Chinese zeal for US homes keeps cash registers ringing for realtors

Real estate-related companies sweeten deals, pamper prospective buyers with attractive freebies to garner business

Just how confident is Los Angeles property broker Erik Coffin that he can interest Chinese clients in high-end Las Vegas villas? He is charging $4 million a month for a quick glimpse.

It is not just any tour. The marketing push is set to start next month for these twice-monthly journeys that cost $250,000 for a seven-day, private jet and Rolls Royce-chauffeured trip to the United States heartland. Eight-person groups also will be offered consultations on plastic surgery and wealth management.

"It's already a win for us," said Coffin, 42, who employs 18 Mandarin speakers, almost one-third of his staff, at Gotham Corporate Group, which recently opened an office in Beijing.

Wealthy Chinese have been stocking up on overseas real estate for at least the past five years, according to SouFun Holdings Ltd, China's biggest real estate website. Now, entrepreneurs such as Coffin are banking on that demand to create an entirely new industry to cater to their needs - everything from websites and brokers to developers, lawyers and international marketers.

Andrew Taylor, 44, who helps run Juwai.com, a four-year-old Shanghai-based real estate platform catering to Chinese clients seeking homes overseas, said: "Chinese consumers used to come to us and say, 'Where can I buy with $500,000? Now they are looking at three or four countries at the same time."

Juwai, which means "Live Abroad", says it has more than 4.8 million property listings in 58 nations. There is no shortage of clients: 60 percent of China's wealthiest are contemplating a move, the site says.

In Beijing, a marketing campaign sponsored by SouFun touts a 12-day "Gold-Digging US tour". The Chinese capital was also host last weekend to a three-day foreign property and immigration exhibition, the second of its kind in four months. Among destinations on offer: Portugal ("get a residence permit for the whole family"); Japan ("pass on your ownership for generations"); and the US (again, "invest by one person, get a green card for the whole family").

Ben Liu, Shanghai-based marketing director at the American Regional Center for Entrepreneurs, which helps Chinese buyers invest in US properties through the EB-5 program, said: "We used to think these buyers are local tycoons. They are now entrepreneurs or higher middle-class professionals, such as doctors and engineers."

Liu teamed up with SouFun in December to take 10 Chinese investors on a real estate prospecting trip to San Francisco, Los Angeles and New York.