Patrizia Pluchino, a Miami real estate agent, said she knew she had made a mistake when a Chinese couple she worked with secretly filmed her.
“I treated them like any couple in the Western world, just as nicely to this lady. They disappeared on me,” she said. “I should be talking to him, not her.”
Pluchino, Miami-based Sales Manager case corp., lesson learned.Learn not only the language but also the different cultural cues foreign buyers This could affect whether a deal is struck or not. This is even more important now as demand from non-English-speaking buyers and renters grows.
“Often when you know the language, you know how they interact, their dynamics,” said Pluchino, who grew up in Venezuela. How different their homeland business is.
“There are many countries [escrow accounts] Doesn’t exist,” Pluchino said, which can make a huge difference in getting someone happy with a transaction, since an escrow account protects both parties.
Maria Velazaquez, a Compass agent in New York who works with her mother and brother in Miami, said she sometimes walks her non-English-speaking clients through the process from start to finish.
“If they’re going to rent out a property, they have to understand how an offer works, how it’s presented, insurance, how the rental market works,” she said. “Everything is new to them.”
More and more brokerage firms across the country are looking for real estate agents who speak multiple languages. Some companies in Florida, New York, and elsewhere have attorneys, they would add up to say a dozen or so attorneys. New York-based Leven Real Estate has 16 agents who speak 13 languages, including Portuguese, Turkish, Dutch, Italian and Chinese.
According to the company’s founder, Philip Hordijk, he was able to leverage international buyers, including Latinos and Europeans, back to 2012. His firm works with domestic and international clients with listings ranging in value from $600,000 to $39 million.
Speaking someone’s language “immediately builds trust because you’re meeting them where they are,” Hordijk said. “They don’t have to think about what they’re saying. There’s no miscommunication.”
There are other quirks, Hordijk added. In some cultures, “if you haven’t eaten together, it’s not a deal,” in others, intense negotiations must take place, with buyers sometimes offering as much as 20 percent less than asking.
“In New York, this can lead to not even getting a job offer,” Hordijk added.
In Miami, the nation’s largest association of realtors launched multilingual consumer property search last year.
Some brokerage firms have agents or employees who translate documents for clients to help streamline the process.
At the White Plains office of Coldwell Banker, which covers Westchester County, broker and senior managing director Michael Weiss said 18 languages were spoken. Spanish is the most popular.
“We have people who are able to create buyer packs in their language [and] Someone who translates listing documents,” he said. Sometimes agents translate for buyers while talking to loan officers or lawyers.
Larry Paredes, one of the agents white plains Office, working with Spanish-speaking buyers, including those who are recently buying co-ops. Paredes said it was important for him to talk to the whole family first.
“Buying, selling or renting a home can be stressful,” Weiss said. “[This] to make the process easier. ”
Agents said they were able to connect more with clients who grew up on a deeper level or came from other countries.
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If a client makes an embarrassing faux pas, it can draw a less-than-friendly response from New Yorkers. “I can see where they’re coming from,” Hordijk said.
“Besides the multilingual part, it’s visiting the places, having an open mind and understanding the differences,” he said. “We often don’t have family here. We know it’s a survival story.”
