August 6, 2026
7 Savvy Tips for Selling Your Luxury Home in London, Ontario
Originally published January 12, 2018. Fully revised and updated August 5, 2026 to reflect Ontario’s Trust in Real Estate Services Act and CREA’s REALTOR® Cooperation Policy. and current Market Realities
Selling a luxury home is not a bigger version of selling an ordinary one. It is a different exercise entirely. The buyer pool is smaller, more discerning, knowledgeable and far better advised.The pricing evidence is thinner. The marketing has to sell a way of living, not a list of features. And the mistakes cost more — because a percentage point of error on a high-end property is real money.
What follows is how I approach it after more than three decades in the London market, including twenty-five years working alongside a custom home builder. That builder background matters here. When a home has geothermal, a spray-foam envelope, engineered millwork and a mechanical room worth more than most people’s cars, someone has to be able to explain what that is actually worth to a buyer — and defend it to a Buyer,Buyers Agent and or Appraiser.
The short version
- Pricing is the whole game. Luxury homes are overpriced and underpriced with equal frequency, because true comparables rarely exist.
- Exposure is regulated now. Since January 2024, publicly marketing a residential listing in Canada triggers an obligation to place it on an MLS® System within three days.
- Presentation is not optional. At this price point, amateur photography reads as a signal about the property, not the photographer.
- Patience is a strategy. Thin buyer pools mean longer marketing periods. However waiting for the market to catch up to your price is detrimental to your bottom line.Your time is valuable and not to be wasted.
1. Price it right — and understand that “wrong” cuts both ways
Every seller has heard the warning about overpricing. Fewer have heard the other half of it.
Luxury listings get underpriced surprisingly often. Here is why. In a subdivision of similar homes, the comparable sales do most of the work for you — five nearly identical properties sold in the last six months, and the range is obvious. In the high end, that evidence simply is not there. You may have three sales in the past year, none of them the same square footage, none on the same lot, none with the same finish level, and one of them a private arrangement with terms nobody outside the deal fully knows.
So the comparable is never a match. It is a starting point that has to be adjusted — for lot size and exposure, for ravine or water frontage, for ceiling heights, for the quality of the build rather than the quantity of the rooms, for a coach house or a shop, for whether the finishes are current or dated in a way that reads expensive to replace.
An agent who is uncomfortable making those adjustments may do the safe thing and default to the lowest recent sale. That is how a home worth well into seven figures gets listed a hundred thousand dollars light, sells in nine days, and everyone congratulates themselves on a fast sale.
A fast sale at the wrong number is not a success. It is a transfer of your equity to the buyer.
Overpricing has its own cost, and it is not the one people expect. It is not that the home sits — it is that it burns its introduction. The most qualified, best-advised buyers see a property in its first two weeks. If the number offends them then, they have already dismissed it, and they do not come back for the reduction. You only get one first impression with a market this small.
The work, then, is genuinely knowing the market: not just what sold, but what did not sell and why, what fell apart on financing or appraisal, what the terms actually were behind the reported price. That knowledge is local and it is accumulated. It cannot be pulled from a portal.
An independent appraisal before listing is often money well spent on an unusual property — particularly if it will be scrutinized by a lender later.
2. Choose your representation on evidence, not on brochures
Anyone can print the word “luxury” on a business card.
Ask better questions. What have you actually sold in this price band — not listed, sold? Where did those buyers come from? What did you do that a generalist would not have? Who writes the copy, who shoots the photography, and who answers the phone at eight on a Sunday evening when a relocation buyer from the GTA has thirty minutes of interest?
Ask to see a marketing plan in writing before you sign anything. Not a menu of services — a plan, specific to your property, with a budget attached and someone’s name against each item.
And understand what you are signing. Under Ontario’s Trust in Real Estate Services Act, in force since December 2023, the nature of the relationship has to be set out in writing at the outset. Brokerages may now offer designated representation, where a named individual represents you rather than the brokerage as a whole. On a complex, high-value file, know which model you are in and who owes you what.
