International buyers, 47% of Canadian buyers paid cash

Today’s real estate consumer demands more. It’s not enough to simply list homes for sale in the local MLS, send Just Listed cards to local neighbors, and then wait for magic to happen. And it’s simply not enough to present yourself online with a tactically blind Web site that looks like a relic from the last century.
Sellers know it. Buyers know it. The press knows it. And a handful of top-tier real estate companies know it. One of the things they know is how hot the foreign markets are. They know where the buyers are, where they come from and what destinations in America they are targeting.
According to a recent study conducted by the National Association of Realtors, Canadian buyers made up 11% of all foreign buyers in 2006, a number that has no doubt increased this year. Incredibly, 47% of these Canadian buyers paid cash. Moreover, the Canadian dollar, long the second child of North American currencies, is now worth more than its American counterpart.
Mexico is providing another significant - if counterintuitive - stream of potential buyers. While much is written about Americans buying second homes in Mexico, few articles have noted the increasing number of affluent buyers from below the border looking north to the Valley.
The bottom line is that we live in a global economy. Opportunity is knocking from outside our borders in profound and astute ways. Some are looking at the market and see no yonder. Not to the north, the south, the east or the west.