I recently sold my house in Nerul, Navi Mumbai and plan to buy a flat near my parent's house in Chembur in Mumbai soon. I consider myself tech savvy, so instead of doing rounds of the offices of Real estate brokers, I decided to use technology to help myself find a buyer (for the flat in Nerul) and a seller (for a flat in Chembur). Have jotted down some observations and experiences in this process.
The Selling Part:
After checking with friends and searching the net, I shortlisted two websites where I wanted to post my property 99Acres and MagicBricks. The listing part was easy and within a couple of days of listing my property I started getting responses through SMS and E-Mails. Most of these responses were from brokers in the area. Despite having posted ALL the detail about the house (Area, exact location, expected price, full cheque payment expected etc), I kept on getting calls from brokers asking for these basic details again and again. Even when I reiterated that all the details are on the sites and I could give them the property id on the site to check them out these morons insisted that they could not see the details on the site and only my phone number was visible.
Within a week of registering on MagicBricks I could not see the contact details of the people who had responded to my post, I could view the contact details only if I bought a listing package from them which cost around Rs 1000 for a month. Since I wanted to reach out to a wide audience I relented and purchased the listing package. 99Acres was slightly better, they allow a months free listing and then give you the option to go in for a paid one. As soon as the month was over their sales executives started calling me for an upgrade, which I agreed to, once again I paid Rs 1000, but I got a listing for 3 months instead.
Having paid for a premium listing on both the sites, the response picked up gradually and I started getting quite a few calls (2-3 on a weekday and 5-6 on weekends). the only disappointing fact was that 90% of these calls were from brokers who made me painfully narrate each and every detail about the property again and drove me to a point of severe irritation.
Finally my property deal was finalised, but not through any broker or a prospect through these sites, it was a relative of a family who stayed in my building who was interested. It was the old friend, family and neighbour network which came to my rescue.
Learnings:
1. These sites are helpful to get the market to know that you are selling, but be prepared that 90% of your responses will be brokers. Still it saves you the trouble to go to meet them individually.
2. Most brokers are not so tech savvy (at least in Navi Mumbai), they have an office boy or a receptionist sitting and searching these sites for listing by Owners of properties and then call them for details. No one bothers to read your post properly.
3. These property sites are quite money minded (especially MagicBricks) and expect you to pay for listing your property. However the listing is cheaper than a classified ad in a newspaper andguarantees better response. So its quite VFM actually.
So, If you are looking to sell your property, I would definitely recommend a listing in property portals. Even if you don't want to pay commission to a broker, it helps you get an idea of what the market is offering, besides it always helps to have a couple of offers from brokers on the table when you negotiate with direct parties. Just a word of caution, please be patient and prepared to explain each and every detail of your property over the phone to these brokers. And remember, most families prefer seeing houses on afternoons on weekends, so be prepared for lots of calls during that time (I suffered a lot because of this as I usually try to catch up on sleep on Sunday afternoons).
The Buying Part:
I am looking to buy a 2BHK apartment in Chembur. I based my budget on listings available on 99Acres and MagicBricks. I tried searching for 2BHK apartments between Rs 60 lakhs and Rs 80 lakhs in Chembur on through 99Acres (in fact they just have a Rs 60 Lakhs to Rs 1 Cr option to search) and got 19 responses which were within my criteria, for the same criteria in MagicBricks I got over 100 responses. So obviously I was happy that property prices are still not so high and I will finally be able to buy that house within my budget. I planned accordingly and started saving money, liquidated some investments and prepared myself to buy a flat within a couple of months (this was beginning of Sep-10). Being the planner that I am, I did not call any of the listings till I had some money ready for downpayment / token, the bank loan part could be taken care of later.
So finally I started calling these listings on Sunday, as expected, more than 95% of the listing were through brokers. On calling them, most of them quoted a price between Rs 90 lakhs and Rs 1.20 Cr for a 2BHK flat in Chembur, when I pointed out that their listing on the site said something else they said that that property was sold and now they have properties in this range only. The first two times, I thought maybe this is true, its quite easy to sell a 2BHK in Chembur for Rs 75 lakhs. But then after calling 8 different brokers I realised all of them were bullshitting. They just buy bulk listing on these sites, the property description for every 2BHK sounds the same and the actual location is almost never ever mentioned ( a few exceptions to this), all the prices are between Rs 70 lakhs to Rs 80 lakhs and ALL the brokers claimed that these properties were just sold off last week.
After being disappointed by the broker clan, I decided to check if any actual owners had listed their properties. I found zero matches on 99Acres and around 10 matches on MagicBricks. Once again I was in for a disappointment when I called the so called owner, I realised that he was a broker and had only listed himself as an owner to get more responses.
Some brokers have offered to show me some apartments in Chembur in the bracket of Rs 80 lakh plus but I am not so hopeful and have resigned myself to a long wait. In fact some brokers didn't even talk properly when they were informed that my budget was ONLY upto Rs 80 lakhs, a couple promptly cut off my call rudely and did not even bother to pick up when I called subsequently.
Learnings:
1. 95% of listings to sell properties on property portals are by brokers. All the properties listed by a particular broker will have similar description and no indication of the actual location of the property within a locality.
2. Most low prices quoted are only to attract buyers, almost all the brokers will claim that the property was sold recently and now the rate has increased by 10-15%. In fact one particular broker had 5 2BHK flats listed for Rs 75 lakhs, he coolly told me that there must be some mistake on the site and they must have listed 5 such flats by mistake, the only one he had was sold last week only.
3. If you wish to search for a house in any locality in Mumbai through a property portal, please be prepared to pay brokerage fees + 10 - 15% to the average cost of apartments quoted on the websites.
