In a testament to the growing influence of Chinese buyers in the U.S. luxury real estate market, recent transactions highlight the significant impact these investors have on high-end properties. According to Robb Report, Mainland Chinese buyers have been linked to three of the most expensive U.S. homes sold in the past 18 months. Two of these properties, known for their celebrity connections, were acquired by the same buyer. In October 2022, a mystery buyer paid $55 million for the Newport Coast mansion of reality TV stars Dr. Terry and Heather Dubrow. Just four months later, another $55 million was spent on the extravagant Beverly Hills mansion of actor Mark Wahlberg.

Although the new owner’s identity was not disclosed initially, it was widely reported that both the Dubrows’ home and Wahlberg’s estate were bought by the same Mainland Chinese billionaire, later believed to be associated with Gu Fang.

荨 梦 的 家 (Xù Mèng de Jiā – The Homes of Xu Meng)

In late 2022, Heather Dubrow’s 20,000-square-foot Newport Coast mansion was sold for $55 million to an LLC connected to Gu Fang. Gu is known to be the longtime wife of Xu Hang, one of China’s wealthiest individuals and co-founder of Mindray Medical, China’s largest medical device manufacturer.

Given Mindray’s success, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic, it is no surprise that Xu and Gu are on the lookout for ultra-luxury homes. Mindray’s skyrocketing demand for ventilators in 2020 significantly boosted the net worth of its cofounder Li Xiting, Singapore’s richest man, by an astonishing $1 billion per month. Xu Hang’s personal wealth has also seen a dramatic increase, from $1.8 billion in 2018 to a peak of $19.5 billion in 2021. Currently, his wealth is estimated at $12.1 billion, making him Shenzhen’s richest man and the fourth wealthiest individual in the global healthcare industry.

Expanding the Luxury Portfolio

The Beverly Hills mansion in the exclusive Beverly Park gated community was sold in early 2023 for $55 million to an LLC linked to Gu Fang. This high-profile purchase is just one part of Xu and Gu’s expanding real estate portfolio. Earlier in 2023, billionaire real estate developer Stephen Ross sold his mansion-sized penthouse at New York City’s Time Warner Center for $40 million, a significant discount from its original $75 million asking price. Records indicate that the buyer was another LLC associated with Xu and Gu.

This lavish penthouse, along with the other high-end properties, underscores Xu and Gu’s substantial investments in luxury real estate. Since late 2022, Xu has spent a staggering $257 million—in cash—on premier properties.

Market Your Luxury Residence with Caimeiju.com

The substantial investments made by high-net-worth individuals like Xu Hang and Gu Fang demonstrate the incredible opportunities available in the luxury real estate market. To tap into this lucrative buyer pool, listing your property on Caimeiju.com can provide unparalleled exposure. Our platform is dedicated to marketing luxury residences to affluent Chinese buyers, ensuring your property reaches the right audience.

Rupert Hoogewerf of Hurun Report and International Real Estate Marketer and Caimeiju Founder, Jeff Toth discuss China in the age of post Covid-19.

Hurun Report is widely recognized as the foremost authority in tracking the rapid changes amongst China’s high net worth individuals. 

Jeff and Rupert discuss China’s past and current role in the world of real estate investment, position in the world economy, and insights behind the stories that shaped the country’s most successful entrepreneurs.

“If you’re a young Chinese entrepreneur, you no longer have to look up to Seattle or Silicon Valley to understand what’s going on in the world of entrepreneurship; you can find a load of successful and interesting entrepreneurs right there on your doorstep in China“

• 01:00 – Early days of Hurun Report, “from China oh, to China wow”
• 05:30 – Reflecting on a decade of Chinese real estate investment and what’s changed
• 09:00 – The biggest period in history of global wealth creation
• 11:10 – Evolution of new young Chinese Entrepreneurs
• 13:53 – ‘Wealth Impact 2mths after COVID-19 Outbreak’
• 18:30 – Remaining relevant and engaging with China’s entrepreneurs through events
• 20:30 – Global Women’s Rich list – telling the story of women in business shaping our world and the remarkably high number of Chinese women business entrepreneurs.

Western companies are just now realizing how complex doing business in China is. Whether you’re selling luxury real estate, travel experiences, or super-yachts, the first step in being found in China is online search.

Google Doesn’t Matter in China

Baidu is China’s version of Google. It’s the second largest search engine in the world and holds a 76.05% market share in China’s search engine market.

Phoenix Nest is the Chinese counterpart of Google’s Adwords platform, but unlike Google AdWords, setting up a Baidu PPC account can be a daunting and often overwhelming process.

The Hard Way or the Easy Way

Applying for a pay-per-click account with Baidu is right up there with preparing a tax return or applying for a loan. It’s complicated, time-consuming, and somewhat invasive.

