There is a new way to go luxury house hunting. In cities like Miami, Los Angeles and Chicago, real-estate agents have taken to the skies using helicopter tours to impress clients while letting them avoid traffic and enjoy bird’s eye views of potential neighborhoods and possible next-door neighbors, the Wall Street Journal detailed.
“We don’t do it for just anyone—they have to be very well-qualified,” Gwen Banta, a Los Angeles-based luxury broker who has flown clients over USD11 million and USD16 million homes in rural Southern California locations, explained to the newspaper. “You come in over the lake and get that view and they’re sold on the area before they ever touch ground.”
How much do these helicopter house hunting expeditions cost? Well, if you’re lucky, your broker will foot the bill. The Wall Street Journal noted that prices start at USD650 to USD800 an hour for a three-passenger helicopter and pilot should you need to pay for things yourself. A lot of real estate agents who offer helicopter showings also provide sightseeing tours and catered lunches for clients as part of the package.
“To provide something that a really wealthy person would appreciate is not an easy thing to do,” Chris Feurer, CEO of Jameson Sotheby’s International Realty in Chicago, pointed out. His agency began organizing helicopter viewings of properties with a minimum USD1.5 million purchase price in 2015. In order to plan the perfect aerial showing, pilots and real-estate agents strategize in advance to make sure everything goes as it should. According to the newspaper, the pilot will collect the coordinates of the homes and neighborhoods the agent wants to show and the come up with a flight plan accordingly.
Some pilots have taken advantage of the new trend and are now getting real estate licences of their own. This allows them to cut out the middle and earn commissions on sales instead of hourly fees. Of course, you’ll have to decide if you really want the person flying the helicopter on your tour to also close your real estate transaction.
