Usually, online and offline discounts are similar. If discounts are too high, check builder's credentials.
To lure the fence sitters holding on to their cheque books and waiting for real estate prices to correct, Snapdeal has launched an online real estate shopping festival.
The customer can choose from over 100 properties from all across the country with prices ranging between Rs 20 lakh and Rs 5 crore (Rs 500 million).
“The sale is targeted towards buyers who are holding on to their cheque books waiting for real estate prices to correct. A little push by giving upfront discounts can lure such individuals to buy the housing unit,” says Mudassir Zaidi, national director, residential agency, Knight Frank India.
According to Snapdeal, a buyer can get a maximum six-eight per cent lower price than the card rates.
In Mumbai, Sunteck Realty is giving up to Rs 2 lakh discount on its Goregaon project where a two-bedroom unit costs Rs 2.25 crore.
In Ruprel Realty’s Tilak Nagar project, Mumbai, the discount is up to Rs 2.3 lakh where the unit costs upwards of Rs 85 lakh.
In Delhi NCR, Mahagun India’s Mywoods comes at a discount of Rs 175 per sq ft where a 4BHK starts at Rs 76 lakh.
Gulshan Homz’s Bellina in Noida has a discount of Rs 200 a sq ft where a 3.5 bedroom unit starts at Rs 3,360 a square feet.
There are also projects where developers are giving token discounts a free gold coin or the latest iPhone.
There are easy payment schemes and also new product launches at competitive prices.
To book a flat, the buyer needs to pay a refundable token fee online that can be as low as Rs 299 (TVS Emerald Green Acres in Chennai) and as high as Rs 1 lakh (Ruparel Primero in Mumbai).
Once the buyer pays the booking amount, the transaction goes offline.
“Once the booking is done, Snapdeal assigns partners for offline support and follows up on the transaction. The deal, normally, gets closed in six to eight weeks,” says a Snapdeal spokesperson.
Experts say that such internet marketing outreach has become essential and highly effective part of most developers' overall marketing programme as the purchase inquiries triggered online has a conversion rate of 25-30 per cent.
At the same time it also benefits the buyer. “When developers announce such deals on the web, usually it’s the best price they would offer to the customer,” says Ashutosh Limaye, Head, Research & Real Estate Intelligence Service, JLL India.
It also saves the time by cutting down the entire process of negotiation.
If the person approaches the developer, the latter first starts with the card rates.
After gauging the intention of the buyer, they start the negotiation and the long drawn out process may take days, sometimes weeks.
Zaidi points out that at present the discounts that a person gets online and offline are similar.
Experts say that there are transactions happening at discount of even 10–15 per cent, but in those cases the buyer should be well-informed of the developers’ condition.
The individuals know the status of project and the crunch the developer is facing. Such deals are struck one on one in luxury projects.
AS Sivaramakrishnan, Head - Residential Services at CBRE South Asia, explains that realtors don’t mind participating in such online sales and offering discounts as the sales generate cash flows.
“If they have to hold on to the same property for another few months, they would incur the same amount of money as interest cost which they are giving as discount,” says Sivaramakrishnan.
