6 Steps to Start a Real Estate Business in India: A Beginner’s Guide

New Delhi, April 20, 2019: The real estate market in India is one of the most promising sectors for starting a business today. From a size of USD 120 billion in 2017, it is expected to grow to USD 1 trillion by 2030. Yes, this sector is flourishing at a jet speed, thereby attracting people from all backgrounds to start their own venture here.

It’s amazing to see that the real estate business in India wasn’t this rosy all the while; in fact, this sector has witnessed its share of instability before it came about to becoming one of the best evolved businesses in the country. With enhanced transparency and enforcement of improvements such as RERA, REITs, and Title Insurances, the industry is now in better care and zone according to the reports published in moneylife.in.

So, if you are planning to enter this market and carve a niche for yourself, it would be a good idea to do your homework before you take the actual plunge. Address of Choice has compiled this list of 7 essential steps that can help you get on to achieving your goals.

The Indian real estate industry comprises of several professionals who operate either from their own setups or are associated with renowned industry players. From builders to material suppliers and from architects and engineers to brokers and real estate agents – they are all a part of this booming industry and contributing in their own little ways to its success. Whether you are interested in exploring the Pune real estate market or want to cater to customers looking to buy residential property in bangalore, or it’s for your potential realty customers in Noida, Gurgaon, Ahmedabad and Mumbai, you’ve got to go through the same drill as your counterparts.

Like in any other profession, to be able to enjoy a satisfactory stint in the real estate business, you need to research on the subject. You could begin by seeking the inputs of industry veterans. Unless you come across as a competitor, they would be glad to share their overview and journey with you. Nothing’s better than hearing it from the horse’s mouth and people who have been in the industry can show you both – the bright side and challenges of starting a venture in the real estate industry.

As shared above, there are options aplenty in the real estate business. You could either get into commercial brokerage, residential brokerage, or land investments. Depending on your preference and the available options (domain knowledge, budget, etc.) you could go ahead with either. To begin, it would be ideal to focus on one area and as you grow along the way, you could dabble in the rest.

Although this was easily passed off earlier, with legal refinements and several real estate industry laws now in place, licenses and registration is now very important. Besides keeping your paper work clean, these make you come across as a serious professional and add to your customers’ confidence as well. From registering your firm (as a Private Limited or Limited Liability Partnership) to obtaining service tax registration, real estate agent license, and GST registration – all are crucial and mandatory. You will rarely find a real estate agentthese days who lacks wouldn’t have any of these. So, prepare yourself to get these before you embark on the journey.

Now that you have the required registration and licenses in place, don’t miss to create a detailed business plan. Put all of your know-how into building this plan and ensure that the challenges, which you have identified, are duly addressed and you have mentioned a scope for improvement. Your business structure, budget, funds, and team hiring strategy should all be mentioned in this blueprint. Certainly you can improvise on each area; but a business plan will provide a direction to begin with and hold your hand as you tread the path.

This step is very important as you’d not be able to do everything as a real estate business owner. Actually, there’s no need for it as well. You can manage everything from the peak but you should have members to do the work for you. Don’t go lavish while hiring people but make sure that you hire the best. Be it the sales people or the business managers or the people to market your brand – build a team of professionals who do justice to the role you have chosen for them. You can keep a mix of experienced and semi-experienced team members but remember to train the latter while on-boarding them so you are all on the same page.

Besides your offline presence, your online image too is important. Gone are the days when customers relied on the neighborhood grocery shop owner while they were looking for properties. Today, customers look up the different websites much before they actually visit a real site. This helps them save time and effort and also helps them to gauge the different properties from several perspectives. Therefore, put up a nice, comprehensive, and easy-to-navigate-through website and communicate your messages effectively. You can also use the website to display discounts and special offers! (Nobody hates a discount.)

So your business is now pretty-much set. All you have to do now is convert the queries into real deals and get your real estate business to flourish. However, remember to keep your customers happy as they are the ones who will recommend you to their friends and thereby help grow your business.

Once you have become a ‘pro’ at your job, it’s now time to expand. You could choose a different specialty this time or expand in your own line of business. In either case, go back to the first step and walk this path again.