Selling super high-end properties in Boston, those over $10 million, is a rarefied world dominated by a handful of Hub brokers.
Sometimes these brokers represent the sellers, sometimes they bring buyers to the deal.
Jonathan Radford of Coldwell Banker represented the seller of the Mason House, a 14,580-square-foot 11-bedroom mansion at 211 Commonwealth Ave., which sold last month for $12,736,000.
Radford said buyers are initially wowed by palatial homes like Mason House with features such as an ornate music room, an elevator and a five-car garage. But these signature spaces can also be intimidating.
"What can hold a buyer back is whether the home works with their current lifestyle," he said. "It's up to the agent to bring ideas to the table. If the top floor has three extra bedrooms you don't need, you bring in designers with ideas on converting the floor to an entertainment room."
Buyers are often personalities from the sports or entertainment worlds, business leaders and royalty, so not only is discretion critical, but so is having an in-depth knowledge of the high-end market here and internationally, Radford said.
"A buyer for one of these properties could come from around the corner or around the world," Radford said.
Negotiations are intense affairs, often involving not just the buyer and seller and their agents, but also each side's lawyers and financial advisers, said Radford.
"It's a juggling act keeping everyone in the loop and focused on getting the deal done," Radford said. "But the incentive is that these properties change hands rarely and for a buyer it could be a once-in-a-lifetime chance."
But even in super high-end homes that seemingly have it all, there can be something besides price that keeps the property from selling.
That's the case with 74 Beacon St., the so-called Benjamin Mansion, a six-floor townhouse with a media room, library, gym, elevator, a Brimmer Street garage space — and even a rooftop lap pool. It's on the market for $13.95 million and had been rented for the past year at an eye-popping $40,000 a month after failing to sell.
"As we started showing it again after the rental lease ran out, we saw that while the house has everything a person could want, what didn't click for many buyers was that the kitchen was on the garden level," said John Neale of Sprogis & Neale, which is the co-exclusive listing broker for the property along with Tracy Campion of Campion & Co.
The 8,450-square-foot six- bedroom townhouse that overlooks the Public Garden had already undergone a three-year gut renovation several years earlier. But Neale convinced local owner/developers Peter and Elizabeth Georgantas of Peg Properties & Design to relocate the kitchen to the first floor, and to convert the former basement kitchen into a family room. Neale will relaunch the mansion when the renovations are completed next month.
Next door, Beth Dickerson of Gibson Sotheby's sold 78 Beacon St., a six-bedroom, 7,878-square-foot renovated townhouse for $9.3 million last November, down from its original asking price of $10.75 million.
"High-end buyers at this level are all cash and can close quickly," said Dickerson. "At this price level they want garage parking and for everything to be newly done."
Will Montero of Gibson Sotheby's works as both a seller's and a buyer's agent, having brought the buyers for recent high-end property sales at the Four Seasons and The Clarendon. He's now working with three local CEOs who are looking to buy.
Montero is also the listing broker for a 9,817-square-foot Parisian-style mansion at 130 Commonwealth Ave., with its six parking spaces and 2,200-bottle wine cellar that's on the market for $13.9 million. The property is owned by a Singapore investor, who bought it for $9.5 million in 2012.
"A home like this in Singapore would cost $40 million, which appeals to international investors," Montero said. "And a lot of properties in this range are also bought by wealthy business or royal families whose children are, or will be, going to school in Boston. They want the extra space for when they come to visit."
Montero said his clients value agents who know about properties for sale before they hit the market.
"Buyers at this level are often very busy people and don't have a lot of time," Montero said. "You have to be able to get them what they want and hopefully be the first ones in. And to be able to close the deal."
He said the high-end brokers in Boston know one another and often bring buyers to one another's properties. And some properties are sold through private sales, never even hitting the market.
But Radford said he always urges sellers to list super high-end properties to get as wide exposure as possible and the most money.
"For those who do end up buying these homes, it's not just getting the right price, but they have to be the right person for the house," Radford said.
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