Property buyers and sellers have come a long way from being mute and blind spectators to the whims and fancies of the real estate sharks in recent years. E- commerce space has grown tremendously as ammunition for the discerning clientele in the last two years.

Indiaproperties.com is a leading comprehensive property listing service in the country. Properties of 27 categories like flats and apartments are listed.

Property owners list their properties for sale or rent; developers and builders list to advertise their projects to a global audience and real estate consultants and brokers list properties to expand their marketplace. Currently property for sale and rent in more than 215 cities across India are listed in the site. Pricing, as a policy, is pegged at highly affordable levels with Rs 500 for a 3-month listing.

Based in Pune with offices in Mumbai, Bangalore and Chennai, at the core of its initiatives is the Research and Advisory Division that’s highly sensitive to the needs of the evolving consumer. It takes care of queries, FAQs, drafts of legal documents or resolving doubts. One can refer to the Knowledge Bank for home loan interest rates. There are calculators for EMI, amortisation and area conversion. Also included is a list of real estate glossary terms and a book on real estate (Property Matters Made Easy), which is a guide to buying or selling a property.

A seasoned entry

Born into a real estate brokerage family in Pune, India, Naresh Malkani was introduced to the real estate business at a young age when he helped build his family real estate business into one of the most successful brokerage firms in the region. He then moved his sights to the US where, in 1983, armed with a MBA, and a real estate licence, he joined Shannon and Luchs Realty, one of the leading real estate organisations in Washington DC.

Having won several awards and recognition, Naresh decided to set up his own office. In 1988, he set up a franchise firm of RE/MAX, the largest real estate brokerage organisation in the US. Four years later he set up a second office and by 1994 his US operations had over 86 associates and a turnover of over US$166 million.

Naresh has been a member of the panel of the Moderate Housing and the Ethics and Professional Standards Committee, both important and prestigious committees in the real estate business.  In 1997, he relocated to India to set up Indiaproperties.com (India) Private Limited. The secret of his eventual but steady success—“It’s not about just selling on the internet—it’s how to make it appealing (and credible!) for the customers.”

Any good business being a two-way street, the company does its homework before taking on clients too. Indiaproperties has an Activation Verification department that confirms if the client is genuine through a stringent procedure.

Consumer notes

Says Mr Malkani, “The consumer has become savvy and knowledgeable. He cannot be conned anymore for he knows his options. This has forced real estate to scale up and meet up with the demand for—the consumer gives only one chance. Business is all about data and its credibility. If you don’t have qualified data, there is no business. The future is all about accountability and credibility.”

He adds that Indiaproperties quintessentially has a one-on-one relationship with the developers. There is qualified inventory in place to reach out to qualified credible developers.

Too much too soon?

“When Indiaproperties started in 1999, it was too early for its time. With the real estate boom, quality of construction has definitely evolved.  The overall consumer industry is now on the way to becoming one of the biggest organised sectors,” feels the never-say-die entrepreneur. “Initially the dotcom industry was a concept, now it is a product,” says Mr Malkani.

With the passage of time, online property listing is today accepted as the preferred mainline media channel with no stepmotherly treatment.

Brokerage industry

Where ethics of the still-evolving Indian brokerage industry are concerned, he feels, “ Either keep up with the industry or step aside.” News travels like wildfire—specially bad news, he adds, so if a company or individual does bad business, it/he is practically out of the race.

As regards the need for some sort of regulation at the small-time brokerage levels in Bangalore and other cities, he says certain initiatives have been taken at the National level, to the US, to put up a Code of Ethics. For “a healthy qualified real estate brokerage industry is the ultimate engine of the developers. With their feet on the streets, the brokers know the prices at the back of their hands.”

Though land prices have come down in Noida and Gurgaon, Bangalore sees good amount of supply, feels Mr Malkani. Though it appears saturated with no one looking at the pentup demand, some level of correction may happen as long as developers maintain quality.

As of now, online real estate transactions are rapidly gaining momentum in the country with online demand for lease rentals for different spaces growing at the following rates: office space – 40%, residential properties —30% and retail properties — 20%. Industry experts believe that by the end of 2009, the contribution of online sales will account for 50-60% of commercial properties, 50% of residential, and 40% of retail properties.

For more details, log on to www.indiaproperties.com