Studio apartments

Studio apartment...why they are becoming popular among homebuyers, especially among the young generation

A studio Apartment is a relatively new concept and is gaining popularity in the urban cities of the country. As the urban population continues to grow, with the increasing number of nuclear families and single working professionals, the demand for these studio apartments has risen tremendously. There are its own pros & cons of living studio style.

 Especially at a time when the prices of the regular apartments are sky rocketing, these studio apartments are small, self contained and affordable. These units are way cheaper than the regular apartments. They also have a very negligible maintenance cost. Mostly these apartments are fully furnished; hence they reduce the cost and the burden of setting up your house needs is almost eradicated.  Today, the corporate office job takes the maximum day time of the person and he/she spends majority time in the office, they hardly have time for the household chores and maintenance.  Keeping this in mind, these apartments have come as a boon to the society and their demand is growing exponentially. With the growing demand, still the units available in the market are far less. This has also led to people buying studio apartment as second home and further renting it to bachelors or nuclear families. There was a time when one would aspire to own a well spacious house overlooking a lush green park or a pool. But today a person looks for a compact space all because of the nuclear family trend.  Over a period of time, studio style living has gained popularity amongst bachelors and working professionals. Developers have tapped onto this opportunity and have options in cities like Pune, Gurgaon, Mumbai, Bangalore, Hyderabad etc.  Studio apartments are already prevalent in international cities like Toronto, Singapore New York etc.

In short, Studio apartments simply out together are a much smarter way of living especially for single working professionals or newlywed couples. 

Mobile app of RE/MAX - RE/MAX iList

Why be tied to your desk when you can manage your real estate business while on the go!

With the growing dependency of real estate business on technology, a move by RE/MAX India to launch the iList mobile app has come in very supportive for our agents. The app will help the agents to plan and organize their day to day business activities in a more professional and organized manner with its agenda tool. Over and above an agent can also sync their Google and mobile calendars for their easy going day to day task. Hence making them more productive and efficient and making their approach more professional towards the real estate business. Also, the app provides the agents the convenience of syncing their mobile contacts into the app by just one click. This helps them to maintain their database more efficiently.  Currently, the app is beneficial to an agent when he has a buyer as he can use the buyer match feature that does not limit the agent if he does not have any inventory.

The next upgrade to the app will have following features: Listing: With Listing feature agents will be able to list properties from phone itself by clicking pictures and filling a pre defined form. This in turn will save time and effort of the agents. Within fraction of seconds he will be able to promote listing on social media, connected portals, emails etc. This app will help agents understand the importance of basic features like planning your agendas, to building your contact database, push notifications etc. This eventually will lead to better management of your real estate business and hence lead to better satisfied customers that will lead to more business for you.

How the things may change once the Real Estate Regulatory Bill is implemented

The Bill makes mandatory the disclosure of all information for registered projects like details of promoters, layout plan, land status, schedule of execution and status of various approvals. It seeks to enforce the contract between the developer and buyer and act as a fast track mechanism to settle disputes. The bill prohibits a developer from changing the plan in a project unless two-thirds of the buyers have agreed for such a change. In concise, the bill of 2016 is a big leap ahead which keeps the buyer's point in view and keeps a healthy check on the builder/seller. The bill casts a heavy responsibility on builders, in the form of project registration and mandatory disclosures on a regular basis through a portal to be maintained by the Real Estate Regulatory Authority (RERA). This will ultimately lead to more transparency in the way business is transacted and how information is flown from a developer to a buyer. Moreover, with 70% of their funds parked in escrow accounts, this will encourage developers not to get over leveraged and they cannot use their money on other projects and hence will be limited to projects. All this will eventually lead to a better demand and supply proportion in the market that will help in the price correction in the long run as well.

 The land cost is the highest one has to bear today, and currently, most developers are facing liquidity crises, which will be heightened due to the bill. Also, with cost of raw material and land going up added to which they have to sell on carpet area basis now will definitely lead to price rise.

