Although Jordan Ayan’s venture into luxury real estate started just two years ago, he has already done $22M in closed volume and has another $17M in active listings in his Scottsdale, AZ market. Jordan admits that his story is a bit unusual.
He and his wife, who is a designer by trade, had built three other successful businesses in the marketing industry before getting into luxury real estate. After selling off their last business to a public company, his wife had an inkling that she wanted to flip a house.
Jordan agreed and got his real estate license but during that first home flip, they realized the process simply wasn’t for them. Not ready to let his real estate license go to waste, Jordan and his wife thought back over their experiences they had when purchasing their own real estate and remembered being unimpressed by the agents they had used and thought that maybe, if they applied their business and marketing experience to luxury real estate, they could give clients of their own a better experience.
Their first listing was a $2M home that had been on the market for over 400 days, and after Jordan and his wife were done working their marketing magic, the home sold in just 58 days at the same price.
Adapting to real estate trends in the luxury market with styling and staging
In Jordan’s Scottsdale market, buyers are moving away from what he and his wife call, “Tired Tuscans” and into “Vibrant Villas”. To adapt to these more modern real estate market trends, the pair makes it their goal to transform dated estates into something with more current appeal.
“We do things at a different level in terms of our styling and staging, which we include as part of our process,” Jordan explains.
However, the pair’s styling and staging go a bit further than just updating furniture, amenities, and new paint. Jordan says their listing photography will include things like a styled pasta and wine dinner in an Italian rustic kitchen, or a full Sunday brunch out on a big, bright patio.
Their approach is largely informed by consistent real estate market trends showing that today’s luxury buyer is more interested in the quality of life a property affords them rather than simply the effect it has on their social status.
“We think our job is to tell the story [of the property], and we have to tell it in 800 characters or less in the MLS,” he says, explaining that the styled photos help to tell that story. “Our job is not to sell the house, it’s to sell the lifestyle.”
Showing homes with a plan
Another thing that Jordan credits his success to is attending all of his own showings. Beforehand, he and his wife will walk through a property, define any possible objections, and get out ahead of them before bringing guests through the home.
“We’re going to take the first five to ten minutes of the time the person is there in the home and take them on a tour so that they see the most important elements of it, especially the elements that would be easy to overlook and things that might factor into the pricing desirability.” Jordan explains.
An example he gives is pointing out things like a Hepa air filter, or going through a home that may be close to a road and getting its noise meter reading before anyone walks through to address that issue upfront.
Getting inspiration from the Institute
One thing that has set Jordan apart in his market is creating a monthly North Scottsdale Luxury Real Estate Report on real estate market trends in his area on his website, which he says was inspired by the Institute. He adds that the report can get him anywhere from five to six listings each time he creates a new one.
“The institute has been invaluable to me because we came into this two years ago knowing nothing about real estate as an agent, and certainly not anything about how to talk to clients. We knew from our own experience, but we didn’t know the norms in this industry.”
He adds that becoming part of the Million Dollar Guild through ILHM last year gave them a level of credibility that can’t be bought.
Jordan also speaks highly of the other agents in the Institute’s network saying, “I would refer someone to a member of the Institute before I’d refer to an agent who’s just a part of my brokerage.”
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