The same legislation gives you a further tool that matters in this market: with your written direction, the contents of competing offers can be disclosed to the other registered buyers. On a property where one motivated buyer is bidding largely against their own imagination, an open process can be worth considering. It is your call, and you can change your mind.
3. Decide deliberately between an MLS® listing and an exclusive
Privacy is a legitimate concern at this level. Some sellers do not want their home, their art, or their circumstances on public display. That is a reasonable position and it is still available to you.
But the rules changed, and any advice written before 2024 is out of date.
Under CREA’s REALTOR® Cooperation Policy, effective January 3, 2024, once a residential property is publicly marketed, the REALTOR® must place it on an MLS® System within three days. Public marketing means one-to-many: signage, flyers, social media, newsletters, websites. One-to-one conversation between REALTORS® does not trigger it. Exclusives remain permitted — but a seller who declines the MLS® System has to confirm in writing that they understand what they are giving up. Commercial listings, rentals, and new construction in multi-unit developments sit outside the policy.
So the choice is real, and it is a genuine trade-off. Discretion, or exposure.
My view, stated plainly: for the large majority of luxury sellers, broad exposure produces the better result. The whole purpose of a cooperative selling system is that the one buyer willing to pay the most for your particular house is often not someone driving by your home and sees a for sale sign. Quiet marketing finds a buyer. Open multiple listing service marketing finds the best buyer.
Where privacy is non-negotiable, there are middle paths — controlled showings by appointment only, financial qualification in advance, floor plans withheld until a buyer is vetted, no interior images of secure areas. Those protect you without hiding the property from the market.
4. Commission the marketing the property deserves
At this price point, presentation is read as evidence. A buyer looking at fourteen underexposed photographs shot on a phone does not conclude that the agent was lazy. They conclude that something is wrong with the house.
What a luxury file should include, as a floor:
- Professional architectural photography, shot at the right hour. Twilight exteriors exist for a reason — they are the single highest-return image on a lit estate home.
- Cinematic video with a considered walkthrough, not a phone panning down a hallway.
- Aerial imagery for acreage, ravine, or waterfront — flown by a certified RPAS pilot operating within Transport Canada’s rules.
- Measured floor plans, which out-of-town buyers use more than any other single asset.
- Written copy that is actually written — describing the house, the build, and the life it supports, not a run of generic salesy adjectives.
- Deliberate distribution — MLS®, REALTOR.ca, syndicated portals, targeted digital placement aimed at relocation and move-up buyers, and direct outreach to agents who work with this clientele.
- Latest A.I. driven technology is essential and made to order for Luxury Homes,We do That !
- Risk management & Security is essential for a luxury property. Accuracy of documents,tracking and registering prospects,accurate inclusions and exclusions reduce mismatched expectations and help ensure that in-person appointments are with buyers who understand the character of the home.
5. Sell the location and the life, not the square footage
Nobody at this level is buying a floor area. They are buying a morning.
The buyer who pays a premium in Byron is buying the ravine and the trail system. The buyer in Old South is buying mature streets and walkable Wortley Village. The buyer in Oakridge or Hyde Park is often buying proximity to Western, the hospitals, or a specific school. In Komoka and Kilworth, they are buying acreage and privacy fifteen minutes from the city.
London’s high-end market draws heavily on relocation — professionals moving from the GTA who are astonished at what their equity buys here, medical and academic appointments, and families moving up within the city. Each of those buyers is answering a different question. The marketing should answer theirs.
Video and drone footage do this better than any text can. Show the drive in. Show the tree canopy. Show the lake or the ravine at the hour it looks the way it feels to live there.
6. Time the listing to the property, not to the calendar
The spring market is a real thing. It is also not automatically your market.The Danger of Overpricing for London Home Sellers in 2026
.There is no single perfect month to sell every luxury home. Market supply, buyer activity, and interest rates matter, but so does the property itself. A home with exceptional gardens, pool amenities, or a striking exterior may benefit from being shown when those features can be appreciated. Conversely, a beautifully designed interior may present well in any season when the preparation and photography are right.
