Mapping the Possibilities: Finding a Buyer From Across the Globe

Selling your home? You may not need to look as long, if you're willing to look far.

By Geoff Williams, FrontDoor.com | Published: 6/02/2009

Selling real estate to buyers from outside the United States has its pros and cons.

International homebuyers are coming to America. Realtors like Salnick love the trend -- and so should anyone selling a house. Sure, there's the obvious reason to find this movement in homebuying depressing -- the shaky economy and lower prices are attracting these buyers from far-flung lands -- but there are also lots of reasons to feel good that buying houses in America is in vogue.

After all, if you think about it, there are lots of third world countries with cheap housing, and European and Asian millionaires aren't flocking there. "America's on sale," says David Michonski, former CEO of Coldwell Bankers Previews International, but international travelers are here because they know a good value when they see it. "They continue to perceive the United States as the most, or one of the most, politically stable countries in the world."

And it can be a great deal for an American homebuyer to sell to someone from abroad. Most international buyers, says Michonski, put 30 percent down for a down payment, which is quite a bit higher than Americans, many of whom put down as little as 3.5 percent.

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