Marketing to Foreign Buyers is a Way to Increase Real Estate Sales in Slow Market

We know that in the Seller’s market realtors and developers do not need to do a lot of marketing actually as homes sell themselves, while in the Buyer’s market the situation is quite the opposite: to sell a home would be a hard task to complete.

We remember the good times about 15 years ago when leaving the door of your condo building in Florida we saw people hanging around and asking whether somebody could sell something here – they were ready to buy anything at all.

Then we also remember the bad times about 10 years ago when the market was down and realtors who didn’t do an adequate marketing went to drive a taxi to make a living.

So, real estate markets go up and down and a wise seller should be always ready for any situation.

One of the best ideas for slow times is Marketing Real Estate to Foreign Buyers.

Of course, to sell a particular property would require some research: is it in demand by international investors and from what country or countries?

An example: there had been a financial crisis in Greece and the locals didn’t buy even when the real estate prices were low. What helped the sellers? International marketing. Some sources say that about one third of Greek properties are being sold to the foreign buyers.

Another example: the number of the Chinese buyers of the US homes went down, but they still had bought American homes for a billion of dollars in each quarter of the year. An intelligent US seller would increase his marketing efforts in China in such circumstances – to be ahead of the competition, right?

Happy blog reading,

Olga Kellen,
The Amazon Author
International Marketing Consultant and English-Russian Translator

Copyright © 2019 by Olga Kellen
All Rights Reserved

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Tips on Real Estate Cross Cultural Selling

We’ve talked a lot in this blog about foreign languages in marketing and selling real estate to foreign buyers. The language issue is called the number one in all kinds of reports, guides, articles, etc. on the topic of international real estate sales, and I hope we’ve already discussed the ways to overcome the obstacle (see many previous posts tagged ‘foreign languages’ here).

We’ve talked about the cultural differences of the foreign buyers as well, but probably not enough, that’s why I’d like to put together some more general information. The cultural diversity is considered the number two issue by many professionals in the international real estate field.

Some practical tips on real estate cross cultural marketing and selling:

– First of all you may want to visit your local library, consult with a knowledgeable librarian to help you find one or two books on the cultural diversities in general – with the accent on business and selling to customers of a different culture. This way you’d have a feel of the issue and would learn what is important to take into consideration.

– Then you should decide for yourself exactly – the buyers of what culture or cultures you are going to attract to your properties for sale. This way you’d narrow the field to your own needs.

– Now you are ready to find out more about your chosen culture or cultures of the future international buyers. It’s not that huge task as you may think and it’s also fun to do – especially if you limit yourself to proper sources with the concentrated knowledge of the subject.

I can help you with all you need to know about selling to the Russians (personal experience) and Chinese (in-depth comprehensive research that summarizes many sources):

= How to Sell Real Estate to the Russians (E-Series: How to Beat Your Competition Selling Real Estate to Foreign Buyers, Book 3)
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B01C3DOB4M

= How to Sell Real Estate to the Chinese: Overview (E-Series: How to Beat Your Competition Selling Real Estate to Foreign Buyers, Book 10)
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B072JYX43F

Happy blog reading,
Olga Kellen,
The Amazon Author
International Marketing Consultant and English-Russian Translator

Copyright © 2019 by Olga Kellen
All Rights Reserved

Marketing Real Estate to Foreign Buyers: In What Language?

Once a year, when the high winter visitors’ season ends in Florida and realtors may consider assigning more time to marketing, Florida Realtor Magazine publishes an issue entirely devoted to selling real estate to foreign buyers.

It makes a lot of sense, as Florida is the #1 destination for real estate foreign investors in the U.S., and last year they purchased residential properties worth $23B, thus it’s rightly believed that every realtor would want a piece of the pie.

I’ve read this issue from cover to cover to see what’s offered. It’s full of useful interviews, tips, advice, etc. – all about getting into selling real estate to foreign buyers, overseas investors, or dealing with international clients.

BUT there is almost no mentioning of the LANGUAGE(S) in which to market. Only on one of the last pages there is a little excerpt from a NAR’s blog “Communication is everything”. Great, I thought, at last the most useful advice was coming up.

