Real Estate Investment : a broker or real estate consultant ?

A good investment adviser/consultant would learn about the client's financial situation and determine an investment strategy that makes sense for him/her.

Buying or selling of any real estate property can be a complex venture. There are a number of complications and legalities involved in any transaction. If one  is  going to buy or sell any real estate property he/she would be thinking of buying through a broker or a consultant. It would be important here , to understand the difference between a broker and a consultant.

Real Estate Broker

A real estate broker is a person who acts as an intermediary between sellers and buyers of real estate and attempts to find sellers who wish to sell and buyers who wish to buy. As a representative of the buyer, the broker acts as the buyer’s agent. The broker can also take the side of a seller, thus becoming the seller’s agent.

Real Estate Consultants

A real estate consultant means a person who renders advice, consultancy or technical assistance, in respect to evaluation, conception, design, development, construction, implementation, supervision, maintenance, marketing, acquisition or management, of real estate.

A good investment adviser/consultant would learn about the client's financial situation and determine an investment strategy that makes sense for him/her.

Difference between Real Estate broker and consultant.

The broker is primarily focused on selling homes, and making a profit from the sale of that home. In lieu ,of their work they charge some commission on successful conclusion of real estate business deal which is a fixed percentage of the total cost of the property in deal, the commissions taken up by broker differ according to the area and it also depends on the locality in which the client is planning to get a property, generally the commission starts from 2% and sometimes goes as high as 10% . Because of this, he/she will have a slightly different approach to their dealings with a client. 

A consultant on the other hand is completely unbiased in the purchase or sale of a property. His primary concern is helping the investor/buyer satisfy his needs in the real estate. There is no financial gain based on the sale of a home. Instead , profits are by the services offered .

A broker will usually do what is necessary to convince a client to purchase a home, the consultant will be perfectly honest with client . If he believes that the property will not meet the needs of the client, the client will be advised not to purchase the house.

A consultant wants to be sure that correct results will be achieved in a real estate transaction. To do this, he will ask many questions about the client's wants and needs . He will then look for different ways that the client's objectives can be achieved. This is very much unlike a broker who believes that all the needs of the client can be met with the sale of a home.

With hiring a consultant for all real estate solutions,one can be assured of being in safe hands and can easily sail through the tiring and difficult process of   buying or selling .

“Buy land , they' re not making it any more” -Mark Twain

Everyone wants a piece of land. It's the only sure investment. It can never depreciate like a car or a washing machine. Land will double its value in ten years. In less than that. Land is going up every day. - SAM SHEPARD

Real estate is  considered as the most lucrative industry for investment. Investing in real estate has become increasingly popular over the last many years . The value of the real estate investment in commercial, residential or land property appreciates overtime. People prefer to invest in real estate as it fetches better returns without much labor as compared to investment in other products. However, one needs to be sure of the investment scales and property type in which they are investing.

Land as compared to any constructed property is considered as a better investment as it appreciates over time and will always is in demand due to availability reasons.

SEVEN GOLDEN REASONS - on why investing in land is the best option within real estate as compared to much more flaunted and publicized options of built up spaces in buildings are:

Reason 1

Elasticity of Usage. You have options to choose any size or dimension or any value, and can be used for multiple purposes, for e.g. If you invest in a agricultural land, it can be used for farming, can be used as a farm house, post zoning can be used for commercial purposes, and any thing build on it can be redeveloped.

Reason 2 

Land is evergreen, ever growing asset. Brick and mortar assets like buildings deteriorate with time where as land does appreciate with time. Studies confirm that value of a commercial building becomes zero  in  27 years. Even when the building is useless and demolished what is left behind is land. 

Reason 3

Land is an asset from day one.  In case of a residential or a commercial property it takes 3-5 years to get the property registered on your name and also to draw handsome returns from it, but in case of land, the land gets registered immediately and can start generating returns. 

Reason 4

Low Investment Management .Once bought it doesn’t incur high costs , as maintenance costs as compared to other built up properties.

