Are you thinking global?

If you’ve been thinking about selling your home, you may not have put a ton of thought into where your buyers are coming from. Or hopefully you have. Most sellers know they want to sell, hoping to get as much money as they can and move on with their lives and they trust their agent will expose them to the buyers. Or they blindly trust the internet will propagate their home’s listing to the sites the buyers are looking at. Every seller has one top priority whether they know it or not – to have their property exposed to the most qualified buyers. See that word I snuck in there? Qualified.  Sure the tire kickers will show up but you want solid offers.

A good listing agent knows where the qualified buyers are coming from and how they’re searching for their next purchase. If they’re looking locally, the listing agent will know the importance of being represented on a certain site, not just represented but they’ll make sure the listing is at the top because very few buyers will stick around to see what’s on page 5. In our area, the key is being on the front page of Realtor.com, Zillow, and Trulia (and yes, being a showcase listing is something we pay for out of our commission because we know how important it is to our clients, don’t assume every Realtor does this).

What if a large percentage of your buyers aren’t local? What if they’re looking at homes in your area from the comfort of their couch in China or Canada? They’re qualified, competitive, and making up a significant percentage of the buyers. Are they seeing your home?

We’ve heard sellers express that they don’t see the importance of working with a global agent, they don’t care if the company representing them has a global presence. I’m encouraging you to think globally because your buyers are.

RE/MAX has a presence in over 85 countries (I believe the total is 91 as I’m writing this) and is one of the most trusted real estate brands in the world. Our clients get the benefit of having their homes showcased on one of the most searched sites in the world for real estate and those buyers are put in touch with me directly because no one knows your home better than me, your listing agent. We have the benefit of having it all in one place so buyers in China can see my listing in Belmont and my Belmont retirees who dream of paradise can use the same site to look for homes in Playa Coco, Costa Rica.

Let’s look at the numbers from the National Association of Realtors (see slides below):

• 17% of the international buyers shopping for a home or investment in the US are shopping in California; second to Florida which has 23%
• Over 50% of the international buyers who bought a home in California last year were from Asia
• In the US, most of the International buyers made a majority of their purchases between May and August
• 39% of International buyers viewed the US as a desirable location
• 22% viewed US property ownership as a secure investment; this is even more important when considering the number of buyers in the Bay Area markets that didn’t see a huge price loss during the crash
• 31% not only said was a secure investment but a profitable one; we remain one of the very few markets that has not only recovered from the crash but a majority of our homes are worth well over their value at the height of 2008
• 42% of the International buyers searching for homes for sale on RE/MAX’s global site were looking in the US – far more than any other country in the world
• 4,542 is the number of unique page views global.remax.com saw in January 2014

And lastly…. 1

There is one office that has exclusive partnerships with remax.cn. We have a wonderful arrangement that allows us to showcase select listings on China’s national RE/MAX site giving our sellers exposure above and beyond the global site. Wouldn’t you like your home to have double the exposure to the fastest growing real estate buying sector in the world? The Hurun Global Rich List 2014 shows that China is home to 358 billionaires, second only to the US. Many studies have shown that no matter what your net worth, you want what most of us want – to have our hard earned money in a safe investment, to house our family in a safe neighborhood, good schools, steady employment, and a great location. All of which can be achieved by investing in the SF Bay Area.

Don’t take your chances and simply hope your home will be found by the right buyer. Make sure you list with the agents who will put your home in front of the best buyers to get you moving in the right direction.

We’re happy to help you with an evaluation, the advice is always free.  

Sara & Dave 650.200.7420