Closing Gift Tips for International Clients
Closing gifts are a great way to leave a positive impression on home buying and selling clients – setting you up for referrals and repeat clients. But will your traditional choice in gifts work on your international clients or leave a bad taste in their mouths? Even when expressing gratitude, it's widely known that misunderstanding cultural differences can directly affect real estate transactions; those same differences can affect potential repeat business and referrals when gifting at the close of a sale or purchase. According to NAR Global, by following these best practices and gift giving guidelines, you have a better chance of your international clients remembering you fondly. International Gift Giving – Best Practices Avoid gifts with political or religious implications Steer clear of gag gifts Gifts abundantly particular to your clients native country are a faux pas Consider the 3 Ps: Personalized, Practical and Prolonged Use International Gift Giving – Do's & Dont's

How To: Work with Remote & Relocating Buyers
A number of recent market reports have come to the same conclusion in recent weeks: vacation home sales are heating up! Investors.com reports that "interest in buying second homes has increased as people look to 'get more bang for the buck' amid low interest rates." This is refreshing news for resort towns after years of plummeting figures. Even if your selling area isn't by the beach, chances are rising employment rates and an improving economy have you fielding calls (or more likely emails) from buyers who are thinking of relocating to your neck of the woods. Of course you have excellent face-to-face skills and a great reputation in your community, but are you prepared to work with buyers who may be hundreds – or thousands – of miles away? Adapt your client relationship-building tools to appeal to remote and relocating buyers and you will open yourself up to a whole new market. Today we have six easy tips to help you appeal to a much wider audience. Think Beyond the Telephone Today's remote buyers have access to a variety of communication technologies that may be more convenient or effective for staying in touch than the telephone. Take some time to become familiar with internet-based video chatting platforms like Skype, FaceTime and Google+ Hangouts. These services will help you establish a visual connection and won't run up your phone bill.

Golden Opportunity: Translate Your Listings
With a struggling real estate market, every REALTOR® is looking for new business opportunities, ways to keep your business booming in tough times. International buyers are a golden opportunity. The key is knowing how to reach them. You may want to consider foreign language translations of your listings. Extending an "Olive Branch" We'll get to the SEO benefits of listing translation later. There's a less quantifiable, but perhaps even more important, benefit: the "good will" you demonstrate by making an effort to speak an international buyer's language. By translating your listings, you're demonstrating respect. International buyers are a growth industry. More and more homebuyers are going to speak a foreign language. In addition, the spending power in those groups is growing exponentially; they're upwardly mobile. International buyers and non-English speakers are often bilingual, but research proves that they want to do business with people who respect their language and their culture.