One of the best ways to judge the strength of the luxury housing market is to simply count the number of serious buyers at a weekend open house event.
Recently, I held an open house at my newest listing: 4329 McFarlin in Highland Park. This immaculate home completed in 2002 offers more than 6,200 square feet of living space, a downstairs master suite, a corner lot with 90-foot frontage in the well-respected Highland Park school district and a lagoon-style pool. 
The property is offered at the very competitive price of $1,999,000. Judging by the attendance at Sunday’s open house, a house with this much bang for the buck won’t last long in today’s luxury market. In a two-hour stretch, approximately 35 people toured the residence. Many of these folks were not simply “kicking tires,” they were seriously in search of a new home.
In addition to luxury home shoppers being drawn to competitively priced homes, a trend I am increasingly seeing (and this open house strongly reinforced) is their desire for a downstairs master suite. Often these same buyers are also looking for a downstairs guest suite for their aging parents.
Another trend I am seeing quite often is buyers looking to simplify their lives by downsizing from a larger home to a smaller home that is completely move-in ready.
Lastly, entertaining at home remains a very strong draw for luxury home buyers. Well-appointed kitchens, game rooms and an outdoor entertainment area – preferably one that is surrounded by a pool – are major factors in just how many luxury home shoppers will visit an open house. These same attributes are also often the determining factors in just how fast a well-priced home such as 4329 McFarlin will sell.
Posted by:
Dave Perry-Miller
Welcome to our Leaders in Luxury blog – a showcase of the top experts in luxury real estate and home design in some of the most exclusive luxury markets around the world. The contributors are an elite group of the best of the best and are members of Luxury Portfolio Fine Property Collection® - a collection of the top independent luxury real estate brokerages worldwide, including North and South America, Europe, Australia and islands of the Caribbean, Mediterranean and Pacific. Read on to hear what the experts are saying about the latest happenings in their respective markets and areas of expertise.
All indications are the market is experiencing the bounce we typically associate with springtime in Texas. This year luxury home sales are growing stronger at a time of year that we often see sales begin to slow. I attribute much of the “typical” summer slowdown to the extreme heat of summer in Texas and the mass exodus of affluent buyers to second homes and vacations in much cooler climates.
A fine example of the market gaining steam in Dallas is my listing at 3412 Princeton in Highland Park, which recently went under contract. This immaculate, updated Tudor is in the very competitive $1- to $2 million price range in the sought-after Highland Park Independent School District. Currently there are 258 homes for sale in this price range in the few square miles that the district serves. To compete effectively in this market, a home really has to stand out. In addition to an aggressive marketing campaign, I focused on two things in particular with 3412 Princeton: knowledgeable pricing based on market conditions and staging the home to bring out its fun personality. The residence was staged by Barry Williams, a Dallas-based designer with impeccable taste and attention to detail. Barry’s stellar work helped buyers appreciate the home’s inherent charm and visualize its potential.
Posted by:
Dave Perry-Miller
