With foreign-born homebuyers expected to flood local markets in upcoming years, Bay State Realtors are launching a campaign to increase awareness about international real estate.
For years, Realtors throughout the state have been working with foreign-born homebuyers and sellers, but many aren’t aware of all the ins and outs of international real estate. And despite predictions that immigrants will be buying homes in record numbers in the next decade, only 11 Realtors in Massachusetts are actually certified in international real estate.
Now, the Massachusetts Association of Realtors wants to get more real estate practitioners trained to handle all the details of working with foreign-born buyers and investors. Next year, MAR plans to form an international council, with its own budget and membership, and will offer the five educational courses that Realtors are required to take to earn the Certified International Property Specialist designation.
MAR is also having an International Night Reception on Oct. 24 to give agents and brokers a chance to explore the business opportunities available in international real estate. Realtors participating in the event will have a chance to network with colleagues who have worked with foreign buyers and get information on how to earn the CIPS designation. MAR has invited representatives from each of the countries that have consulates in Boston to the reception.
According to housing experts, there is a large market of prospective clients who need an agent or broker trained in international real estate to assist them, and that buyer pool is likely to expand in future years as more and more immigrants who have been in this country for several years seek to purchase their first homes.
“There [are] two sides to this: There are the practitioners that are working with immigrants who are in this country and seeking to establish roots and own their own homes. And then there are other people, who are actually more in the commercial sector, who are looking to do business in this country,” said Mary Crowley, a principal with Crowley Marquis GMAC Real Estate in Wareham. “There’s also the business people who are looking to do business in emerging markets, like China.”
Crowley, chairman of MAR’s International Committee, is spearheading the effort to get a council formed and draw more Realtors into CIPS training.
A large number of the immigrants with whom Realtors in this state and across the country work are first-time homebuyers. Even though nationwide immigrants make up only 8 percent of all new homeowners since 1997, they have accounted for twice that share of first-time homebuyers, according to a recent survey by Harvard University’s Joint Center for Housing Studies.
The 1.3 million foreign-born first-time homebuyers since 1997 account for one out of every five immigrant homeowners, according to the study. The overall homeownership rate of the foreign-born now stands at 50 percent compared with 75 percent of native-born whites.
Nicholas P. Retsinas, director of the Joint Center for Housing Studies, predicts that immigrants’ role in the housing market will increase in the future.
“With the typical immigrant buying his or her first home after 11 years in the United States, we can expect to see more make the move to homeownership as the 10 million immigrants who arrived last decade reach their peak homebuying years during the next decade,” Retsinas was quoted as saying when the housing study was released in the summer.
‘Perfect Sense’
Because of these international trends, the National Association of Realtors has expanded its focus on international real estate and is encouraging state associations to form international councils. It makes “perfect sense” for MAR to focus more on international real estate as well, according to Crowley.
“Boston is a port city, and the commonwealth of Massachusetts has a high immigrant population,” she said.
One of the ways to raise awareness about international real estate is through specialized training. Nancy Edmond, who is also a member of the international subcommittee and has the CIPS designation, said the CIPS courses not only help Realtors understand the economic and financial ramifications of international real estate transactions, but they also give them insight on different customs and beliefs. Many buyers from other countries, for example, don’t believe in using mortgages for home purchases, she said.
Getting the CIPS designation could also help real estate agents draw more business. The names of Realtors with the CIPS designation are placed in a special directory, which can lead to referrals. Agents with the CIPS designation can also advertise that they are trained to work with foreign-born buyers.
Many Realtors are already assisting buyers from various parts of the world, including Eastern Europe, Asia and South America, but don’t realize that they’re engaging in international real estate, according to Edmond. A Realtor with Re/Max Walden Country in Concord, Edmond said she has worked with people from Brazil, Bolivia, the United Kingdom, France and Taiwan.
“Within Massachusetts, there are just so many transactions taking place that involve more and more foreign-born people,” said Edmond. “I think it’s a market that Realtors are using all the time; they just may be able to do it better [with the CIPS training].”
Realtors across the country are slowly becoming more aware that CIPS training is available, said Ralph Miller, president of The Realty Guild, an association of independent and locally owned real estate offices in Massachusetts. At least two Realty Guild members have the CIPS designation.
“Even though we [Realtors] do deal with people from Europe and Asia all the time, there aren’t a lot of them getting the CIPS designation,” said Miller, a broker-owner of Hughes & Hughes Real Estate in Natick.
MAR members have been active in international real estate for several years now. MAR established an international workgroup in 1996. When Crowley was MAR president in 1998, the association started an “ambassador” program with Romania. As part of the program, Bay State Realtors assisted their Romanian colleagues with establishing and running an association. Crowley, who will be making her fourth trip to Romania in a few weeks, said that local Realtors also helped the country’s real estate practitioners promulgate a licensing law and assisted with education.
MAR could form a relationship with another country in the near future because NAR has asked the association to recommend a liaison to Portugal. The liaison will report directly to the NAR president.
In addition, by MAR forming an international council next year, with its own budget and membership, a broad spectrum of professionals – from attorneys to bankers and real estate investors – will be joined together with agents and brokers who want to do more international business.
“It could become a very valuable networking process,” said Crowley.
MAR’s International Night Reception will be Oct. 24 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the association’s headquarters in Waltham. Tickets are $15 and may be purchased by calling (800) 725-6272.