In Chicago, a city where high-rise condo towers dot the downtown skyline, Jim Kinney, CRS, with Baird & Warner, jokes with colleagues, “You drive to showings; I take elevators.”

Living It Up

A little specialized knowledge will have you towering above the competition in the high-rise condo market. 

By Daniel Rome Levine

In Chicago, a city where high-rise condo towers dot the downtown skyline, Jim Kinney, CRS, with Baird & Warner, jokes with colleagues, “You drive to showings; I take elevators.”

Indeed, in his more than 30 years of selling high-rise condo units, Kinney has developed a unique perspective on these buildings.

“I think of them as vertical versions of suburban housing developments,” he says. “They each have their own unique character, sense of community and amenities.”

Knowing the Nuances

Having expert knowledge of the buildings in your market and the ability to communicate their unique differences to clients from memory quickly and efficiently is a key to success in this market, says Kinney. “You have to be familiar with each building’s characteristics, its pluses and minuses, all its nuances,” he says.

High-rise condo buildings present REALTORS^® with a multitude of special challenges they wouldn’t normally face selling single-family homes — from rules regarding pets, to fees and assessments, to noise regulations, to restrictions on rentals.

But succeeding in this market is not a tall order. Armed with a detailed knowledge of the buildings in your city, you can set yourself apart from the competition and gain the long-term trust of clients who are seeking the convenience and ease of high-rise living and the lifestyle it offers.

The Condo Queens

In Philadelphia, Johanna Loke, CRS, and Jody Dimitruk, CRS, of Berkshire Hathaway Home Services, Fox & Roach, REALTORS^®, have each been selling high-rise downtown condos for almost 30 years, and as a team for the last six years. In fact, they are so well known in this niche market they have earned the playful nickname “the condo queens” among downtown doormen. Dimitruk jokes with clients that she is in these buildings so often the doormen actually know her better than her husband knows her.

But the level of expertise these two women bring to their jobs is no joking matter. Knowing the importance high-rise condo buyers place on a stress-free lifestyle with easy access to amenities, the two women can tell clients off the top of their heads not only the floor plans and exact measurements of individual units, but the specific amenities and features of the 20 or so most popular downtown high-rise condos.

Which buildings have a 24-hour desk person and maintenance staff? Which have pools? Which have gyms? Which have yoga rooms? Which have all of the above? Loke and Dimitruk pride themselves on being able to provide these kinds of details and many others to clients instantly without having to scramble for their smartphones or laptops to research the answers.

“To be effective, you have to be a specialist about every building,” says Loke. “That is the only way you can match a client’s specific lifestyle needs to the condo that is perfect for them.”

Narrowing the Options

Back in Chicago, Kinney spends a good deal of time interviewing buyer clients early on in the process to find out exactly what they are looking for in a high-rise condo. “Give me your wish list,” he tells them. He asks what features and amenities they consider “must-haves and non-negotiable,” and which are ones they feel less strongly about. “Asking these simple questions, you can very quickly narrow the list from hundreds of possible units down to a handful,” he says.

For instance, many clients Kinney works with are serious about cooking, he says, and only want to work on a gas stove. Establishing this up front as a priority can save a lot of time searching buildings since most high-rise condos in Chicago are all-electric buildings.

Kinney also always asks early in the process about pets because some high rises do not allow them. “The last thing you want to do is spend three days looking at buildings with clients, only to have them say, ‘Oh, by the way, we have a Labrador retriever.’ Then you have to go back and start at square one.”

Lifestyle Living

The High Life The tallest U.S. residential-only condo buildings
Building	Height	Floors
8 Spruce Street, New York City	876 ft.	76
Trump World Tower, New York City	861 ft.	72
One Museum Park, Chicago	734 ft.	62
The Austonian, Austin	683 ft.	56
Barclay Tower, New York City	673 ft.	56
340 on the Park, Chicago	672 ft.	64
55 East Erie, Chicago	647 ft.	56
Lake Point Tower, Chicago	645 ft.	70
River East Center, Chicago	644 ft.	58
Grand Plaza Apts., Chicago	641 ft.	57

In Miami Beach, people are drawn to high-rise condos for the stunning views they offer of the Atlantic Ocean and Biscayne Bay, says Ralph De Martino, CRS, founder and president of Ocean International Realty. “Living on the beach in a high-rise condo is a lifestyle,” he says, “I call it urban beach living. The air is fresh, the sun is always shining and you are just minutes away from restaurants and shopping.”

De Martino lives and works on separate floors of a 17-story beachfront high-rise. “I go days without getting in my car,” he says.

High-rise condos account for 90 percent of De Martino’s sales, but in an interesting twist, he has very little face-to-face contact with buyers and sellers. That’s because the majority of waterfront high-rise condo owners in Miami have their primary residences elsewhere and purchase these properties as second homes. “Almost all of my contracts and documents are signed by people [who are] not here,” he says.

Establishing Trust

De Martino’s client base is eclectic and international, with most of his sellers and buyers living in Latin America, Europe and Canada. With so many of his clients outside of Miami, De Martino says building a high level of trust with them is critically important. “Because they are not from here and are not living here, they really have to feel that they can count on you,” he says.

One way De Martino builds this trust is by taking the time to educate clients up front about the widely varying rental restrictions local high-rise condo buildings have in place. This is critical information, he says, because many potential out-of-town buyers do not realize they exist. For instance, except for condo hotels, no buildings permit weekly rentals. Only a handful allow 30-day rentals, and those that do, permit it only a few times a year. Some other buildings allow 90-day or 180-day rentals.

De Martino says he has to establish in the very early stages of working with clients why they are buying a high-rise condo and how they plan to use it. “You have to gain a clear understanding of how they picture themselves using a property and then try to find a building that will be a good fit for that,” he says. “You really have to know the specific rules and regulations of each building.”

De Martino and other REALTORS^® around the country who have developed a specialized, expert knowledge of high-rise condos have been able to establish themselves as the go-to agents in their local markets for people seeking such properties. And, as they have helped more and more satisfied clients find their dream spaces in the sky, they too have found their own careers reaching new heights.

 

Daniel Rome Levine is a writer based in Wilmette, Illinois.

 

Many high-rise condos are luxury homes. Download a recording of the CRS webinar Break into and Succeed in the Luxury Real Estate Market, with Jack Cotton, CRS.