In cities like Noida and Gurgaon markets, there are a lot of primary market developments.  Especially a market like Noida has over supply in terms of inventory lying unsold. With the passing of the bill and burden of projects coming upon the developers, the number of projects will reduce drastically that will help in the price fluctuations of the property. According to legal advisor, UC Pant of Pant associates, the future of real estate in Noida  is looking bleak as several inventories  are still lying unsold  and lying dormant. The recent announcement by the Noida Authority to hike the stamp duty by upto 2% has also proved a deterrent by many home buyers.  Gurgaon has for long been a witness of the rapid growth in the country over the years, thanks to the presence of MNCs and the ITeS sector. This has also attracted countless NRIs and expats, and brought in a thrilling explosion in Gurgaon's realty sector over the past decade and a half. However, like many other regions, Gurgaon too did not remain unaffected by the slump that hit the country's realty sector, and the past couple of years have been tough for its real estate market. All in all, to sum up Noida city will be affected as there are many small size broker turned builders and they will suffer the cash crunch. Gurgaon on the other hand as big scale developers who will not have liquidity issues and will continue to work with lesser affect on their business.

Technology in Real Estate

The Internet has reshaped how real estate is delivered to the consumer and how we as consumers manage our daily lives. Construction technology is swiftly sprouting in the Indian real estate market. The real estate and construction industry uses a number of off-the-shelf and custom-made IT solutions. Computer-aided-design tools, animation and visualization tools, project management software, geographical information systems, financial modeling software, back-end tools for accounting and payroll, and other business software tools are regularly being used by organisations in this sector.

The exponential growth in the real estate development comprising of the high-rise buildings have been observing a long growth period largely due to the current conventional construction system being extremely time consuming and costly. These continuous delays resulted in increase in cost which was borne by developers who eventually passed on the burden to the customer. Aluminium wall formwork, commonly known as MIVAN technology is tremendous substitution to the conventional technology with striking advantages of quality, time & requirement of skilled resources. This technology is being adopted by most developers as it saves time for both, the buyer and the seller. It allows the developer to have more control and therefore the ability to forecast the speed of construction, allowing him to confidently deliver the project within the promised timeline. An extension of the structural load-bearing walls and flat slab system is the pre-cast technology wherein various modules of the structure are cast off-site in factories and then assembled on the site. This technology is mainly suited for low rise value homes as it provides a structural framing of load bearing walls & solid slabs ideally suited for residential apartments.

Change is inevitable in the real estate industry. The new age developers are providing the required momentum to these new technologies in turn providing the much needed character to the construction industry. With professionalism on the rise there is more and more emphasis given to quality consciousness and timely delivery of projects giving drive to the switch from conventional to innovative methods. In order to ensure that there is a conscious movement from the conventional to the unconventional methods, unskilled to skilled labour, time saving and superior quality output, there needs to be a greater application and acceptance of these technologies by various developers across India

Journey from Broker to Realtor- How to make the difference

Over the past two decades, a lot of persona definitions have changed in the real estate market in India. The layman buyer has become more knowledgeable and more market aware. He has started to question the methods and opinions of his onetime friendly neighborhood broker. He’s now more curious about the developers, the neighborhood, the time to deliver and competitive options available. The buyer has started to weigh all these factors against the blind faith on the opinion of the real estate broker who has been advising his family for past couple of generations. However, even though he has these questions in his mind, he still lurks for the answers beneath. He requires the expertise from someone he can trust, someone whose advice aligns strongly to his undersupplied intellectual ability in this area. This is where the modern era broker a.k.a. a real estate consultant has found a market to breed.

Earlier the real estate broker was a mere mediator whose job was to act as the salesmen and make both the parties meet. The entire work was done by the buyer/ seller themselves. This was the time when the customer was not interested in the value additions of the services provided by the brokers. Over the last few years, the change in the customer profile has led to the change in the way business is dealt in real estate. The new world real estate consultant does not talk about properties. He instead focuses on trends and the markets as a whole. He is very well aware of where the world is moving. He is fully equipped with a lot of analytical tools and data to support his decision making. He also understands a buyer’s needs and then closely aligns them to the trends of the market and comes out with a perfect recommendation for the buyer. With such an approach, the real estate segment seems more science than just hunches which facilitate buyer trust building to a great extent.

