-How do you think, is now a good time to offer foreign properties to Russians?  
- As the head of the “Prian.ru - International Property” web-project (the portal is a co-organizer of the Exhibition - Ed.), I can surely say that, at the moment, the interest in overseas property is large enough. Over the cold winter, our people have yearned for warmer climates. And among those, there are many people who want to combine business with pleasure - buy overseas property, which can be used for personal recreation, and rent it out while it’s unused. Investors are also interested in overseas property. Even today certain overseas markets promise good returns in foreseeable future. By the way, over the New Year holidays (January, 3-10) a serious surge of visits has been recorded on the Prian.ru portal (having some free time, people start intensively searching for a “home from their dreams”); moreover, the number of requests to companies advertising on our resource has also increased.  
Since INFOREAL is the first exhibition of foreign property in this season, the maximum number of clients, aimed at acquiring properties abroad should visit it. 

    -It is good to be the first. But what are the other advantages of your event?  
- The INFOREAL Exhibition has an image of a serious event, where, along with a wide selection of property, you can acquire detailed information on foreign markets. Seminars on major exhibitions are commonly organized in order to simply “dilute” the expositional part. We have tried to make our Exhibition really useful for the citizens. Its agenda includes numerous topical seminars. Not only they consider markets, popular in St. Petersburg, but also clarify various technical aspects. For example, the rules of entering a particular country, purchasing procedures, peculiarities of maintaining property abroad are discussed on our seminars. Visitors will also get insight on correctly entering various states upon purchasing property, paying for a transaction, transferring money abroad and opening an account in a foreign bank, etc. In the Consultation Center operating on the Exhibition, it would be possible to communicate with experts one on one and ask any questions of interest.

     Each visitor will receive a free copy of the “Overseas Property Buying Guide”.  Practice shows that many visitors attend the INFOREAL in order to get this edition, because it is prepared on the basis of the best materials and reviews of the Prian.ru portal.

     Today, our city hosts many events dedicated to foreign property. But it is the INFOREAL Exhibition that citizens really trust (the credibility of the organizer - Group of Companies “Bulletin of Real Estate” contributes significantly to this). As a rule, the exhibition is attended by people who come with a real interest in buying property abroad; many visitors conclude preliminary agreements directly on the event. Therefore, a company that takes part in INFOREAL as an exhibitor can expect to see an increase in sales. This is confirmed by the positive feedback from those companies that have participated in the preceding Exhibitions, held in May and October 2009. 

   - And who do you manage to maintain such low prices for participation in the exhibition? After all, an event of such level requires significant financial expenses.  
- What is the main expenditure for any exhibition? It’s advertising. Since one of the INFOREAL organizers is the “Bulletin of Real Estate”, which incorporates a wide range of media-resources (Prian.ru and BN.ru portals, “Bulletin of Real Estate” magazine, “Delovaya Nedvizhimost’” magazine and others), the advertising expenses for the exhibition have been minimized. Of course, information about the exhibition has been placed in other media, including TV and radio, but, in general, our total advertising costs are always lower than those of competitors.  
We understand that today, companies tend to economize on advertising budgets. Our task is not an instant profit, but rather the alignment of serious long-term relationships with market participants, hence the low price.  
For many years already “Bulletin of Real Estate” has been successfully operating on the market. In order to continue to remain a leader, we make concessions with realtors and offer them the best conditions for cooperation.

     The INFOREAL Overseas Property Exhibition will be held on February 27-28, 2010. Venue: Russian North-Western Exhibition Center (Pobedy sq., 2). Working hours: 11 am to 7 pm. You may book a display area on the official website of the event: www.realfor.ru. You may fax us a printed request, Fax # 8 (812) 346-86-28.

Interview hosted by Alexey Rezenkov