Abbott finds investors, opportunities in China

Abbott finds investors, opportunities in China
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April 20, 2009 06:05:00 PM
By DANIEL CARSON / News Herald Writer
PANAMA CITY BEACH — Hope Abbott's first trip to China gave her not only a glimpse into that country's growing investor class but also a new business venture in the world's fastest-growing economy.

Abbott, a real estate agent with Panama City Beach's Counts Real Estate Group, said it won't be her last visit to the Chinese mainland.

"This trip pretty much sold me on focusing on that market. I feel very good about it," Abbott said Friday.

Abbott was one of 50 U.S. Realtors to attend the 2009 America is for Sale Expo, a four-day real estate expo held in Beijing and designed to expose Chinese investors to American real estate properties.

She and her husband, Lewis "Bud" Abbott, took materials promoting Panama City Beach and regional properties, as well as a progress chart for the Panama City-Bay County International Airport relocation project.

Her presence at the expo attracted the attention of a Beijing television station, as well as visits with several Chinese investors.

Abbott said she was impressed with the volume of expo visitors, and the number of investors interested in buying U.S. properties.

Some investors wanted second homes, Abbott said, while others were looking for property where they could visit or send their children to if they attend an American university.

"They were all like, ‘We want a large garden,'" Abbott said.

In spite of the downturn in the U.S. housing market, and the domestic economy in general, Abbott said she didn't experience any investors who were wary of the American market.

A lot of the expo visitors were young investors, and Abbott said they asked a lot of questions about U.S. housing prices and how much those prices had dropped.

At the expo, Abbott said she and her husband met with officials from Four Seasons Real Estate Trade Fair Beijing, a company she described as the largest international real estate expo organizer in China.

The company holds the expos on a quarterly basis, and Abbott was able to attend Four Seasons' March event during her Beijing trip.

Abbott said she would attend Four Seasons' international real estate expo in June and planned to visit China on a quarterly basis to participate in the company's expos.

She said she also reached an agreement with the company to display her Florida listings in Four Seasons' Beijing office for walk-in investors.

"So I'll have ongoing business over there and be able to market my business from over here," Abbott said Friday, calling the Four Seasons deal "a huge opportunity."

Abbott will be taking three Bay County real estate agents with her to the June expo, she said.

Based on her conversations with investors in Beijing, Abbott said she expects there to be Chinese visitors in the Panama City Beach market this summer.

As she prepares for her next China trip, Abbott said she's working on her fluency in Mandarin and hopes to eventually learn the language.

"Ill have an interpreter, but I'd feel more comfortable learning the language," she said.