Hi Everyone,

As we have learned so far, online real estate transactions are very popular nowadays among Russian buyers of real estate internationally. It's a way to by-pass the recent covid travel restrictions first of all. There are plenty of real life scenarios of such cases described in the Russian internet, and here is a typical one ot them in English translation for you below.

Michael T., a Russian from Kazakhstan, with his wife and a school-age daughter visited Spain just before the pandemic began, and fell in love with the city of Torrevieja. On returning back home they started cruising all the info available in Russian on the city, its real estate, prices, availability, real estate agents, etc.

They came across some ads for real estate for sale in Torrevieja from an agency in Moscow with a Spanish bilingual rep on the ground in Torrevieja, got in touch and the story of their online purchase of an investment studio has begun (the pandemic in Europe was in blossom by then).

The couple wanted to start small, but in the long run their plans are to move to Spain, obtain the residency rights and work remotely from there in the field of the mobile applications as they do now in Kazakhstan. The family started learning Spanish after completing their first real estate purchase. O.k., back to the story.

From the Moscow agency they received a list of properties for sale according to their requests - all with videos, so to choose one was no problem, and they placed an order through the agency almost immediately. (The convenience for them as foreign buyers was communicating with the Moscow agency in Russian, while the bilingual agency's rep in Spain did all the communication in Spanish for them with all parties involved in the real estate transaction in Spain.)

They made a power of attorney for the rep in Spain, used registered mail for documents and phone for communication with the rep. In 3 months they were proud owners of an investment property in a resort town in Spain, and found their first long-term tenant through the same agent. They also received consultation on taxes and a list of accountants to work with - to do everything right according their investment property and rental income in Spain.

Michael says now they have not just client-agent relations, but although never met before became friends remotely, and will have a glass of champagne together when the borders open again (this summer the owners could not visit their new property in person because of the pandemic, to their regret).

Well, you see that probably the best way to sell to the Russian buyers during the covid restrictions is to be on a list of properties for sale with a Russian real estate agency that actively works with your country/area properties.

Anyways, I guess that because of the convenience (and minimizing buyer's expenses) of the remote buying, it will stay with us and after the pandemic. Of course, the success for the sellers and their agents in getting a buyer requires the best possible online presentation of the property and contacting the best active agents in Russia for your property.

To your best business success,

Sincerely,