Reason 5 

Bigger Houses .  With the economy projected to grow at a fast pace, and with disposable incomes being higher, the aspiration of green living, bigger houses, better amenities will take over. These can only be achieved through bigger land parcels being bought under development, so invest in land today.

Reason 6 . Land Affords the right balances in your real estate portfolio. While investing in real estate one should consider right product mix to diversify the risk with one or two products which are low on risk high on returns & that is what Land is.

Reason 7

Supply and Demand: If we analyze the real estate requirements of our country, land would be in demand for at least a couple of decades, there is an acute demand of constructed properties which has to be built on land. .Hence investment in land is bound to grow. For e.g Delhi as a state is forecasted to grow from 138 lacs to 250 lacs in next decade, that necessitates another few thousand of hectares to be brought under development, hence invest in land today rather than wait for appreciation at much later date and lower returns.

Considering and mentioning all the above we advise our clients to exercise the right amount of caution and source expertise while buying land, seek out experts rather than taking “Gut -Feel- Approach”. Analyze, understand, replicate the success stories in land as a portfolio rather than try to re write the success stories. Remember all leading developers in our country grew at this scorching pace on valuations, using land as the growth engine.

Get a better deal by making purchases together!!!

Group buying is an entirely new concept and only few are aware of the concept. Group buying has its origin in China where team buying was accomplished for having the discount prices on a property when there are a large number of people who are willing to buy the same property.

The advantage of Group Buying to the buyers is the deep discount on the property they want to buy.

Group buying which is also known as collective buying, offers products and services at significantly reduced prices on the condition that a minimum number of buyers would make the purchase. It allows the people who have the same preferences in the real estate options to come together and avail better discount as a group. Discounts on group buying vary from 5-25% depending on the location of a project ,its construction stage and the people in the group.

Planman Realty , in the interest of its buyers has recently started the Group Buying concept to enable its investors to avail discounts of which they are sometimes deprived of ,because of which they sometimes loose an opportunity of a best deal. As the developers are some times very rigid on giving away discounts.

Mr. Subhash Arora (Senior Lawyer,High Court)shares his experience saying that when he approached the developer directly he was offered an inaugral discount of 100 to 300 Rs .However, when he made the same deal through group buying he availed a discount of 15-18% and happily made investment in two houses.

Thus registering with a company of repute for group buying deals may promise big discounts and big savings. So, register now and start investing. Investing is real estate is no longer a dream.

LEED Certified building : What Is it ?

These buildings reduces the operating costs , increases the occupant's productivity, enhances  the building and organizational marketability.

The latest buzzword in real estate nowadays is  LEED Certified Building.  LEED stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design. LEED is the internationally accepted benchmark for design, construction and operation of high performance green. LEED certified building or  commonly known as the green  designed building , is defined as-

"A green building is one which uses less water, optimizes energy efficiency, conserves natural resources, generates less waste and provides healthier spaces for occupants, as compared to a conventional buildings.” (Source: IGBC website).

LEED CERTIFICATION

LEED certification provides independent, third party verification that a building project meets the highest green building and performance measures. The LEED certified buildings receive a 

LEED Plaque which is a nationally accepted and recognized symbol that a building is environmentally  responsible, that it is a healthy place to work and live. Projects earn LEED points for satisfying specific green building criteria within each of the six LEED credit which are:

·sustainable site development

· water savings

·energy efficiency

·materials selection

·indoor environmental quality and

·innovation in design.

·Buildings can qualify for four levels of certification:

·Certified - 40 - 49 points

·Silver - 50 - 59 points

·Gold - 60 - 79 points

·Platinum - 80 points and above

Some of the financial benefits of investing in a LEED- Certified building are more obvious than others. Installing energy and water efficient appliances saves on utility bills- a directly observable savings. Other benefits, such as the profits incurred from extra productivity in a workplace with better air quality,  are less observable, but are equally  important. As there is a substantial evidence that these buildings  improve worker productivity, morale, and health of the occupants. People tend to be more productive in buildings with more daylight and fresh air and fewer toxic chemicals. Since person-hours are a lot more expensive than electricity, those savings can dwarf the energy savings.