Traditionally companies either go at it alone or hire a Chinese “partner” to guide them through the application process. Regardless; the following steps are required from Baidu to run paid search. (Let’s call this the hard way)

• Prepare and submit supporting documents including Articles of Incorporation and company seal
• Sign a Baidu PPC account opening contract
• Establish a payment system to fund the Baidu PPC campaigns.
• Build a Chinese website and hire someone to manage it.
• Wait for approval

The Great Firewall Factor

Let’s assume submitting sensitive corporate information to a company in China wasn’t a deal breaker, you have a translated website and survived approval process. There’s still one significant issue; any traffic generated from the campaign will most likely bounce because your site isn’t hosted in China or the page takes too long to load.

The Caimeiju Way

Luckily there is another way, and it’s surprisingly simple. Clients of Caimeiju bypass these steps and are typically live with an active Baidu campaign within a week.

Here’s how we do it:

• Create a Chinese landing page for your offering that mirrors the original English website version
• Host the landing page and assets (videos, floor plans, photos) on our servers in China.
• Professionally translate all information
• Establish a list Chinese keyword search terms
• Manage your campaign under our approved Baidu account.
• Point traffic from Baidu directly to your page

This approach in non-invasive, meaning at no time are we required to access your company’s DNS, hosting account, or your main website back-end.

For additional information on this topic please see Digital Advertising On Baidu: A Recipe For Success or Contact us Directly.

To put things in perspective, Los Angeles has over 2,500 licensed Chinese agents. Most, if not all hold strong ties to friends and family in China and some of them do a staggering amount of business.

Builders and Developers wanting to move units quickly might think accessing this group would be a valuable strategy. They would be correct in that assumption, but it can be tricky without the right connections.

Capital Outflow

Getting money out of China is no joke and has become a bigger obstacle over the last several years. However, many sophisticated buyers already own multiple homes overseas in diverse real estate portfolios.

Savvy buyers now understand how to leverage equity in their existing homes to purchase additional property rather than getting hung up on capital outflow issues. They depend on trusted agents to bring new opportunities to their attention and strongly value privacy.

How can Builders and Developers Access Chinese Buyer Agent Networks?

Educating the brokerage community is the first step in getting agents interested selling a real estate development project. But before education can begin, you’ll need brokers…

Caimeiju recently co-organized our first broker relations event with The House Club and our client ETCO Homes. ETCO is the builder behind Villas & Terraces at Ambassador Gardens in Pasadena, soon to be completed One Coast in Pacific Palisades, and several other upcoming project around Los Angeles.

Broker Relations: Offline / Online

A major problem for many builders is not only educating the brokerage community, but to make it easy for agents to share information about the project once the presentation is over; ultimately educating the buyer. This can be difficult enough in English speaking markets. Adding China to the mix adds another level of complexity.

Chinese Agents are Not on Instagram

Google, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, Vimeo, agent websites, and even MLS can be completely inaccessible within China due to what’s known as The Great Firewall (TGF)

To address this, Caimeiju developed custom landing pages for the builder that are translated and hosted on Chinese servers. This ensures property information including videos, floor plans, and virtual tours can easily be accessed, understood, and shared in China while retaining the creative and brand integrity of the original site.

Private transportation was provided from three locations bringing agents to the development where they were educated by the builder about features and benefits. Agents were quizzed following the tour and offered prizes for correct answers.

WeChat articles were written to help brokers easily share property and community information with their network of buyers both domestically and in China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan.

The result was over 100 Chinese agents touring, learning, and sharing the development with their buyers along with enjoying great food and entertainment.

Please contact us if you’d like to explore hiring Caimeiju to host your next builder or developer event.

Does your local real estate agent have A-list celebrities, professional athletes, business leaders, and international high-net-worth individuals on speed-dial?

For nearly a decade, Caimeiju has worked along side the biggest name luxury and ultra-luxury agents in the industry. Along the way we’ve picked up on a few things and have even learned to recognize emerging market trends. We feel this is an opportunity to share what we’re experiencing and hear your thoughts.

A Changing Market

Wasted time hurts everyone. Homes are taking longer to sell than in recent years and the days of popping a listing on the MLS while waiting for the offers to roll in seem to be behind us.

Sellers apparently have also taken notice of the shift as an increasing amount of them have been contacting Caimeiju directly for recommendations on listing their luxury homes. For some, exposure to China is important, but many potential sellers are simply interested in working with an agent who provides superior exposure or have the right connections.

Can a luxury home-seller have their cake and eat it too?

It’s not difficult to find a real estate agent. Everyone seems to have a friend, uncle, or neighbor in the profession…

Trust is paramount so it’s no surprise home-sellers often choose an agent they know or recognize as successful in their local market.

Alternatively, luxury homeowners also expect their home to be marketed to anyone on the planet with means to purchase.

