Do you have a luxury home you want to sell? What are luxury home buyers looking for in a luxury home? Adding some of the most desirable features that today’s luxury buyers are looking for will make your home more attractive and will likely translate to more money in your pocket.
Luxury Home Buyers Seek an Extraordinary Living Experience
Today’s luxury home buyer is seeking a wise investment in a home that offers an extraordinary living experience. Luxury home builders and architects are incorporating a huge number of high tech amenities that cater to the demands of the affluent home buyer.
Modern Technology with Timeless Style
Over the past several decades, we have seen a cavalcade of astonishing features including bowling alleys, discos, helicopter pads, indoor shooting ranges and beauty salons to name a few. Designers today are matching amenities to the changing ways we live our lives. It’s more than just conspicuous consumption; it’s about integrating modern technology with timeless style.
Smart Home Technologies
Today’s most in-demand feature is smart home technologies that monitor and manage systems both inside and outside the home. Using a smartphone from anywhere in the world, owners can do almost anything from adjusting lighting to making sure doors are locked to changing thermostat settings to turning on the sauna and virtually anything else tech connected. It seems that almost every few weeks, a new smart home feature is introduced that further enhances a luxury home. Super efficiency is a much sought after feature.
Usable Outdoor Living Spaces
Outdoor rooms are becoming essential. Outdoor living is a relatively new concept which involves altering landscapes and turning the land surrounding the house into a blend of gardens, terraces and patios. Gardens expressing a theme or reflecting the owner’s passions are among luxury’s newest indulgences. Scent garden to attract butterflies, dragonflies and hummingbirds and meditation gardens designed for yoga are favorites. Koi ponds, fountains and waterfalls enliven sight and sound, adding sparkle and a dimension to landscapes that few other amenities can deliver. In Austin, having one’s own private putting green is the next best thing to a private golf course. Integrating the outdoor world with the inside of a home is high on the list of desirable features. Check out Wooden Home Decorating Tips.
Full Outdoor Kitchens with More than Just a Grill
Fast becoming one of luxury’s most desired amenities, today’s outdoor kitchen includes the mandatory high tech grill that can burn charcoal, wood and even gas. Side burners, smoking baskets, integrated lighting, seating options and infrared burners turn a grill into a versatile appliance. We’re often seeing Big Green Eggs to accompany these high tech grills for a different cooking experience. A highly desirable outdoor kitchen in a luxury home now includes beer taps, refrigerators, drawer freezers, wine chillers, sink, ice maker and even a dishwasher. Luxury home buyers want to create a unique outdoor living experience.
Green Living and Energy Efficient Homes
More than ever, luxury buyers are opting for highly efficient energy products and green features such as permeable pavers, programmable sprinkler systems that conserve water, methods to capture and store rainwater, low energy appliances and natural materials. Luxury home owners are adapting to the new technologies, geothermal and wind turbines and recognizing that a green certification such as LEED and NAHB Green are luxury’s newest status symbols.
Privacy – The More the Better
For many, privacy is a priceless commodity. Fences, walls, trees and hedges that create a buffer along the property’s perimeter is the owner’s first line of defense making the entire property an oasis of privacy. Sporting accoutrements like tennis courts, sports courts, bocce ball court, stables and riding trails are great fun and relaxation especially when you have the privacy to enjoy it. Seclusion offers a detachment from the outside world…a place to get away from it all.
A Master Bedroom Refuge
Private refuge doesn’t begin to tell the story with today’s master bedroom suites. It’s a whole lot more than a bedroom and a sitting room. Master bedroom suites today are comparable to a small, elegant apartment. A mini-kitchen makes it easy to enjoy morning coffee or a nightcap without stalking the house. Many master bedroom suites offer some access to the outdoors with private balconies and decks or the ultimate private garden with a plunge pool.
Closets can consume even more square footage to organize wardrobes, ample dressing areas and space to pack suitcases. Extras often include, flat-screen televisions, cappuccino makers and sometimes laundry facilities. Bathroom appointments are superb with electronic controls orchestrating all the essentials.
