Real Estate Marketing to Foreign Buyers: How Does It Pay?

The trend of buying real estate in countries other than one's own exists and growing in the modern world, nobody is capable to discontinue it, and anybody can use it to their advantage as a private seller of a property, real estate agent or developer and expand their buyers' pool by marketing to foreign buyers to advance the success in real estate sales.

As it happens with any other trends in the world’s markets, there are times when a particular country's properties are very popular among foreign buyers from some countries, then the trend can change and some other foreign countries' buyers will come.  Catch the wave while it occurs!

Why would it be profitable for any real estate seller or realtor to market to foreign buyers?

Two major reasons in a balanced real estate market:
1. Foreigners usually pay higher prices,
And
2. They pay cash most of the time (no problems with financing).

If your local real estate market is slow, then finding foreign buyers may be the only way for you to sell your property. If your local real estate market is hot, marketing to foreign buyers may allow you to ask an even higher price for your property.

Let's see what some reputable internet sources say nowadays.

US National Association of Realtors (NAR) News:”In 2022 the average ($598,200) existing-home sales prices among international buyers were the highest ever recorded by NAR – 17.7% higher than the previous year. The increase in foreign buyer prices partly reflects the increase in U.S. home prices, as the monthly average existing-home sales price rose to $374,300, up 10% from the prior period.”

The Wall Street Journal: ”In 2023 foreign buyers, who nearly disappeared during covid, finally return to the U.S. housing market. Foreign buyers currently account for about 40% of a real estate business, which has offices in New York, Miami and Los Angeles. That is up from just over 30% before the pandemic. It is the foreign buyer that is leading the recovery this time around. It’s very, very apparent.”

Miami Association of Realtors: "Foreign homebuyers purchased $6.8 billion of South Florida residential properties in 2022, up 34% from 2021. Global buyers bought 9,400 South Florida properties in 2022, up 25% year-over-year from 2021, compared to an 8% drop of the sold homes nationally. It marked the most Miami foreign buyer purchases since 2019."

Do you want a piece of this tasty pie for yourself? Ask any questions about marketing to foreign buyers and how it may apply to your property for sale – please go to CONTACT on the left menu of this site.

I have written a new manuscript (looking for a publisher) REAL ESTATE FOREIGN BUYERS: HOW TO SELL TO THEM. The book will help realtors, developers and owners of properties for sale to create the marketing roadmap to effectively market online or offline and sell properties to the buyers all over the world; it is suitable for any property, seller's situation and marketing budget.

The book structure is as follows:
Introduction
Part I. Marketing to Foreign Buyers: General Ideas
Part. II. Active Marketing to Foreign Buyers (Directly)
Part III. Passive Marketing to Foreign Buyers (through Foreign Realtors)
Conclusions

The fifty short chapters cover the following major topics of interest among others:

  • How to decide whether one needs to market properties internationally and in what countries;
  • How to choose the best way of marketing: active (advertising and promoting properties for sale directly to foreign buyers) or passive (making cooperative deals with realtors in foreign countries who will be in charge of bringing the foreign buyers);
  • What is involved in active and passive real estate marketing to foreign buyers;
  • What kind of the foreign buyers are the target for a particular property;
  • How to develop the marketing budget to reach the foreign buyers;
  • How to overcome the language barrier;
  • How to choose the proper translation providers if one needs any;
  • How to get visibility in the foreign internet, print media and at the real estate shows abroad to find the foreign buyers;
  • How to find the proper foreign realtors and make offers to them;
  • How to communicate with the foreign buyers and successfully close on properties.


Most of the chapters of the book REAL ESTATE FOREIGN BUYERS: HOW TO SELL TO THEM are practical answers to questions that I receive daily through this website as marketing consultant; the questions come from real people who want to bring international buyers to their properties in any country of the world.

An abridged version of the book REAL ESTATE FOREIGN BUYERS: HOW TO SELL TO THEM is being published as book-to-blog at http://foreignbuyers.wordpress.com/blog/

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Sincerely yours,




Olga Kellen, 

English - Russian Translator,
Associate member of ATA,
American Translators Association


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