International Real estate - do it yourself????

[EL PRESIDENTE]

Ok here's the deal. Boss is selling one of his vacation homes out in Mexico. Several million dollars, so its kind of a big-ticket item and not too easy to sell.

Selling agent (in Mexico) is pretty lazy for some reason. If it were up to me I'd replace him, but the types down there are kind of passive for some reason. Took 3 months just to list the property on their corporate website and the photos they took were horrible. They apparently have someone here in Beverly Hills in the same company marketing it but I think they just threw it on the lady's personal website....

I got the OK to market the property in-house on several international listing websites. I'm dubious to the effectiveness of it and told my boss the types of leads they'll get through the internet are going to be shit.

Told him advertising in big magazines or in the Robb Report might be better.

Anyways, the point being, we're trying to go around the agent (he'll get a few hundred thousand in commission while we're doing his work for him) and doing an internet campaign and through connections. We have lawyers here that can do the paperwork or anything and someone we can get to show the house. I honestly think the Internet listings are a waste of time b/c guys spending that much aren't surfing the net for real estate.

Doable to leave the agent out of the picture?

 

[maxiep]

Ok here's the deal. Boss is selling one of his vacation homes out in Mexico. Several million dollars, so its kind of a big-ticket item and not too easy to sell.

Selling agent (in Mexico) is pretty lazy for some reason. If it were up to me I'd replace him, but the types down there are kind of passive for some reason. Took 3 months just to list the property on their corporate website and the photos they took were horrible. They apparently have someone here in Beverly Hills in the same company marketing it but I think they just threw it on the lady's personal website....

I got the OK to market the property in-house on several international listing websites. I'm dubious to the effectiveness of it and told my boss the types of leads they'll get through the internet are going to be shit.

Told him advertising in big magazines or in the Robb Report might be better.

Anyways, the point being, we're trying to go around the agent (he'll get a few hundred thousand in commission while we're doing his work for him) and doing an internet campaign and through connections. We have lawyers here that can do the paperwork or anything and someone we can get to show the house. I honestly think the Internet listings are a waste of time b/c guys spending that much aren't surfing the net for real estate.

Doable to leave the agent out of the picture?

It's not possible. It's why I have no respect for residential real estate agents and instead hold brokers' licenses myself. They treat their market like a cartel. If you try to work on their turf, they'll protect each other by steering clear of "rogue" properties. In Lake Oswego, for example, it's ridiculous.

The best thing to do is to involve the listing broker, tell him that your boss doesn't have the time to deal with this project, so he's made you the point person. Do his work for him and do what you can to get the place sold. Offer a financial incentive to get the place sold by a certain time period.

As for the internet, it's basically free, so it's worth putting some effort into. Create a page you control that's linked to all the sites on which you post (something like the address of the property, e.g. www.123mainstreet.com) the listing. Make sure the home is being properly maintained and put some money into staging.

A trained monkey can do the job of a Realtor. However, they've made themselves a necessary evil. I hate every check I've ever had to write to those bloodsuckers.

 

[EL PRESIDENTE]

I have a website up already that we did on our own, with about 60 photos. We're going to be listing on several international directories. I told my boss to have the contact for everything run through our office instead of the guy in Mexico. He doesn't want to pay commission on leads the agent in Mexico isn't getting himself. The house is staffed with four people so maintenance and staging isn't a problem.

Its pretty ridiculous we asked him to market the property in Mexico City to the wealthy communities, but he said that due to "privacy" and "violence"/"drugs", he was against it. I think he's just being lazy because he knows he can't sell the property at the listed price (its overvalued IMO). Usually for these you would get listed in high-end magazines, travel mags, and direct brochure mailings to high net worth individuals.

 

[EL PRESIDENTE]

do you think its worth it for those magazines. got a rate sheet for www.exceptionalpropertiesonline.com its $375 a month for a classified ad for their magazines...its owned by the Robb Report. wonder how effective those are.