Today, the real estate broker has undergone a transformation. This transformation in the real estate brokerage scene in India has been driven by many factors. First, the opening up of the economy and influx of international companies into India has brought about a major demand turnaround in real estate services. That has in turn translated into demand for real estate brokerage services that have best practices benchmarked with the best in global standards. Moreover, the volumes of transactions and consumer preference and choice demanded that systems be developed so that the customer can search, view and select from the comfort of his home. Inputs for decision making had to be made more comprehensive and at the same time, simple. All this has led to a complete makeover of the Broker’s image.

What seems to be the primary driver in shaping these drastic changes in this market are the role being played by big real estate associations, majorly the process driven approach that they devise, the expertise of the market that they share, awareness of the available tools and technology that they bring to the table. All these factors have led to blossoming of these associations in the market and have raised the bar for the primitive players and have challenged them to think beyond their A game as that is no more the best in the industry. The associations provide an incredible platform for realtors to talk, to learn and to be aware. They enrich the market with a lot of knowledge and analysis that helps the brokers to look at the big picture instead of simply thinking about getting a deal closed on a property.

With the world getting closer day by day due to the technological advancements, the impact is also visible on the real estate industry in India. Many forces have been playing their significant bit in revolutionizing this industry, be it Training, technology, real estate trends etc. Talking about Training, various real estate specialized courses are now available to Indian brokers to up skill themselves and professionally use these designations. A lot of professional colleges have started teaching real estate courses. Also associations like NAR India have collaborated with like minded people to impart education in this industry that was the need of the hour for this industry to grow and mature into a profession that stands on the firm pillars of Trust, Honesty and Integrity. This gives a Realtor a more qualified value and hence makes them different from the crowd. These are the Realtors who get noticed by a professional buyer who wants to deal with someone who works professionally with full honesty and candor. The client is automatically able to trust the Realtor and seek his advice for one of the toughest investment decision of his life. The world has become a common platform and the realtors have started working globally with the help of various business models and options available to trade internationally. In simple terms I believe that the local real estate business combined with global exposure which I call being Glocal (GLObal + loCAL) is the key to Success. 

With bigger players entering the market every day, it has become extremely critical for all the players to come up with the best they can. Attractive offers, competitive pricing and innovative launch ideas have become the trend of the day. The definition of “best” for the buyer however, remains very clear – Can I trust this consultant? A miniscule percentage of buyers may get swayed by the lucrative offers, but the majority is still looking for that trusted advisor, who can help them put their money to good ends.

With all these dynamics building in the market, the Government could not have chosen a better time to pass the Real Estate bill. The bill goes completely in line with these changes i.e. pushing the real estate towards an ethical and organized marketplace. Also the role of brokers at the conceptualization stage while planning new projects along with developers and even deciding pricing and marketing strategies has evolved and played its importance in this image makeover as a consultant and not just a mediator. The developers are refraining from direct sales team as it's an added cost and are now relying on these professional brokers for their sales.

All these factors have led to domestic brokers waking up to the need to get their act together, if they wanted to remain in business.  They started out on a series of measures. Some were simple, such as sprucing up their offices. Websites started mushrooming. Listing properties on the internet became a common practice. They increasingly started resorting to e-marketing. Earlier, the brokerage was a family run business where a son would join his father and learn the trade from him. So he learned the age old practices that were followed by earlier generations. But today, The broker has become a professional business where we see many professionals may well be an engineer, MBA, advocate, retired personnel, chartered accountants among others who are joining the pool of these organized lot of Realtors. Well-educated women too, are choosing this as a career option. These factors are slowly, but surely transforming the real estate brokerage industry. The makeover is for real. The new-age broker has arrived.

