Globalization has had an immediate and powerful impact on real
estate markets, making them an international working place. The
rapid growth of the Internet has made the international market
accessible to millions of consumers. A look at recent changes in
homeownership rates illustrates this. Minority homeownership jumped
by 4.4 million during , reaching 12.5 million, according to the
Fannie Mae Foundation. Foreign direct investment in U.S. real estate
has increased sharply from $38 billion in more than $50
billion in according to Census data.
Most local real estate agents view the foreign
market as a significant revenue potential and may have already
worked with international clients in their local market, new
immigrants or more sophisticated investors from different cultures
and from other countries. For example, they are providing
value-added services to an overseas relocation employee figure out
which inoculations his or her children will need as well as the
steps needed to register a car in the United States. Real estate
brokers want to keep central to the transaction, protect the best
interests of their members and address the unique needs of each
multicultural global client by acquiring specialized training and
designations. (See below for more.
Recently the Mexican association of real estate
practitioners in Mexico, AMPI, and the NAR, National Association of
Realtors in the US, signed a bilateral contract for international
real estate business cooperation. Also at the local level, many
other state and local associations are helping other countries
achieve the same result. For instance, in New Mexico, a historically
multicultural state, under the RANM, Realtor Association of New
Mexico and the President’s Advisory Council, is looking into forming
an ambassador association to help a foreign country into signing a
bilateral agreement with the NAR. In New Mexico, there are
licensed real estate professionals and only 14 or 15 CIPS designees,
out of whom, only 6 speak a language other than English.
