I can recall as if it were just yesterday, just about the beginning of 2002 when the world had finally got over with the fear of the Y2K bug and we had just started experiencing mobility and all things digital with with Cell Phone calls becoming more affordable. Lesser did I know at that point in time that this was just the beginning of our lives being hijacked (not necessarily in a bad way, I am a big fan) by our own creation and that one day we will actually be living in the Digital Space. If you are reading this, I am sure you will agree.
I had gotten back from Dubai after having worked with one of the largest insurance company for almost 7 years. Gurgaon at that time had just started coming up as a destination for multinational companies and there were just about a couple of high rise residential buildings at that point in time, I can recall a few names like The Palms by Unitech being one of them. Thanks to one of my cousins who suggested me to try venturing into Real Estate as a consultant/broker. After having visited Gurgaon a few times, I was convinced that this place is going to boom in the next few years. Real Estate seemed to be an interesting way forward with a massive opportunity to offer quality services in one of the most unorganized markets in those times.
I remember my first interaction for a real estate transaction was with a gentleman working with a vibrant upcoming logistics company then. The family had been searching for a quality home for almost 4 months and hadn't been able to make up their mind, I remember, having come out of a corporate exposure, I went ahead and asked them a few key questions about what their wish list of an ideal home was? It was interesting to see the puzzled faces in front of me...the fact that no other realtor had actually asked them such questions before was kind of a shock for them. I was new to the real estate field but not new to consulting, so I hesitantly continued my probe to understand the family vision, the number of members, what their ideal travel time to work should be and a whole bunch of questions. I remember, it almost felt like an interrogation of sorts. Interestingly the family continued to let me know about various aspects of what they didn't like in some of the homes that they had seen and what they would really want. I kept penning down every little detail of what they wanted in their dream home.
The next day, I was trying to get a handle on real estate and part of the exercise was to actually physically visit a few buildings in Gurgaon and understand the market. So, I landed up at The Palms by Unitech, in those days, when the High Rises were just a very new concept for Gurgaon and NCR it was most certainly one of the better living spaces. I actually loved the whole community with parks, club, facilities, security and the works. Just when I was going through my recce of the buildings, I see a beautiful young lady walk out of one of the buildings. I kind of saw a bit of a confused look on her face, so out of pure courtesy, I just waked up to her and asked her if there is anything that I could help her with...interestingly, she replied back that she owned a place in the building and wanted to sell it...I asked her if I could come up to the apartment and see it once, in the back of my mind, I had the pointers from the other gentleman who was actually looking to buy an apartment in Gurgaon...anyway I looked at the apartment and got introduced to a gentleman who apparently was the gentle lady's husband and was working at a senior position with one of the leading software companies in Noida. We had a brief interaction and I understood what their expectations were for selling and exchanged numbers and parted for the day.
Went back and compared the property with the wish list of the buyer family and found that most of the criteria's were actually perfectly matching. Without wasting time, I invited them to see the place and requested the owners to make arrangements to show the property. Interestingly, when the family entered the property and realized that most of the things were to their liking and in fact some of the items on the no-go wish list were all taken care of in this property, they showed interest. I communicated to the owners, that there is someone interested in the property. Mind you, I was a complete novice, I had no idea about how the transactions were to move forward, no idea on how the transfer of ownership was to happen, absolutely no clue but there were three things that I knew I could count on, first was faith, second was good intent and third was reasonable communication skills. I organized a meeting and fortunately the terms were agreed and a small token amount was exchanged....and there was the beginning of my real estate journey.
I take the opportunity to thank my first clients and the multiple clients thereafter that I have served over these 23 years, God has been kind that none of my transactions ever got into any trouble and that I have great relationship with all my clients who I ever interacted and transacted for buying, selling or leasing. If I were to look back and see what was were the key elements that helped me sail through this beautiful journey as a realtor, I would say, it was "Good Intentions" backed by "Ability to Connect" offer "Clear Communications" and most importantly "Control over Greed".
Thank You from the Bottom of my Heart !!
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