Zamanzar… not just a property listings website, but a complete property solutions provider
Zamanzar is the latest property portal to hit the stands. Based out of Noida, it is attempting to be much more than just a classifieds website for properties. For Zamanzar offer is offering the full set of brokerage services and is backed up by a professional sales team that assists users in closing the transaction. The range of services offered by them include property tours, title checks, property valuations, marketing property to Indians and NRIs, showing property to prospects, deal negotiation, legal paperwork, home financing, and property registration. Currently available for Delhi/NCR, the website plans to go national and cover other major cities in India. Their revenue model is based on charging for premium internet advertising and on transaction fees for closing real estate deals.
Their website is straightforward and easy to use. Property locations are shown in Google maps next to every listing (see screenshots below); there is also a simple recommendation system that indicates prices of similar properties in other parts of the city (next to the property being searched).
So how is Zamanzar trying to be different? Firstly, they intend to be a one stop shop for real estate, not just a real estate classifieds website. Secondly, they are trying to address the problem of lack of professionalism in the real estate brokering industry, while leveraging the power of internet as a communication medium. Given the typical problems involved in real estate transactions - black money, lack of transparency etc., there is the need for professionally managed and ethically run real estate firms. As an example- they don’t act as both the buyer’s & seller’s broker in one transaction, thus eliminating a conflict of interest.
aswati chitharanjan on Apr 11, 2008
I like this article very informative.
Nisheeth Ranjan on Apr 11, 2008
The current Indian online real estate landscape breaks down into the following categories:
1) Traditional real estate companies with offline brokerage services that also have their own web sites. These web sites mostly provide static content and have a limited number of online property listings.
2) Real estate classified listing sites like 99acres.com, MagicBricks, etc. which have an ad driven revenue model. These web sites have thousands of listings, but no offline brokerage services.
Zamanzar is different because:
It is India’s first *comprehensive* online real estate broker which provides 10,000+ online residential and commercial property listings (new, resale and rentals) for a metro area like Delhi/NCR AND a full set of offline brokerage services. Delhi/NCR is our testing ground for fine tuning our model before we replicate it in other cities nationwide.
Zamanzar offers a better experience for consumers because:
1) Traditional real etate companies have a limited number of online property listings and offer limited choice to consumers looking to shortlist properties online before seeing them in person.
2) Big classified sites like 99acres.com and MagicBricks get 90% of their listings inventory from small seller side brokers. Consumers get directly connected to these brokers that want to sell/rent one out of a small set of properties. The brokers are hugely biased towards making the sale/rental and earning a commission from both the buyer/renter and the seller/landlord. So, the consumers experience a transaction where their interests aren’t properly protected because their broker is biased towards making the sale.
3) On Zamanzar, consumers have a lot of choice online and then, once they have shortlisted properties, they experience a transaction where a Zamanzar Associate represents their interests exclusively. All Zamanzar Associates represent only one party in a single transaction and focus on protecting that party’s interests exclusively.
Sumedh on Apr 12, 2008
Hi Amit…
Thanks a lot for the post.
amit on Apr 14, 2008
Nisheet,
Yes, your explanation brings out the difference quite clearly… When do you plan to roll this out beyond Delhi?
And having a dedicated on field staff will require real money. So how do you plan to fund that. Investors? Internal accruals ?
amit
Nisheeth Ranjan on Apr 15, 2008
Hi Amit,
Sorry, I forgot to thank you in my first post. Thanks for the article and the followup questions!
We are in the process of deciding when to roll this out to other cities. For now, we are in learning mode in the local Delhi/NCR market.
We’ll fund the expansion via internal resources and internal accruals. If we receive external capital at an attractive valuation we’ll consider that as well.
abhinav on May 4, 2008
hi sir:)
that is a greatest plan.i hope zamanzar will be biggest real estate portal.we all are with u always.
Sameer on Aug 4, 2008
Hi,
This is very new concept of working with and u have to follow local rules to rule this industry and i m sure the way u r moving, success is not far away from u, and u need to be more focused towards ur goal and soon u will find it and it will be very good for the ZAMANZAR and its progress. So everything is fine but u just need to focus on the local rules of this industry.
My Best wishes are with u
Thanks & Regards,
Sameer