[audioholic]

Originally Posted by audioholic

Speaking of brokerage, for buying/selling a property I am used to the system of paying a brokerage to the agent since sometimes I have made them turn the deal in for me, negotiate a very good price and manage all the formalities. In some cases I have been generous about it as well. But this rental brokerage is something I cannot come to terms with when all the agents do is provide leads.

Update and a short review on these websites - TLDR - I found a good tenant through 99 Acres with a paid listing that wasnt too expensive compared to the competition.

Olx: Tried their paid advertisement. The sort of scam this whole website is, once you pay for a posting and its active, a minor edit on the ad will remove the paid listing privileges and they expect to pay up again. And then, the responses you get are all scamsters with the same motive - "I work for Defence and immediately need a home to live" Not a single valid lead from Olx and a complete waste of money.

Magicbricks: Expect you to pay a huge sum of money and spam your number from all ends, provide fake leads which are done just to persuade you to sign up for their premium services. Multiple marketing guys flood your phone with calls every now and then and there is nothing like an unpaid listing. Huge pain in the back.

NoBroker: This is the second in line for being a pain. First, I paid 6k rupees since at least compared to Magicbricks they had a cleaner UI and didnt spam me much hence decided to go with their paid service to offer me some benefits like a relationship manager, and a person to visit the property and take prospective tenants to visit. This was after I entered the entire details of the property and location. As soon as start this process I start getting calls to get a paid service which I was already intending to do.

Even some time after the payment goes through I get the same calls and I was not able to ignore them since I thought these could be legit calls. Later that day, one guy calls me to inform that they cannot provide field services in that area, and I should opt for an even expensive plan with money back guarantee. I refuse this and tell they can refund my subscription if they wont offer the services I expect. They acknowledge and agree to process a refund.

Then next day I get a call from a 'relationship manager' telling she would onboard me and explain what they would offer. Then I asked her what about the previous call where NB refused to offer services in that area I asked for. She has no clue and promises to check and get back.

Again I get this call speaking about NB unable to provide services in my area so I again give them a mouthful telling them to give a refund and close the case. Yet again the RM calls me trying to onboard me.

This continued for a week and I told them one day that I will escalate this matter to some mail Id I had in the app for grievances. After that they immediately refunded my money and even after that, I am getting calls from their other partner services such as painting the house etc whereas I have clearly mentioned in the listing that its a brand new apartment.

Going through all these, I have literally stopped taking calls from unknown numbers unless they call me a second time.

99 Acres: Parallelly I had also listed the property in their website opting for a paid listing which costed around 1.5k IIRC and I found many leads here, valid ones who would text me or call me and finally signed the deal with a suitable tenant for the price I asked for. Out of all these, 99 Acres spammed me the least or almost nothing, except a welcome call when I paid for the listing.

I am not sure how these stupid websites even run the show with so many people just spamming customers all day, even without a clue what their colleagues are upto and how they even manage to run their operations with such a model. I am not sure about others, but I have had a pathetic experience over the past weeks.

[GTO]

Thanks for sharing, audioholic! Moving your post out to a new thread. A new thread means 100X the views & 100X the visibility in search engines, including Google. Will add to homepage later this week .

@ BHPians, if you should spot any good post in an existing thread that deserves its own new thread, please report the post and we'll move it out for greater visibility.

Thank you!

[GutsyGibbon]

Originally Posted by audioholic

.
I am not sure how these stupid websites even run the show with so many people just spamming customers all day, even without a clue what their colleagues are upto and how they even manage to run their operations with such a model. I am not sure about others, but I have had a pathetic experience over the past weeks.

This is proof that throwing lot of people at a task will not automatically generate revenue for the website, or satisfaction for its customers. These guys need to value the time of their customers, even if they don't value their own time.

Thanks for sharing your experience with all these websites

[Raghu M]

No broker is notorious among these. They try to list your property without your knowledge. I am trying to sell my 2BHK and since it's a standalone apartment, I just got a banner printed and stuck it to the gate. Someone took those details and created an ad on NoBroker and they keep calling me every single day asking for details. I told them very politely multiple times that I don't need their services, yet they keep calling. God knows what kind of startup it is. Promises one thing and tries to break the promise right after it. They also have this set up where multiple people keep calling you and mention that they saw your ad and want to negotiate the price. Immediately after their call, the NB guys call for taking paid service. It's a huge scam out there. Please be very careful. A simple YouTube video on our account has far more reach than these brokers.

[ninjatalli]

Second the negative feedback on Magicbricks very much; but from the other side of the table (as a renter/buyer). Even buying a premium plan on Magicbricks is absolutely useless. And they keep spamming you with calls non-stop.


As for NoBroker, I have been an active paid user since 2019 - 3 out of my last 4 rented apartments came via that site. The portal used to be quite good back in 2019 and 2020. It's recently when the team behind it have gone nuts and are literally going the Magicbricks route. But as an end user, it still serves an important part - several of my leads for my resale flat search still come from NoBroker.


99Acres - A close friend who purchased his resale flat via 99Acres wholeheartedly recommended that site over Magicbricks & other options basis his experience last year.

