Realtor.com the official website of the National Association of Realtors will soon go global. They will feature listings from all over the world, translations for all listings in eight languages and currency and measurement conversion services.
According to NAR’s 2011 Profile of International Home Buying Activity, international buyers were responsible for 82 billion worth of purchases of US residential real estate, up from 66 billion the previous year. Realtor.com president Errol Samuelson attributes it to the strength of the dollar and the value and desirability of US real estate. Also homes in the US are viewed as secure long term investments as rentals or for the buyers own use.
Last year 62% of the foreign buyers paid cash, versus 8% of domestic buyers. This makes the foreign transactions more streamlined and even more desirable, especially when so many domestic buyers are struggling at times to get financing.
Realtor.com receives 900,000 hits from non US buyers each month and of the 82 billion in sales last year, 70 countries accounted for those sales. This also means that there is a huge market sitting there for realtors, with 4-5 billion in commissions in the last 12 months alone.
I am currently updating my website in order to have a page dedicated to overseas buyers and ex-pats returning to the states. Do you have any thoughts on information I should include? What would you be looking for in a Realtor if buying in another country?
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