What should you consider when you think about growing your business

The growth we have seen during 2017 is here to stay. A big smile emoticon is expected but we should not ignore the challenges brought by the geopolitical framework (with concerns moving from local to global), and that sellers will face a competitive market due to high demand vs the number of properties on the market.

On the other side, and according to PWC Report on Real Estate Trends for 2018, cities will continue to grow due to different lifestyles and employment reality. We are living in a world where the separation between personal and professional life is blurred so we will need to provide different kinds of properties, that are connected to commercial development, public spaces and transport.

Millenials are alive and kicking!

Millenials are starting to play the game all over the globe. As the financial situation improves, Millennials are increasing their incomes and start leaving their rented homes and looking to buy a house or apartment.

Realtor predicts that in the USA by the end of 2018, millennials may comprise 43% of home buyers taking out mortgages and they will also be the recipients of a larger share of middle/upper-tier mortgages.

But what are they searching for?

Stay tuned … we will provide that information during the month of May.

Brexit

Unsurprisingly, Brexit will continue to be a factor that has impacts on real estate. Some investors are concerned about this reality and this uncertainty and according to PWC, Frankfurt is already starting to notice some positive signs following UK’s decision to leave the European Union.

Great news for them, isn’t it?

We should also note that Copenhagen, due to it’s strong economic growth, is a market to keep an eye on. Investors are searching for all kinds of properties for different usages (retirement, education, and others).

But don’t get too excited with these 2 cities in Europe, because there are more cities to look up worlwide during the year. Don’t you believe that? Continue reading and you will find all the answers.

Prices

In the USA it is expected a rise on prices but not as high as in 2017. Among all homes, entry level or first-time homes will see the highest price increases due to inventory shortage.

When it comes to Europe we know that markets like Portugal and Spain present the same trend when it comes to prices. They are higher but the good news is that there is still a lot of international buyers that searching on those areas.

World Hotspots for Real Estate Investment

So let’s get to the juicy part of our article. Here you have a list of the countries that are considered to be the hotspots for 2018. Isn’t it exciting?

Feel free to share it!

Technology

Last but not least…let’s talk about technology.

Real estate sector is living an amazing time but we have to face it… we will need new skills and new technological tools that will help us to collaborate internationally in order to survive and compete in our new reality.

According to Kobi Lahav, senior managing director at Mdrn. Residential, a New York City–based brokerage:

“more than ever, technology will be a required resource for home buyers as they will have to get real time information about new listings”.

Its is also a fact that handling data, connecting everything and everyone is a big challenge the sector is now facing. According to PWC Report on Real Estate trends for 2018

“Better access to data — the new ‘oil’ for the real estate sector — could allow technology companies or new entrants to dominate entire sections of real estate.”

Now that you know all this… How do you plan to overcome these obstacles?

How many international buyers are you losing everyday due to a lack of technological partner that understands the complexity of the business and provides you solutions?

ListGlobally helps you getting your international buyers!

ListGlobally has you covered, providing access to a truly global audience and promotion across the largest network of real property portals available.

We provide you:

• global reach (+100 portals, + 60 countries)
• performance analysis
• data on international buyers
• data on real estate business
• marketing tools
• training material
• and others

For more information on products and services, reach out! We want to talk.

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4 steps on how to improve your sales with a compelling property description

For real estate professionals it’s essential to have visibility and one way to do it is to know exactly what to write on a listing description.

We all love to be seduced and why would that be different when we talk about our customers or about the selling activity?

And how can you do it?

There is no need to write an academic essay, nor a  poem to seduce your customers to let them know how awesome you are. Actually it’s quite simple.

 

1. Keep it simple and stop trying to look like the others

I bet you’ve already searched thousands of property listings and that you have an idea about what a property listing should look like. I even suspect that you already thought, “Well, if this works for them, it should work for me and I am on track!” WRONG. Here is your first lesson … don’t imitate, innovate!

If you are not different, you will get lost in the crowd and it’s so boring to look like the rest! Obviously not everyone is a Shakespeare or a Mozart but I will give you a structure that will help you start moving like Jagger:

Title: You only got a split second to get someone’s attention

Your title and your statement should be catchy and different. If you are selling a property to younger people why not try humor? Try finding a positive thing in every feature of the property.