[antz.bin]

On the other end of the spectrum, I was looking for an apartment to purchase about 1.5 yrs back. Sharing information to these portals was the single worst mistake I have ever made w.r.t. sharing my phone number.

I finalized my apartment 13 months back, still to get possession, but I still keep getting at least 5 calls a week regarding property that I might want to purchase. These calls would have been useful had they passed the lead with the correct requirements of size/BHK or even area. But these are just random fishing calls just checking in on cold leads with no value being added.

This harassment is despite the fact I have deleted my accounts from Magicbricks, 99Acres, Housing.com, Makaan.com, Nobroker etc. etc. etc.

We really need a GDPR type regulation that can help us delete our data when we no longer wish to continue with our providers. This level of control over our data is required but the lawmakers insist that it is not and keep leaking it at all levels (Aadhar). It is still humans who call but with the advent of AI, this ill-gotten data could turn into much more than just an irritant.

[audioholic]

Originally Posted by antz.bin

,
We really need a GDPR type regulation that can help us delete our data when we no longer wish to continue with our providers. This level of control over our data is required but the lawmakers insist that it is not and keep leaking it at all levels (Aadhar). It is still humans who call but with the advent of AI, this ill-gotten data could turn into much more than just an irritant.

Very much necessary. The whole DND programme is rubbish and everyone calls using personal numbers. There is no way to block these numbers. One click on a property for sale just ends up in a truck load of calls asking if I showed interest in a certain project. For example, I was checking the prices of various apartments for sale in Devanahalli, and now I get flooded with calls asking if I enquired about a certain project.

Same issue now with Nobroker - They still keep calling me asking if I am interested in their premium plan even after deactivating my ad. This is not limited to Real estate websites alone, but also these automotive sites like Cars24 and so. My personal mail inbox is now a drain full of these spam emails in spite of numerous blocks and unsubscribing.



An utter waste of corporate, computational and human efforts. I wonder how much of these leads even turn out to be successful.

[KryptonMonkey]

I recently used NoBroker and 99Acres as a renter.

NoBroker: I took a paid plan as I was serious about moving and thought it might help me to get notified of available properties that matched my criteria quicker, especially with a relationship manager (RM) assigned.

However, the experience was lackluster.

• The RMs are a complete waste of time. They were very poor at keeping track of my evolving requirements. At one point I had to have a very stern conversation regarding my experience with the RM to bring her in line.
• Most properties I browsed through and shortlisted by myself were those my RM would ping me about later in the day. No value-add there.
• The only thing she did was push me to schedule a visit and close the deal. On some occasions, when I felt the deal was not favorable, she would continue to urge me to close. I guess it was only so that she could show a closure on periodic reports to her leadership.
• There seemed to be no difference in terms of viewing listings between a paid plan and free access. There was no benefit in the paid plan such as getting priority access to listings compared to the free access users. Even now I wonder what I gained by opting for a paid plan!

NoBroker has a significant brand connect/recall among the general public and seems to be very popular for this reason. 99acres didn't have as many listings as NoBroker did for any given area/criteria.

99acres: I didn't opt for a paid plan as I was already on the NoBroker plan. I had only checked 99acres when I was at my wit's end while house-hunting.

• They have a much cleaner UI and a lot more relevant information somehow.
• There are lot more agents/brokers using this site for listing than bona fide owners of apartments compared to NoBroker.

[pranavt]

I had talked about this in one of the threads about the rising amount of scams and spam in India.

The only solution is to buy a throw-away SIM/number which you dispose off as soon as the transaction is done. The biggest mistake one can do is providing these people your contact details.

As for real estate websites, I have found that local brokers are usually the best option. They will never share your number; will not disturb you randomly; and will stop bothering you once you've closed the transaction. I genuinely don't understand how websites like Magicbricks can be so bad. They use dark patterns everywhere, refuse to provide you any actual details, and destroy your sense of peace with so much spam.

[Aviator_guy]

+1 for NoBroker. I listed for free, my 2 bhk for sale and got lead within a day which turned out to be genuine buyer who, like me, was not keen to pay brokerage. But flip side is that I kept getting unsolicited calls for many months regarding same property. I guess there are no free lunches !

Magicbricks and 99acres were totally useless with no genuine leads and all they do is spam all day (either call center or property agents)!

[Mr.Ogre]

I am in Mumbai, and I had come to sell my flat. I posted ads on almost all the sites mentioned above.

My experience is the same, the moment you put an ad you get spammed by endless number of calls and messages. Thanks to Truecaller I was able to avoid/block most of them.

Finally my flat was sold by friendly neighborhood agent with all legalities and hassles handled by him. I am flying back tomorrow after almost 2 months in India trying to sell my flat.

[Bhargav7]

From a buyer's perspective, magicbricks is the worst. Pretty much 90% of their ads are fake. The agents just post these ads to get your number, post which they will hound you like a stalker.

Nobroker is good as most of their ads are genuine. 99acres is the next best one.

Aside, take a secondary number and use it to give in the property websites, restaurants, shopping malls, insurance guys, etc. This will reduce your spam calls by more than 90%.

