Safety tips for selling your luxury home

Selling a luxury home is no simple task, I’m sure you know that. Luxury is a very different market than normal home sales, I mean, if it wasn’t there wouldn’t be a special certification for it. Given the nature of luxury properties, you may also get people with no intention of buying who come to open houses. Because of this fact, I have compiled a list of some of the best tips to help you safely sell your luxury home.

1. Lock up your loose and valuable items

This may seem a little silly or extreme but if you don’t hold a pre-screened open house, then really anyone can stop by on a Sunday and leisurely swipe anything that’s left out. You may be surprised to hear that open houses are a target event for burglars who come to case out a home and see if there is anything worth taking. But, there are measures that can be taken to safely hold an open house.

2. A Second Set of Eyes

As a good idea for general safety, having a security system or security cameras set up in your home to deter any potential sticky bandits (I’m looking at you Joe Pesci and Daniel Stern), you also could monitor people during your open house if you are so inclined. It also may be a good idea for your agent to have a second assistant or private security come in who can keep an eye on things while the primary agent is showing.

3. Hold a Virtual Open House

Virtual open houses are becoming more and more popular, this will eliminate the issue of people potentially burglarizing your home and also reduces the number of people in your home during COVID-19. Promote your open house ahead of time, give a timeframe for people to attend. It may even be a good idea to use Facebook Live and make it an event to generate hype for it. Make sure you take your time and really show the features of the home and monitor the chat for any questions the people attending may have. You may also want to hold multiple tours a day, create a post advertising different time slots for people to jump on and see the home.

4. Customize your Marketing Strategy

Using tools like Matterport, a 3D imaging walkthrough program, will increase the interaction you get on your listing especially at a high price point. Find something that is unique about your home, pick one feature a week, and work with your agent to create a marketing plan that showcases your home. Using professional photography and videography will also help the advertising of your home, photos and video are the way buyers interface with your home before contacting agents. Tools like Matterport can also eliminate the need for an open house since it creates a 3D construct of your home for people to walk through on their own time (especially late at night, on their couch, with optional potato chips).