Here are some examples of property titles:

Priced To Sell. This One Won’t Last! 2 bedroom apartment in the center of Boston.

Stop your kids from fighting. Give each of them a room. 4 bedroom villa with pool available to sell in Malaga!

Start planning your barbecue, move in today to this beautiful Villa in Albufeira! Available for sell.

Amazing apartment with 2 bedrooms and outstanding sea view that will make all your friends jealous. Available for sale only in Malibu!

Describe what are the customer is looking at, directly and simply. Give them a reason to click.

At this stage, you should try to answer the customer desires and the basic initial information you should include are the property type and its location.

Property description: be creative but also accurate and simple

Everyone wants to know what they are buying so it is mandatory to include the property description:

· How many rooms/bathrooms ?

· Property size and divisions size

· Location: neighborhood, schools, shopping, transportation

· Extras: garage, pool, garden, others

· Any recent updates or renovations

· Unique characteristics

Note that while you are describing those features, you can tell a story to your customer. Try to put your potential customer inside the property by showing them a lifestyle. Make them dream about it.

For example:

Welcome home! Upstairs you will find 2 rooms for your kids, and suite for you and your partner. The 3 existing bathrooms will be located next to the kids rooms, one will be inside your suite and the other will be downstairs next to the 20m2 kitchen. This way your friends won’t have the need to go upstairs and get the whole floor wet when they get out of the 15m2 pool you have outside.  Your pool parties and barbecues will be renowned in this astonishing lake-view villa.

If you need to sell that property quickly, you can even go for the extra mile and offer, a discount or incentive: special financing conditions; administrative fees; etc.

Finally… cut the talk: Sell!

You should finish your description with a call to action which is extremely important to complete the sale.

If you think that a simple sentence like “buy now” will do the work -  it won’t. People are driven by emotions so talk to people and get them get passionate about your listings.

Why not create a call to action like, “contact me now so we can schedule your barbecue”?

2. Speak your customer's language

Different people have different needs, so they will feel more connected to a description that goes straight to their personal desires and expectations.

If you are selling a family house please put the family inside the property (like the example we’ve seen before), but if you are selling a studio for a student, you can speak about it’s proximity to theatres or the university, and describe how that property will fit their lifestyle.

3. Be Smart

Don’t try to rip off your clients. Be fair and smart to sell it quickly:

• Price it right
• Promote it adequately
• Clearly state why your property is a deal of a lifetime

4. Optimize for SEO

What is this? Well most of your clients come from the online environment. So, you need to get noticed on this platform. If your property description is the first snippet of text Google will see on your page, make sure you consider including SEO-friendly phrases like:

“Save fuel. 2 bedroom apartment, close to transport and in city center, available for sale in Lausanne”. Your potential buyer will include these phrases in their online searches so Google needs to find them in order to present your listing to your customers.

Now that you know that selling, real estate can be pretty fun. Start practicing!

 ListGlobally helps you reach international buyers

ListGlobally has you covered, providing access to a truly global audience and offering promotion across the largest network of real property portals available.

For more information on products and services, reach out! We want to talk to you!

International buyers purchased $153 billion worth of existing homes in the U.S. from April 2016 to March 2017 — up 49% from the same period a year before, according to recent National Association of Realtors® data. In others terms, foreign buyers purchased 284,455 homes.

Foreign sales accounted for 10 percent of all existing home sales by dollar volume and 5 percent by number of properties.

Where do foreign buyers come from ?

Foreign buyers of US homes are truly global. Chinese, Canadians, Indians, Mexicans and British buyers are quite present, however the biggest group of foreign buyers is, with $75.6 billion worth of transactions, a very interesting group called “All Others” as you can see below:

What should US real estate actors do?

The whole difficulty when addressing this market of $153 billion dollar, is that foreign buyers come from over 60 countries. It is a very fragmented market, as “All others” represent 50% of international sales in the United States. This is precisely why our approach at ListGlobally is to publish US listings on over 100 foreign portals (click here to see the list) including the #1 and #2 property portals in China but not limiting the international visibility to just that. Our approach is to serve our clients with the most complete international marketing strategy.

Want to know more about foreign buyers in the United States ? Contact our team now, we’re here to help.