So if you wish to purchase a property, use these portals only as indicators. None of the listings on them are reliable and most of the brokers are listed only to reach out to prospects. A trip to your neighbourhood broker is highly recommended. I have once again put all my hopes on the friend, family and neighbours network to get something within my budget and would recommend you do the same.
The Selling Part:
After checking with friends and searching the net, I shortlisted two websites where I wanted to post my property 99Acres and MagicBricks. The listing part was easy and within a couple of days of listing my property I started getting responses through SMS and E-Mails. Most of these responses were from brokers in the area. Despite having posted ALL the detail about the house (Area, exact location, expected price, full cheque payment expected etc), I kept on getting calls from brokers asking for these basic details again and again. Even when I reiterated that all the details are on the sites and I could give them the property id on the site to check them out these morons insisted that they could not see the details on the site and only my phone number was visible.
Within a week of registering on MagicBricks I could not see the contact details of the people who had responded to my post, I could view the contact details only if I bought a listing package from them which cost around Rs 1000 for a month. Since I wanted to reach out to a wide audience I relented and purchased the listing package. 99Acres was slightly better, they allow a months free listing and then give you the option to go in for a paid one. As soon as the month was over their sales executives started calling me for an upgrade, which I agreed to, once again I paid Rs 1000, but I got a listing for 3 months instead.
Having paid for a premium listing on both the sites, the response picked up gradually and I started getting quite a few calls (2-3 on a weekday and 5-6 on weekends). the only disappointing fact was that 90% of these calls were from brokers who made me painfully narrate each and every detail about the property again and drove me to a point of severe irritation.
Finally my property deal was finalised, but not through any broker or a prospect through these sites, it was a relative of a family who stayed in my building who was interested. It was the old friend, family and neighbour network which came to my rescue.
Learnings:
1. These sites are helpful to get the market to know that you are selling, but be prepared that 90% of your responses will be brokers. Still it saves you the trouble to go to meet them individually.
2. Most brokers are not so tech savvy (at least in Navi Mumbai), they have an office boy or a receptionist sitting and searching these sites for listing by Owners of properties and then call them for details. No one bothers to read your post properly.
3. These property sites are quite money minded (especially MagicBricks) and expect you to pay for listing your property. However the listing is cheaper than a classified ad in a newspaper andguarantees better response. So its quite VFM actually.
So, If you are looking to sell your property, I would definitely recommend a listing in property portals. Even if you don't want to pay commission to a broker, it helps you get an idea of what the market is offering, besides it always helps to have a couple of offers from brokers on the table when you negotiate with direct parties. Just a word of caution, please be patient and prepared to explain each and every detail of your property over the phone to these brokers. And remember, most families prefer seeing houses on afternoons on weekends, so be prepared for lots of calls during that time (I suffered a lot because of this as I usually try to catch up on sleep on Sunday afternoons).
The Buying Part:
I am looking to buy a 2BHK apartment in Chembur. I based my budget on listings available on 99Acres and MagicBricks. I tried searching for 2BHK apartments between Rs 60 lakhs and Rs 80 lakhs in Chembur on through 99Acres (in fact they just have a Rs 60 Lakhs to Rs 1 Cr option to search) and got 19 responses which were within my criteria, for the same criteria in MagicBricks I got over 100 responses. So obviously I was happy that property prices are still not so high and I will finally be able to buy that house within my budget. I planned accordingly and started saving money, liquidated some investments and prepared myself to buy a flat within a couple of months (this was beginning of Sep-10). Being the planner that I am, I did not call any of the listings till I had some money ready for downpayment / token, the bank loan part could be taken care of later.
So finally I started calling these listings on Sunday, as expected, more than 95% of the listing were through brokers. On calling them, most of them quoted a price between Rs 90 lakhs and Rs 1.20 Cr for a 2BHK flat in Chembur, when I pointed out that their listing on the site said something else they said that that property was sold and now they have properties in this range only. The first two times, I thought maybe this is true, its quite easy to sell a 2BHK in Chembur for Rs 75 lakhs. But then after calling 8 different brokers I realised all of them were bullshitting. They just buy bulk listing on these sites, the property description for every 2BHK sounds the same and the actual location is almost never ever mentioned ( a few exceptions to this), all the prices are between Rs 70 lakhs to Rs 80 lakhs and ALL the brokers claimed that these properties were just sold off last week.
After being disappointed by the broker clan, I decided to check if any actual owners had listed their properties. I found zero matches on 99Acres and around 10 matches on MagicBricks. Once again I was in for a disappointment when I called the so called owner, I realised that he was a broker and had only listed himself as an owner to get more responses.
Some brokers have offered to show me some apartments in Chembur in the bracket of Rs 80 lakh plus but I am not so hopeful and have resigned myself to a long wait. In fact some brokers didn't even talk properly when they were informed that my budget was ONLY upto Rs 80 lakhs, a couple promptly cut off my call rudely and did not even bother to pick up when I called subsequently.
Learnings:
1. 95% of listings to sell properties on property portals are by brokers. All the properties listed by a particular broker will have similar description and no indication of the actual location of the property within a locality.
2. Most low prices quoted are only to attract buyers, almost all the brokers will claim that the property was sold recently and now the rate has increased by 10-15%. In fact one particular broker had 5 2BHK flats listed for Rs 75 lakhs, he coolly told me that there must be some mistake on the site and they must have listed 5 such flats by mistake, the only one he had was sold last week only.
3. If you wish to search for a house in any locality in Mumbai through a property portal, please be prepared to pay brokerage fees + 10 - 15% to the average cost of apartments quoted on the websites.
So if you wish to purchase a property, use these portals only as indicators. None of the listings on them are reliable and most of the brokers are listed only to reach out to prospects. A trip to your neighbourhood broker is highly recommended. I have once again put all my hopes on the friend, family and neighbours network to get something within my budget and would recommend you do the same.