Eastern Peripheral Expressway

Eastern Peripheral Expressway or KGP (kundli-Ghaziabad-Palwal) is a proposed road which will bypass Delhi on eastern side. Eastern Peripheral Expressway or Kundli-Ghaziabad-Palwal expressway is one of the two semicircular expressways which will form a third ring road around Delhi.

This  expressway is  135 km, of the same length as KMP. The expressway  along with Western Peripheral Expressway (or KMP expressway) will  decongest Delhi from traffic entering and bypassing the city through National highways.

The project involves construction of a six-lane expressway with access control highway connecting Faridabad-Greater Noida-Ghaziabad-Sonipat, which will also act as a bypass to Delhi.

The complete peripheral road will connect following radial highways: NH-1, 2, 8, 10, 24, 58, 91, SH-57, Yamuna/Taj expressway, Ganga expressway, Hindon expressway among others.

The expressways   will significantly DE-clog Delhi's internal roads of outbound traffic and trucks. Records with the traffic police reveal that heavy vehicles including trucks are responsible for almost 40% of road deaths in the capital

NHAI(National Highways Authority of India)floated its  first tender in October 2008.Despite the project looks very alluring and lots of promises have been made about the project. There has been a delay by subsequent ministers for highways since then. Though six infrastructure firms were qualified to bid (then costing Rs 2,335 crore), only one player submitted the financial bid in December 2008. After this the bidding deadline was extended five times.

"NHAI wanted the project to be awarded as in other cases where only single bids were placed. But the then minister, Kamal Nath, scrapped the bidding process in July 2009. Then the process of restructuring the project under new toll rules began," an NHAI official said. 

The   Planning Commission then came  into action and favored developing this stretch as a bypass. But the ministry   dismissed it, stating that the   road project was considered as a normal highway and not a ‘bypass’.The ministry also stated that if toll rates are high, traffic will move out to the western peripheral expressway, the other half of the ring.

Planning Commission, highway secretary R S Gujral  agreed saying  “EPE acts as a link road, connecting Palwal on NH-2, passing through NH-91, NH-24 and NH-1 before touching Kundli. Therefore EPE is not a bypass; rather, it is a connecting highway linking various NHs.”

The Cabinet Committee on Infrastructure, which had considered the proposal on April 20 had approved the project and directed the Public Private Partnership Accounts Committee (PPPAC) to take a final decision on the toll rate.

The further delay in the project is again form the ministry when  PPPAC  is waiting for a go ahead  for the bidding process since PPPAC  was to bid the project as a normal national highway in June this year, the tenders were also invited and 24 of them qualified for the same,the documents for the final bidding are ready.

Now   despite  the Supreme Court monitoring the project .The  vested interests are playing some tactic or the other to delay the project. 

The delay has already impacted the national capital and its adjoining areas as the project, which is part of a ring expressway around this region, was conceived to decongest Delhi roads and to avoid the entry of trucks.

Fact file of Eastern Peripheral Expressway

Length - 135 km

Lanes - 6, expandable up to 8 in future

Areas covered - Sonepat, Faridabad (Haryana), Baghpat, Ghaziabad, Gautam Budh Nagar (UP)

Speed limit - Designed for 120 km/hr

Expected vehicular movement - 1,00,000 vehicles per day by 2021

Project cost - Rs. 3000 crores

Interchanges - On intersections with NH-1, NH-2, NH-24, NH-58, NH-91, SH-57, Hindon Expressway, Yamuna Expressway

Bridges and Underpasses - 3 river bridges (2 over Yamuna, 1 over Hindon), 43 other bridges, 59 underpasses

Toll Plazas - 2

Project duration - 3.5 years

Concession period - 25 years including construction period

Status - Yet to be awarded