Online negotiation the new norm of property buying in India?

Home buying is such a significant milestone in a person’s life. It’s also one of the toughest to execute. Too many options, too many brokers, too many offers. Just too much clutter.

Technology, fortunately, has come to the rescue. More than 90% of the research to find a dream home is now happening online. Consumers are comparing prices, checking developer credentials, following project updates and even looking at the past project performances and making sense of the multiple layers of data, online. This move is like a breath of fresh air to consumers.

With online tools aiding in the selection process, home buying could never have been easier. Gone are the days of only visiting offices of realtors and property dealers, haggling over prices, visiting umpteen sites and locations and finally, if lucky, taking the final decision. Not to forget the negotiations that went on and the offers kept moving back and forth.

Making an offer and negotiating online has simplified this task and given it some much-needed transparency. The shift of buyer-seller interactions online is giving more power to the buyers and an opportunity for the seller to gain as per their performance.

Using technology to the hilt, these online platforms are bridging gaps between the buyers and the sellers along with providing the much-needed guidance to the buyers. The younger and tech-savvy buyers are seeking information and transparency while dealing with developers that are reeling under the effect of project delays and a sagging property market. Having an interactive and receptive customer service and an active presence on the social media platforms, interactive websites with 3D virtual tours can be leveraged upon to share information about a company's ongoing and future projects. Industry statistics suggest the growing quantum of real estate related queries is climbing at the rate of 35 per cent year-on-year.

Transcending barriers

The real estate market in the country has seen a rough patch in the last five years with inventory pileups crossing record numbers. This added with a growing mismatch between the pricing expectation of the buyer and the seller, has created a situation of distress in the market that needs to be addressed for its revival. This scenario is also leading to buyers holding off from putting action to their thought and completing their purchases, adding on to record unsold inventories. According to a recent ASSOCHAM survey, NCR region has the highest unsold inventory pressure among all other cities with the NCR residential market having an estimated 1,70,000 units of unsold inventory, mounting to almost 30 per cent of the units under construction.

What was needed was a platform that gave a potential buyer spam free access to data driven knowledge and guidance and assess the prices on offer to make an informed choice. Having buyers and sellers on the same data driven platform could transform the fortunes of the real estate sector that is going through a rough patch. Verified and analyzed property listings stand a chance of garnering better attention from prospective buyers, making online property negotiations a hit with the masses.

With their perennial presence at the buyers convenience in the confines of their comfortable spaces, online negotiations and online property buying gives the prospective buyer endless benefits. One can avail a service that is convenient, quick and devoid of any kind of hassles, unlike a brick-and-mortar estate agency.

Industry research estimates reveal that online agencies could handle almost 50 per cent of all real estate sales by the year 2020 that began their journey around the year 2005.

The effort and the unambiguousness required in maintaining an urbane online presence has risen the bar among the developer fraternity and given more power to the buyers. While online negotiations may still be at a nascent stage, the growth story is clearly written in the board with the growing urban population that is living by and pushing the growth of the e-commerce segment. The dream home is just a few clicks away!

(This article is authored by Arjun Basu, Co-Founder & CEO, DoorKeys.com)