Don’t be sucked in by Chinese property listing campaign

Don’t be sucked in by Chinese property listing campaign, says real estate boss

Century 21 New Zealand’s national manager, Geoff Barnett, believes a new Chinese property listing website is using misleading and incorrect marketing to suggest they are the only site servicing the Chinese market in New Zealand.

“Those wanting to sell property in New Zealand should not get carried away with the latest marketing efforts in Auckland which heavily promote one Chinese property listing website in particular,” says Century 21 New Zealand national manager, Geoff Barnett.

“While there may be a number of billboards around town which give the impression that this listing company has a monopoly on Chinese investors and purchasers, this is not the case at all.

“At Century 21, we have always had a large number of Chinese investors transacting property,” said Mr Barnett.

“What’s more, if Kiwi vendors were to start pouring their marketing money into just one marketing channel, they could miss out on many other opportunities closer to home where demand remains very strong,” said Mr Barnett.

Mr Barnett says Century 21’s global website, www.century21global.com, has a far greater reach than the website in question, and contains translated listings from around the world.

In fact, users of the site are able to instantly translate the entire website into 16 languages, with email questions and answers also easily translated.

“While getting your property listed on a Chinese property website may initially seem like a good idea, the reality is such facilities have been available for some time – and with the additional support of translations,” continued Mr Barnett.

“Century 21’s global website not only includes every listing from our many offices around the world, but an email sent in Mandarin or Cantonese from China to one of our local agents will also arrive in English.

“I believe it is one of, if not the, most sophisticated property listing website in the world,” said Mr Barnett.

While New Zealand is increasingly becoming one of the most searched countries according to one of China’s big property search engines, Mr Barnett believes Chinese buyers and investors are still looking elsewhere.

“Chinese buyers, like the rest of us, will browse all sorts of sites and consider many possibilities – so long as they have the seamless capability to fully translate and communicate in their language,” said Mr Barnett.

“For this reason, it’s important to remember that Century 21 is the world’s largest residential real estate sales organization, and that we’re constantly picking up a great deal of offshore and onshore Chinese interest,” said Mr Barnett.

“I warn people not to be sucked in – you don’t need to spend big or use Chinese-only listings sites to effectively reach and engage with the Chinese market.

“You just need to ensure your real estate company has an extensive global reach, and is a part of a sophisticated and wide-ranging network,” concluded Mr Barnett.

ENDS

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