8 Tips To Attract Asian Buyers

More and more Asians are eyeing Canada for real estate opportunities. So much so that it’s becoming increasingly important to serve these buyers.

Inquiries for Canadian homes on Juwai.com jumped 134 per cent in the first quarter of 2016 from the previous year.

• There are 3 reasons for the sudden spike: 

1. Current period of uncertainty in the Chinese economy and stock market
2. Canada, a safe haven in terms of economy and government, has the added bonus of personal property laws
3. Canada is perceived an accepting place where Asian buyers are welcome to practice their religion and speak their language 

Knowing why Asian buyers are coming is the first step. In past few years I have put together Team Asia in order to provide the best service to overseas buyers and learn as much as possible about their needs and cultures. Following is the list of keynotes or things you (probably) didn't know about Asian buyers.

Reaching Out

• Join the Asian Real Estate Association of America in your local area or nationally and attend AREAA Conferences
• Look for groups within your local Real Estate board. Toronto has 2: one Cantonese (CREPSO) speaking started by the Hong Kong born REALTORS and a new Mandarin speaking organization (CCRP) of Mainland Chinese
• Learn their language or have a teammate who is fluent in the buyers' language
• Travel to Asia and establish business contacts attending conferences and seminars in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Beijing, Shanghai, Singapore, Japan, South Korea
• Advertise your properties on web sites within China (Juwai and Cameiju) and use WeChat
• Find more tips like these in one of our older articles here.

Feng Shui

This is a Chinese philosophy that believes there are many benefits from harmonizing people with their surroundings. For example, what the house faces and where the staircase is in the house. I once had a house in Chinese neighborhood and it wouldn't sell. After consulting with feng shui expert I closed a deal on it within a week. The issues were:

• location of the tree in the front yard
• a curved staircase
• when you came in through the front door you could see right through out the back window to the garden, which means the money's going to come in the front and go out the back. 

Digits. The number four is considered to be unlucky in China, because it sounds similar to the word for "death". On the other hand, number six and eight are considered to be lucky, six sounds similar to "fluid", "happiness", or "blessings" and eight sounds similar to "prosper", "wealth" and "fortune". 

Business Cards

• Hand your business card to the other person by using both hands
• Focus it and put it in a place where they can actually view it
• It's received by the other party in both hands and they read it first before even looking at you or saying hello
• Don't put it in your pocket immediately

Eating Out

I have recently closed a deal with a Chinese couple and we all went out to celebrate. We took them out for dim sum. For the first time I tried eel. I hadn't tried eel before, so I tried eel and I just sort of jumped in and did it. And it was quite good! It was tofu and eel and if somebody were to have said to me I'd be eating eel earlier in the week I would've said 'no! Are you kidding?' 

If you want them to accept you, you have to accept them and that also means you have to accept their culture and customs, including food.

Gift Exchange

It’s also important to always bring gifts when conducting a business in Asia. According to my colleague An, if you're visiting China as a business group, at the end of each meeting comes a gift exchange. She says it’s most important to make sure you have gifts for the boss even though you might not see him or talk to him.

Expand Your Team

If you’re going to do business in Asia, especially China, you need to have someone who speaks the language. The fact is, the biggest pool of Asian buyers are currently coming from mainland China. Below is Team Asia: Jim Burtnick, Tracy An and Richard Silver (that's me). Watch our video here.

Recognize the Differences

HONG KONG

• British-based, understand Canada-type law, English-law; tort law
• sophisticated business people
• knowledgeable 

TAIWAN

• between capitalist Hong Kong and the rest of China
• not as spend-thrift as the Chinese
• sophisticated money managers

CHINA

• their wealth is recent and new so people are not that used to dealing with money
• a bit more spend-thrift

Celebrate The Differences

I would just encourage people to not look on it as a chore. It's actually just going to open up a lot of new experiences and excitement for them.

Originally published on Torontoism.com