This past May, I sat on a think tank panel at the 2026 LeadingRE Asia Pacific Forum and Investor Exchange in Tokyo. Seventy-five international real estate investors from across Asia sat in the room, all asking some version of the same question: Where should serious capital move next?
I expected them to be chasing hot markets. They weren’t. Nearly every investor in that room wanted the same thing, and it wasn’t a tip — it was a trusted local agent who knows their market from the inside: the neighborhoods, the nuances, the real story behind the numbers.
That’s every agent reading this. Most of us just don’t realize international money is already looking for us.
5 steps for attracting international real estate investors
Step 1: Understand that your local expertise has global value
You know your market better than anyone. The neighborhoods, the price points, the rental yields, the difference between one ZIP code and the next. To you, that’s just a regular day. To an investor overseas trying to figure out where to put serious capital, that knowledge is invaluable.
For decades, international investors went straight for the same short list: New York City, LA, Miami, San Francisco. These major metros were recognizable and easy to justify to a board or a family back home. But those markets have priced themselves out of a lot of conversations.
Entry costs are steep. Yields are getting squeezed. Investors who used to have an easy playbook are now looking at secondary and tertiary American cities, and the fundamentals in a lot of those markets are strong.
The market you know inside and out could be on the radar of investors who haven’t looked your way before. The only question is whether you’re ready when it shows up.
Step 2: Audit your network with new eyes
I travel a lot. It’s a passion, not a strategy. Everywhere I go, I make a point to connect with a local real estate professional on the ground. The purpose is not to pitch anything but just to learn how their market works.
That’s how I met Manabu Suzuki, a Tokyo-based real estate pro, through LeadingRE back in October 2023. Later, we would work together when he was representing a Japanese investor on a Chicago property acquisition. He visited Chicago, and I showed him our world-class restaurants, beautiful lakefront and all that the city has to offer.
Unfortunately, that deal fell apart. Our relationship didn’t. I made two subsequent trips to Japan, continued real conversations and was invited by him to speak at the LeadingRE Asia Pacific Forum about emerging American cities for real estate investment.
Most agents are just two or three connections away from someone with real international capital. Give yourself 30 minutes this week to look at your sphere and ask a different question: not “Who’s buying a house,” but “Who do I know that could introduce me to someone with an international network?”
Step 3: Use social media to scale your reach
Many international investors are searching for local real estate professionals on social media platforms like LinkedIn and Instagram. They’re scrolling through content about your city’s local neighborhoods, rental markets and investment opportunities, looking for a trusted advisor who knows the market and can advise them accordingly.
I film property tours in Chicago neighborhoods when they hit the market. Do the same in your city. Post a rental walkthrough of a two-flat in a neighborhood investors wouldn’t otherwise know about.
Show the coffee shop on the corner, the new restaurant opening down the block, the neighborhood event bringing people out on a weekend. Showcase the texture that makes a market worth investing in, not just the numbers.
Break down what a secondary market opportunity actually looks like in an American city. That’s what surfaces when an investor across the world searches for “American investment property” or “secondary market opportunity.”
You don’t get found by cold calls. You get found because you’re already where they’re searching — on their smartphone.
Step 4: Show up as yourself
There’s no algorithm for trust.
When I’m with Manabu, I don’t pretend to know the nuances of Japanese property law or how Tokyo zoning works. I ask. I say, “Walk me through that; I don’t know how it works over here.” That’s not a weakness; that’s what actually built our relationship.
The agents building real international business aren’t performing a version of what they think a “global advisor” should sound like. They’re asking thoughtful questions and admitting what they don’t know.
Your brand isn’t something you build. It’s something you already are. Consistency earns loyalty, and loyalty is what turns one introduction into years of business.
Step 5: Play the long game
International business rarely moves quickly. A conversation in October often doesn’t close by March, and that’s not a problem; that’s the point.
Manabu and I have been at this for nearly three years. Four trips. Family dinners. Clients represented on both sides. The first deal fell through. What grew in its place — a relationship that put me on a stage in front of 75 investors — is worth more than that deal ever would have been.
Whether you’ve been selling real estate for 25 years or two, the opportunity is the same. Somewhere in the world, an investor is searching for exactly what you already know. Your local expertise has real value to someone on the other side of the planet. The only question, the one I started with, is whether you’re ready when they show up.
Ed Grochowiak is a team lead at @properties Christie’s International Real Estate. Get connected on Instagram and LinkedIn.