Local Expert vs. Global Power Broker

Depending on where you live, hiring the right luxury real estate agent can become a polarizing decision. While the local expert knows the pulse, comps, and nuances of the local market; they may be limited in their ability to market the property to its full potential due to their limited sphere of influence outside of their local market.

Conversely, select luxury agents hold coveted networks of buyers like professional athletes, celebrities, business moguls, and other high-net-worth individuals. However; the power agent may be limited in their ability to service the seller due to geography or provide the same level of attention, local knowledge, and responsiveness as the local expert.

Many smaller and mid-size markets have pockets of luxury properties and also very good local real estate experts, but often there is a lack of highly influential “rock-star” agents like those found in Beverly Hills, New York, or Miami who consistently associate with global high-net-worth buyers.

“Special” Home

Sellers who contact us usually have homes they consider somewhat special relative to the comps, but they are not confident the local agent pool can provide the exposure necessary to sell fast or for the highest price. They want authentic global exposure and wish to know which agents are most capable of providing it.

Is co-listing a dirty word?

In the eyes of some, co-listing can be messy. Agents have their own way of doing things and who really wants to split a commission?

When viewed as a strategic partnership, co-listing does has the potential to work quite effectively, especially when both parties bring equal value to the deal and fill a void left by the other.

We’ve seen several examples where a seller hires the agent they know to be responsible for the “boots on the ground” duties while the co-listing power-agent leverages their network and high-visibility to provide exponential exposure to the property. The seller receives the benefit leveraging the unique strengths of both agents while everyone works towards a common goal.

Comments are open on this one. Tell us what you think or give us a call if you’re seeking a recommendation for the best agent to sell your luxury property.

According to The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (LVCVA), visitation from China has steadily increased over the past several years including a nearly 13 percent jump in 2016. China recorded the most visitors in history with more than 233,000 guests traveling to Las Vegas.

2019 is Year of the Pig (Gong Xi Fa Cai Hong Bao Na Lai)

Las Vegas (拉斯维加斯) is one of the most popular travel destinations for Chinese tourists. Many resorts and casino’s decorate their properties with extravagant displays, elaborate décor, and festival decorations.  during China’s most popular holiday travel time.

This year expect the Vegas mega resorts to go all out with traditional Chinese cuisine and activities to commemorate the Year of the Pig as they wish wealth, good health and good fortune to all.

The Venetian will be passing out more than 500 red envelopes to guests filled with prizes.  (gift cards, retail and dinning incentives), and a  3,000-pound, 16-foot tall golden pig.

Luxury agents considering the pilgrimage to China seeking a connection with the all illusive Chinese billionaire may be asking “Is the investment worth it?” 

In 2010 the first LPS property show was hosted in Bejing.  The concept was unproven at the time since China was only just beginning to attract attention as the place to seek investment from luxury property investors. Nearly a decade later, LPS has held 18 shows to date.

Traveling with a team to China, purchasing a booth, accommodations, and entertainment can quickly become an expensive endeavor. So the question is, is it worth the investment?

Caimeiju attended that very first event in Beijing and visited many other times since over the years. We’ve heard feedback from a diverse group. The general conclusion is a definitive, “it depends”.

Expectations

Chinese buyers will plump down suitcases full of cash and sign contracts on sight. While this may be the dream of any who exhibit, they may be left disappointed if this is the benchmark for a measuring a successful event.

More likely, exhibitors are establishing a foundation to forge a future relationship.  Having a plan on what to do after the show is critical to maximizing your investment.

Follow-up plan?

By the end of the 3-day show, exhibitors will have made contact with hundreds of people and collected a significant amount of leads. However, many have not considered a follow-up strategy to remain engaged with their new Chinese prospects after everyone’s gone home.

Exhibitors may be caught by surprise upon discovering China’s internet landscape and tools to share information are much different than in the Western world. This is a giant obstacle when staying in contact with a newly acquired Chinese prospect.

1. Real estate websites blocked in China –  Scams are prevalent in China. Buyers will want to research agents/brokers they’re doing business with to better understand if they are reputable. A website is the most common way to tell your story. If the website is blocked in China, this is difficult.
2. Instagram and Facebook are invisible in China – People in China accessing the Internet through WiFi or China wireless carriers will not be able to access Western social media, nor do they care to. Weibo is the closest Chinese social media platform to Instagram and Twitter.
3. Chinese people prefer to read Chinese, not English – Although a percentage of visitors can read English, they are Chinese and relate stronger to information presented in their language.
4. Chinese don’t use email as Westerners do – Yes, Chinese people do have email but it’s not the primary conduit for digital communication. Literally, anyone with a mobile phone uses WeChat. If you are not set up to continue a dialog on WeChat, then it’s unlikely a dialogue can be expected to continue after the show.