And what a disappointment as it actually says: 1. Learn some basic phrases in your international buyers’ language (Good!), 2. Hire a native foreign language speaker to translate your marketing material (Bad! Not just any native speaker you need, but one with a proven record of writing marketing texts in the foreign language you wish to use), and 3. If nobody is available, use free online translation tools (Awful! Free translation can completely kill your marketing message – we’ve talked a lot about it in this blog already and with real life examples).

Even the article “Reaching Chinese Buyers” doesn’t say a word about the language, although names websites to use for marketing to the Chinese buyers. Okay, how many Chinese do really know English? Wikipedia: Less than 1% (!) Hmmm…

This near-sighted approach to marketing to foreigners reflects the usual American mistake: the whole world knows English. Nope. Do not fall into this trap, but market to foreign buyers in their language!

Happy blog reading,

Olga Kellen,
The Amazon Author
International Marketing Consultant and English-Russian Translator

Copyright © 2019 by Olga Kellen
All Rights Reserved

3 Major Components of Exceptional Advertising to Foreign Buyers

Whether your property for sale is truly unique or on the other hand it is a typical one for your area, you would have some competition online anyway. How to stand out? This is really important – to stand out from the competition – to be successful in real estate sales!

We have already established that real estate advertising for the foreign buyers should be in their language, but there are many-many-many other real estate sellers and realtors who do this as well, so – how to make YOUR PROPERTY outstanding and thus preferable to the potential buyers?

Keeping in mind the portrait of your foreign buyer that we have created in the previous posts, now we have to attract his or her attention to your property more than to any other property that would appear in their search by doing the following:

1. Preparing full and detailed descriptions of the property and area

2. Mentioning specific features of the property and area that are especially interesting for the foreign buyers (immigration possibilities if any may be attached to the purchase of your property, financial benefits for investors, etc.)

3. Taking plenty of high quality photos of the property and views from all the windows and balconies, also creating a slideshow or video if possible.

Apart from using the foreign language of your potential buyer in your advertising, you will have more success taking cultural differences into consideration (remember the portrait of your foreign buyer?).

For example, the Russians love to swim and suntan on the beach, while the Chinese prefer to stay away from going into the water and being in the sun, but they love to look at the running water. Do you feel the difference that the targeted culture makes for your real estate marketing messages to the foreign buyers in Russian and Chinese?

Happy blog reading,

Olga Kellen,
The Amazon Author
International Marketing Consultant and English-Russian Translator

Copyright © 2019 by Olga Kellen
All Rights Reserved

Powerful Real Estate Marketing Tool: U.S. Citizenship for Foreign Investors

In the previous post we’ve found out that foreign investors create a good chunk of commercial real estate buyers in the U.S.A. (and in many other countries actually as well). And one of the reasons is a so called EB-5 Visa Program of the U.S. government (in many other countries there are their own programs of providing the right of living in the country and its citizenship afterwards for the foreign investors).

Many wealthy foreign people may like very much to obtain a second passport of your country for themselves and their families. The reasons are plenty: freedom to travel the world without visas that the passports of their home countries may not provide, better life and education for children, ecology, maybe easier tax system, etc.

It’s a win-win-win situation for all parts: a foreign investor gets what he wants – the right to live with his family in a country of his choice, your country attracts investment money from abroad, and you can sell your commercial property on better terms and for a better price.

In the U.S.A. the foreign investors can get “green cards” (permanent residency) and later citizenship for themselves and their families if they have no criminal records and invest at least $1 million in commercial (not residential!) real estate and create 10 jobs for Americans by that. Looking good and easy?

There is an even cheaper option (half the cost) if they invest in so called “Regional Centers” that accumulate money from many investors for a large commercial project. This option has some underwater rocks though, as sometimes the Regional Centers do not perform according to their obligations and the hopeful investors could get away with nothing – no green cards and no money… And there is an endless talk of the investment amount to be increased by Congress, but it’s another story…

It’s up to an investor to decide which way to go – to join the investing pool or to go solo and buy his own commercial enterprise. For the latter group you have to explain in your marketing materials in all details why your commercial property for sale is the best for them (of course, if this is the case and your property for sale meets the government’s requirements first of all in terms of costs and jobs).

