POINT OF VIEW: Whatley Report

Thinking globally

These days, it’s not unusual for us to find that our customers are either foreign-born or first-generation Americans. Immigration is transforming our country, according to Harvard University’s Joint Center for Housing Studies, which recently reported that 3.5 million—or 58 percent—of the 6 million net households formed over the past five years were headed by minorities.

We used to talk about our country as a melting pot—one in which immigrants assimilated into “American” culture within one or two generations. Within the past 30 years, however, we’ve recognized that the United States is more like a mosaic. Even after assimilation, immigrants retain a bond to the country they’ve left behind. They continue to practice the traditions of their culture and keep in touch with relatives back home.

This mosaic of immigrant communities represents a huge wave of new customers. The challenge comes in putting aside our preconceived notions about how people perceive and make decisions about the real estate transaction process.

Our fair housing courses teach us to treat all our customers equally. That’s critically important. But learning to work with different cultures goes beyond equality to deepening our understanding of others’ practices and traditions. NAR has tools that can help: the Certified International Property Specialist (CIPS) designation and the “One America: At Home With Diversity” course. Through these programs, you’ll learn to serve people of different cultures. Just as important, you’ll show customers that you’re a professional who is sensitive to cultural differences and who celebrates your community’s mosaic.

Helping you take your business to the next level is also behind NAR’s participation in the International Consortium of Real Estate Associations. ICREA is bringing REALTORS® global recognition: If your listings are posted at REALTOR.com, they’re also getting worldwide exposure at the ICREA Web site, www.worldproperties.com, at no charge to you. That’s a tremendous marketing advantage to share with your customers! In the fall, ICREA will add the Distinctive Property Service, which will allow you to globally spotlight listings with international appeal—such as resort and luxury real estate—for a fraction of the cost of print advertising. ICREA’s even making it easier to send and receive international referrals. To learn more about the consortium’s transnational referral protocol, at the ICREA Web site click Members Only. For the user name, type “NAR” and for the password, type “unitedstates.”

And the consortium is just one of the international initiatives we’ve embraced. Since 1992, working through the nonprofit International Real Property Foundation, REALTORS® have been providing technical assistance in more than a dozen emerging markets, including China, India, Mexico, and Poland. If you think of how real estate has boosted the U.S. economy lately, you’ll understand the importance of an organized real estate market.

In the long-run, IRPF’s work should create a more orderly market worldwide in which to transact business and a better understanding and appreciation among all people of the value a real estate professional brings to the transaction.

Now more than ever, we need to find ways to connect with customers and clients of all ethnic and cultural backgrounds. NAR’s thinking globally to benefit you locally.

—NAR President Cathy Whatley, CIPS, CRS®, GRI, LTG

For more information about NAR’s International Outreach and the International Real Property Foundation, click the links below.

NAR International, including information on the Certified International Property Specialist designation

NAR’s “At Home With Diversity” course

International Consortium of Real Estate Associations

International Real Property Foundation: