Using the Web and social media to sell real estate

One of the key concepts that you’ll get from some real estate experts I that you should start from your own back yard, meaning first get familiar with the market you have close at hand and then spread your reach gradually as you go, moving further and further.

International real estate businesses are built through partnerships

It is definitely a best business practice if you are considering doing some major rehab work. It is such a labor intensive activity that you need to get a solid understanding and control of the activities by either being involved directly in the work or monitoring very closely those who are performing it for you. Therefore you don’t want to add long travels in the initial burden of learning the trade, learning your market and building your team.

But when you bring it to an international real estate perspective, you rapidly see that you can’t really use the “back yard” concept because your investor or buyer will not be familiar with your specific market and therefore will have no specific interest in it but she will rather look from the best market that can provide her the best return with the minimum effort.

We also know that the Web and social media are playing an ever bigger role in the buying decisions of people, also where real estate is concerned, and they level the playing field big time allowing a potential investor to chose between alternatives in multiple countries, all competing with each other. And which is going to win? The one that feels easier or more familiar to the buyer or investor. She is the one calling the shots therefore she is the one who has to feel the game is going on in her own back yard so to speak, no matter how far away from her that back yard can be.

So is there a “back yard” also on the Web? I have been at an Internet Marketing event recently organized by The Wealth Building Annex in Tampa. It was about social medial marketing strategies and I interviewed the speaker, Phillip Black, about his take on internationalization when it comes to Internet Marketing strategies.

His viewpoint, again, is that you should first develop and consolidate your presence in your own country and then expand from there. So here again we have the back yard concept at play, also in social media marketing, although on a much bigger scale. You develop your message and strategy on the US and then you export it overseas.

It makes sense, but there is more to it. Is it enough for you to get big in the US and then expand just like you are to international level? Unlikely. You can have customers all over the world, that’s for granted, but if you don’t build your international real estate business so that it is specifically tailored to international needs, if you don’t build strong relations and networking outside of the US, your business will simply remain domestic in nature even if you have a few customers abroad and even if the Web allows you to overcome distances and borders. I have seen it happen over and over again with individual entrepreneurs and big corporations.

The players who have been very successful on the international playing field are those that developed a very strong back yard in the US and then expanded world wide through the help of partners that were strong in each respective country or continent. These partners don’t need to be located in the target country necessarily, they might be here in the US, like my companies for example, but must have developed a very specific international focus and must have the right trust relationships overseas.

Roberto Mazzoni