Borderless Market: Putting the Global Network to Work for You

You don’t have to be a multilingual international tax specialist with a long list of international contacts in order to help global buyers. In fact, thanks to advances in technology, such as Skype, Facebook and Twitter, it’s easier than ever to jump into the international real estate arena.

Two RE/MAX Associates – one based in the United States and the other in Canada – share their experiences building active networks for international referrals, and their tips for guiding clients through the international buying process.

TAPPING LOCAL NETWORKS WITH GLOBAL CONNECTIONS

When Lisa Mundahl-Greene set a goal last year to pursue international transactions, she didn’t have to look much further than her own office for leads.

“RE/MAX is a powerful international company, and Seattle is home to some of the most powerful international  corporations in the world,” she says. “I knew that there was opportunity there.”

So she sought out networking opportunities with executives at international businesses with a presence in the region, including Boeing, Microsoft and shipping companies that operated out of the Port of Seattle.

Mundahl-Greene also networked overseas and in April was invited to participate in a RE/MAX conference in Beijing.

“Since owning real estate in the States is very different than many other countries, I went to China armed with professionally prepared and translated information on homeownership in the U.S.,” she says.

Her preparedness paid off, and while in China she connected with a local family interested in buying an investment property in Seattle. They set a date for a visit a few weeks later.

Mundahl-Greene knew it was an important trip for the family and wanted to do everything she could to make it special. She hired a car service to pick up the family from the airport, as well as a translator to accompany them during their entire trip. She also gathered Chinese-language resources to place in their hotel room.

“I wanted them to know I was honored that they had traveled such a long distance, and that they had selected me as their Realtor,” she says.

As Mundahl-Greene, the family and the translator drove around Seattle, Mundahl-Greene kept an open mind about her buyers’ expectations and asked targeted questions about precisely what they were looking for in a property.

“I had to get past my own ideas of what was a good investment and really find out what they valued,” she says.

She closed the deal in August. Over the past 18 months she’s closed about a half-dozen international transactions for buyers from China and India. Along the way, she has learned that Skype is “absolutely essential” for communicating with international agents and clients, and she has grown adept at connecting with RE/MAX agents in other countries on Facebook. She also relies on the resources at global.remax.com – the RE/MAX network’s global property search portal – to prepare international clients for trips to the Seattle area.

DOING HOMEWORK TO UNDERSTAND THE MARKET

Four years ago, a local developer approached Jonathan Gelderman about an international investment opportunity.

That conversation led to a thriving international real estate career for Gelderman, who now manages a multimillion-dollar portfolio of investor funds connected to roughly 100 properties in Arizona. His target for the portfolio was to gross 30 percent annual return, and he’s exceeded that goal every year.

Gelderman, a dual citizen of the U.S. and Canada, credits his success to solid research – examining historical sales trends, employment, net migration and other factors – before jumping into the Phoenix real estate market.

Gelderman also prepared his investor clients for struggles they might encounter doing business in the U.S., such as short sales, which are rare in Canada.

“Although new guidelines are helping a lot, the short sale process still can be very frustrating for buyers who are ready to make their move,” Gelderman says. “But if investors aren’t willing to work through buying short sales, they’re going to lose out on a lot of the top available listings.”

So Gelderman prepared Canadian investors for “a numbers game,” warning that “for every 10 offers we write, one gets accepted.” He says he has written roughly 2,000 offers for investors – about 1,400 short sales and 600 court sales – netting 100 successful transactions on Arizona properties in four years.

Gelderman says his success also stems from earning the International Real Estate Specialist (I.R.E.S.) certification and working with an international tax specialist familiar with the tax structures of both countries. The latter, in particular, has helped investors avoid fines – or worse, being taxed twice on the same transaction. Finally, he says, networking – both on Facebook and in person in Arizona – has helped him expand his reach.

“I went to a networking function in Scottsdale and met the CEO of a bank,” Gelderman says. “He ended up connecting me to someone who owns another bank, which funded several transactions for me. You never know who you’ll meet when you get outside your own sphere and market.”

The power of global.remax.com

The site has changed the way buyers around the world search for properties.

725,000+
RE/MAX listings displayed from dozens of countries and territories

36 & 40
Number of languages and currencies, respectively, available to visitors

30.3 MILLION
Total listing views since the 2011 launch

47,000
RE/MAX agents who have received inquiry emails about specific properties