The World Can Be Your Oyster -- Marketing Your Home Across the Seven Seas

Ring Microsoft customer service and you will be speaking with someone in India. Unwrap the Power Rangers action figures in the box under the Christmas tree and you'll likely find that it was made in China. So was your iPhone. The homegrown Ford that you drive may have been assembled in Detroit, but likely has parts from a dozen countries around the globe.

The World is Flat, so wrote journalist Thomas Friedman in his oft-quoted 2005 book. International boundaries are spanned by the internet and people around the world frequently communicate for free in real-time. Jetsetting from New York to London to Shanghai to Berlin to Hong Kong and Seoul is no longer the exclusive province of the well-to-do but rather an essential part of doing business in the global economy and more and more frequently a route on the casual vacation traveler's itinerary.

The global economic environment impacts greatly certain areas of the real estate market in the United States, and the marketing of your home to potential foreign purchasers. With the U.S. dollar progressively weaker against foreign currencies, most particularly the Euro, investment in U.S. real estate has become quite attractive for foreign investors.

According to the Association of Foreign Investors in Real Estate (AFIRE), "despite a growing interest in Asia, U.S. real estate, by a wide margin, has risen to the top of the global property market among foreign investors, with New York City and Washington [D.C.] named the top two global cities for foreign investors’ real estate dollars."

The next buyer of your home in the D.C. or Northern Virginia area may not be from your town, your county, or even from the United States. The person buying your home may not speak English.

When you put your home on the market for sale, you need to be able to reach these foreign buyers. Gone are the days of placing a simple ad in the local newspaper or homes magazine and expecting to sell your home. Placing a sign in your yard doesn't reach them either. The Irishman, French mademoiselle, Korean couple, or Turk, who may wish to purchase your home is not cruising the neighborhoods or picking up Homes & Land at the local grocery store.

The World Can Be Your Oyster!

In order to expand your pool of potential buyers and launch a home marketing campaign that will reach across the Seven Seas, today's reality requires that you hire a technology savvy REALTOR who's capable of marketing your home to the widest audience across the globe.

Just a few of the ways that I can help:

RE/MAX International: Through the power of RE/MAX, I have the ability to market your home to a worldwide network of over 113,000 experienced professional RE/MAX real estate agents throughout the United States and more than 65 countries. RE/MAX and the RE/MAX balloon is one of the most recognizable global brands, not just in real estate, but across all brand categories. "RE/MAX real estate" ranks #2 after Realtor.com for real estate search terms on the internet.

Extensive Reach of Virginia Real Estate News blog: With a laser focus on real estate issues in Northern Virginia and Washington, D.C., my heavily trafficked site (200-300 visitors/day) has a global reach. Readers and potential homebuyers have found my site from 89 countries on every continent (except Antartica -- does anyone actually live there or have internet access?). When your home is marketed here, you will be reaching the global market. That's something that a homes magazine or the classified ads section of the local newspaper cannot promise you.

United States & Canadian Active Rain Network: Through my participation in the Active Rain Real Estate Network, I'm connected with over 70,000 real estate professionals throughout the U.S. and Canada. These brokers and agents around the country often have clients moving out of their area and to the D.C. region. Your home will be exposed to all the professionals within this active network.

International buyers are buying in D.C. and Northern Virginia. Due to favorable exchange rates, home prices here are very attractive.

Make the world your oyster. I'll help the international buyers find the pearl that is your home.