Errors in Ads/Offers Made by Real Estate Brokers

1. Introduction:
   1. It is an accepted fact that many offers of lands made by many brokers  are full of mistakes in the very presentation.

• It is not just the language that is at fault, the matter of the description of the land or the property on offer is also given with many errors. What is being called an “Ad” here can simply be, what we will call, an “Offer Note” made by a broker. These days, most such “Offer Notes” are made and sent through the medium of WhatsApp. 

• WhatsApp:
  • It is not just in the WhatsApp messages or a printed letter, which is rare, even when we talk about a land or property deal, we must choose our words carefully and appropriately. 

• WhatsApp is a boon and a bane, and not just for the brokers, or people in the real estate business!

• Apart from the repetition of the same message going across, the forwards are mindless. Just because the message, the WhatsApp Post, as it should be called, looks nice and with a number of good photographs that we like to forward it to our potential customers.

• One of the banes of WhatsApp is the easy method of “forwarding” the information received from someone. “This Fast Finger Forward” was good for KBC, but it is not so good for a Crorepati to buy the property in your Ad or “Offer Note”. By personally not examining the offer made to you and only and immediately forwarding it to the others, you expose yourself to an error of showing some carelessness, that will come back and only hurt you.

• Please note that even small errors in the very manner that the offer is given to a prospective buyer can be serious. The mistakes made in the matter of the Ad or the “Offer Note”, only show a careless approach of the sender. This will surely not give the viewer, the Client,  the confidence in the ad or the offer, nor in the person sending the information.

• The first impression is the lasting impression. If, in the very beginning, the offer sent by a broker to a prospective customer, has quite a few errors, or even one error, the viewer will lose confidence in such a person. And thereafter it will become an uphill task to convince the prospective customer to continue to have faith in you. 

• Errors in your presentation will make you lose your customer.
  • We will study the mistakes and errors made in the offers of the land and property; and find the solutions to the right manner of presentation of the offers, orally or in writing, or even in the advertisements, when made. Let us now discuss a few ways in which the offers made by the real estate brokers are erroneously made.

• The Content:
  • Mentioning that the area as per PR card is such and such and as per possession is so much more, will only lead to some confusion in the minds of the interested party. If the situation on the site on offer does have a genuine issue like this, then let it be made known later – after the party has shown some interest in that land. If the actual land in possession is much more than the PR Card, that can be a bonus. If the land is less than what is shown on the PR Cards, then payments of the land can be as per possession, and not the PR Card – unless the Records can be corrected.

• Knowing the details of the government records is a must. A good understanding of all that will tell you a lot about the piece of property on offer. Knowing what records are important will be an asset in your work. Not only your clients, but many others, like the big law firms, will call you their works in land matters.

• Another common error made is of sending too many photographs of the property on offer to prospective client. It is true that a photograph speaks a thousand words; and conveys the real picture of the offer. But sending only photographs; and too many of them does not make sense. One good photograph should be enough. After all, the idea is to arouse the curiosity in the Client to come and visit the site. If you send the client 25 photos, he may be disillusioned by that!!!

• It is photos PLUS the well-documented information of any piece for property that is important to help sell it.

• Many “Offer Notes” land up talking of too many tenants and other problems in the property that the client will lose interest while scrolling down halfway through the WhatsApp Post!

• “For more information, contact…”. this is often seen at the end of an offer. The words, “For more information…” are really not necessary. The viewer WILL contact for more information, in any case. Your Ad or “Offer Note” should be such as automatically attracts the wish in the reader for more information. If you have already given a lot of information in your first Ad or “Offer Note”, then most people will just read that and let it be. Remember. Leave a lot of the matter unsaid in your Ad or “Offer Note”. The inquisitive nature of the viewer will take over; and he/she will be more desirous of getting in touch with you.

• Negotiable:
  • Using the word, “negotiable”, after the price quoted for the piece of property, is not really correct. It sends a wrong signal to the prospective buyer that the prospective seller can be further squeezed down to sell this property.

• In India, everyone loves to negotiate. Whether you mention it or not, the seller and the buyer will always negotiate what they think is the best price. The buyer will lower the “quoted price; the seller will raise it more than earlier quoted. This is a very deep instinct in us Indians: we simply love to negotiate. The only place we cannot do that is perhaps the Malls; but that is because they offer so many discounts!

• Hence, using the word, “negotiable” when you are talking about a property is really not necessary.

• And mentioning the word “slightly” before the word “negotiable” makes the case even more weak. For, the extent of “slightly” can never be known; and hence best avoided.  

• Meetings & Interest Letters:
  • We often hear this phrase being used by many brokers: “meeting on the table”. One person even said that, “one table meeting” will be necessary to finalise everything. All meetings are held around a table. There is no need to say that again and again. We seem to be copying someone who had said in the initial stage, and continue with his words, verbatim. We must realise that a mistake made in the use of words earlier should not construe as a permanent mistake.