Let’s look at the U.S. government’s stats for the last year: 8,414 visas issued to the foreign investors from various countries, and 80% of those visas went to the mainland China.

Now, do you see that while marketing your commercial U.S. property to the Chinese buyers it’s a must to describe the “citizenship by investment” program? And it’s important for other potential foreign buyers as well of course.

Happy blog reading,

Olga Kellen,
The Amazon Author
International Marketing Consultant and English-Russian Translator

Copyright © 2018 by Olga Kellen
All Rights Reserved

Foreign Buyers of Real Estate in the U.S.A.

In the previous posts we have explored whether it’s worthwhile to market real estate in a small country to foreign buyers. Now let’s talk about a big country in terms of marketing real estate to foreign buyers. The U.S.A. A huge topic and attraction to international real estate investors.

Once on an American real estate forum I saw a question posted: “How can I get a list of international investors to offer them to purchase my property?”

Well, on one hand it shows that the poster thinks wisely as he wants to reach the worldwide buying market, but on the other hand it also shows that he is a complete novice and doesn’t have a clue. Where is his property? What kind? To what nationals offer it? Without knowing all that it’s not possible to answer his question…

Ok, first of all let’s see who the international buyers of real estate in the U.S.A. are.

According to the NAR (National Association of Realtors in the U.S.A.), the following regions of the world are responsible for buying residential properties in the U.S.A. (a general picture in round numbers):

– Asia/Oceania (China, Hong Kong and Taiwan incl.) – 35%
– Latin America/Caribbean (Mexico incl., although it’s technically North America) – 24%
– Europe – 16%
– North America (Canada, both English and French parts) – 12%
– Africa – 4%
– Other countries – 9%

The buyers from five countries continue to account for almost half of the reported purchases: China (14 percent), Canada (12 percent), Mexico (10 percent), India (5 percent), and the United Kingdom (5 percent).

Then the buyers from Brazil, Venezuela, Germany, Vietnam, Japan, etc. follow.

Thus, we may see that the international buyers of American residential properties speak a variety of languages (and usually search for properties to purchase in their own language).

Now, let’s look at the most popular regions of the U.S.A. where the international buyers prefer to purchase properties, according to the same source (NAR):

“The major destinations of foreign buyers are Florida (22 percent), Texas (12 percent), California (12 percent), New Jersey (4 percent) and Arizona (4 percent). Together, these top five states account for more than half of all foreign buyers. Other preferred destinations are Illinois, North Carolina, Georgia, and New York.”

Again, it’s a general picture as each group of the foreign buyers (nationals of particular countries speaking their own language) may prefer their own destination in the U.S.A.

For example, we see that the Chinese are the largest group of international residential buyers and Florida is the major destination in the U.S.A., right? Does it mean that a home or condo in Florida should be marketed to the Chinese buyers first of all? Not at all, as in reality the Chinese buyers’ preferred destination is California. Another example: the Russian buyers are not in the top ten national groups of buyers in the U.S.A. by general numbers, but if we go to Florida, the Russian buyers are one of the most significant group, etc.

More later.

Happy blog reading,
Olga Kellen,
The Amazon Author
International Marketing Consultant and English-Russian Translator

Copyright © 2018 by Olga Kellen
All Rights Reserved

Your Real Estate Foreign Buyers in Chinese Internet

The Chinese buyers are the No. 1 target for American, Australian, Canadian and Western European sellers, realtors and developers among all foreign buyers of real estate in their countries.

According to Wikipedia, there are about 700 million Chinese internet users as of March 2017, and many of them have a high-speed Internet connection. More than half of the Chinese internet users access it on mobile devices.

The numbers are impressive, but (there is always a “but”, unfortunately) the Chinese internet is censored by the Chinese government, and many sites are blocked and unavailable over there including: Google with all its apps, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Tumblr, WordPress, BlogSpot, Blogger, Flickr, etc.

So, as you can see, no search engine and social media marketing of your real estate for sale seems available to the Chinese buyers, at least in the way you are used to. What do you do??? How do you put your property in front of the Chinese buyers’ eyes???

