Irina Kim Sang is a Realtor Associate with Coldwell Banker in Miami Beach.

Every week, we ask a Miami real estate professional for their thoughts on the top three stories from the week before.

This week, we talked with Irina Kim Sang, a Realtor Associate with Coldwell Banker Residential Real Estate in Miami Beach. A native of Kazakhstan, Irina is fluent in English and Russian, and has positioned herself as the go-to Realtor for Russian consumers looking for homes in South Florida.

Miami Agent (MA): Every month, Miami remains a top destination for international homebuyers; how does the city maintain its appeal?

Irina Kim Sang (IKS): With my Russian-speaking clients, even though many of them already own second homes in Europe, because of its close proximity to Russia, they love how Miami is such a well-established place with every infrastructure possible, including skating rinks, basketball courts, cruise ships and all the entertainment that they can get.

That is probably the reason why they would name Miami as the No. 1 destination, because of the infrastructure. A lot of them like Thailand for the climate – they tell me that Miami is like “a civilization in Thailand.”

MA: Being a foreign-born agent, how does that help you, if at all, when dealing with international clients?

IKS: The No. 1 differentiation between myself and other agents is not just my fluency in Russian, but my deep understanding of the culture. So if you are coming from the same culture, you can understand the client’s priorities in terms of how they make a decision and how they are going to react.

I was born in 1977, and we are that generation that remember the Soviet regime but saw the new independent countries that have emerged in the last 20 years, so I know the behavior of the new generation of consumers from Russia. In other words, I know the profile of that consumer very well, and can understand their behaviors and insights because I am coming from the same place.

We can especially connect on the emotional level. I would not consider myself too foreign to the United States – I came here when I was 16, I studied in high school – so I came here early enough to understand and appreciate both cultures. But those people who are coming to Miami to buy real estate, some of them do not speak English at all. You have to explain the rules of the game to them, and if an American explains such things to a Russian, it can be difficult to explain certain things. But when you can relate to what they’ve experienced back home, I can better illustrate with examples.

MA: Finally, do you have any special approaching to your marketing that helps you attract international clientele?

IKS: Speaking the language definitely helps, as does having a good translation of my website, which is very much appreciated by the clients. Forget about the fact that you can use Google Translate – it does not work. You can translate your personal correspondence on their, but you should not use it for business interaction. The language and the quality of the translation definitely help me reach the right clients. Especially with my Russian-specific clients, people can see the difference in how the language is used. You have to put a lot of effort into communicating in a culturally accurate language.

Also regarding the language, because I am educated in the U.S., I can negotiate on both ends. I’m not just a person who immigrated to the U.S.; having an educational background in both cultures helps quite a bit in negotiations.