Home Gym and Exercise Room
A home gym or exercise room is a must-have; its a place to renew mind, body and soul. The most elaborate have additional space for Yoga and Pilates, along with all the basic equipment. No home gym would be restorative without the additional pampering of a home spa. Not too long ago, a sauna and perhaps an indoor hot tub were considered ample enough, but today steam showers, a sauna spacious enough to accommodate several people, a massage room and a hot tub are considered essentials. And, whether it’s a modest resistance pool or a grand affair reminiscent of a roman bath, an indoor pool is a place to facilitate well being.
A Spectacular, Gourmet Kitchen
The kitchen is still the heart of the home and primary gathering point. A visually impressive kitchen that incorporates function, design and practicality is highly sought after by luxury home buyers. The current trend is a mix of finishes, several different places to hang out and to dine, and relish the warm ambiance. A catering kitchen, or at the very least a working pantry, is a must to facilitate large events. Beverage centers are a new activity zone in the kitchen. Located away from the cooking area, they might include a built-in espresso machine, beverage chillers and some wine storage.
Casitas and Guesthouses
Especially in Austin, casitas and separate guest houses have never been more popular with the luxury home buyer. Some can be a mini-apartment and others resemble an upscale hotel suite. As Austin becomes more of the heart and soul of Texas, it is likely homeowners might expect more visitors. A casita is a great demonstration of Texas hospitality and a great place for guests to visit, but have their own space away from the main home.
Climate Controlled Wine Cellars
Wine cellars continue to be an integral feature of luxury homes, not only to display wines and sip vintages, but to also ensure top-notch libations. With home entertaining growing, a wine cellar adds that special finishing touch to a home decor. The most highly sought after luxury homes will have climate controlled wine cellars, for the true wine enthusiast.
Recreation Rooms for Indoor Virtual Entertainment
No, not a “rec room!” In today’s luxury home one can expect, at minimum, the mainstay home theater with superior video and audio equipment, comfortable sitting and sight angles, professionally designed lighting and sound capability. Separate game rooms provide space for video and arcade games, pool and table tennis, darts, and lately several luxury buyers are asking for full-blown pubs in a variety of themes. In Austin, some golf addicts have installed virtual golf so they can played their favorite course day or night.
Home Office
A home office is as much a sanctuary as a productivity center. Today, offices also are likely to include a conference room for meetings and offices for ancillary staff. Often, offices can double as a library. As beautiful as they are utilitarian, libraries are as much a place to strategize, plan and recharge as they are a home for books. Lately, almost every luxury home seems to have a library, even if it’s just a cozy spot for cognac or port at the end of a busy day.
Safe Rooms
There is a lot of hype today about safe rooms, but one that is completely self contained and impregnable is beyond most budgets. However, creating a space with some basic electronics to buy time until police arrive is affordable and it does provide some measure of confidence if things go badly. Designers and architects are using found space behind bookcases or camouflaged in closets for this purpose, and as a repository for a safe or to store valuables.
Own a Luxury Home You’d Like to Sell?
We can help you determine which of these improvements make sense for your home and which will add the most value to your bottom line. Check out our Austin Home Sellers page for more info about our home selling system. Then, call us at (512) 827-8323 or email us at info@11OaksRealty.com to schedule a no obligation consultation.
What’s Your Vision of Luxury Living?
Looking to buy a luxury home in the Austin area? We know the Austin luxury real estate market and can help you realize your vision of luxury living in Austin. Check out our Austin Home Buyers page to learn more about our team and how we work. Then call us at (512) 827-8323 or email us at info@11OaksRealty.com to schedule a no obligation consultation.
How Much is Your Austin Luxury Home Worth?
Online real estate portals will give you an estimate for what your Austin luxury home is worth. Need a more detailed analysis? Try our Qualified Luxury Home Evaluation.
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