By blocking foreign social media sites in China the government creates the best no-competition conditions for the Chinese companies, and instead of Google people in China use the search engine Baidu (http://www.baidu.com/ ) and several other smaller Chinese search engines.

You may think that if you type something in English in the Baidu search window while sitting at the computer desk here in North America, and the familiar websites appear as the organic search results for you, it would be the same for a Chinese searcher based in China. Absolutely not. The so called “Great Wall of China on Internet” will filter his results in a way unknown to you.

Yes, typing in English “real estate in U.S.” I’ve got Realtor.com, Zillow and Trulia from Baidu searching it from North America, but who knows whether any international website you choose for marketing your properties and services to the Chinese buyers will be available to them any time and all the time? Maybe yes or maybe not. That’s why you have to turn to the real estate websites hosted on servers in China only!

In China the social media sites are also specific, their own, hosted over there and monitored by the government. You can use them for your real estate marketing with the help of a Chinese-speaking person who should be able to find the best sites in terms of exposure and pricing if any.

A note about use of English in China: According to Wikipedia less than 1% of the mainland China population know English which makes about 10 000 000 people, plus 3 000 000 in Hong Kong. Is it a lot or is it not? Can you rely on targeting just 1% of eligible foreign buyers for your real estate marketing when 100% might be available if you market in their own language? Translate your listing into Chinese to be at least on par with the competition or on top of some other sellers who do not pay attention to the needs of their foreign buyers.

 

Happy blog reading,

Olga Kellen,
The Amazon Author
International Marketing Consultant and English-Russian Translator

Copyright © 2018 by Olga Kellen
All Rights Reserved

50 SECRETS OF SELLING REAL ESTATE TO FOREIGN BUYERS

Blog post #100 – sort of a jubilee 🙂

Abridged version of 50 SECRETS OF SELLING REAL ESTATE TO FOREIGN BUYERS (FOR ALL REALTORS, DEVELOPERS AND PRIVATE PROPERTY SELLERS IN ANY COUNTRY OF THE WORLD) with Addendums has been already posted.

70 000 words written (70% posted here and 30% saved for the print).

1 year of work.

Now it’s time for serious promotion and marketing.

I will continue writing occasional posts here anyway – as soon as some interesting info and ideas come along. Also I’m planning to publish guest posts.

Additional info on the topic of international sales available from my newsletters: http://www.english-and-russian.com/Selling_to_Russians-backissues.html

P.S. About this blogged book: 50 SECRETS OF SELLING REAL ESTATE TO FOREIGN BUYERS is written in small chapters (there are 50 chapters so far), and each chapter deals with a separate issue of marketing and selling real estate to the foreign investors, so it is suitable for those readers (property sellers, realtors, developers) who are looking for some answers to their particular questions, and also for those who want to plan their real estate international marketing campaign from A to Z.

The covered subjects are about finding international buyers of any nationality for your real estate.

Some particular matters concern the Chinese and Russian buyers of international properties.

These two specific groups of the international buyers are important as they invest a lot around the world, and dealing with them usually presents a specific problem for the sellers (realtors, developers) as both buying nations use their own internet in their own languages with their own search engines and advertising capabilities. Not many people in China and Russia speak English, and thus real estate marketing to reach them should be done in Chinese and Russian to make successful property sales.

P.P.S. The first draft of the manuscript 50 SECRETS OF SELLING REAL ESTATE TO FOREIGN BUYERS that is the source for this blog, is ready and waiting for a literary agent and publisher interested in real estate and international business books!

Happy blog reading,
Olga Kellen,
The Amazon Author
International Marketing Consultant and English-Russian Translator

Copyright © 2017 by Olga Kellen
All Rights Reserved

What Should You Know about Cultural Differences of Your Foreign Buyers (Part 2)

We continue the list of items to remember about your particular group of the foreign buyers that belong to the nation you have decided to target with your international real estate marketing. (In Part 1 of this post we have already discussed the influence of the foreign language, social norms and business etiquette on your success in selling to the foreign buyers.)

