You rarely have to look far to find a new story about either a celebrity buying a new luxury home or a writer exploring how much of a stake some stars have in the real estate market. A prime example of this is the recent exploration of Taylor Swift’s portfolio.
It has been revealed that Swift boasts eight homes that range from a penthouse to a landmark. At this top side of a billion, it’s a $150 million Manhattan penthouse and a Californian landmark once owned by legendary film producer Samuel Goldwyn that measures some 11,000 square feet.
Now, just because a celebrity has a bucket load of cash doesn’t mean that they’ll throw it at any old property. Instead, luxury home buyers tend to have a specific and unique checklist when they explore the market. Here’s a look at what they want and how they manage to capitalize on rare real estate opportunities.
What the Celebrities Want from Their Homes
Being a celebrity in the public eye means that they need to consider additions to the property. This includes having a security house, security tech hook-ups, and even quarters for staff members.
In a recent trend, celebrities have been targeting beach-facing homes and properties with more space and privacy that lead to the beach. Of course, it’s not uncommon to hear of a celebrity getting a beach-side penthouse, but usually these are second or third homes. Increasingly, the isolation of the coast is being sought for main homes.
This move does somewhat hinder another big desire of celebrities. They have to commute as much as we do – sometimes more with international travel – so they prefer to be fairly close to major cities or airports. As long as there’s a private landing strip nearby, they can make do.
Finally, Celebrities tend to like big open spaces with clean-cut design aesthetics. Everything tends to be quite minimalist these days to emphasize the spaces indoors, until it comes to the amenities. Decking areas, hot tubs, sauna rooms, and something akin to a library will all sell well with celebrities.
Ready for the Luxury Market
Being nimble in the luxury market is even more difficult than in the housing market for everyone else. When celebrities want to upgrade, not only do they need to wait for one of the few luxury homes in an ideal location to go up for sale, but they also need to be able to sell their current place.
When looking to sell, celebrities often put their home in the hands of a luxury real estate agent, who’ll battle to get the house sold while they spend their additional cash on the new place. Then again, you do sometimes see celebs struggling to shift their old properties because of the high prices, while there may be a cash house buyer out there that’s willing to come close to those hefty demands.
For people in the regular housing market, concerns such as these will likely have little impact on the sale process. Homes for sale tend to be much more accessible price-wise, thus opening up to faster sales. However, if this isn’t the case, you could similarly end up looking for how to sell to a cash house buyer. In this case, online sale services can provide fast, free cash offers, allowing individuals to sell on their own terms, and guarantee a sale. People can sell to the service, wait until they’re ready to buy somewhere new, and then move without the burden of a property chain.
While the pool of potential landing spots is rather small, celebrities have a strong list of requirements and tend to keep themselves nimble to jump on any more desirable homes that come on the market.