Photo courtesy of Coldwell Banker New England
Michael Harper
Realtor, Coldwell Banker – Back Bay
Industry experience: 22 years
Age: 40
A build-up of inventory is reshaping the larger Greater Boston housing market, but things are playing out a little differently in the luxury space. There, sellers aren’t beholden to the whims of interest rates and buyers aren’t scared off by rising costs. Michael Harper, who recently re-affiliated with Coldwell Banker’s Back Bay office after a five-year stint with independent luxury brokerage MGS Group Real Estate, is watching that unfold. Before relocating to Boston in 2005, Harper built a successful career in Maine, where he held a broker’s license and sold homes, acreage and investment properties on Mount Desert Island. Harper claims over $2 billion in sales over a career spanning more than 20 years.
Q: What does being affiliated with Coldwell Banker now allow you to do with your business?
A: Working in a small brokerage, there were a number of things that were challenging. A lot of things that Coldwell Banker offers in terms of an incredibly large network, a very powerful brand that’s established, brand that is very well known. Obviously here in Boston, it has been a leader in the market for generations. It’s an office and a network that really caters to its agents. There’s really no office that I would say in the Greater Boston area that does a better job of not just looking out for the agents and working with them to help them grow, but also set them up for a platform to grow their business any way that they desire.
Q: How has the market changed recently?
A: Depending on what you’re looking for, some of the very desirable historic neighborhoods like the Back Bay, Beacon Hill or the South End are performing quite well. We are seeing more inventory than we’ve seen in years past, and we’ve definitely seen opportunity for buyers who are willing to negotiate, but we’re now seeing sellers negotiate more than they have in years past. I wouldn’t say that our market has become incredibly soft, although we are seeing some flexibility. We’re seeing longer days on market [per listing], and there’s opportunity there for buyers who are willing to step up to the plate.
Q: Economic volatility seems like it made ordinary single-family buyers a bit reluctant this spring. How did that volatility affect luxury buyers?
A: A luxury buyer or an ultra-luxury buyer is less impacted by economic forces, and they are far more impacted by personal driving factors, emotional factors, familial situations, personal situations. That will determine whether or not they’d like to acquire a new property. When you are obviously in that realm of wealthy or ultra-wealthy, and they have the resources to buy what they want, when they want, there’s no rhyme or reason to that, other than it’s the right time or it’s the right property. When you are an ultra-luxury buyer and you want a very specific location, or you have specific needs in a home, those properties aren’t always available. So, if you’re one of those buyers, and you have the means, and one of those homes comes up, and you’re in the right place at the right time, you do it.
Q: When there is a pendulum swing towards buyers in general, does that create an opportunity for luxury buyers?
A: So that really is that case-by-case. You’re definitely going to find sellers out there who have really deep pockets. I think the outside community that looks at the Boston market, it underestimates individuals’ ability to just navigate the market or hold on to their property. Boston buyers and sellers are incredibly smart people. They’re fiscally conservative people. Most of the clients I work with, and people that I know who buy homes, buy significantly under what they can afford. If they get an offer and they don’t like the numbers, they’re happy to wait it out.
In other markets and other areas where we often see or hear people being highly leveraged, that’s not the case here. The Boston mentality is a conservative mentality when it comes to home ownership, and that also keeps our prices stable and our markets strong. I’ve seen many buyers make incredibly competitive offers on homes where sellers are like, “You know what? I’ve been on the market for a year-plus, but I’m willing to wait.” We do that often, and I think that keeps our market healthy.
Q: What challenges can arise in these specific deals?
A: I think one of the most important things that you can bring for your clients in any situation – I think it’s really regardless of price point but it becomes more sensitive as price points go up – is discretion. I think buyers, particularly very high-end buyers, highly value privacy and being able to offer them that is incredibly important. Obviously having access and market knowledge, being able to get doors open to homes that maybe aren’t publicly available, incredibly valuable. You also have to know the sales – the public sales, the private sales – buyers who are in the market at any given time, whether they’re my client or somebody else’s client, and being able to competently and confidently show those homes with qualified buyers for the sellers who hire me, or being able to get my buyers into the kind of properties that they’re looking for.
Q: What is it about the Boston market that keeps attracting luxury and ultra-luxury clients?
A: Boston is an incredibly livable city. I think people underestimate how easy it is to live in Boston as a major metro community. Obviously, we have phenomenal educational systems here across the board, whether they’re public or private universities. We’re easily accessible to a number of other major markets. Logan [Airport] being in the city, you can get almost anywhere in the world from our airport that’s in our downtown market. We have industries like financial services and biotech and research, and a lot of very high paying jobs. Our geographic area is small, so we don’t have a lot of physical room for people to go. It keeps us stable, and it also keeps us desirable.
Harper’s Five Favorite Things About Boston
- Its deep political and social history
- The cityscape
- Ease and convenience of living
- Amazing public green spaces
- The people
