Central American/Caribbean

Groundbreaking Pact Links Seven Countries with Global Agent Network

In a milestone toward organizing the Central American and Caribbean real estate business, the associations of seven countries have signed a deal to syndicate their listings internationally in 12 languages.

The agreement between FECEPAC, the regional association of real estate associations, and U.S.-based Immobel covers listings in Panama, Costa Rica, Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala, Dominican Republic and Nicaragua. Agents in the countries will enter listings into Immobel’s Global Listing Exchange, which will translate and distribute the listings through Google Real Estate and international portals, including WorldProperties.com and Enormo.com.

In addition to creating a framework for listings, Immobel’s Global Referral Network offers a secure system for international agents to earn referral fees.

Ed Barner

Investor Profile

After Years in Prague, He Shifts to Las Vegas

By Kevin Brass
Editor

Ed Barner is not the type of property investor guided by spreadsheets, algorithms and data forecasts.

“It’s all gut with me,” Barner said. “I look at a few numbers, but for the most part I talk to people and get a gut reaction.”

For the 15 years Barner, a native of Los Angeles, focused his investments on high-end apartments in Prague, which he’s leased steadily to foreign corporations doing business in the Czech capital. Now he’s selling the last of his apartments in Prague and shifting his investments to suburban houses in Las Vegas.

Google: Savior or Satan?

The Search Giant Could Change the Business. Is That Good or Bad?

IPJ Exclusive: One on one with Google's Sam Sebastian. Click here

By Kevin Brass
IPJ Editor

To real estate technology consultant and widely-read blogger Rob Hahn, Google’s move into real estate will shake the foundation of the industry.

“Google is probably the most significant influence of the next two or three years, in terms of how real estate is done,” said Hahn, managing partner of 7DSAssociates. “The impact will be very far-reaching.”

Hahn is not alone in his opinion. The search engine giant is the 800-pound gorilla in the room these days, provoking everything from elation to fear within the real estate industry. Depending on who you talk to, Google has the potential to smash the MLS, make brokers obsolete and destroy portals like Zillow and Rightmove.

IPJ Interview: Google's Sam Sebastian

Google’s director of business-to-business markets Sam Sebastian wants to set the record straight. In an interview with the IPJ, he talks about what the search giant is doing in real estate—and what it is not doing.

At the recent Inman conference, you said Google doesn’t have an “evil plan” for real estate. Can you give us a quick sense of how Google views the market?

No different than any other vertical we work in. The main goal is simply to ensure the user experience—whatever a user is typing into the Google query box—that we get to them and in front of them what they are probably looking for.

House Hunters International Wants to Make You a Star

Popular TV Series is Looking for Agents and Buyers to Participate in New Season

By Ted Edwards
International Property Journal

For the producers of House Hunters International, the program that helped make shopping for an overseas home a TV phenomenon in the U.S., the search for agents and buyers to participate in the show is a never-ending process.

Ideal candidates must speak English, feel comfortable with a camera recording their every move and, more than anything, have patience.

“The biggest misconception is that it will be 10 minutes,” said Holly Schwartz, producer for Los Angeles-based Pie Town Productions, which produces the show for HGTV. “As much fun as it is, it does take time.”

Pie Town is currently searching for agents and buyers for the next season. Although they are open to locations, the “wish list” includes Croatia, Fiji, French Polynesia, Holland, Hungary, Indonesia, Malta, Morocco, Spain, Sweden and “anywhere in the Caribbean,” Schwartz says.

Property Portals See Surge in New Year Traffic

By Ashley Rigg
Reprinted with permission from Global Edge

English-language overseas property portals reported record increases in traffic and enquiry levels in the first seven days of 2010.

U.K. market leader, Rightmove recorded its biggest-ever day on 4th January attracting over 25 million page impressions, beating the previous record set in August 2009 of 22.5 million. Traffic to Rightmove Overseas is up nearly 25 percent on the first week of 2009 according to head of overseas sales Shameem Golamy.

Overseas property specialists, The Move Channel, Mondinion.com, HolProp.com, PropertyShowrooms.com and Property-Abroad.com are also reporting big rises in traffic and enquiry levels on the same period last year. The Move Channel say traffic is 32 percent up, while at Property Abroad, lead volumes rose 38 percent year-on-year according to founder Les Calvert.

Market Report

Vancouver Bounces Back

With Olympics Coming Up, International Buyers Help Fuel Region's Recovery

By Kevin Brass
Editor

When the Olympic flame enters BC Place Stadium on Feb. 12, the world’s spotlight will fall on one of North America’s hottest property markets.

In November more than 7,721 properties were sold in British Columbia, the highest volume for the month since 2005, according to the British Columbia Real Estate Association. And it wasn’t spurred by foreclosures and short sales; the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver’s housing price index for the area jumped 16.2 percent to $562,463, from a year earlier.

“We’ve seen a dramatic rebound in home sales,” said Cameron Muir, chief economist for the BCREA. Home prices have been on an uptrend for several months, “scratching record levels,” Muir says.

Interview

The Art of Selling U.S. Property in Hong Kong

By Kevin Brass

Editor

“This is where all the action is,” said Patrick O’Neill, explaining why he moved his property company from Hawaii to Hong Kong three years ago.

The ONeill Group focuses on selling U.S. property to Asian investors, primarily new, high-end residential developments. Current listings include the I.M. Pei-designed Waterview condo project in Washington D.C. and Queensridge, a luxury development in Las Vegas.

Patrick O'Neill

Although the firm also trades in non-residential properties, the commercial business has dried up in recent months, O’Neill says. “Right now the U.S. commercial market is in seizure as the lenders continue to play the game of extend and pretend."

However, Hong Kong residential buyers are eagerly looking overseas, O’Neill says. In an interview, he talks about the twists of marketing to Hong Kong buyers, his latest strategies and the state of the market.

How would you characterize Hong Kong’s interest in U.S. residential property these days?

Without a doubt, the U.S. is the number one country of interest for international purchasers, including our Hong Kong investors. This is an interesting statistic: Using the term investors broadly—people who invest in various instruments—in Hong Kong 77 percent of investors include some real estate in their portfolio. Of that group that includes real estate in their portfolio, nearly half, actually 47 percent, own properties overseas. This is the highest of any country.