With real estate prices lowering in the United States, many foreign investors and clients are looking to the United States to pick up real estate. There are several important tips to know when selling your home to an overseas buyer. Here are several tips to assist you in your decision to sell your home overseas:
Why Sell Overseas?
Home sellers are more and more tempted to sell overseas as the declining dollar in the United States and the price of real estate here stays stale. Foreign investors can easily pick up a property for less over here than in their own country and use it as a rental or investment property. A smaller population use it as their own vacation and second home properties. If you are experiencing a real estate slump in your area and live in an area popular for overseas visitors, the appeal to sell your home to an overseas buyer can be tempting when faced with the need to sell. Many will try to steer you clear of selling to overseas buyers, but it can be done with the right tools and knowledge.
Your first question should be if you are going to try to sell your property yourself, or use an agent? There are several drawbacks and benefits to both. Selling on your own may save you from real estate agent fees, but you will have to have a firm knowledge on marketing, selling, and required documentation (especially pertaining to overseas sells) when choosing to list and sell your home. It will also require a great deal of time investment on your part to market, show, and prepare your home for sale. The use of an agent requires a hefty fee, and finding an agent dealing with overseas sells may require some searching on your part. But it may be well worth the time and headache in the end. Finding an agent who deals with overseas buyers can alleviate the worry of selling to a disreputable buyer. In addition, enlisting a real estate agent to help you sell may also be more attractive to overseas buyers who may be just as concerned and worried about buying from an independent seller.
Whether you choose to list with an agent, or sell on your own there are several things you can do to draw more traffic to your home. Choosing an attractive price to buyers is one. You may loose money on your home, or feel your home is worth more, but letting your home sit on the market for months on end can cause you to loose more in the end. If you aren’t too desperate to sell, you may be able to afford to wait awhile longer with a higher price and entertain offers. But know that a home that sits on the market for a great length of time doesn’t appeal to many buyers; overseas or local and the offers on your home generally decrease the longer the home is on the market.
Set up a website or blog page. You can advertise for free on various home websites or on sites like Craigs List in addition to the MLS Listing your agent may place. You can link to a blog or webpage that shows detailed pictures of your home and has a virtual tour or virtual open house of your home. The more information you include on your home, the more attractive to overseas buyers your home becomes.
Avoid sending out e-blasts. Some companies offer services claiming to send emails of your property to foreign investors wanting to buy. Unfortunately, many of these get sent out in the form of e-blasts and end up in junk mail folders, or never reaching any particular person. Avoid sending or using any of these type of companies until you thoroughly check them out.
A better approach is to try to advertise in foreign newspapers or real estate circulations that have a worldwide audience. You can easily take out an ad and place it in one of their circulations to advertise your home. Be sure to list any phone numbers or website addresses if available to improve credibility and home showing features. Also make sure that you convert any currency to their local exchanges if necessary.
Get Legal Help
See an attorney or other legal representative in regards to the forms and legal information you will need to protect yourself when selling a home overseas. There are many aspects that make up the legal process when selling overseas that you may not even think about. Visa applications, taxes, import and export taxes and costs, and the mortgage process are just a few of the legal issues facing an overseas buy and sale. Depending on the country the buyer comes from, it could dramatically change the forms and legal steps you will need to take in order to complete the home sale. If you use an agent, they should be familiar with this process or be able to quickly access the forms needed.
Unfortunately it happens. Never give out your account information or accept a cashiers check or other check as a form of payment from a buyer. The website HousesForSale.com has also notified those selling their home to avoid this scam. The buyers sends you a cashiers check in the amount of $40,000 as a down payment on your home. All they ask is that you wire them $8,000 back to their property inspector or other such official to pay for expenses to travel and see the property. If you are asked to receive a large sum of money, and then are asked to wire or transfer some of the money back, it’s a scam. And, if a cashier’s check is the form of transaction and is deposited into your account, know that funds may be available 24 hours after the check is deposited, but it could take up to 2 weeks for an overseas check to finally clear your account. Scammers are well aware of this, and sometimes use it to their advantage. Two weeks after a transaction, you could be left with no money at all.
Is it really worth it in the end to sell overseas? Potentially, yes. You could generate more money for your home when selling to an overseas buyer. By marketing to a larger audience, you can also generate more interest and appeal to your home and may be able to sell your home faster. The drawbacks may outweigh the positives though, and if the drawbacks and risks are too great for you to handle, than it probably isn’t worth selling to an overseas buyer. You must enlist the help of a reputable, knowledgeable agent who is aware of selling to overseas buyers and has direct experience with such. If you choose to sell on your own, enlist the help of knowledgeable legal advisers who can assist you with the correct forms, documentation, and procedures required for overseas home sales. Selling overseas is a more complex, but not impossible process to go through when selling your home. If you are armed with the right tools and knowledge, the transaction could be smooth and leave you with a SOLD sign outside in a short time.
