House that!

A real estate consultant deals with high-value property assets. Hence, a potent combination of technical and legal know-how, market insight and ethical values are the cornerstones of a perfect real estate professional.

The lowdown


A real estate consultant deals with high-value property assets. Hence, a potent combination of technical and legal know-how, market insight and ethical values are the cornerstones of a perfect real estate professional. In India, there has been a huge amount of growth in a largely disorganised real estate sector. A real estate consultant needs to have a clear understanding of what each client, generally a high-net-worth individual, is looking for, align these requirements with the broader market scenario and be able to deliver value in a complex and unstructured marketplace. His/her services range from showing properties, analysing area sales statistics, examining contracts before making offers or closing deals etc. Negotiation skills are mandatory to become a successful real estate consultant

Demand-analysis-The-challenges-lie-in-aligning-the-client-s-requirements-with-the-broader-market-scenario

Clockwork
9am: Overview clients being serviced, new assignments etc
10am: Internal team meetings
10.30am: Oversee new residential assets that have come into the market for sale or lease
11am: Meet clients and advise them on new opportunities
11.30am: Take clients for property visits, organise negotiation meetings, interact with other advisors such as realtors, lawyers, architects, developers etc
5pm: Meet developers and advise them on the market demands

The payoff
A trainee can earn up to Rs. 3.5 lakh a year and a senior manager can expect up to Rs. 12 lakh a year. The salary structure of the senior management and directors varies as per the property advisory firm

Skills/TRAITS
* A strong marketing/sales mindset, customer orientation
* Fair understanding of the dynamics of this sector

Getting there
There is no fixed criterion to enter the business of realty consulting. However, its important to have a background in business management, marketing communication and knowledge of legal aspects of property transactions. To succeed in this field, you need to provide end-to-end services to clients, for which you must know different aspects of agreement to sale, sale deeds, registration process, buying and selling in projects etc

Institutes and URLs
* National Institute of Construction Management and Research
www.nicmar.ac.in
* India Institute of Real Estate, Pune
www.iire.co.in
* National Institute of Real Estate Management (NIREM), New Delhi
www.nirem.org

Pros and cons
* Level of sales incentives in a real estate advisory firm is disproportionately higher than in a financial services advisory firm
* The real estate industry is highly unstructured in India

The Indian real estate sector has become more complex in structure and international in scope. This has created unlimited job opportunities -- Sumit Jha, director, NIREM