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George Kachmazov Interview - Managing Partner of Tranio.com (Overseas Property Broker)

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totallyproperty

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George Kachmazov is the founder and managing partner of Tranio.com, an online real estate broker. He is a respected real estate and investment expert, as well as a keynote speaker at many national and international property conferences. George regularly contributes to print and online media with insight on real estate trends and advice for first-time investors.

Tranio.com is an international overseas property broker with a network of 700 partners worldwide and a catalogue of more than 110,000 listings in 66 countries. We publish daily news, high quality analysis on foreign realty, expert advice, and notes on laws and procedures related to buying and leasing properties abroad so that our readers can make their property decisions with confidence.

• Tell us about your background in property and what inspired you to start Tranio.com?

Back in 2010 my family bought property abroad. At that point I was the managing partner of an e-marketing company but what I really wanted was a company of my own. I saw potential in the overseas real estate segment: there were many clients, potent market capacity, an interesting product, international exposure and, as it often happens, low competition in Russia. I was determined to make the best overseas property project on the market, with detailed information about acquisition terms, registration procedures, maintenance costs and expenses in other countries. Most importantly, I wanted our product to aggregate the maximum number of property listings quoting actual prices.

We started the design and development in 2010, and launched the website in March 2011. At first, we expected to cash in the same way most overseas real estate web portals do: selling advertising and paid listings. Yet, at the same time, we disliked the idea because abundant advertising always detracts from user-friendliness and website quality.

So we decided to go our own way and become Russia’s largest overseas property broker. We didn’t want to be an agency because clients were reluctant to deal with Russian agencies as they rarely added value to any transaction and had been known to overprice the properties they were selling. More often than not, they became an unnecessary obstacle to buying overseas property for their clients.

In 2013, we launched a commercial department and today half of our business is devoted to clients interested in real estate investments. Last year we closed our first redevelopment deal in Barcelona, and this year we plan to launch a collective investment fund. I’ll tell you more about those two initiatives below.

• What type of investment property and development opportunities do you have access to?

We currently have a number of interesting initiatives and opportunities underway in Barcelona and Germany.

In December, we signed a deal with a client who invested in a redevelopment project in Barcelona. In 2017, we are planning to launch this project with the help of a local developer. Soon, we will be ready to offer apartments from our joint project directly to our clients.

We also have a lot of exciting opportunities in Germany, where we have more than 50 vendors that have super exclusive off-market offers.

This year, we’re also planning to launch a collective investment fund that will invest in value-added projects all over the world.

Beyond that, our catalogue features over 100,000 up-to-date listings from more than 700 trusted partners around the globe. So no matter what sort of investment opportunities our clients are looking for, we’re confident that we’ve got them covered.

• How does investing in overseas property through Tranio.com make the process easier for Investors?

We help our clients by custom tailoring lists of properties to suit their needs, as well as by selecting service providers to guide them through each step of the purchasing process.

Toward that end, I always say that Tranio helps build a bridge between our clients and the property they are searching for by finding the best agency or developer in the target territory or market segment. I have explained below in more detail how we work and the full list of services we provide for our clients. The key takeaway is that we provide all the necessary information, research and data, to help facilitate each client’s decision making process.

• What are the specific benefits of buying overseas property through your company, as opposed to a competitor?

We offer our clients a comprehensive range of services – not only do we help in their search for the most suitable property to fit their needs, we can also help with financial solutions, provide advice on property taxes and registration, find the best mortgage terms, help out with relocation, visa and immigration issues, etc. We work with experienced and highly reputable local realtors, developers, lawyers, tax advisors, property management companies and other professionals when helping our clients acquire property abroad.

We are an all-inclusive agency, promising full transparency throughout the purchasing process. There are no hidden fees or surprises when you work with us and we take great pride in that. Our main goal is to establish a trustworthy, long-term relationship with our customers as we want to make sure that their experience runs smoothly and they want to come back to us in the future.

• How can you aid the sales process of buying overseas?

As mentioned above, we help our clients with expert advice during the entire purchasing process, which includes:

· property search;

· investment strategy advice;

· property and transaction due diligence;

· tax structuring;

· bank financing;

· aftersales service and management;

· permanent residence in Europe and the USA;

· property sales.

We do not mediate transactions; rather, we liaise between our clients and our foreign partners, which include some of the best agencies and developers in the country of the intended purchase. We excel at building trust and mutual understanding between our clients and the real estate professionals best suited to meet their needs.

We work without any additional mark-ups for the clients: if you buy your property through us, the price for you would be exactly the same as the one quoted if you contacted our foreign partner directly. This is an essential condition specified in our contracts with all the partners.

• How do you collate the data on overseas investment markets and investing patterns that you have?

We have in-house analytics and editorial departments. When we write our reports and compile our research, this is usually based on data collected from our own sales department, as well as from our global network of partners. With the help of our partners we can gather enough relevant data to establish the upcoming trends in the world of overseas property and overseas property investors.

• Do you specialise in property in certain countries?

We have received an increasing number of enquiries for properties in Germany and Spain. Our customers have started focusing on investing more wisely, looking at lower yields in more stable property markets.

• What is the current appetite for investors to buy overseas as opposed to their own country?

Our clients’ appetite for overseas property has increased in the past year. In 2016, we received 17% more enquiries than in 2015. During the same period, the median budget for both residential and commercial real estate increased by nearly 40% — from EUR 180,000 in 2015 to EUR 250,000 in 2016. This trend is mainly attributable to a shift in our clients’ preference from residential property to commercial real estate, which generally requires larger investment volumes. Interest in micro-apartments or student accommodation has likewise increased dramatically.

Visit Tranio.com for more information.
 
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