Lean on Your Experience, Network to Best Serve International Clients

The Indianapolis area may not come to mind first when you think international real estate, but it’s increasingly common for agents there – as in any good-sized city – to work with global clients who’ve either relocated to the area or who are overseas.

On one level, these buyers and investors have the same goals as any client. On another level, working with them may require more cultivation, patience and flexibility.

“You become their liaison for everything,” says Jun Liu, a Broker Associate with RE/MAX Ability Plus’s office in Carmel, Ind.

“Just like any immigrant, they want to know everything about the U.S.,” he says, “our culture, how to pay taxes, where the best schools are for their children.”

Part of Liu’s focus is also working with clients based in China who are eager to invest in commercial property here.

For fellow RE/MAX Ability Plus agent Kristina Akopdzhanova, many of her clients emigrate from Eastern Europe and the former Soviet bloc, and they aspire to step into a home of their own.

“They’re concerned about their safety, and how comfortable they’ll be in the home and in the community,” she says. “Most have been in the U.S a couple of years. They buy a home to demonstrate their achievement. To them, that home is like their pearl, a measure of their success.”

The language of trust       

Becoming the agent who helps them find that pearl comes down to reputation. Both Akopdzhanova and Liu single out trust as the most important quality international clients look for in a real estate representative. It’s a perception shaped by others, initially.

“They’ll talk to someone in their community, and ask ‘Who can I trust?’ before they contact you,” Akopdzhanova says. “They want to know you’re not just interested in making money, but will help them make a safe investment.”

Personal recommendations can open doors, agrees Liu. “Real estate is so different in China, the laws are different, the entire process is completely different,” he explains. “Everything here is new to them, and they have to know they’re working with someone they can trust.”

People everywhere have a natural affinity for others they can converse with in their native tongue – who understand their culture and background. So speaking their clients’ language has been a great benefit to both agents. Born in Armenia, when it was part of the Soviet Union, Akopdzhanova speaks four languages, including Russian. Liu is fluent in Mandarin Chinese, and he makes a point of visiting clients in China at least once a year.

“Technology is good, but I believe in meeting people in person – shaking their hand so they know I’m real,” he explains. “When you’re there with them, it’s much easier for them to open up.”

An informal dinner with potential investors, for example, led to a recent deal. One of the attendees recommended and introduced Liu to the owner of a chain of reflexology spas prospering throughout Asia. He was considering expanding into the U.S.

A friend of that man had a cousin already living in Carmel. The spa owner asked Liu about the feasibility of a launch of his business in the U.S., and Liu returned to the States to identify possible locations.

In a similar way, Akopdzhanova’s international sale began with a referral from a member of the local Russian community she’d worked with in the past. His friends, a prominent Russian conductor and his wife, based in Moscow, hoped to relocate near him and that thriving community.

“The friend recommended me as a Russian-speaking agent who could guide them through the entire process,” she says.

Special handling required

After a professional relationship is established, working with global clients can take on new dimensions. It’s in the details, negotiations and process toward signing a lease or closing, where an agent will benefit from going above and beyond an everyday transaction.

Liu put in a lot of time on investment analysis, including demographic research to identify suitable locations with a promise of a reliable return. After the client came to the U.S. and made his selection, he worked with his representative to secure the lease. Liu helped find an architect and contractor to redesign the space to match franchise locations in Asia. Then, he had to track shipments and intervene to make sure all required equipment and materials made it through customs so the business could open on time.

Akopdzhanova’s transaction was anything but routine. “We first met on Skype and identified what they were looking for, and then I started working with their friend here to find the right home,” she says.

Skype’s video conferencing capability proved indispensable for live-streaming tours. Using the service, she would link-up with the wife, while the friend “Skyped” with the husband, as they led them through homes. Separately but simultaneously, they answered questions and zeroed in on any features the husband or wife, at home in Moscow, wanted to see. They toured about a dozen homes this way.

“The biggest problem was the time difference,” she says. “We had to schedule the tours around three or four in the afternoon, which would be around 1 a.m., in Moscow,” she says.

In October 2013 they made an offer on a house, which was accepted. The friend put up earnest money, and the closing was scheduled for December. It wasn’t until February, though, that the couple could leave Russia and visit the home.

“It’s one thing to see a house on Skype and quite another to see it in person,” says Akopdzhanova, who was a bit anxious about that first visit. Fortunately, it lived up to their expectations, and they closed on the house two days later.

Her clients are now proudly situated in their new home and enjoying their new life. Liu’s Chinese investor is already looking ahead, working with him to explore the possibility of adding additional spas in the Dallas area.

Both agents report the sense of trust, once earned, can be an enduring asset.

“Global clients are interested in establishing long-term relationships,” Akopdzhanova notes. “Once they have worked with you, they and their family members will be doing business with you for years.”

Says Liu: “If they trust you, they won’t look for another agent.”