What do the wealthy want?

It isn’t gargoyles or renovated castles, or even the traditional trappings of wealth – what luxury-home expert Paul Boomsma calls “brass and glass and gold.” What the new, high-end home buyer wants is “the luxury to be yourself.”

It means the grand, sprawling kitchen isn’t the main draw anymore. It’s what goes in there – like the computer nook – that reflects the owner’s individualism and flair for multitasking.

It means fireplaces that can switch from a crackling fire to a sparkling waterfall, depending on one’s mood. In the bathroom, it means your mirror now morphs into a television.

That high-maintenance spa? Today’s answer is a retreat into the quick but penetrating blast of a steam shower, surrounded by river rock to resemble an outdoor garden.

Rather than pouring all these innovative designs into one “McMansion,” today’s luxury buyer is more likely thinking of how to decorate several homes because gathering far-flung family together is a top priority. That likely means several homes strategically placed across the country – or the world.

Most of all, the new well-to-do buyer also wants more of the thing that’s hardest to buy – time.

This, in short, is a generation of individuals who have redefined luxury not as ponderous “things” so much as freedom and flexibility.

Understanding the spirit of today’s luxury buyer is Boomsma’s business, and his savvy has made the Luxury Portfolio Fine Property Collection™, a division of Leading Real Estate Companies of the World, a key player in the luxury-home category in its first year. Boomsma, who was recruited in 2005 to create the Luxury Portfolio, knows what draws the wows from today’s new wave of wealthy – that vast generation with its oldest turning 60 and its youngest still in the early 40s – who enjoy reaping the fruits of individuality.

“We’re dealing with the baby boomers,” he says. “If you asked them to describe themselves, they’d think, ‘middle class.’ But they have money.”

In this new wave of well-to-do buyers, only 8 percent inherited their wealth. Of the people who have money, 70 percent have had it 11 years or less.

First to go is Old Money’s stuffy mantra: If you have to ask what it cost, you can’t afford it.

“That’s not true anymore,” Boomsma says. The current buyers know the value of a dollar and want to keep tabs on costs.

So the question is what entices them?

“When they get in this bracket, people don’t buy houses because they need roofs over their heads. This is a truly 100 percent emotional purchase,” says Boomsma, a 20-year veteran of the luxury real estate business.

Overall, the prevailing trends show that demand for luxury homes, generally bracketed in the $1 million-plus category, remains as buoyant as the bubbles in a fine champagne. And that’s held true even when the word “bubble” has taken on another whole meaning in the lesser price ranges.

The vibrancy of the luxury market encouraged Leading Real Estate Companies of the World to create Luxury Portfolio. Boomsma was recruited to make the launch at the longstanding company, which was founded in 1964 as RELO. It changed its name in 2005 to convey its expanded member services and global sweep, with more than 650 independent member companies in 25 countries.

Of those independent firms, about 200 are now also affiliated with the Luxury Portfolio program.

Boomsma’s goal is to offer independent companies a comprehensive approach to marketing luxury-home real estate, from targeting the best advertising forums to identifying the hottest trends.

The niche has already proved to be a rewarding one: In 2005, Luxury Portfolio’s parent firm sold more than 50,000 homes priced at $1 million and above, with $80 billion in sales. Of the 10,000 homes listed on luxuryportfolio.com, a trek through the most recently sold reveal personalities all their own: from the astringently beautiful, weather-seasoned, seacoast “Journey’s End” home, which sold in Kennebunkport, Maine, for $3.5 million, to the $12 million “Lake Minnetonka Masterpiece,” a palace that can be found on the shores of one of the upper Midwest’s grandest lakes. A castle-crisp mountain aerie in Beaver Creek, Colo., was scooped up for $9.3 million, while at sea level in Lido Key, Fla., the Palladian Villa (in photographs so dreamily elegant that visitors might wonder if they tumbled into a perfume commercial) was sold for $8.9 million.

Of Luxury Portfolio’s celebrity clients, most prefer to remain private. One who doesn’t mind her name used is Martha Stewart, the epitome of today’s new hard-working wealthy class, who built her wealth straight from the kitchen.

Stewart’s legendary Turkey Hill mansion was put on the market in mid-October for $8.9 million by William Raveis Real Estate & Home Services, a Luxury Portfolio member company.

Boomsma says one of Luxury Portfolio’s goals is to serve as the client’s trusted adviser, an essential role given the daunting array of property choices available across the globe.
Boomsma crisscrosses the country, reaching out to member companies to help them become the true luxury experts in their local markets.

Even already seasoned sales associates learn how to listen to their luxury customer, “paying attention to how they interact, how they dress, what things in the house excite them,” Boomsma says.

In this rarified world, it’s also important to be able to talk up the trends, know the players and stay alert for opportunities, so Boomsma launched two on-line news sources called Lux Chatter and Lux Trends and even a luxury portfolio blog.

“We want to be sure we’re armed with the latest information. It’s important to keep sales associates on track, so when they hear about outrageous properties – What’s hot? What’s selling? Who’s buying? – whatever question comes up, they know about it.”

Here are some of the important trends in luxury lifestyles and home buying:

FAMILY
This generation of wealthy buyers wants to stay close to family.
“People who are looking at these homes work hard and want to enjoy life,” Boomsma says. “‘Why are we buying this resort condo? To get the whole family together.’”

CLASS, NOT FLASH
“Luxury is getting smaller,” Boomsma says. These days, wealthy buyers may forgo the McMansion in favor of a smaller property, but with more luxury finishes and amenities.
“We’re definitely seeing a decrease in flash and an increase in experiential luxuries,” Boomsma says. “I don’t need acrylic staircases with gold railings, but how about a bathroom suite with a river rock wall in the shower so I feel like I’m in an outdoor spa?”

TIME-SAVING LUXURIES
These days, “spa” doesn’t mean a lumbering ocean of a Jacuzzi tub. “That’s a time commitment. They like a steam shower they can use every day,” Boomsma says.

Efficiency is valued. “When you’re selling a luxury property, you need to remember that the most valued resource is time.”

The Chicago-based Boomsma, who’s at the youthful end of 40-something, reflects the spirit of the trends: “I have the best of both worlds: a row house in the city and a property in the country. And I’m big on amenities, with a coffee maker close by and a latte machine as close to the bed as physically possible,” he chuckles.

HOMES TAILORED TO OWNER INTERESTS
New well-to-do clients want their homes to reflect their individuality. Boomsma recalls a client who was looking at properties in both the city and suburbs.

Most people would assume they were weighing each location from a commuting standpoint. Actually, “they were looking for the property most suited to their art collection. They were about to purchase a number of significant sculptures and needed a house on an estate with some significant acreage.

“Most people are looking for the right artwork to put on a wall. These people are looking for the right walls to hang their artwork.”

The luxury market shows no signs of shrinking. Worldwide, statistics show that two new billionaires are created every week, and one of them is in the United States.

So, what’s next? Something new is certainly on the horizon. “This is the baby boomer generation,” Boomsma says. “At each stage, as they’ve lived through it, they’ve reinvented everything.”