Before we left the US my wife told me not to compare the US with Cyprus in front of people. It can seem obnoxious and that Americans at times have that stereotypical reputation or so she thought. I felt it was ridiculous for her to think that, I wasn't going to be comparing the US to Cyprus; after all I was the one that was pushing the move. I was tired of the hustle and the daily grind of our American lifestyle: the 9 to 5 routine, the traffic, crime and pollution to name a few things I could live without. The two countries are incomparable. How can you compare a country of three hundred million with one of less than one million?
Now that I have been here in Cyprus for awhile I must say I have been making endless comparisons to the point of being that obnoxious American perhaps. I compare the USA not only to Cyprus but the rest of the world. Yes the rest of the world, I have met many people from different countries, I have talked to these people and exchanged stories of how things are done and operated. We even traveled to a few places that I thought would be just as advanced as the US or even more advanced and I couldn't help but realize how unstructured they were. It can be chaotic in the US, but it is an organized chaos I realize now. The main thing that I find now is what a system oriented society the US is. It obviously takes strong systems to run strong countries just like it takes organization and systems to be able to run any number of the large US based conglomerates operating all over the world.
I have had to create my own systems and become ultra organized here since the way real estate is bought and sold is worlds apart from the US. Firstly, a major difference is that I have not yet found any statistics that states what median home prices are. So, what I have to do when I get a listing is try to give interested sellers an evaluation of their home and come up with a fair value price based on the homework I do. I see the home then have to call other houses for sale in the area, get their details and also surf the ‘net for any comps then keep meticulous records so that I have the information for later. It is a small country here so there is no doubt I will get more listings in the same areas again and again.
The last 2 bedroom apartment in Chlorakas, a village just outside of Paphos that I went to list was already on the market for 120,000 Cyprus pounds and a comparable apartment was on the market for 230,000 CY Pounds. That is a difference of $200,000! There is no MLS system in place or any organization. It basically seems like a free for all, take what you can get and aim for the stars. However, that creates many frustrated buyers, disgruntled sellers, confusion and wasted time for everyone involved!
Secondly, the commission an agent gets for selling a property in Cyprus could be as high as 25% and only recently you can find anyone as low as 5% but the average is around 8-12%. These are not official statistics, there is a statistics department but these numbers are just not available.
Thirdly, more confusion results from the fact that sellers can list their home with as many agents as they want. You will see more than one “For Sale” sign on properties so whoever sells first makes the commission and the other agent gets nothing. Hopefully, the other agents are notified if the property is sold and he can also get his sign back. This practice is also common place in the UK a country that Cyprus tries to replicate in many ways it seems.
Lastly, nearly all of my prospects are from overseas mainly, the UK and Russia. So, not only do I have to overcome language barriers at times, the process is also slowed and overall complications occur more frequently. Issues such as overseas money transfers, opening accounts for foreigners, email, fax and general communication issues all contribute to the difficulties of doing business in an international market.
Since I have extensive business knowledge and created many systems in my own companies I knew that I could find a niche. Real estate, even in a static market, has great potential and I know there is a lot of room for improvement here. I hope I can help influence or contribute to the future of a country with so much potential.
Cleo owns Cyprus Marketing Solutions and overseas http://www.cyprus101.com, http://propertyofcyprus.com
