Real estate business has endless opportunities for young entrepreneurs. India is a booming economy with a growing population. In the forthcoming years, there will be a massive demand for housing & commercial properties. Real estate business is not just limited to homes / commercial spaces. It generally includes Apartments, Multi-family houses, terraced house, Condominium, Cooperative, Tenement, duplex, bunglows, split-level home, Mansions, Villas, detached house, cottages, hotels/motels, Tents, houseboats, mobile homes, tiny homes, etc.
Nowadays, India is phasing through a rapid urbanisation and creating more metro cities. People from towns, villages, and small cities are migrating to metro cities. It is projected by the Government of India that Major population of the future will shift to the Smart Cities. Hence, it is an evergreen and ever growing industry. There are major players in the real estate business which are involved in development of all types of real estate properties as mentioned above. Now, as an individual, you may be thinking, " How can I start my business career in Real Estate business?”
Real Estate business is very simple to understand as there are no complex logics or theories behind it. It is selling / buying/ renting out real estate properties. You will generally act as a middleman initially as you have no investment and earn your commissions from converted leads and sellers.
In this article, you will get a detailed analysis on starting a real estate business with no money. Let’s get started-
Devise a business plan
Business plan is a very important and foremost step to start a real estate business. A business plan incorporates Business Vision, Business goals (SMART), Business objectives, Marketing Objectives, Financial Plan & Projections, Marketing & Implementation Plan, and developing competitive advantages in your real estate business. A plan is not considered complete and effective if it does not reflect the timelines and strategy to achieve the set goals/objectives.
First start locally
After devising the business plan, An individual often starts with any random or farthest location. It is advised that you should pick a location to which you are very well aware of in terms of local regulatory bodies, societies, people, etc. It is ideal to start from a place where you are born and brought up as you are fully aware of that location including climate, geographical location, customer segments, local businesses, streets, local government / authority future development plans, and so on.
It will be easy for an individual to start a business from a local location because there will be less risk, more learnings, more acquaintances, ease in commuting, and more chances for your business to grow.
Search properties
Property is the product that you are gonna deal in. Searching properties for sellers/buyers/tenants is a very important task. As a real estate businessman, you must have a portfolio of all the available properties in a categorised format in your locality. You can do it by on-ground research or social media or newspapers or with the help of online websites like magicbricks, nobroker, 99acres, etc. These resources have a ton of properties listed for sale / rent. It is advised to make a list of all the properties with understandable attributes so that you can identify, categorise, and prioritise them for further procedure.
Do extensive research on property
Once you have your product i.e. list of all available properties ready to rent / sell; Now, before persuading the client(s), you must run an extensive research to avoid fraud and mitigate risk for the customers. Real Estate business is a profitable business but equally a risky business too. That’s why, extensive investigation work is needed.
In such research, following areas must be considered-
- Get the copy of property’s registry papers and read it thoroughly
- Get the copy of the property's title chains (If there is any).
- You have to visit the property personally and take the measurement of the property; It is important to verify the actual dimensions in the registry papers also.
- Check whether the property is approved by the local urban development authority or not.
- Is shortlisted property loanable or not? If it is not loanable then deprioritize it for the high-ticket prospects.
- Check whether there are any pending electricity bills / water bills / house tax / society tax on the shortlisted property. If there are any dues then consider these also before selling it off to any customers.
- Check for the property prices in the local; It can be done by the primary market research. It means that you should confirm in the neighbourhood whether any nearby property is sold off and if yes then what was the price.
- Check for other facilities and amenities including gyms, hospitals, police stations, travel conveyances, schools, and etc.
- Check for the availability of the public transports and road connectivity to the major cities as well;
Above are the few parameters to consider while conducting a thorough analysis of any property.
Find a partner(s)
As an individual entrepreneur, it becomes quite cumbersome to operate alone having no money as an initial investment. Real Estate Business is totally a people oriented business. You can work and earn profit working in isolation. You must collaborate with other people operating in this industry. These people include local property dealers, advocates, and builders. A good relationship with people really pays off well in the long-term.
Find an Investor
You should also pitch investors for starting a profitable real estate business. Involvement of investors will surely distribute the risk and you will have the sufficient funds to continue other important business operations to sustain the business growth. Finding investors is not an easy job. For this, you must be a recognizable name in the market and you must have relevant experience of the real estate business. Generally, investors will be a need in case you are developing/building a property from scratch.
Connect with Banks for property loan
Sometimes, buyers ask for the property loan because they are oblivious to this aspect. Not all buyers have the full funds to purchase the property. Therefore, for sustainability, you must also have contact with the banks or loan agents. Availability of loan increases credibility of you and your offerings.
Understand the potential buyers / tenants
As per the 4P’s of marketing, you must have to understand the people, price, place, and promotion. In any business, you have to understand the persona of the buyers /tenants what they are actually looking for. You can create their persona based on the following characteristics-
- Age
- Profession
- Estimated Annual Income
- Family Structure
- Business Location
- Their Intent behind the buying/ renting properties; Whether they are buying it for reselling or they are renting for short-term purposes, etc.
Understand the sellers / Owners
Similar to the above steps, it is also imperative to understand the persona of sellers / owners and find out the answers to the real questions e.g.
- Why are they selling the property?
- Are there any issues/disputes related to property?
- Are there any other attractive properties that the seller found?
- If Yes then try to investigate further as it might open a new business opportunity for you too.
Establish your presence (Online/Offline)
For communication with the all involved stakeholders in this real estate business, you must have an online / offline presence. You can either start from your home (that is absolutely free) or rent an office too. However, nowadays, online presence is also effective from a marketing standpoint.
For Online presence, you can use google sites, blogger, Youtube channel, Google Business, and other social media channels. You can post the property (in Text, Video, Images) depicting the physical walkthrough of it.
Generate leads through awareness
Generation of leads is the vital step to getting qualified sales. For getting leads, you must promote your post on the social media / YT channels comments section, Quora, and other platforms for free. From these channels, traffic will drive to your website; You can have the name & contacts of the potential buyers as they fill in the contact-form. Customers can also directly call you. So, increasing your business awareness among the potential buyer will surely result in high sales of the realty. This is the key concept in the real estate business to earn without any investment.
Be Honest
Be honest; Do not hide any information from the customers. Always speak the truth. Give all the genuine information when the client asks for it. Also educate them about the demonstrated property that they should know. Honesty is the key ingredient that a customer will look for in you.
Stakeholders Reviews
Similar to other industries, stakeholder reviews are important to understand what went well and what could be done better. Don’t forget to take the reviews/ ratings/ service feedback from the related stakeholders. Post these reviews on your public channels where you are visible to all (online/offline).
Expand your business
Once you start to get business and earn money using the above methodology, then you should consider expanding your business to other places, cities, or towns.
We tried to capture all the necessary ingredients, tactics, and strategies that you should opt to grow your real estate business with no money. All that is required is your hard work, skills, passion, communication, and negotiation skills. If you have any queries related to this, please keep us posted in the comment / contact section.
