Multilingual Capabilities with Alanna
December statistics on job gains and lower inflation numbers are definitely heading in the right direction, but while economists are wrangling over whether or not there is going to be a recession this year, we are pretty certain we will face a drop in home sales nationwide in 2023.
Lawrence Yun, the National Association of Realtors (NAR) chief economist and senior vice president of research, forecasts that 4.78 million existing homes will be sold in 2023, a decline of 6.8% compared to 2022 (5.13 million). He also predicted that prices will remain stable, projecting the median home price will reach $385,800 – an increase of just 0.3% from this year ($384,500).
While it’s always a little concerning to contemplate a slower market, 4.78 million home sales means there will be plenty of work for title agents in the coming year. Though that is true, you still must compete effectively to win the deals out there.
In the past, you may have specialized in certain areas of the market, but as the real estate market slows down in 2023, you want to make sure you are capable of handling a wide range of transactions.
And by the way, one sentence you do not want to utter in 2023 is, “I can’t take that deal because we can’t communicate in that language.”
Serving foreign-born and international buyers
We are a diverse nation, and we consistently attract new immigrants as well as foreign investors. As a title agent you want to be prepared to serve that market.
According to NAR, international buyers purchased $59 billion worth of U.S. residential properties from April 2021–March 2022, up 8.5% from the previous year and breaking a three-year streak of declines. That represented nearly 100,000 properties.
China, Canada, India, Mexico and Brazil were the top five countries of origin by U.S. residential sales dollar volume. The United Kingdom, Argentina, Israel, Italy, Japan, Columbia, Asia, Oceania and the Caribbean also make up a good portion of buyers.
In addition to foreign investment, foreign-born individuals make up nearly 15 percent of the population of our largest cities, another pool of potential buyers who speak a foreign language.
Of course, there is no way you can have a multilingual staffer to handle the breadth of languages you may encounter, but at Alanna, we can help with that.
Communicate in your buyer’s language with Alana’s Multilingual Capabilities
You may be surprised to learn that Alanna can speak 54 different languages. These cover the most prominent languages throughout the United States, so there is a very small chance you won’t be able to communicate with a foreign-language speaker.
Not only can Alanna help you communicate important information to your clients in their native language through our regular schedule of text messages throughout the transaction, but our tech tools are very helpful at the closing as well.
Alanna’s translation ability allows your employees to type a message in English and it gets relayed to your customer in French, Spanish, or whichever primary language they speak. Communicating with a non-native speaker has never been easier, and it’s one of the many benefits Alanna brings to the table for title companies.
Don’t pass on business in 2023 just because you are concerned about communicating with a potential client. Contact us today to learn about Alanna’s translation services that will help you close transactions with foreign-speaking buyers with confidence.