By Ajay Bathija
The city of mumbai and its real estate begins right back from the days of organised development and it can be dated back to 13th Century.
King Bhimdev founded his kingdom in the region in the late 13th century and established his capital in Mahikawati (present day Mahim). Point to be noted there was someone who managed to source this information and did his research and presented the data with careful presentation to the King (this person in today’s term would be called a “Realtor”)
The Pathare Prabhus, among the earliest known settlers of the city, were brought to Mahikawati from Saurashtra in Gujarat around 1298 by Bhimdev.(Current occupants would be the people lured to settle down by the king that would in today’s terms mean the king was a developer.)
Now the development of a city which started in the 13th Century and the first deal done with the help of a realtor is pretty evident that the realtor was a key man and remained in being a key link to the transactions all the way till the advent of the internet and the ever changing and dynamic environment.
“To give real service, you must add something which cannot be bought or measured with money, and that is sincerity and integrity”. A mantra of a true REALTOR.
As the time has gone by, the complexity of a real estate transaction has only gotten intense. The legal work, the location scouting , demographic of the locality, the educational institution requirement , the infrastructure development and its future connectivity, the credentials of the developer , the financial leverage of a developer , the procuring of the land with a built in tenants (as most of the properties come with half of the original resident that would be a part of the new development.)
The financial arrangements with the financial institute and external lenders to the developer along with the RERA certification record of the developer from the past and the past record of the developer with the buyers and its ratio of settlement of issues.
The Neo clientele has an access to the internet marketing material, all the developers are marketing their projects online; all data and all marketing professionals hired by the developer are at the disposal of the client.
The data provided to them is as per the directives of the developer who pays their salary. The presentation is prepared by the sale team, the projected sales chart and the sales so far provided by the sale team. Herein the client has an air of comfort that all information and historic chart is at his disposal.
Here is the big issue the sales team, the sourcing team and the servicing team has been in the profession to just do one work and the next process is handed over to the senior in the team, the process of connectivity with the client is lost the moment the handover is done.
Lets play a scenario in a purchase process the potential buyer relies on all the data provided by the sales team. He has been handed over the same by one sales person from the team who has sourced the client from the data sharing management or the client has called the developers call centre and has been assigned to him.
Here comes the best part the client or potential buyer is willing to believe in all data which is provided to him or rather pushed to him from one single source “the developer”. (We don’t doubt or want to create any malice in this but its kind of one solution suits all).
The next series of questions which follows defines the role of a Realtor if he is hired by the client.
- IS THIS DATA FULL PROOF?
- DOES THIS DATA SUFFICIENTLY COVERS ALL THE ASPECT FOR THE SAFETY OF A NEW CLIENT ?
- IS THE DATA A TRUE REFLECTION OF THE SITUATION?
- ARE YOU SURE YOU HAVE DONE WHAT IT TAKES TO INVEST YOUR CURRENT HARD EARNED SAVINGS ?
- DOES THE SALES PERSON/ SALES TEAM REMAIN WITH ANY DEVELOPER FOR A LONG TIME ?
- WHO IS YOUR POINT OF CONTACT AND INFORMATION PROVIDER WHEN THINGS NEED TO BE ADDRESSED ?
If to all this an answer is there and you are sure you have covered it all , I am sure you are good to go without hiring the services of a professional Realtor.
If you have any doubt or you feel that there are aspects that you as a buyer maybe seasonal or a newbie needs to be addressed to, you surely need a realtor by your side. The process of hiring a professional only gives you peace of mind that all aspects are looked in and if not then you have got a second pair of eyes to watch for you.
The fees of a realtor in India is merely 1-2% of the transaction value but the safety factor it covers is your entire capital investment which is the larger part “100% at stake.”
A seasoned realtor has been doing this for decades, as you value your time in the profession or business you are involved in, so does a realtor invest his time , effort & money. To make sure it’s a complete experience of safe transaction with legit closure of the transaction.
To this I would conclude that while buying or selling a property either from a developer or an end user a role of a realtor cannot be ruled out.
The investment for an house for most of the clients is savings of a life time, and in a life span of a person an average buying/selling for a client is about 4 times.
“If one goes wrong, the entire process is a dominos effect.“
We pay convenience fees even for a movie ticket for an app developed by the same cinema hall.