Learning Art of Selling to Asian Buyers
Hills are good--so long as there is no earthquake danger. Standing water is bad. Lofty 9-foot-tall front doors are good. Sliding glass doors and entryway staircases are bad.
Such preferences in home buying are being taken very seriously by developers and Realtors dealing with the lucrative Asian immigrant market in the eastern San Gabriel Valley.
Asian immigrants, particularly from Taiwan and Hong Kong, started immigrating to Monterey Park in the late 1970s and are now moving as far east as Rowland Heights, La Verne and Rancho Cucamonga.
One of the developers targeting the Asian immigrant market is Shea Homes, based in Walnut. Their two current developments, City Lights and Horizons, are situated in the hills of Rowland Heights.
“We are located within 10 miles of the Buddhist temple; that means we’re in holy land. Our sales office features pictures of a couple of monks who came over and blessed our land recently,” marketing director Allison Shea said.
The locations of the developments were carefully designed, just up the hill from new shopping centers that sell Asian foods and imported goods and not far from the Pomona Freeway that will take business people straight into downtown Los Angeles, where many Asian immigrants have corporate jobs or work in the import-export community.
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The features of the homes also appeal to immigrants, with some having up to eight bedrooms.
From the beginning stages of planning for their new home developments, Shea said, the company relied on the advice of an expert in feng shui, the ancient Chinese art of placement.
“You can’t have any sharp corners in the house; they must be rounded,” Shea said. “None of our addresses end in the number four because to them that means death. They do not like to buy lots located at the end of a T intersection, so we usually offer those for a lower price and the younger, more Americanized buyers will purchase those.”
Like feng shui, the sale of property to Asian immigrants means mastering subtleties and learning the art of balance. Many companies, like Shea, have brought in experts from Asia who instinctively grasp those subtleties.
Alex Tsai, 34, is a native of Taiwan who sold new homes there for 2 1/2 years before emigrating to the United States in 1988. Until recently he worked for Shea Homes selling their developments like Vantage Point, a master-planned community in Rowland Heights whose buyers are almost exclusively immigrants from Taiwan, China and Hong Kong.
Tsai has developed a level of patience many American-born salespeople have not cultivated. It routinely takes up to two months of back-and-forth questions, reassurances and negotiations before Tsai can deliver a sale, he said.
The reason for the long negotiating process is more than a cultural trait, Tsai said. “In Taiwan, the new home salesperson is not very honest and the real estate laws are not very clear to anyone,” he said. “They don’t believe what I say right away. I must earn their trust.”
Asian immigrant buyers, said Shea, “are as sweet as can be, but if you don’t know how to negotiate, you won’t get anywhere.”
Strong negotiating skills are critical in selling to Asian home buyers, agreed Shea sales agent Nancy Chan, who was born in Hong Kong, because they are used to bargaining in every aspect of life. “They can hammer you and you have to hammer back,” said Chan, 38, who estimates that 99% of her buyers are Asians.
But, Chan added, “Once you connect on price, they [Asian buyers] are your best friend and neighbor, coming back to visit, bringing you cakes.”
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After a new-home purchase has been decided upon and the papers have been signed, Shea said, very few Asian immigrants will back out of the deal or default on their loans. In fact, most will ante up to put 30% down on their $200,000 to $300,000 homes and pay the rest off quickly.
More than 80% of the real estate brokers that Shea Homes deals with are immigrants themselves. Shea sends a direct mailer to real estate offices in Monterey Park and Hacienda Heights each month, Shea said. They also place Chinese-language ads in local Asian publications.
The company relies heavily on referrals. “Once someone has bought a house in one of our developments, it’s very likely that their mom will also buy in, their grandmother and other relatives,” she said.
