At a time when group bookings are in and top B school grads are turning brokers, developers are inking deals with alumni associations to build exclusive towers
There was a time when eager employees with that extra entrepreneurial spirit would huddle near the office coffee machine, form a cooperative society, buy a plot of land for a cheaper rate, get hold of a builder and live happily ever after. But that was in the 90s when there weren’t many of us saving for a house of our own. Moreover, the idea of opening the door to a neighbor, who happened to be sharing a cubicle with us at office, wasn’t appealing either. Creepy coworkers or office oddballs may not be dangerous, but they can be unnerving!
Then came the boom and group and corporate bookings. Once again, people started getting into a huddle on Yahoo and Google and haggling for cheaper rates from the builders. Others like Vikhyat Srivastava and Sandeep Reddy of the Indian Institute of Management, Kozhikode, who are definitely smarter than us, developed an online site like Groffr.com and initiated group buying concept. “Groffr.com brings together individual home-seekers in Bangaluru, Mumbai, New Delhi, Pune and Hyderabad to aid group-buying,” informs Reddy, adding,”It facilitates individual buyers to save their money, time and effort and for developers to liquidate their inventories quickly.”
Still others made good use of their communicating skills at the Old Boys Meet and school and college reunions, struck conversation with people they never knew and overnight turned real estate consultants. With no offence to anyone, these brokers – quite a few of them are my good friends – don’t even need to advertise their skills in brokering deals. They are on a first-name basis with people from their business schools and they have the money to invest. “Real estate is a trust game and people tend to believe their old batchmates and college types,” says Manish Gupta of Praful Infrastructure.
People like Gupta make good use of the active alumni cell at their colleges to connect and coordinate with each other. “The alumni fosters camaraderie and helps builds a network,” he says. So when others try all kinds of modern day methods, gadgets, software and what have you to generate leads, Gupta & Co. just needs to connect with their alumni and viola! But with all our respect and good words about people like Gupta and others like him, that’s not the story for now. Today, we are talking about developers building exclusive towers for old boys associations and alumni of universities and colleges. Truth be told, we are greatly charmed by Supertech and its marketing team who, in spite of not that great a press and question marks over construction qualities, has managed to ink a deal with AMU Old Boys Sahkaari Awaas Samiti. According to the MoU, Supertech would construct 320 apartments spread over three towers – N1, N2 and N3 – at its Ecovillage project, Noida Extension, exclusively for AMU passouts. “Each year, hundreds of students who complete their academics migrate to Delhi in search of jobs. Once they get a job, they start looking for a house,” says a Samiti source. “Booking of flats can only be done once an individual becomes a member of the Samiti. The registration fee to become a member is ` 25.500.” He says AMU Old Boys Sahkaari Awaas Samiti was formulated with the objective to have a housing complex in NCR for the Aligarhians. “The AMU Old Boys Association, 1994-1997, had registered the society at Ghaziabad on January 1, 1997,” he says. Since the Samiti also needs to make some money, they aren’t tough with membership guidelines. So even if you never went to the prestigious university, and they like you, you can still pay the fee and own a house in Ecovillage! But for your information, even after becoming a member of the AMU Samiti, you’ll get a 1050 sqft. Apartment for ` 19 lakh-plus, which amounts to ` 1800 per sqft. And according to our estimates based on broker enquiries, that’s roughly the same price that anyone would pay for a house in Ecovillage. So what’s the deal? Though the Samiti source declined to comment on the price factor, he says there are a few issues in the allotment letter that were pointed out by the members of the Samiti. “Mr. Mohsin Israeli, Secretary, AMU Awaas Samiti, has assured that those issues are being discussed with Supertech. New allotment letter will be drafted soon, which will have maximum issues resolved.” Inshaallah!
Coutesy: topfloor
There was a time when eager employees with that extra entrepreneurial spirit would huddle near the office coffee machine, form a cooperative society, buy a plot of land for a cheaper rate, get hold of a builder and live happily ever after. But that was in the 90s when there weren’t many of us saving for a house of our own. Moreover, the idea of opening the door to a neighbor, who happened to be sharing a cubicle with us at office, wasn’t appealing either. Creepy coworkers or office oddballs may not be dangerous, but they can be unnerving!
Then came the boom and group and corporate bookings. Once again, people started getting into a huddle on Yahoo and Google and haggling for cheaper rates from the builders. Others like Vikhyat Srivastava and Sandeep Reddy of the Indian Institute of Management, Kozhikode, who are definitely smarter than us, developed an online site like Groffr.com and initiated group buying concept. “Groffr.com brings together individual home-seekers in Bangaluru, Mumbai, New Delhi, Pune and Hyderabad to aid group-buying,” informs Reddy, adding,”It facilitates individual buyers to save their money, time and effort and for developers to liquidate their inventories quickly.”
Still others made good use of their communicating skills at the Old Boys Meet and school and college reunions, struck conversation with people they never knew and overnight turned real estate consultants. With no offence to anyone, these brokers – quite a few of them are my good friends – don’t even need to advertise their skills in brokering deals. They are on a first-name basis with people from their business schools and they have the money to invest. “Real estate is a trust game and people tend to believe their old batchmates and college types,” says Manish Gupta of Praful Infrastructure.
People like Gupta make good use of the active alumni cell at their colleges to connect and coordinate with each other. “The alumni fosters camaraderie and helps builds a network,” he says. So when others try all kinds of modern day methods, gadgets, software and what have you to generate leads, Gupta & Co. just needs to connect with their alumni and viola! But with all our respect and good words about people like Gupta and others like him, that’s not the story for now. Today, we are talking about developers building exclusive towers for old boys associations and alumni of universities and colleges. Truth be told, we are greatly charmed by Supertech and its marketing team who, in spite of not that great a press and question marks over construction qualities, has managed to ink a deal with AMU Old Boys Sahkaari Awaas Samiti. According to the MoU, Supertech would construct 320 apartments spread over three towers – N1, N2 and N3 – at its Ecovillage project, Noida Extension, exclusively for AMU passouts. “Each year, hundreds of students who complete their academics migrate to Delhi in search of jobs. Once they get a job, they start looking for a house,” says a Samiti source. “Booking of flats can only be done once an individual becomes a member of the Samiti. The registration fee to become a member is ` 25.500.” He says AMU Old Boys Sahkaari Awaas Samiti was formulated with the objective to have a housing complex in NCR for the Aligarhians. “The AMU Old Boys Association, 1994-1997, had registered the society at Ghaziabad on January 1, 1997,” he says. Since the Samiti also needs to make some money, they aren’t tough with membership guidelines. So even if you never went to the prestigious university, and they like you, you can still pay the fee and own a house in Ecovillage! But for your information, even after becoming a member of the AMU Samiti, you’ll get a 1050 sqft. Apartment for ` 19 lakh-plus, which amounts to ` 1800 per sqft. And according to our estimates based on broker enquiries, that’s roughly the same price that anyone would pay for a house in Ecovillage. So what’s the deal? Though the Samiti source declined to comment on the price factor, he says there are a few issues in the allotment letter that were pointed out by the members of the Samiti. “Mr. Mohsin Israeli, Secretary, AMU Awaas Samiti, has assured that those issues are being discussed with Supertech. New allotment letter will be drafted soon, which will have maximum issues resolved.” Inshaallah!
Coutesy: topfloor