Hence, The new age broker is there for the astute customer; he is there to hand-hold, guide, advise and take the customer through the entire process of making a property purchase decision in a transparent, thorough and clean manner.

Choosing a Niche in Real Estate – Becoming a real estate specialist

Choosing a Niche in Real Estate – Becoming a real estate specialist

Whenever anybody joins real estate, there are a few basic things that an individual starts with. He markets himself to the masses, reaches out to his sphere of influence, creates his own database, makes cold calls, does meetings and so on. Ideally, it is the way a realtors day should look like but there is a problem in this process. The problem is that, there are hundreds of real estate agents doing the same thing. With so many agents out there it seems like anybody can do real estate or at least it looks like they can do real estate. In such a case, where everyone is the go-to-guy for real estate, what makes you unique in that crowd?

With the changing demographics of real estate investors, now the clients are more qualified and they look for long term returns on anything they buy or sell. In such scenario’s, they look up to someone with more specialized knowledge and this is where the need arises for a specialization in the market. A smart real estate professional will first identify his skills, refine his knowledge and passion and then hunt for a speciality. Always remember that one satisfied customer, brings you a lot of referrals and this is one of the biggest perk of being a specialist! So let’s discuss how you can find your niche:

Choose your area of work: Real Estate is very vast and as an individual everyone has likes and dislikes for a specific market. Shortlist the category in which you want to work. Primary sales, secondary sales, commercial sales, renting, leasing, luxury homes, working only with first time home buyers, vacation homes, global real estate, work only on referrals etc is just a small sample of what could be your niche. We were recently reading about a story of a women realtor, who only sold luxury homes to HNI’s and doing so she had gained recognition in all the elite clubs and thus had more deals coming on her way.  She became a specialist in that community! Thus it is important to first select your niche and then start working towards it. Make a network and collect as much as possible information about your targeted audience

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 Understand your target market and audience: To succeed in your niche, you truly need to become an expert of that market. Starting from understanding their investment portfolio to the kind of lifestyle and needs your clients have, everything has to be well understood. Just for an example, if you are helping a newly married couple in finding a home, as a realtor you need to project not only their current needs but also the future requirements. If you are helping a corporate employee to find the right home for him/her, factors likes proximity to work space, good connectivity to airport, railway station etc should be kept in mind. You need to understand the requirements of your customer and provide them with an extra value from what they expect from you. This will not only make them your customers for lifetime, but they will also love to refer you to their other friends with similar requirements. Remember, in Real Estate; your NETWORK is your NETWORTH!

Know about the local demographics and the market drivers of the area: Knowing in and out of the location is another key factor that contributes to the success of building your niche. You need to master the rentals, current pricing, upcoming projects, infrastructural developments of that area etc. There is a simple formula to learn about it. Take out that areas map and do the mapping of the area.  When you know about it, you will be immediately able to find out that if you have a listing with you, is in underpriced or overpriced. This will make you an effective real estate consultant as no customer can evaluate this part of real estate by just searching the Internet. Being successful in your niche requires you to walk an extra mile to up skill yourself and once you do that, there is no looking back.    

Create a marketing campaign for yourself and let the clients 

come to you: Once everything is in place and you have started closing transactions it’s time to promote yourself as an expert. Prepare your marketing campaign and promote yourself so that people start having your name in their mind when they have that particular requirement. You should have success stories with you and a lot of promotional material with you to make people think and talk about you. Make your own value and clients will come to you.

Real estate will always be packed with competition and you must know that to excel you must keeping learning and doing more in order to succeed.  Be selective in choosing your niche and identifying your target market as they will be the key drivers for your success. Real estate offers an enormous amount of growth on a consistent basis; unlock your potential and watch your business grow!

