Top Luxury Brokerages for High-End Properties

Considering selling your million-dollar home? These are the top luxury real estate brokerages for high end properties you need to know about.

Table of Contents:

Best Luxury Real Estate Companies

Sotheby’s International Realty

Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices

Keller Williams Luxury International

The RE/MAX Collection

Compass Luxury Homes

Christie’s International Real Estate

Coldwell Banker Global Luxury

Alternative Options to Luxury Brokerages

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

What is the most prestigious real estate company?

How do you attract high end real estate clients?

Who is the best real estate broker in the world?

What are the biggest real estate brokerages?

How do you attract million dollar listings?

Can real estate agents become millionaires?

What defines luxury real estate?

When it comes to selling a high-end house, the initial impression is everything. Beautiful images and a well-thought-out sales approach are merely the beginning. The greatest high-end real estate businesses employ luxury realtors and even famous real estate agents that know how to advertise your house to the ideal buyers and negotiate an offer that optimizes your ultimate sale price.

If you aren’t ready to create your own marketing plans, these are the top real estate brokerages you should know about.

Best Luxury Real Estate Companies

Things aren’t exactly like Selling Sunset when it comes to luxury properties. Chances are, your luxury homes company won’t throw a dog’s birthday party at your house. However, if you have high expectations in mind, open house parties can certainly be negotiated.

Based on fame, sales volume, popularity, and consumer reviews, these are the best real estate brokerages where you’ll receive full service.

Sotheby’s International Realty

Realogy’s Sotheby’s Worldwide Realty is a subsidiary of the famed international auction business of the same name. This agency, which was founded in 1976, is dedicated to offering the same high-quality service that Sotheby’s is known for.

In 2004, the auction house and Realogy agreed to license the Sotheby’s International Realty brand. By granting franchises to specific real estate brokerages, this relationship extended the real estate brand global. Sotheby’s is now one of the world’s leading luxury real estate organizations, with over 21,000 agents under its umbrella.

Sotheby’s is more than just a piece of history. It began delivering high-definition property walkthroughs utilizing Virtual Reality and Apple TV in 2016, demonstrating that this legendary luxury real estate firm is still cutting-edge in the twenty-first century.

Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices

Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices sells commercial, residential, and luxury house real estate. While Berkshire isn’t only a high-end real estate business, its network of highly educated Luxury Collection Specialists has the knowledge to assist sellers and buyers in obtaining the best deal.

Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices is the third-largest real estate brokerage in the United States as of 2021, with more than $150 billion in yearly sales volume, over 800 locations, and approximately 45,000 licensed agents.

Keller Williams Luxury International

Keller Williams, founded in 1983, is the world’s largest real estate brokerage firm by agent count. Their Luxury International section caters to the real estate industry’s upper crust.

This brokerage company promotes itself as a customer service specialist who focuses on their clients’ needs, whether selling or buying a home. Luxury International fulfills the requirements of high-end buyers and sellers through its offices around the United States, the KW brand, and its extensive global agent network.

Keller Williams is revered as one of the top real estate brokerage firms by their agents due to the technology and training they provide in-house.

The RE/MAX Collection

RE/MAX, like many other leading real estate brokerages, provides unique services to high-end buyers and sellers through its RE/MAX Collection division. To be eligible for the RE/MAX Collection, a house must be worth at least double the average selling price in the local market.

RE/MAX Collection offers more than 23,000 premium agents worldwide to help you purchase or sell a home no matter where you are.

Compass Luxury Homes

Compass Luxury Homes is the youngest of the bunch but is quickly becoming one of the top real estate companies in 2022.

Like Richr, they offer a concierge service to set themselves apart. However, theirs goes beyond online assistance. They claim to help sellers prepare for the market by providing staging and even full-on repairs to help them sell for the highest dollar. They also cater to the tech-savvy home sellers and buyers through the mobile app that showcases properties personally curated for them and can message directly with their agent.

Christie’s International Real Estate

Christie’s International Real Estate is easily in many top 10 real estate company profiles. They only work with properties that are priced at 1 million or more. That means they have experience working with luxury buyers and have a network of clientele at the ready.

Just like Sotheby’s, Christie’s International Real Estate is also a subsidiary of an international auction house that is hundreds of years old. They have closed over $500 billion in real estate over the last 5 years alone.

Coldwell Banker Global Luxury

Despite this being Century 21’s tagline, Coldwell Banker’s luxury division claims they are the gold standard for luxury real estate. With over 3,000 offices, they focus on customer service for high end luxury properties.

Buyers and sellers choose Coldwell Banker for their long-standing history, track record, and reputation throughout the country by leveraging technology and agent expertise.

Alternative Options to Luxury Brokerages

Just because you own a luxury home doesn’t mean you need to work with a luxury brokerage. On a one-million-dollar home, you could be paying 5-6% commission on top of your closing costs. While that may not seem like much at a glance, it equals $50,000-$60,000. Imagine what you could do after putting that into more investments!

