Good morning, if you're an Aries reading this, don't miss today's Half-A-Cup-Extra. For other sun signs, its business as usual.
Which means proptech is truly serving the underserved, Tamil Nadu is guilt tripping for no fault of its own and hold your breath, we're giving you 9 hot tips to smoothly sell housing to millennials.
One more thing, if you own undisclosed property in the Swiss alps, its time to call that lawyer friend of yours. Cheers!
350 Acres With Bells and Whistles
Per auto industry experts, a perfect storm created by misreading the Indian market/product design/positioning and an unnecessary investment in a second plant when the first was still not at full capacity, resulted in the Ford Motor Company's death in the homeland of Maruti and Mahindra.
In all, losses by Ford's India ops are in the region of US$ 2 billion+. Facing hard times globally, Ford gauged that operations in the future are unviable and it is best to wrap up rather than stay and lose more dollars.
So, What's on Offer?
First up, the guilt tripping Tamil Nadu government has gone all out to assist Ford to sell the 350 acre plant that can make 200,000 vehicles at max capacity and 340,000 engines a year. (Some engine manufacturing shall continue in India from the Ford Gujarat plant, BTW.)
Second, around 2,000 people who work at the plant will be part of the people-plant package that will be offered to the new buyer. This comes across as a plug-and-play kind of deal, rare to find.
Third, a setup assistance package that could include a VAT subsidy for the first six years of production, special capital subsidy of 15% on plant and machinery, 20% subsidy on power consumption for the first 3 years and a 50% waiver on stamp duty and registration charges.
As garnish, the government will also fast track and assist where needed, all necessary approvals so that the sale goes through smoothly and in time to salvage some of that family feeling.
P:S: As Ford India is not a major player in any passenger vehicle segment, its absence will not result in any substantial windfall for other manufacturers.
Proptech on Fast Forward
The number of tech startups across the real estate industry has grown from below 2,000 to nearly 8,000 in the last 10 years, as real estate entities look to apply new technologies like computing power, analysis, automation and connectivity.
Countries with considerable growth in proptech include the USA, Brazil, China, India, the U.K. and Germany.
Yeah? What are Proptech Firms Bringing to the Screen?
Okay, so here's what we know. Though the real estate sector has been quite slow in embracing technology, the pandemic has erased that reluctance. Now, every real estate company has realised that technology is the future of the sector.
As a result, we are witnessing better home searches, more free tools to zero in on the right property, 3D walkthroughs plus other digital assets to shortlist choices, and an array of digital tools to buy properties with secure payments and digital signatures.
In short, proptech startups today have ensured that you can buy your residence without having to step out. Like ever.
What's Next?
While there are numerous tech developments in property transaction and construction, one new direction caught our attention.
Esusu, a startup founded by children of immigrants who saw how their parents were disenfranchised, is now helping people build credit through renting.
Here's how it works - Esusu collects and reports on timely/delayed rent payments to major credit bureaus. In fact, the startup connects the three major credit bureaus -- Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion -- with 30% of the largest landlords on the National Multifamily Housing Council list in the USA.
Rent is the most substantial monthly payment that a family makes regularly, and why should that information not be used to correctly rate credit for the rent payer?
Who Does that Help?
The underserved. People who do not have access to credit cards and other financial products to help them build credit scores, in order to qualify for housing finance and own or build their homes.
So if one pays their rent timely for a reasonable period of time, it results in a healthy score that is acceptable to mortgage companies. On the flip side, it warns landlords of renters who are rent defaulters.
A true win-win right there.
Pitch It To Me Baby, aha, aha
In fact, 48% of the 400million Indian millennials are now saving for a substantial purchase like a car or a house, whereas this is only true for 28% of the 45+ generation.
Call it coming-of-age or any other name you like but if you’re selling residential property, millennials are your go-to target audience. So, here’s a toolkit for you to get more conversions and if you’re lucky to get paid, more money.
Who are Millennials?
Generation Y, or Millennials, are people born between 1981 and 1994/6. They are currently between 25 and 40 years old and their total number in India is larger than the population of USA.
9 Pro Tips to Sell Housing to Millennials
1. Dress smart and look neat, whether on video or in a face-to-face meeting. You could also go as far as looking slick but remember to talk and behave in a grounded manner. Don’t sell all the time, listen and acclimatize too.
2. Be mathematically accurate while discussing areas, costs, amounts, interest rates and above all, that dodgy 15-minute drive time from your project to the airport.
3. Place facts and not imaginations or speculation when presenting the location, architecture, space use and amenities. Millennials are not amenities crazy, but they like easy ingress/egress, even if it is an outskirt locality.
4. Present only high-quality project brochures/ 3D walkthroughs/ other collaterals. Remember, less is more. Get to product realities as quickly as possible.
5. Millennials are highly impacted by who lives around/ with them. Research the project’s existing buyers and share the overall profile of the resident/ neighbours. This alone can get you that booking amount.
6. Highlight good construction quality, durability and share credible information that proves that the developer is serious about the philosophy of built-to-last.
7. The Generation Y is price conscious and will not pay exorbitant money for a seldom to-be-used 3km long skywalk over the buildings. Show value instead. Highlight appreciating or stable locality pricing, growth and of course, the kind of people moving into the community.
8. Carry effective technology and not just costly showpieces that have no real use for the purpose of your visit – which is to sell housing.
9. Answer your phone when a millennial prospect calls you – thunder, lightning or in rain. Responsiveness is paramount for millennials.
💡 Bonus Tip: To know what kind of music millennials swung to in their days, here’s a list of the top 51 sound tracks the Gen Y grew up on. Go on, now make some Gen Y friends out of your customers.
- Rajasthan's property registration revenue has gone up by 41%. In the April-August period of 2021, the department clocked INR 2224.26 crore as compared to INR 1572.81 crore in the same period last year, signalling a revival in the state's real estate market.
- This month India will receive complete information on immovable properties owned by Indians in Switzerland plus data on earnings made from such properties. This will help the taxman look into tax liabilities related to those assets.
- Not long ago, 2,700 acres of land in Panvel and Uran owned by three trusts were fraudulently shown to have individual ownership and surrendered to Cidco against compensation and development rights. The builders named deny all charges.
- Dear Aries readers, this prediction says that all your property related issues seem to be resolved, meaning it's time to officially relinquish your ‘fence-sitter’ position. FYI, some of these same blokes have announced the world's end some 47 times before, if it helps.
Before you move on to other errands, take a while to watch these contraptions turn into such desirable homes. Thinking about what to say? How about - ‘Shut up and take my money'.
We'll be back with tomorrow's sunrise.
☕ The Crew@Ginger Chai
[*Prefab Homes GIFs at Gfycat]