Real state of Real Estate Bill

Real state of Real Estate Bill

The bill is aimed primarily at ensuring that real estate projects around the country have to follow certain guidelines from the government to ensure that the interest of the buyer is protected. It is being hailed as a welcome step to put an end to the legal anarchy prevalent in the country when it comes to the activities – chiefly administrational and financial nuances – of real estate agencies. However, this doesn’t mean that your real estate ventures are protected by the act with immediate effect, since a lot of work has to be done by state governments over the next six months in implementing the act into the working order of things before this development would reflect in the life of the common women and men.  Moreover, real estate developers also have to acclimatize to a number of policies and regulations once the act has been implemented in each state.

Based on the final documentation submitted by the parliament earlier this month, the act will address the some key issues with India’s real estate industry.

The bill is created to form a regulatory body to guard consumers and also address disputes and improve the image of the real estate industry as a whole.  With every step taken to transform an industry, there come its own pros and cons.  The real estate bill became an act on 1 May 2016 and has now initiated the entire process of revolutionize the way real estate is developed, marketed and purchased in India. Talking about its key advantages, one needs to highlight its benefits provided to the end users. It will make the process of real estate investments and business proceedings much more streamlined and transparent, benefiting the buyer in the long term and avoiding several conceivable routes to malpractice.  Moreover,  A legal umbrella for the protection of consumer rights will be included in future real estate investments. The major advantage for the buyer in lieu of this bill is that the bill provides for mandatory registration of all projects with the Real Estate Regulatory Authority in each State. Moreover, the registrations of agents with the state authority have become requisite. Moving towards the organized culture of doing real estate, this will make the sector more lucrative. The end user today is a corporate professional or an entrepreneur who likes to be dealt professionally. The brokerage profession with the right direction accompanied by mandatory trainings is heading towards filling this industry with NEW AGE BROKERS. The bill also states to enforce the contract between the developer and the buyer and act as a fact track mechanism to settle disputes.

Keeping the best interest of buyers as the focus, Developers who refuse to follow the guideline stated by the act will be fined severely, and redressals as fast within 60 day periods would be enacted.  It will ensure that only developers with viable business proposals and plans for future development would remain the market.  Delays in project launches, lack of transparency, lack of legal aegis and information, delays in dispute resolution, fraudulent practices and so on will be dealt with. 50% of the money invested by developers would have to be kept in an account that can only be used for the purpose of construction – this would prevent incidences of theft and misappropriation of funds.  A developer cannot change the project plan without the consent of 66.6% of the owners of plots/flats part of the project. Hurdles for developers have increased. There will be no pre launches before mandatory approvals and the builders will be liable for structural defects for 5 years as against 2 years. All these amendments will be a challenge for a developer were as a buyer will benefit as this will lead to smoothness in blocked process of buying a home.

While all this seems brilliant and there is no doubt that the implementation of the act would lead to an amelioration in the way the real estate industry functions, there are a number of things that could be improved about the act, or things that should have to be monitored so as to prevent future mishaps. As a buyer one needs to watch out a few points in the times to come ahead. The state and local authorities play too big a role in approving individual projects and then following up on them until they are completed. A major point that needs to be kept in mind is that these regulators should not become approval hurdles themselves that will just add another tedious step for developers to get their requisite approvals for the project.  Also with parking on funds in separate account, the burden on developers will increase and the developer might transfer that to the buyer by increasing his property prices. The land cost is the highest one has to bear today, and currently, most developers are facing liquidity crises, which will be heightened due to the bill. Also, with cost of raw material and land going up added to which they have to sell on carpet area basis now will definitely lead to price rise. Ambiguities in terms such as “carpet area” might lead to problems with standardization in future legal issues. Though the Model Bye Laws being approves by governments has shown that the government is all hands in favor of streamlining the approvals but still the Lack of “single window” clearance of projects implies that the clearance of projects to be taken by builders have a tedious task ahead.

Overall, the act can be proclaimed to be a successful venture by the government of India and concerned authorities are awaiting its implementations in all corners of the nation. This is just the beginning. The Indian real estate sector is in the right direction. With the full backing of Government, it just needs the fraternity to take the responsibility to support the initiative and move along in positive direction.