The burst of the housing bubble caused a major shift in the real estate market, but one niche segment has remained fairly strong through it all—the ultraluxury segment.
Multimillion-dollar mansion sales were up 25 percent through the fall, and in New York City, prices on some ultraluxury apartments have recently doubled.
Of course, there's a particular segment of the realty industry that caters to buyers of mega-mansions.
We wanted to know more about these savvy and successful realtors, so we combed the MLS listings, reached out to real estate industry professionals, and spoke to the brokers themselves to compile a list of realtors who made the biggest single-home sales in the past year.
This isn't a definitive list. Sales at high price points are often conducted privately, and information on those deals is not made public. In other cases, sales are only listed by brokerage firm.
But we wanted to meet the individuals behind major sales, so we focused only on those realtors whom we could identify, and spoke to many of them about why they were so successful (we've also got their best insider tips here).
They're presented here in alphabetical order.
Josh Altman handled the sale of a $16.5 million mansion in Beverly Hills
Sold: An 11-bedroom, 16-bathroom mansion on Beverly Park that has both mountain and city views and a paddle tennis court.
__________________
The celebrity realtor, one of the stars of Bravo's hit Million Dollar Listings, scored the sixth-highest sale last year in Los Angeles County when this deal closed.
When pulling in such a mega-deal, Altman said his experience is his best asset.
"It's a strategy that you kind of just learn from doing lots of sales," he said, adding that realtors have to be on their "A-game" when dealing with high-end customers, because the customers are very smart and business-savvy and have lots of options.
Before joining the prestigious Hilton & Hyland firm, Altman invested in properties and began flipping homes about 10 years ago. From there he migrated to the finance side of real estate and eventually wound up on the agent side.
"The most important thing when showing these people houses is you've got to show them the value," he said.
Emily Beare sold a Fifth Avenue apartment for $13 million
Sold: A penthouse apartment in the cupola on Fifth Ave. in New York City.
________________________
Beare got a once-in-a-career chance when she scored the opportunity to sell one of the five residential cupolas in the city.
"This was truly, truly a very unique property," she said.
That uniqueness of the apartment lent itself to an impressive sale. Beare never advertised the vacancy in the building, but people were still drawn to the listing because of how beautiful the building was.
Beare got her start in the industry after she was introduced to some South African developers who needed her help with a project. Through the project she met the CEO of CORE Group and her career took off.
During her time in the business, she has seen a shift in her clients.
"I think the luxury market is at least changing. It's changing with the times," she said, adding that more creative types are snapping up high-end real estate.
And one of those creative types brought her to tears. Beare had been trying to place an artist in a home for years but the right thing hadn't come along. So Beare started waking up earlier and earlier to check the latest listings and she finally found an apartment that had just hit the market.
It belonged to Elizabeth Murray, a woman her client greatly admired. Once Beare brought her client to the apartment, she said they both burst into tears because they knew they had finally found the right place.
Kyle Blackmon sold Sandy Weill's penthouse to the daughter of a Russian Oligarch for $88 million
Sold: A penthouse, located at 15 Central Park West, with four and half bathrooms, four bedrooms, 19 glass doors, and a wrap-around terrace.
_______________________
Ekaterina Rybolovleva, daughter of Russian billionaire Dmitry Rybolovlev, bought the fancy digs that used to belong to Citigroup CEO Sandy Weill.
The apartment is the most expensive ever sold in New York City.
Blackmon, who declined to be interviewed, was the listing agent for the property. He has sold more than $300 million in luxury property during the past five years. He employs a team of bankers, tax specialists, and interior designers, among others, according to his website.
Click here to read about the oligarch who bought the apartment >
See the rest of the story at Business Insider
Please follow The Life on Twitter and Facebook.
See Also:
- 35 Luxury Real Estate Agents Share Their Secrets For Selling Mansions
- Dolce & Gabbana Officially Apologizes To Hong Kong For That Photo-Banning Incident
- 11 Facts About The World's Changing Appetite For Luxury Watches