CAT Scan of 'The Upper Crust'

You think you know your affluent prospects? Think again! New real estate intelligence may shake up the way you market mansions.
by Elizabeth Franklin // Illustrations by Graham Fleming

You have a showplace listing with a jaw-dropping wine cellar and you are presenting it this weekend. How will you market this wine lovers' paradise to your prospects? If your buyers are "Unmistakables" who insist on the best, you will describe how a world-renowned vintner designed the wine cellar and you will prominently display the four-page spread it received in Architectural Digest.

If your buyers are "Practicals" who love to entertain and care about first impressions, you will paint a picture of the unforgettable evening they will create in the wine cellar's own adjoining dining room that will be the talk of their circle for months to come.

But let's say your buyers are "Dependables." In that case, you will want to focus on the state-of-the-art temperature controls and case storage capacity that will protect their investment in fine wines.

Welcome to the future of luxury home marketing: customized, lifestyle-driven and intensely information-based rather than simply intuitive.

"Experienced luxury home sales professionals know they can't lump the wealthy together," says Laurie Moore-Moore, founder and CEO of The Institute for Luxury Home Marketing. "But it's never been clear how to categorize the wealthy in a way that helps professionals market effectively and meet clients' service expectations − until now."

Moore-Moore is referring to a ground-breaking new study that is being introduced to the real estate industry by The Institute for Luxury Home Marketing. The in-depth research project is an informational CAT scan of the richest Americans − who they are, what they want and why. It is also a tantalizing tool for real estate professionals targeting luxury home buyers and sellers. See the profiles here.

To compile the data, researchers queried more than 4,000 affluent individuals and traced the evolution of the wealthy class in America over the past two centuries. These living-large households represent only 5 percent of U.S. households, yet they ring up nearly 20 percent of the nation's purchases, and their annual incomes exceed $350 billion. The study identifies six prevailing affluent lifestyle groups. The research dissects and analyzes these lifestyle categories, drilling down to the consumer motivations, attitudes and buying patterns that define each group.

The three-year research project "cracked the affluence code," says Dick Baker, founder and CEO of Dallas-based Premium Knowledge Group, which conducted the study. He believes no other survey of the wealthy has comprehensively identified key lifestyle drivers and their link to the marketplace choices wealthy people make.

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