Second, days on market are not the scoreboard here. A luxury home may reasonably take several months. That is arithmetic, not a verdict — there are simply fewer buyers. The failure mode is reacting to a normal marketing period with panicked reductions, which teaches the market that more patience will yield more discount.
Price it correctly at launch and you rarely need to have that conversation.
7. Prepare, stage, and document the home properly
Most luxury homes are already clean. That is not what staging is for.
Staging at this level is about editing — removing enough of you that the buyer can imagine themselves in it, while leaving enough warmth that the house does not feel like a showroom. Family photographs come down. Collections come down. Personal and highly valuable items go into secure storage, both for presentation and for security.
Then the rooms are given a purpose a buyer can read. A formal dining room set for twelve says you will host here. An empty one says what would I even do with this.
Beyond staging, prepare the documentation. Serious buyers and their advisors will ask, and having answers ready is worth real money:
- Age and service history of roof, mechanicals, HVAC, generator, pool and irrigation
- Builder, architect, and any notable trades
- Warranties and permits for additions and major work
- Survey and property boundaries
- Utility, tax, and — where applicable — septic and well records
- A pre-listing inspection on an older or complex property, so surprises surface on your timeline rather than theirs
Deferred maintenance is punished disproportionately in the luxury
Frequently asked questions
What counts as a luxury home in London, Ontario?
Luxury is relative to the local market, not to a fixed dollar figure. In London it generally means the top few percent of the market by price — typically executive and custom-built homes in areas such as Sunningdale, Riverbend, Byron,Uplands, Old North and Old South, along with estate and waterfront properties in the surrounding townships. The threshold moves with the market, which is one more reason current local knowledge matters.
Can a luxury home really be underpriced?
Yes, and it happens regularly. Because genuine comparables are scarce in the high end, an agent who is not confident adjusting between dissimilar properties will default to the most recent, most conservative sale. The result is a listing that sells quickly at a number below what the market would have paid. Speed is not the same as value.
Can I sell my home privately without putting it on the MLS® System in Ontario?
Yes. Exclusive listings remain available. But since January 3, 2024, if the property is publicly marketed, CREA’s REALTOR® Cooperation Policy requires it to be placed on an MLS® System within three days. A seller who chooses to forgo the MLS® System must confirm that decision in writing after being advised of the disadvantages.
How long should I expect a luxury home to take to sell?
Longer than a mid-market home, and that is normal. The buyer pool is a fraction of the size. Well-priced high-end properties in this area commonly take a few months rather than a few weeks. Time on market only becomes a problem when it reflects a pricing error rather than a small audience.
Should I get an appraisal before listing?
On an unusual or highly customized property, often yes. An independent appraisal gives you a defensible third-party opinion, and it anticipates the appraisal a buyer’s lender will order later — which is where high-end deals can run into trouble.
A closing thought
Selling a luxury home rewards preparation and punishes improvisation.
Get the number right. Give the property the exposure and the presentation it deserves. Then hold your position while the right buyer finds it — because in this market, there may only be a handful of them, and they are worth waiting for.
If you are considering selling a high-end property in London, St. Thomas, Komoka, Kilworth or the surrounding area, I am glad to give you a candid opinion of value and a realistic marketing plan before you commit to anything. Start here, or call me directly.
This article is general information for Ontario property owners and is not legal, tax, or accounting advice. Please consult your lawyer and your accountant on matters specific to your situation.
Jim Straughan, Broker — Initia Real Estate, London, Ontario
Licensed to trade in real estate in Ontario since 1990, in the London market. Jim worked alongside a London custom home builder for over twenty-five years, and has handled residential resale, new construction, farms, waterfront and recreational property, multi-residential, commercial and development land. He serves London, St. Thomas, Komoka, Kilworth,Strathroy and the surrounding communities.