Do you ever have moments when you worry that you are not doing enough to sell your property? Are you concerned that you have missed something that could come back to bite you? Maybe you?ve put huge amounts of time and effort creating elaborate strategies to sell your property, but you?re still not getting anywhere?
Of course from the outside in, selling a property seems pretty straightforward. Just list your property with the most active local agents and wait for the buyers to roll in.
Well, actually, no.
The truth is there are many other properties for sale in your market. And now, after the financial earthquake of 2008 (and all those aftershocks) the environment is advantageous to buyers.
But here?s the good news: Every property has a buyer.
So the central question for a property seller becomes: How can you get your property in front of that buyer?
We recently asked 10 real estate experts, commentators and all-around smart people working in Belize, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama for their top tip for selling real estate in the region.
They really came through with some priceless insights and tips to sell international property in any market, including some ideas that challenge the status quo.? Read on to see what advice our experts gave.
When you?re done reading, we?d love to hear your top tip for selling an international property in the comments.
Matthew Montagu-Pollock
Best advice I can give is, sell when everyone is buying! Of course this is incredibly hard to do, and no-one does it, certainly not me.
If you have a portfolio which is big enough, you need to be thinking:? ?Aha! The currency is high, everyone is interested, I seem to have made lots of money, and my property is really easy to rent! OK ? now is the time, when I am happiest with my investment, to sell it!?
It is not easy, you may have satisfactory tenants, and you are doing an apparently crazy thing.
Matthew is the Publisher of Global Property Guide, the world?s leading source of international residential property investment research and data.
Mike Cobb
Property owners wishing to sell in Nicaragua face the extra challenge of a general negative country perception. The best way to overcome this is with anecdotal stories about your quality of life, safety, fun, and run of the mill experiences.
Remember, pictures are worth 1,000 words so include lots of photos with your stories. Be sure to have a blog style component to your listing page where prospects can see your fun experiences and put themselves into that same space. Formal blogging that points to the listing page will help drive traffic and relevance in the search engines and accomplish 2 goals at once.
Mike Cobb is a founder and CEO of Gran Pacifica, an established beach and golf resort community one hour west of Managua, Nicaragua.
Lan Sluder
Secrets to selling property in Belize? There really aren?t any. It involves basic A, B, C real estate fundamentals.
First, you have to price the property realistically. That may be easier said than done, because comparative pricing reports and accurate, objective appraisals in Belize are difficult to obtain. Would-be sellers in Belize often put a high ?dream? price on their property, and different real estate companies may list the property at different prices. This is almost always a formula for letting the property sit unsold for years.
Second, since mortgages and other bank loans in Belize are costly and difficult to get ? mortgage interest rates generally have stayed in the 10 to 14 percent range in recent years ? probably the most important thing you can do is to offer owner financing, ideally with a low down payment and affordable monthly or quarterly payments. This greatly expands the prospect pool, as relatively few foreigners and even fewer locals have the resources to buy property for all cash.
Third, you have to be sure you get the word out, especially to the foreign market through ads, internet listings and word of mouth.
Lan is founder of Belize First Magazine, has been banging around Belize for more than 21 years, and he has written 10 books and eBooks on the country.
Turalu Brady Murdock (Tuey)
When you are getting ready to sell your property, you need to get your title documents together. Make a packet of information for a buyer:
1. A copy of your registered title (or title certificate);
2. A copy of the receipt showing you paid your real property taxes the last time they were due. This will also let your buyer estimate the cost of the real property taxes;
3. A recent official document from the Registry showing that you are vested in title and that there are no liens on the property. This Certificate has different names depending on the country where your land is located;
4. A copy of the survey for your land that you received when you purchased your land;
5. Copies of a few months of utility bills. Buyers always want to know how much your pay for utilities;
6. If the land is in a development, a copy of the Home Owner?s ByLaws, together with a receipt showing your Home Owner?s dues are paid to date; and
7. If you have a caretaker or employees that work on your property, you should have a list of responsibilities and wages that the buyer can review in order to evaluate whether he/she will continue to retain their service and also to have an estimate of how much it costs to maintain the property.Having this information ready to email or fax to potential buyers will often make the difference in selling your property quickly. You don?t want title issues to be the reason the deal falls apart.
Tuey, an attorney in the real estate field since 1976, has been reviewing titles in Latin America and the Caribbean since 1997 and owns a consulting company, TCS, that can help you with the due diligence needed to sell/buy your property.
Gail Geerling
Price your property according to your desire to sell. Most folks think that the market determines a property?s price, but in some cases your selling price is greatly affected by something more critical- how badly you want to sell. In Central America, where most countries lack an MLS and the Property Registry?s numbers can be off by a mile, it?s difficult to get true comparison prices.
You may have to ask several different sources how much similar properties have sold for in your neighborhood or building. Ask agents, your neighbors, or even the concierge in your building. They almost always know the scoop! Then go online and check how much others in your area are currently asking for their similar property.
If you want a quick sale, lower your price a percentage point or two ? so that you get noticed first.