Values. This is a very broad and vital key topic as your success in selling internationally depends on your correct choice of a particular group of the foreign buyers to market to them, and the choice should depend on what exactly the buyers would see in your property and area for themselves according to their values as a nation.

Some examples: The Chinese value education for their children a lot, thus being located near a good school would be a great selling point for your property while marketing to the Chinese buyers; the Russians love to be near water, thus a beach property would be attractive to the Russian buyers, etc.

Laws. No doubt, your country laws governing real estate ownership and sales are different from the foreign buyers’ country laws. (In the U.S. even each state differs from another in terms of legal regulations.) There is no need for you to know the buyers’ country real estate laws at all (unless you are curious), but it will be your duty to explain your country rules to them.

One of the simplest concepts to start with, is how a buyer works with a realtor. In countries like China and Russia there is no MLS (each realtor has access to the same database of properties for sale), and buyers are used to run from one realtor to another to take advantage of their various properties. When they come to the U.S. to buy a property, for example, they tend to act the same way – running from one realtor to another which makes no sense here – and you have to clarify the issue from the very beginning.

Economic System. Again, you do not need to learn about your buyers’ economic system which is probably quite different from yours, but you should be really interested in their ability to transfer money to purchase a property the way your rules require.

Summary: We have discussed the major needs of overcoming the cultural differences between a seller (realtor, developer) and his foreign buyers. But how do you do this? Reading a book about the nation’s culture you target with your real estate marketing, hiring a coach/consultant/translator, or hiring a bilingual real estate associate with an appropriate background (with some education and business experience in the country of your interest).

Happy blog reading,

Olga Kellen,
The Amazon Author
International Marketing Consultant and English-Russian Translator

Copyright © 2017 by Olga Kellen
All Rights Reserved

What Should You Know about Cultural Differences of Your Foreign Buyers (Part 1)

In some previous posts we have already talked about the importance of knowing your potential foreign buyers’ cultural nuances to take into consideration in international real estate marketing. Of course, each nation has to be considered separately, but here we’ll discuss in detail the major common principles to apply to each nation of the foreign buyers.

Language. No doubt that everybody prefers to communicate and receive information in their own language, and any seller should conform to the buyer’s taste and deliver accordingly. Here is a question though: In your target nation, how many people really know English?

Sometimes you need to work harder and go deeper in the foreign language real estate marketing, if the target nation’s buyers aren’t really very knowledgeable in English as Chinese and Russians, for example. The Western Europeans, on the other hand, usually know several languages, English including (they do love English or do not, it’s a different problem with some of them).

Social Norms. This is an extremely important issue! Always, always, always keep in mind that your foreign buyers’ social norms may be quite different from your own. Without knowing the specifically targeted international buyers’ written and unwritten rules of behavior, you can easily offend them and that might bring your business with them to an unsuccessful ending. Mostly it’s about the stage of your personal communication with the prospective buyers, when your marketing efforts did bring the fruits (real leads-prospects) and you do not want to lose them.

Here is a real life example: A Russian buyer dropped an American realtor immediately after the buyer was sent on a tour to see properties accompanied by a low rank young employee. Russians prefer to deal with authoritative business persons who are ready to answer any question and solve any problem instead of being referred down to a low level of workers. Never try to save your time at the expense of a lost Russian client this way.

Business Etiquette. Yes, it’s more or less similar between the Western countries, but it differs (sometimes significantly) while dealing with the foreign buyers from the far away Eastern countries like China. Having said that, at the same time we find out that the most publications about cross-cultural selling emphasize just the business etiquette issue, and you will have no problem learning it for your target nation.

I have made my best effort to summarize a ton of available sources on the topic of the Chinese buyers in my latest compact e-book How to Sell Real Estate to the Chinese: Overview (E-Series: How to Beat Your Competition Selling Real Estate to Foreign Buyers Book 10) (it’s about the Chinese business etiquette and social norms and about other important issues of marketing to the Chinese buyers, including using the Chinese internet to your advantage without learning Chinese!)

(to be continued)

Happy blog reading,

Olga Kellen,
The Amazon Author
International Marketing Consultant and English-Russian Translator

Copyright © 2017 by Olga Kellen
All Rights Reserved