Operation Home - IV

Inscribed by Hariharan

The Broker …

When you scan newspapers classified ads … Apart from getting a chance to see property… You also get to meet brokers … They are a very interesting category of workforce involved in real estate business.

Real estate Brokers work in networks. Normally work for a 1% of the value for the property (Sometimes from the buyer or sometimes from both the buyer and seller). So I met all kinds of brokers trying to market the property in all kinds of ways. They are the ones primarily responsible for increase in real estate prices in any city.

I saw all kinds of Lands, ½ a ground, one ground … (well for novices in real estate one ground = 2400 sq.ft.) in almost all parts in South Chennai. I had seen so many areas that as a byproduct, I started becoming conversant with the areas in South Chennai.

The Brokers showed us all kind of properties. We used to see lands in some interior part of some area, and find the price too much to pay for such an interior areas … There were issues of the land not being approved by the local corporation authorities (so in that case I wouldn't get a Bank loan for that land) … Some land that were really well located in a good area was … as expected … out of our reach … J … So we kept looking for more property…

There have been occasions when 4 different brokers have shown us the same piece of land on different occasions. They all quotes different prices and marketed it is different ways … It was real fun to look at it in such a different perspective … The moment we reach the area, I would start guessing and tell my dad that the broker may show us the same place again … And it was fun to get a new price quote …

On one occasion, a broker was planning to show me a land in Thoraipakkam (South Chennai), we crossed some really nice residential localities. My hopes widened as we drove by …But he went on … and on … and on … until we reached a huge open land … He kept driving … and I followed … We reached the center of the open land and he pointed to a piece of land encompassed in between four corner mark-up stones and said, "This is the land". And that too … 15 Lakhs for that !! I said, "Thanks" and returned home.

On another occasion the broker took me to show another land. Thankfully, it had rained for some days … so things were more interesting … He took me to a place where the road was bumpy and was on the side of large stretch of land full of water due to the rains … It was almost like a lake. I was wondering where the property in consideration was !! He stopped in between to point at four long stones protruding out of the "lake" land and said that was the "land" he wanted to show me. I mentioned that since I didn't know swimming, and also I had a car to park in my prospective home … so that would be an issue for me.

So these crazy brokers would show me all kinds of property that there were moments when it all seemed hopeless … That is when my father suggested that we could probably hunt for flats also. So we started to look out for flats. Probably, even second-hand flats which was not so old (upper-limit of about 6 years).

Now we had a wider segment to target now …