Finally, beware of asking others to pay for your preferences, or you might find selling your property a challenge. That custom-designed yellow kitchen you spent thousands to install might be sold to someone who hates yellow and can?t cook. Major construction items such as a home, guesthouse, deck, or pool can usually recover their value in a sale- but if you?ve installed custom preferences, a buyer might see what you?ve done as a detriment to purchasing your property.
It?s tough to separate emotion from your pricing decision, but the sooner you do, the sooner you?ll sell!
Gail has spent the last fifteen years in the property industry in Central America and can be found at Success In Central America.
Steve Linder
My biggest tip to sellers is to list their home on the rental sites and feature the fact that the house is currently for sale. They can provide a rental history after a certain time frame of having it listed and they?ll be covering their costs in the meantime. (If you don?t want to rent it, limit availability via the booking calendar)
I also suggest listing the advertisement on any chat groups in the region on sites like Yahoo Groups, Google Groups, Linked In, etc. Examples include Costa Rica living ? Yahoo Groups, Costa Rica Classifieds ? Yahoo Groups, Costa Rica real estate ? Yahoo Groups, Costa Rica Living ? Linked In, Costa Rica ? Google Groups and many more.
Now, don?t just rush to the sites and start making basic listings for your property. This is not the best and most efficient approach. Instead, you want to be sure that you have a solid foundation that is going to give you the means to create the strongest listing possible, emphasizing the fact that the house is for sale and that any vacation rental will be fully applied to the purchase price if they end up buying it.
Steve is the Global Sales manager for Pacific Lots of Costa Rica, a development located in the Southern Pacific Region of Costa Rica boasting a 23 year history, with 100?s of homes and 1000?s of owners.
Julie-Ann Ellis-Bradley
My tips for the seller would be:
1. Take advantage of multiple listing opportunities; enter into non-exclusive listing arrangements with many real estate agents which will allow you to tap into a wider and more diverse market.
2. Make your price competitive and include financing options by partnering with financial institutions to provide attractive packages, rates or ready financing to prospective purchasers. As a seller you may also wish to offer attractive seller financing where payment plus interest is made by the purchaser in installments over a number of years (while this means it will take longer for you to receive the full proceeds of sale, it is generally attractive to buyers looking for long or medium term investments without having to obtain a mortgage.)
3. Highlight the fact that there is no capital gains tax levied on sale or purchase of real estate in Belize.
4. Use the internet.
Julie-Ann is an Attorney-at-Law at Barrow & Williams in Belize City, Belize, a full service civil law firm which specializes in real estate and corporate and commercial law.
Kent Davis
My tip: Eyes Buy.
Get as many people into your home for sale as possible. Maybe that means hosting parties or events (we have had success with partnering up with a local artist to do an exhibition of their work).
Make sure everyone and their mother knows that your place is for sale, especially the type of first contact people that are in front of your potential buyers even BEFORE they start looking at real estate.
In Panama, we have relationships with the best lawyers, school administrators, and insurance agencies.
Kent Davis is the founder of Panama Equity Real Estate and is our go-to source for all things Panama. He?s been in Panama since 2007 and his agency is widely quoted by publications such as Time Magazine, Bloomberg, and The Visitor.
Ann Kuffner
It will be much easier to sell your property if your realtor is effectively reaching out to on-line readers. These days, most realtors selling property in Belize are in contact with potential buyers long before they hit the shore, on vacation. The most successful realtors have an effective on-line marketing strategy, and a website that attracts potential investors or expat buyers and retirees.
Their leads come primarily from on line marketing campaigns and cooperative marketing efforts with international lifestyle groups or large realtor groups. Ask if the realtor will actively advertise your property through an international network. Realtors who bring groups on tours of Belize, or communicate with potential buyers on line for months before they come, sell more property. And they sell it faster.
Carefully review their on line marketing strategy and website. Are they actively sending out free articles, or writing helpful blogs, to attract potential buyers to their website? Offering helpful free content on-line attracts leads/potential buyers.
Ann has been living the expat lifestyle on Ambergris Caye, Belize, for over 4 years and is currently the Belize Relocation Director for Escape Artist Belize.
Roger Petersen
Be sure your property does not have any legal encumbrances, liabilities, annotations on title or boundary issues that could derail your sale at the time of closing.
Sounds logical but you would be surprised what I have discovered when representing a Buyer and looking at the title history of a Seller.
Don?t be surprised at closing.
Have all your legal documents in order when you list the property.
Roger Petersen is a Costa Rican Attorney with over 20 years of experience and author of the best selling book The Legal Guide to Costa Rica.
St Joseph
My tip: Bury me in the yard upside down facing the house and pray that I?ll help you with a fast, smooth and profitable sale.
If you were wondering what a picture of a statue of St Joseph was doing in the line up, well, now you know. The tradition to bury a statue of St Joseph started in the 1500s when a group of nuns needed to expand their land. After burying medals of St Joseph in the ground, their prayers were quickly answered.
Here?s more on the tradition and thanks to Steve Linder for sending me the link.
Your Turn
Now it?s your turn. Have any of these tips resonated with you?
What?s your most powerful tip for selling an international property?
Please share in the comments.
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