community that I work in, I think with any community, it’s kind of a big, small town, where it may seem big, but those that swim in those luxury waters, it’s a very, very small, tight-knit community, and you’ve really got one chance to succeed or fail. It comes down to two words; honesty and integrity. I know its cliché, but they can see through you very quickly if you’re just chasing a dollar.
How do you stay current with market trends? Things are changing, it seems like sometimes every other week in real estate. How do you personally stay current with market trends in a changing industry, and how do you apply this knowledge to benefit your buyers and your sellers?
It’s hard, technology has forced those of us in the real estate industry to change and adapt quickly. It’s becoming more and more difficult. That’s one of the biggest challenges right now in today’s modern real estate market, is what shiny new object are you going chase now while not getting distracted from the basics that got you to where you are. And if you’re not willing to change, you can get left behind quickly.
For me it’s attending seminars and different events frequently. I try to get to two or three quality events out of state every single year so that I can expose myself to other professionals in the industry that are doing things in other parts of the country that maybe we haven’t implemented in my local market yet. I also think taking it upon yourself to read, listen to podcasts, to watch educational seminars online, to physically go to these seminars if you can and to network with other colleagues in the industry is important. I think tapping into others’ knowledge is something you have to be willing to do.
What are some of the most important skills and qualities for success as a luxury real estate agent in the luxury market, and how have you developed these throughout your career?
A luxury agent should be skillful in pricing, number one, and marketing, number two, and negotiations, number three. These are three skills that are often overlooked and have certainly been overlooked in the past few years with the COVID market that we’ve had. You could basically price a home for one-dollar and buyers would just bid on it to create the sale price. But strategic pricing and the need to market homes aggressively are really changing quickly in the upper bracket market. Unless you’re in the marketplace every day, it’s very, very challenging to properly price an upper bracket home. There are so many factors to consider and so many uniqueness’s to each property, it’s a skill that takes time to master.
As for marketing, a lot of people say they have a marketing plan for your home, but they’re really using the same plan that they’ve used on the $450,000 home that they sold last week. Take a few bad photos, put a sign in the yard and hope someone brings a buyer. I truly enjoy trying to secure a buyer for my listings and working both sides of the deal, so I am willing to spend the money most won’t to aggressively market a home. To me, it’s about identifying who you think that the buyer is for a home and really working backwards from there to compose a very strategic, very specific and targeted marketing plan for each property.
Lastly, the art of negotiations has been lost the last two or three years. During the COVID market, it was who can get to the door first and write the offer with the least number of contingencies for the highest price. There were no negotiations. There was really no “art of the deal” anymore, to steal that phrase. Negotiation is a lost art form in this industry that I think a lot of the agents that got into this business the last three or four years are quickly realizing they need to sharpen their negotiation skills. Negotiation takes patience and the willingness to walk away from a deal.
Last question before we get to the bonus section of the chapter. How do you differentiate yourself and your brand in a highly competitive market? Again, and how do you maintain that strong reputation in the market as well as your referring source?
It’s funny, I just got off a phone call with a potential luxury listing right before this interview, and they were referred to me by a very well-known real estate developer here in the local market. The two words that kept coming up in our conversation were, “Well, my friend says that you’re very honest and very direct.” Simply being honest and direct with people is my brand and my reputation and that is going to create success in the upper bracket market (or any market for that matter) for a long time. People don’t want you to blow smoke in this market. They hire you as their professional confidant just like they hire their attorney or their doctor or even their mechanic; to give them good, honest, professional advice, and they’re not looking for a friend, they’re looking for an advisor. A friend’s going to tell you what you want to hear. A real estate advisor is going to tell you what you need to hear. By continuously doing that and creating that reputation, I think has led to a lot of success for me.
This question is geared towards a homeowner, somebody that owns a house, maybe it’s their primary residence, maybe it’s a vacation property, but it’s in the upper price points. What should they look for when interviewing agents? What’s your one or two or three tips that you would have for them as to who’s best to market their high-end or unique property for their given market?
I think the consumer thinks that because we have Realtor next to our name, we’re all the same. We each fly a different flag and that’s really the only thing that differentiates us. The consumer needs to do their research. Too many of them are just hiring somebody because they’re a friend or they’re a relative, or a friend or relative recommended some person that maybe has had some success in other segments of the market. Really do your research and make sure that the agent your interviewing understands luxury homes in your specific market.
What I mean by that is maybe somebody that lives and works in your city and their niche is entry-level townhomes, and that’s okay, it’s a great niche to have, but it may not be a fit for your unique, luxury home. Sellers really need to make sure that you’re doing your homework, and you find somebody that works in your niche. Do they have proof of past sales in your niche? Do they have proof of a marketing plan that has worked in the past, a solid plan that’s going to be specific to your property?
As mentioned before, are they just going to do the cookie cutter approach, where they take some photos, they put a sign in the yard, they throw it in the MLS, and then they hope and pray that somebody else sells your home? Or are they really going to do some print advertising, some direct social media advertising, video and online advertising that’s going to reach your target audience? Or they’re just trying to get a listing so that they can attach their name to it to really benefit them and their brand? It’s more important than ever today to do your research on the agent that you’re going to hire to sell your home, to make sure that they’re capable of negotiating, marketing, and pricing your home to get top dollar.
For someone buying a property, whether it being their primary residence, primary market, or a vacation property, what should they look for in an agent to represent them with buyer representation today?
First and foremost, do your research, find out if are you going to be working directly with that agent or are you going to be working with a showing agent and if so, do they have the skills to negotiate on your behalf. Are they really going to look out for you in your best interests throughout the entire transaction? I’m not afraid to tell my clients, “This is a horrible purchase. You shouldn’t make this purchase”. And if you still want to make the purchase, go for it. But I’m going to give you the same, honest advice that I would give to my friend, my brother, my parents, whoever that might be. Sometimes a buyer needs to hear the negatives and not just the positive aspects of the home they are considering.
Some people go against my advice and that’s okay. But I don’t want them coming back to me in five years saying, “I want to sell my house. I wish you had told me that there’s a train track half a mile from here that’s going to wake us up every night.” I would rather be direct with you and tell you that you’re overpaying for a home, that there’s going to be some obstacles when it comes to sell the home, than just go chasing a commission check.
Make sure that you do your homework. Are they willing to negotiate, do they have the market knowledge and can they clearly communicate the market values when it comes to the specific types of properties that you’re looking at. A lot of agents are just walking, talking lock boxes. They’re just going to go in, show you a home and sell you a home, but do they understand home values specific to the types of homes that you’re looking at. I think that’s one of the biggest challenges in the upper bracket market; is the ability to articulate the value of a home. I would strongly advise to buyers to do your homework. This is the single largest investment you will be making in your lifetime. Is this someone you trust and do they have a team of professionals around them to help you navigate this purchase. I know I will always provide my clients with that “white glove service” every single time.
Visit: Secretsoftopluxuryagents.com to learn more about Wade Hanson