• There have been instances of the broker and the person making an offer have gone back during the meeting, on the exact offer given earlier. This is bound to happen as this industry relies too much on oral working. Although this is changing, and people are now taking the offers in writing, or asking for the “interest letter” from a buyer’s party, it is necessary to ensure that there is a total clarity on the offer made. And for this a simple “Mandate” or a commitment letter must be taken before embarking on a major deal.

• No builder, as such, will give any “interest letter”!  It is common knowledge now that such letters are then used to impress other prospective buyers.

• Proper Research:
  • Very often it has been observed that there has been a certain duplicating of the documents. This happens when you do not know the local language!  It is best that you ask someone who does!

• There have been cases, when brokers have made such excuses, when asked about the details of the property. “I do not know.” “I will check up and let you know.” This only shows how careless one can be. Not enough information is worse than too much information. At least with “too much information”, we can hold back some, which may not appear to be important enough. But with no or little information we are in  a mess. We must do a proper research of the piece of property on offer, before offering it anyone.

• Trust:
  • Many deals are being done by the same people. Sometimes, they combine their reassures. But all this chain of people trying to do the same deal is not correct. Going to the concerned person who will deliver the goods via, or via, or via someone will not help. We must avoid this chain of people leading us to the actual person who will complete the deal – be he/she the buyer or the seller. We must show an element of TRUST for each other.

• To ensure that the deal gets done, we must reach out directly to the actual buyer and the seller.

• Then, please note we must avoid the situation of ten or more brokers landing up at the house of any interested party. This only shows that the brokers do not trust each other. How will you find the client trusting you in such a situation, when you don’t trust the others and the others do not trust you?  

• There have been instances when some gross mis-offering properties has also happened. A piece of property owned by one person has been offered to that same person. This shows that inadequate research weas done by the broker before that offer.

• Greed:
  • This used to happen quite a lot in some time gone by. True, such a thing is not common, these days. But quite often, “Greed” makes a come-back in a land-deal.

• Sometimes, brokers tend to “mark-up” the selling price of a piece of property more, much more than what the seller expects. This is not only ethically and morally wrong; but totally impractical. Once the buyer gets to know that the middle-men in between him and the seller are planning a jack-up of the rates, he will lower his purchase price so much that the will not come through. No buyer would like to be cheated into giving more than the norm for a piece of the property he wishes to buy. No seller will like to know that he could have got more for his piece of property but that the middle men took a very large share. Please note that such things do leak out. Even in a distress sale, such tactics can backfire. 

• Another major errors committed by many brokers is of “Squabbling” on the commissions even BEFORE the deal has gone through! There is no written rule about the commissions payable or receivable. The two percent amount has become a known and accepted concept over the last so many decades. However, in Mumbai, specially, where the land costs are phenomenal, it has become a pre-agreed amount.

It is better to sit down together, draft out an understanding, and then proceed accordingly. This understanding can also be oral, only. But it is better to have  a “friendly understanding” before you go ahead. And a similar understating with the client will also help, especially if the client is a first-time with you. An advance Clarity in money matters, is essential.

1. A Few Language Errors:
   1. Very often, the group of brokers refer to themselves as the “Media”. This might have come from the idea of the large number of middle men involved in a deal. But this is surely avoidable.

• Smaller spelling mistakes also make for a bigger negative impact. Spelling the area as “Acer” for the word, “acre”, is a common error that must be avoided.

• Then there is no such thing as Square “Feets”. The word “Feet” itself is the plural for a “foot”! so? It is “Square Feet” and not “Square Feets”.

• Then a large number of people make a very common mistake when talking of the sale of a piece property. “Out rate” for “outright”.

1. A Free Offer:
   1. We will teach you how make a simple “Offer Note” to your clients. For free! You just send us your Ad content matter about your piece of property, by email, and we will modify and send your Ad, or the “Offer Note” back to you. Only!

Do rest assured that we will neither forward that matter to any other persons, nor ever utilise that information ourselves. All your matter will remain confidential with us. And we will not claim any fee from you!

1. Summing Up:

To sum up, let us list out the common errors made by brokers when they offer the piece of property to a Client.

1. Too many photos sent to the client. Only photos will not being the desired impact, as the information on the property is needed.
2. Just WhatsApp forwards being sent, only; and all the time. This one duplication will not work too often. And your Client will not take you seriously.
3. No personal inspection, nor any personal knowledge of the piece of property on offer has been done.
4. Not enough research on the piece of property on offer done. This, like the above item 3, is a sure sign of a prospective client no entertaining you.
5. Too many facts given, and which are not necessary, too. This, although better than not enough information, is still avoidable.
6. Wrong English like “feets”, “Outrate”, “Media”, etc., lead only to confusion. Learn Simple English! [We can teach that to you; though not gratis!]
7. Not trusting the other brokers; and the other brokers not trusting you is not so good a beginning. Nothing is possible without trust.
8. Ask for explanation of the documents in the local language from someone who can tell you what is what in that language!
9. Do take this “Free Offer” of ours seriously!

Team Ashishwang

for Ashishwang Property Developers Pvt Limited

Zafar Iqbal

Director

DIN, 00053531