$1,000,000+ Home Sales

I have found over the years people are always fascinated with sales in the million-dollar price bracket. This past week I closed on one of my listings in Shenandoah Peaks for just over $1 million. In the process of preparing for that closing, a competitive real estate broker asked me why it was that we attracted the million-dollar client? It got me to thinking about that subject and I wanted to see what the realities were.

Since January 1 of this year, our MLS records show that there have been 13 residential real estate closings of $1 million or more in La Plata County. In "Realtor-talk" we say that there are always 2 sides to every transaction: the listing agent side and the selling agent side. Each of those sides could be represented by a different broker. Consequently, 13 transactions would equate to 26 "sides" of $1 million or more. Realizing that there are nearly 300 brokers in our board of Realtors... about 45 of which were get the Wells Group... in roughly 50 offices, it was quite interesting to me to find out that the Wells Group participated in 12 of the 26 sides. That is, we were involved in nearly 50% of the transactions over $1 million. Coldwell Banker was involved in 4 sides; Glacier Club Realty was involved in 3 sides; Prudential and Durango Mountain Realty were both involved in 2 sides each. Clearly the competitive broker's observation was accurate that the Wells Group is very successful in working with both buyers and sellers of million-dollar plus property. I find it particularly interesting to note that the Wells Group is not a franchise and in spite of that fact dominates the higher end market. I believe this is true because the Internet has effectively made the benefits of a franchise inconsequential. We have seen statistics that show nearly 90% of all home buyers start their search on the Internet. They are not searching for a franchise, they are searching for a home, so they go to the website said best meets those needs. We feel that the Team Lorenz website www.BuyDurango.com and the Wells Group website are especially good at meeting those needs.

There is an extra level of expertise that only required, but is expected from that high-end client. On Team Lorenz, both Nicole Perino and Rick Lorenz have obtained the Institute For Luxury Home Marketing certification, with Rick being La Plata County's very first member. Membership is obtained not only through classwork, but also through documented closed transactions in the luxury home price range. Over the years I have found that a very thorough and informative website with lots of photographs and virtual tours of our million-dollar properties has been very helpful. Www.BuyDurango.com has been online for over a decade and has won numerous awards and national recognition. If you're a buyer looking in that price range please give us a call as they would be more than happy to use our 40+ years of experience to help you.

Certified Negotiating Experts

This past week all three of the licensed brokers on Team Lorenz received their Certified Negotiation Expert professional designation. This is a nationally recognized program and is designed especially for real estate brokers. It was taught by Oliver Franscona a well-known real estate attorney from Denver. The two day class covered various techniques and styles of negotiating so that we as real estate brokers can better serve our clients whether they be buyers or sellers. Less than 1% of the Realtors nationwide have attained this designation.

Our team is dedicated to always improving our services and the additional classwork, training and transactions required to obtain many of these designations is certainly something that benefits our clients. Nicole Perino has received her Eco-broker designation, the CNE designations and the prestigious Luxury Home Marketing Institute designation. Lisa Govreau has received her CRS, GRI and now her CNE designations. Rick Lorenz has received the CRS, GRI, E-Pro, CNE, ABR designations as well as the Luxury Home Marketing Institute Certification. In addition Rick is a member of the CyberStars a by invitation only group of approximately 250 Realtors around the world.

Those of you that have used our services before know that we work very hard on behalf of the people that we represent. If you haven't used our services yet, we encourage you to begin the dialogue with one of our Team members. Please give us a call and we'll be happy to help you anyway that we can.