If you are planning on selling your property to one of the largest buyer segments in the local San Francisco Bay Area real estate market, you can not do it in English-only anymore. In a recent article in the San Francisco Chronicle, it was reported that 20% of one new condo building's buyers were foreign, and that Chinese were in the top 5 of the list. With San Francisco's close proximity to Asia, the large Asian population and the recent developments by the Chinese government to allow Chinese citizens to buy real estate overseas it is wise to make sure that your property is being marketed properly to this market.

Marketing vs. Translation

While there are translation widgets available that will translate your properties information into every language in the world, reviews by native speakers often reveal that they are less than perfect when conveying your properties unique characteristics. Translation like these do not pick-up on translating English nuances well into foreign languages at all.

At sfcondomap.com, a recent listing also prominently offers information in Chinese that captures the true meanings and essence of the English text. The differences can be as dramatic as reading bad writing vs. good writing to the reader! And this will effect their perception of your property.

The "Best Practices" in marketing to particular foreign buyers is to have a native speaker that is fluent in the target markets language and that is also fluent in real estate marketing to do the translation. You can see the example at sfcondomap.com here.

For more information on marketing your property to foreign buyers, please contact Scott Pierce at 415-595-3519 or email at scott@sfcondomap.com.