A digital presence online in China

Alain Pinel Realtors (APR) is a frequent repeat visitor of LPS and have process dialed in. Not only does APR boast one of the largest displays at LPS shows both in Beijing and Shanghai, but their portfolio of luxury listings are also translated and hosted in China through their Caimeiju site, china.apr.com.

Taking things a step further, APR utilizes a custom WeChat micro-site. The WeChat site provides APR the ability to easily share listing, brokerage, and market information in real-time with contacts at the show. This strategy not only sets APR apart from other exhibitors in a competitive environment but also provides a channel to funnel leads into a CRM.

Unexpected ROI

Gauging success based on the number of Chinese leads is one way to measure ROI. What many people fail to consider though are the relationships forged with other top-level luxury agents from markets around the world. Since the cost to attend and exhibit are considerable, the barrier-to-entry is high. Exhibitors are typically successful luxury brokers in their respective markets. Everyone there is on a China adventure which is an ideal environment to form a sort of comradery.

Sometimes it’s the people who share an elevator or sit next to each other at breakfast who forge long-lasting personal and professional relationships. So many of the deals we’ve referred to agents in other countries are those we’ve shared an experience with at LPS.

In China, Google, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and yes, YouTube and Vimeo are blocked. The only way for your real estate movie to be seen in China is to use a Chinese video platform. YouKu and QQ are two of the most popular; however, they do have their challenges.

Chinese Video Platforms

Most Chinese video platforms don’t have an English interface so setting up an accounting and uploading videos is close to impossible. If you are successful or have a Chinese friend help you, the second challenge (and in my opinion deal-breaker) is ads. Chinese video sites are aggressive in forcing users to watch an advertisement before seeing the main video. Nothing says luxury like a bubble gum commercial.

Caimeiju’s video player is hosted in China. We publish our client’s movies, embed them on Caimeiju, and share through social media like WeChat and Weibo. It’s a private video player so videos play without ads and since they are hosted on Chinese servers, they load very fast with no delay or buffering.

Want to learn more? Contact us!

On the surface, launching a foreign language project can seem easy; simply Google Chinese Translation and hire the person with the most stars… Unfortunately, localization isn’t that easy and can be more like a minefield if you don’t know what to look for.

Chinese website translation is a little more forgiving because mistakes can be easily fixed. Print requires a little more nerve since once the ink is on paper, there’s no going back.

Here are some helpful tips to make sure your Chinese translation project goes smoothly.

Choose your Chinese Translator Wisely:

Real estate is filled with local terminology and jargon. Even the most highly rated linguist will have trouble if they are not familiar with industry terms.

Proofreading:

Once the linguist has completed the translation you’ll need another qualified person to proofread. It’s not uncommon for a proofreader to suggest alternative phrasing. The original translator and the proofer will usually work together to agree on the best sentence structure when in question.

Desktop Publishing (DTP):

Assuming you are lucky enough to get a good translation, the next hurdle is formatting, or what’s commonly known as DTP. Chinese fonts can be tricky to work with for graphic designers. Ideally, your translator will provide an IDML file that can be dropped into the Indesign file. If not, you’re going to require a graphic designer who reads Chinese.

Print-ready Files:

Providing your printer a print-ready file, usually a high-resolution PDF is the final step There are too many opportunities to for things to go wrong when the files are in prepress if you only provide native InDesign files. Examples included but are not limited to shifting text, missing images, font issues (especially Chinese fonts).

Caimeiju has successfully translated hundreds of Chinese Real Estate magazines and corporate marketing materials. Our team consists of the best industry linguists as well as in-house pre-press department. Contact us if you need help.

WeChat is the most trusted communication channel in China. It’s virtually limitless in its applications but, for the non-Chinese user, can be a little intimidating.

Here are the basics on how you can use WeChat to share real estate listings with Chinese clients or other Chinese agents.

1. Locate WeChat in the IOS or Android store. Set up an account and download. The installation is in English and easy to do.
2. Find other people on WeChat. There are several ways to do this.
   Go to >Me>Settings>Account Security, and make sure your phone is linked. This will allow WeChat to access your contacts and add whoever you know that is already using the app.
   Now, let’s say you meet a Chinese prospect, agent, or someone at a convention you wish to network with in the future. Rather than simply exchange business card, you can share or scan your WeChat ID or QR-Code. To scan a QR code, go to Discover>Scan QR Code. To share your contact, go to Me>At the top click on your WeChat Name>My QR Code. If you’re emailing your WeChat contact info, you’ll have to share you WeChatID.
3. To share a listing using WeChat, open the listing in your browser. Locate the share button at the bottom of your device and look for WeChat. You can choose to send directly to one of your contacts, or you can post to your Moments which is like a Twitter Feed for all of your contacts to see.

Keep in mind that most Western websites in China are blocked so if your contact is in China, it may not work. If your listings are on a Chinese site like Caimeiu, they will load fine in China. They will also be translated to perfection!

Happy WeChatting.