There are two things to get right when it comes to selling your property abroad: Listing and exposure.
1) Listing your international property
Listing information is generally a combination of text, photos and occasionally video. That’s all well and good but how can sellers create a listing that really seduces the buyer? In the end, much of it comes down to effective copy-writing. This is of course also the case in the US or elsewhere – but in Central America expect to put in some of the copy-writing effort yourself:
- Start with a headline that draws the buyer in.
- Explain the “why.” By that we mean why you bought the property in the first place. It can also be useful to explain why you are selling it, if the reason is a positive one.
- Advertise the features of the property, don’t just catalog them. (This is critical when it comes to photos. Don’t just photography every room for completeness but carefully prepare five or six seductive photos to showcase the property)
- List the benefits of the property. Explain precisely what will the property deliver for the buyer. Sell the lifestyle that comes with the property. After all buyers are not just interested in four walls and a roof they are buying the lifestyle that comes with owning them.
2) Exposure
As these is no MLS for property in Central America, getting good exposure is not as simple as getting the property onto a central database. Don’t leave the marketing up to the real estate agents. Remember, they’re acting more as buyers agents than listing agents. And if you are selling in a real estate development, don’t assume the developer is going to put your property ahead of theirs.
- List the property with every real estate agent who is active int he region, promising a full commission to whoever sells the property.
- Provide the details to informal agents and property runners. This may include your taxi driver and the hotel receptionist. In practice you don’t have to be a formal ‘real estate agent’ to sell property in Central America.
- List the property with international listing sites that rank highly for relevant search terms. it’s all about increasing the marketing exposure for your property.
Now of course there are other tactics such as getting the price right, negotiating the contract terms and so on. We’ll get to these in later posts. But don’t lose sight of the fact that your first step is to get your listing and exposure strategies in place.
