Luxury real estate developers has flooded new housing inventory across the country, particularly in major cities such as Airport Residential, Airport City, Cantonment and East Legon. These upscale homes have not only transformed where people are living or who is buying, but they have also beautified the city with high-rise development. For Augustine Ewiah, Leader of the Cameo1 Homes, and his clients such as Rev Obofour, see ( Shatta Wale visit Rev Obofour’s $3 million Trasacco Mansion) new development has taken the real estate market to new heights – and buyers expectations has risen along with it.
As the Luxury real estate market evolves, more buyers at all price points expect move in ready homes, or a fair enough price cut to make up for needed update and changes. Augustine offers insight into how he does business- and how a Luxury broker’s approach can serve you well when selling your home.
Create a profile of the buyer: With any home sale, you want to appeal to as wide a market as possible, but it’s natural that you can rule out certain homebuyers because the home wouldn’t fit into their lifestyle. Maybe the location isn’t close enough to desired schools for their children, or for an individual who works long hours, a space might not be conducive to a focused working environment. For his new listing at Trasacco, East Legon ,Augustine is working with his team to determine the buyer demographic most likely to be attracted to the price range, number of bedrooms, prime location and other details about the space, building and neighborhood. “We feel the buyer wouldn’t be a single or young trophy-asset buyer, it has to be someone with a large family or staff” Augustine says. He notes there are neighborhoods in Accra that are attractive such a specific type of individuals or family that it allows realtors to determine the mostly likely buyers, down to which schools their children attend and which stores they frequent.
For your home, consider staging and renovations that may cater best to a buyer likely to look in your neighborhood and the price point for the market value of your home. A home just down the block from an elementary school, for example, could easily appeal to buyers with young children who could walk to and from school. Staging additional bedrooms as kids’ room and the finished basement as a playroom will help buyers to see the space’s potential. For a home centrally located near nightlife hot spots like Osu, single buyers or small families may be more likely to show interest in the area. Staging a spare room as a home office or home gym could paint the picture for the most likely buyer, without ruling out the possibility that could be used as child’s bedroom or a guest room.
“When you are dealing with Luxury and trophy assets, these are people who do not need to move. They are fine “Augustine says. “The buyer has a lot of power because now we are in the market where instead of four properties in that price point, there is twelve.” Negotiations can get complicated and drawn out as buyers see no need to make a purchase until they want out of a deal. Augustine says the key to a successful sale at top dollar is to offer something the buyer can’t get anywhere else.