Richr can empower luxury home sellers to make the most of their sales by listing on MLS for free. However, if you’re selling a luxury property, here is what we’d recommend to make it a success when selling for sale by owner:

• Get professional staging, photography, and videography. While your initial investment may be anywhere from $300-$5,000, this can go a long way in making a great first impression without paying a real estate agent to do it for you.
• Create a buzz with a newsworthy open house event. Don’t have the bland and boring cookies and balloons waiting for potential buyers. Go all out with something memorable to get them talking about the home for sale with family and friends.
• Be patient. Luxury homes can be more challenging to sell, even in a fast-paced sellers’ market. Look at the homes in your area to give yourself an idea of how quickly luxury homes are selling in your area.
• Showcase the lifestyle your home can bring to the new owners. What are the best nearby restaurants or reasons to move to that community? Instead of showcasing an owner’s suite with a walk-out patio, create marketing material about sipping coffee with the sunrise. Keep in mind, selling luxury homes is about lifestyle as much as it is about craftsmanship.

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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

What is the most prestigious real estate company?

When you’re looking for high end real estate companies, you’ll want to work for the most prestigious one out there. However, when it comes to this rating, it varies on personal preference. Prestigious refers to inspiring respect and admiration while holding a high status.

Most major brands, including Berkshire Hathaway, Re/Max, Keller Williams, Century 21, Sotheby’s, etc., can boast their prestigious status with awards, testimonials, community recognition, and more. However, the only true luxury realtor that holds a Guinness World Record is Ben Caballero. In 2019, he sold 3,982 homes worth more than 1.569 billion. He is currently with HomesUSA.

How do you attract high end real estate clients?

If you want to figure out how to get into luxury real estate, you’ll want to attract high end real estate clients first. A few ways you can do this vary from networking to advertising and old-fashioned cold calling. Land your next high end home with one of our tips below:

• Network at local entrepreneur events
• Start door knocking high end homes
• Build your presence on social media, catering to luxury houses
• Target advertising toward luxury expensive houses

Who is the best real estate broker in the world?

Ben Caballero, the founder and CEO of HomesUSA.com, is the most prolific individual luxury real estate agent in the United States, according to The Wall Street Journal and HousingWire, and as independently corroborated by RealTrends. He has twice been recognized by Guinness World Records for the highest number of home sale transactions through MLS by an individual sell-side real estate agent.

• Ben sold 6,438 homes in 2020, totaling $2.46 billion in sales.
• Ben sold 5,778 homes in 2019 for a total of $2.25 billion.
• In 2018, Ben sold 5,801 homes for a total of $2.27 billion.
• He sold 43,265 homes for a total of $15.188 billion between 2004 and 2020.

What are the biggest real estate brokerages?

Biggest and best sometimes go hand-in-hand, but that isn’t always the case when it comes to the best of luxury realty. While these are some of the most prominent real estate companies, there’s no ultimate evaluation that can state if they’re the best for you.

1. Realogy Holdings Corp (commonly known as Sotheby’s)
2. Keller Williams Realty
3. RE/MAX
4. HomeServices of America (commonly known as Berkshire Hathaway)
5. Compass

These 5 top luxury real estate companies represented 44% of the total sales volume in 2020 compared to the dozens of other competing real estate brokerages.

How do you attract million dollar listings?

In order to attract million dollar listings, you’ll need to think about what it takes to sell upscale properties. The first step is exuding the confidence that you’re able to rock the high end home sales in order for million-dollar property owners to trust you selling their home. But here are a few things you can do to convince them:

• Post about luxury collection real estate online
• Have a fantastic website that showcases luxury realty
• Have a marketing plan that you can share with luxury homeowners when you pitch your expertise to them

Can real estate agents become millionaires?

High-end real estate agents can become millionaires through hard work, persistence, and dedication. Most successful real estate agents charge 5-6% commission on a home sale if you break it down. To be conservative, if top luxury real estate agents only bring in 2.5% after splitting it with the buyers’ agent, they’ll earn $25,000 per million dollar sale.

Top real estate agents would need to sell 40 homes per year at that rate in order to reach the million dollars in gross commission. Keep in mind that a large chunk of change is taken after taxes. They’ll also have to pay the luxury real estate brokerage.

What defines luxury real estate?

The threshold of what defines luxury real estate depends on what area you’re living in. Anything over one million dollars would be considered worth the trouble for luxury real estate companies in some areas. However, real estate brokerage firms in more lucrative areas, such as Miami or L.A., may argue that the two million dollar mark is what qualifies luxury real estate.

If you’ve been searching for a luxury real estate brokerage to help you with your real estate journey, you’ll want to check the reviews in your local area. While Berkshire Hathaway or Sotheby’s may have raving reviews in one area, they could be falling short in another. If you want to save thousands on commission, the top real estate agency for you is Richr. You can list on MLS for free and give your luxury property exposure on over 750 websites. Now, that’s a luxury service that isn’t a luxury price!