What this course covers
Real estate does not stop at the border, and increasingly neither do clients. This course is about working with buyers and sellers whose money, expectations, tax position or residency sit outside the United States, and about the American market as those clients experience it.
At 60 hours it is considerably longer than our other professional development courses, because it covers a body of material most agents have never been taught at all.
Who the international buyer actually is
The category covers very different people: a foreign national buying an investment property they will never live in, a family relocating for work, someone buying a holiday home, and a recent immigrant buying their first house in a country whose process they do not know. Each needs something different from you.
You will work through what motivates each group, what they are nervous about, and which of their questions have answers that differ from what a domestic buyer would be told.
How financing works when the buyer is not American
Foreign nationals without US credit history face a different lending landscape. This section covers the routes that exist, what lenders typically require, why all-cash purchases are more common in this market, and how to set expectations before an offer is written rather than after.
Tax and reporting
The issues that arise when a foreign person buys or sells US property, including withholding obligations on sale, and the reporting requirements that surround large cash transactions. The course is explicit about the line between recognising an issue and advising on it: your job is to know when to bring in a tax professional, and to do it early.
Where expectations differ
Agency does not work the same way everywhere. In many countries the agent represents the property rather than a party, commission is structured differently, and negotiation follows different conventions. A client working from their home market’s assumptions will misread your role unless you explain it.
This section covers the differences that cause the most friction, and how to set expectations without lecturing.
Building an international referral network
Where this business comes from, how relationships with agents in other countries work in practice, and the professional designations and networks worth considering.
Working across languages and cultures
Practical guidance on working with clients in a second language, when an interpreter is necessary, and how document translation affects a transaction. Fair housing applies fully to international clients, and the course is specific about where well-meant assumptions become unlawful.
Who this is for
Licensed agents in markets where foreign buyers are active, and agents who want to build that side of their business deliberately rather than waiting for a referral to arrive.
Florida agents encounter this client base more than most, but the material applies anywhere international money is buying property, and much of it applies equally to recent immigrants buying domestically.
How the course works
Fully online and self-paced, with six months of access. At 60 hours it is a substantial commitment, and most students work through it over several weeks rather than in a burst.