Many homes offer luxury features and amenities that give them a high-end feel, but few properties can truly be considered luxury real estate. A luxury home isn’t just determined by price per square foot, a minimum home or lot size, or a list of specific features. In a very real sense, the luxury experience is in the eye of the beholder. However, most people agree that a few benchmarks set a genuine luxury home apart from the rest in today’s market.
What Is Luxury Real Estate?
In general, luxury homes are among the top five percent of the market’s price range for single-family dwellings. They’re considerably larger than average, boasting spacious areas for entertaining and hosting, and they tend to be situated in desirable locations.
Luxury properties are also typically constructed with the highest quality materials and feature architectural details installed by artists and craftsmen who have spent years honing their craft. Some luxury homes even boast a long and varied history or are of historical importance within a particular area.
1. Prime Location
As with everything, the factors that make a home’s location desirable depend on the buyer’s preferences. However, luxury properties tend to be situated somewhere truly spellbinding: Facing a panoramic mountain view, nestled on a quiet beachfront, or within easy access to the most desirable amenities of the area.
For some, a prime city location in a high-end neighborhood will give a home its luxury status. Others, meanwhile, may prefer a mountain lodge on a ten-acre estate abutting a ski resort. For all true luxury properties, something about the location will set it apart from every other similarly-designed home.
2. Exceptional Quality
Luxury homes are built with the type of high-end features that other residences simply can’t match. Sometimes they’re designed by world-renowned architects; other times, they’re of historical provenance, crucial to the area’s history. In every case, these finishes are built to last generations, using the most superior materials on the market.
Features like hardwood banisters carved from a single piece of timber, hand-cut stone mosaics, Italian marble countertops, and intricately-laid herringbone hardwood floors are examples of this type of craftsmanship. Luxury homes aren’t a place for generic finishes; they’re a step above, right down to the finest details.
3. Decadent Amenities
Although the amenities that buyers appreciate most will vary widely, opulent luxury estates typically offer over-the-top, unexpected amenities that you’d never find in the average home. Features like movie theatres, rock climbing walls, climate-controlled wine cellars, and guesthouses are just a few examples of these extraordinary amenities.
4. A Unique Claim to Fame
To some buyers, a property’s appeal has more to do with its provenance than its ten-car-garage. Historic homes, properties previously owned by celebrities, and estates designed by famous architects also have a leg up in the luxury real estate world. Of course, even the most well-known, remarkable homes are only worth as much as buyers can and will pay for them.
Find Your Dream Property at a Luxury Home Auction
The most luxurious homes tend to stay on the market longer than the average dwelling, and their prices can fluctuate wildly. This is because, as with everything, the value of a luxury home is truly a moving target, subject to the preferences of qualified buyers.
For many homeowners considering listing their luxury home, a luxury real estate auction is an attractive way to place the property in front of well-qualified buyers without committing to an indefinitely long stint on the market. Meanwhile, for buyers, home auctions provide a streamlined buying process free of lengthy negotiations.
If you have questions about listing your luxury home at auction or finding your dream property, contact Elite Auctions today. We’d love to chat with you about your options!