[blueberry]

Let me share my perspective (/insights) from the other side of the table (I worked for a few years, in a central role, for one of these online real estate portals - I'm being very careful not to identify myself)

How these portals make money:

• Collects money from large builders for leads to their new projects
• Collects money from agents to provide leads for both sale and rental segments
• Collects money from individual property owners to show higher visibility for their property on search
• Collects money from property seekers, via some form of RM service (predominantly not value adding)

The different online portals target different sets of users.

Looking to rent:
(Rank ordered)

1. No broker is a reliable platform - with listings posted by owners directly.
   There is little benefit in taking an RM service - the most they can do is annoy you with calls. The recommendations RMs make - you'd be served the same recommendations on their online portal.
   Nobroker has decent supply only in the large metros.
2. 99Acres - They are reasonably strong in the rental segment.
   They are good supply in North India. Their model is to connect you with brokers - who would then do the groundwork to get a rental house (for a brokerage)
   They offer good insights / advice - for someone looking at a new city / locality. The quality of advice is solid in large cities. In smaller ones they are suspect.
3. Magicbricks - They are the weaker ones in the rental segment.
   Good supply in South India. Their model is also to connect you with a broker
4. Housing.com is a fringe player, with a significant fraudster presence. Best avoided.
   They do not have any inventory which can't be found on any of the above larger platforms.

Side note:
Facebook marketplace and OLX are good sources for rental homes as well. Especially in tier 2 and 3 cities.


Looking to rent out:
Metro cities

• Nobroker - By and large they provide good responses to property owners. Purchase a package only if the quantum of leads are insufficient.
  Do note - responses will be meaningful only if the property and price are desirable by the market - end of the day - they are a lead gen platform - they can't make someone interested in a property unless the property is inherently interesting (priced right, good location etc)

Tier 2 / 3

• Olx paid package is a good option (make sure to post details without edits in one go - else its a hassle to update on OLX)

Looking to purchase:
(Rank ordered)

New property

1. Magicbricks is the strongest player in this segment
   This is also their downside as their whole platform is designed to please the large builders with leads
   Their catalogue is the comprehensive across India (Tier 1, 2 and 3)
2. 99Acres - a close second.
   They also pander to the large builders - but to a slightly lower extent
   Their catalogue is good in North India. Not so much in the southern states.
3. Housing.com - They are playing catch up to the 2 larger competitors. But there is no differentiation warranting a customer to pick this over others
4. No broker is not a player in this segment

Used / Resale property

1. 99Acres is the leader in this segment
   They have a larger catalogue with more accurate pricing
2. Magicbricks is a okay second option for used homes
   Their pricing might be artificially on the lower side - so users beware
3. Nobroker is trying to build out their segment in their business - still early days to comment on efficacy

Looking to sell

1. 99Acres is the leader in this segment
   As a property seller - makes sense to purchase their premium package {Do note, responses will be meaningful only if the property and price are desirable by the market - end of the day - they are a lead gen platform - they can't make someone interested in a property unless the property is inherently interesting (priced right, good location etc)}
2. Magicbricks plays second fiddle here
   If they have large builders in a locality, then leads to individual sellers are limited.
   For this reason, their paid packages are not always worth it.

Some dirty secrets of the Industry

• Showing a lower sticker price to facilitate an in person visit, then hiking the price
• All platforms source (scrape) data from the competitors and list on their own sites. This is the leading reason for expired / unavailable inventory

[Samfromindia]

Originally Posted by blueberry

Let me share my perspective (/insights) from the other side of the table (I worked for a few years, in a central role, for one of these online real estate portals - I'm being very careful not to identify myself)

Nice compilation ! Thanks for sharing.

I love watching the weekly episodes of The Tenant, brought by Money Control in collaboration with 99Acres.

https://youtu.be/D57S3gAr4Og?feature=shared

[skywalker18]

My summary is based my own experience in assisting my family/relatives in selling four properties across Noida and Guwahati in the last several years(6-7) and now trying to sell one in Bengaluru and based on my friend's experience in using these platforms. I have used the premium services(without RM) of 99 acres and my friend has used 99acres, housing and Magicbricks premium subscription.

-I received most leads from 99 acres but only in one case the lead led to a sale(the lead was actually a broker but ended up bringing a buyer)
-The sale in the other three cases was done via broker or word of mouth through some known people.
-I have been most spammed by Magicbricks staff and then by Nobroker.
-Magicbricks provided me a few free contacts in order to entice me to buy the paid plan. I tried calling the numbers the next day and was told that they either have bought or are not interested.
-My friend bought the top tier plans from 99acres and housing and received lot of leads(more from 99acres). However, none of leads translated into a sale. Also, even after buying the top tier plans, he was pestered to buy a few more of their added extra services.
-In case of Magicbricks, he received credits(50+). Using these credits, the seller can contact the potential buyers directly. He ended up calling the suggested interested buyers in locality and almost all of them told that they were just browsing or the location is very far off. Some of them had not even heard of the flat/area or denied showing any interest.