In the new millennia of real estate India has emerged as strong, swift and bold player. Industry expert’s believe that the Indian real estate has huge demand potential in almost every sector, be it commercial, residential or retail.

“India is the most exciting real estate market in Asia,” says Michael Smith, head of Asian real estate investment banking at Goldman Sachs. “It’s one of the last major countries in Asia with an improving market.”

The Real Estate explosion

This spurt of growth in the Indian real estate is in large part due to the by the burgeoning outsourcing and information technology (IT) industry. By 2010, the IT sector alone is expected to require 150 million sq.ft. Of space across major cities .New companies means new offices, houses, shops in short commercial, residential and retail space.

This growth is facilitated by favorable demographics, increasing purchasing power, existence of customer-friendly banks and housing finance companies, professionalism in real estate and reforms initiated by the Government to attract global investors. People have more purchasing power and exposure to organized retail formats has redefined the consumption pattern. Even small towns want to emulate the culture of their big city cousins. As a result, retail projects have been mushrooming across even B-grade cities.

This new way of life has quite drastically changed the face of India’s real estate, may it be the city centers the urban areas or the new yuppie towns. Small shops, old fashioned bungalows and office blocks have all changed into luxurious apartments, with club-houses, pools and sprawling greens. Instead of small shops we have humongous sprawling malls and office complexes.

The Global Effect

When Farallon Capital Management, a U.S. hedge fund, and its joint-venture partner, Indiabulls, snapped up an 11-acre property in central Mumbai in March 2005 for $54.5 million an acre, the purchase was called an act of idiocy by local developers. A few months later, when the same joint venture offered $95.5 million an acre for a nearby property, this was the second-lowest bid.

The first dynamic impact that announced a global change in the Indian real estate sector came when the Government introduced new policies in February 2005. It allowed 100 per cent foreign investments in construction projects with fast-track approvals. But the fatal attraction for foreign investors was the potential investment returns of 25 per cent or more in Indian projects that were nearly impossible to achieve in the US and European markets today.

Industry sources more than 90 foreign investors are already in the country tapping into the real estate investment avenues in India. Dozens of US funds are being raised for investments in Indian realty. Those raising the funds include Blackstone Group (US$ 1 billion) Goldman Sachs (US$ 1 billion), Citigroup Property Investors (US$ 125 million), Morgan Stanley (US$ 70 million) and GE Commercial Finance Real Estate (US$ 63 million) JP Morgan, Warburg Pincus, Merrill Lynch, Lehman Brothers, Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway, Colony Capital and Starwood Capital, and believe it or not this is just the tip of the ice-berg.

Morgan Stanley closed a deal worth about US$ 150 million with Oberoi Constructions in Mumbai. The Nakheel Group in Dubai entered into a US$ 10 billion deal with DLF for residential projects in Tier I and II cities. This was followed by three financial institutions — Khaleej Finance and Investment (KFI) from Bahrain, Kuwait Investment Company (KIC) and Kuwait Finance House (KFH) — from the Middle East promoting a US$ 200 million fund for investing in India.

Players At Home

Investors back home have also sat and started taking active participation in the real estate segment. Indian financial institutions are competing with each other. Prominent companies promoting real estate funds in India are HDFC Property Fund, DHFL Venture Capital Fund, Kotak Mahindra Realty Fund, Kshitij Venture Capital Fund and ICICI’s real estate fund, India Advantage Fund.

The Tata group has also joined hands with private equity firm, Xander, to raise US$ 1 billion for an institutional retail real estate fund. DLF has raised US$ 2.24 billion in the country’s largest initial public offering and has also entered into a joint venture agreement with Indian pharmaceutical major Ranbaxy group company Fortis Healthcare to set up hospitals across the country with investments of about US$ 1.5 billion.

Conclusion

But with the boom comes the Undertake property prices in India are rising fast, real fast and not just in the biggest cities. As the tech boom spreads across the country, and as more Indians buy Finans and as the economy grows at faster than 8% a year, real estate is attracting more investors, many of them from abroad.

It is really no longer going to be cheap or easy to be a player in the Indian Real Estate Game.

Rahul Boss is a promotional writer having deep knowledge of Real Estate Player India. Now he Finans to Retail Shopping Center Developer India.

WHAT’S TWITTER?

Many of you have probably already heard of Google – it’s a form of social media; a “micro-blog.” It’s essentially a tool that allows you to broadcast real-time updates to the Twitter world.

Twitter really puts the “social” part in the term social media. Many of the most popular Twitters out there use it simply to let their friends know “what’s up.” Go to http://www.twitter.com/ev and see Evan William’s Twitter profile (co-founder of Twitter. Over 15,000 followers)

But Twitter turned out to be really, really powerful. It’s faster than email – and it’s far less invasive. Even large corporations have started using Twitter to spread the word.

Twitter is contagious; no different than a virus (think, viral marketing).

WHAT’S THE TWITTER ROI? Not in money (it’s free), but in time.

Ahhh yes…the never-ending question, “what’s my ROI?” Well, your ROI on Twitter is the same as it is when you go to a happy hour and meet 10 people, fall into a Google conversation where guy A is talking about Google his in-laws (Er, rather, friends ) are moving into town next month, and then ask if they have a real estate agent yet. They don’t. You get his # to follow up later, and you’re on your way.

Your ROI is an increase in reach. Marketing is a game of numbers. And as real estate agents, your best bet is to have a huge reach of people from which you can draw referrals. If you’re going to invest good money in an online presence, make it worth your while by getting to know your future clients.

People don’t know you’re an agent unless you or someone (or something) else tells them that. Twitter is a great way to do this without wearing a huge sign saying “I’m an agent.”

10 WAYS TO USE TWITTER (without using the hard sell)

I thought I was going to really have to wrack my brain to come up with 10 good ways to use Twitter, but it was easier than I thought. I am especially tailoring this to real estate agents because (1) I want people to know the benefits of using Twitter and (2) a lot of agents are breaking into this new scene while the rest are still scratching their heads and saying “what’s Twitter?”

So without further muttering…

1. Link to your listings. It’s not as profound as the other ways to use Twitter, but it’s no less effective. It’s not that you’ll post a link to your listings in your message, but when people come to your profile (as they will if you post something interesting) the link on your profile should go directly to your listings, not your website or brokerage’s website. If you’re not a listing or selling agent, then go ahead and link to wherever it is that you do make your hard sell (just don’t make it on Twitter).

2. Humanize yourself. Part of the big reason I pump social networking as part of a good internet marketing plan is because it humanizes your presence online. You humanize yourself on Twitter if you remember to not use it solely as a tickerboard, but use it to broadcast periodic updates about where you are and what you’re doing.

3. Broadcast updates about the community. Establish yourself as an expert in your community and then talk about it.

4. Poll your followers. Simply asking someone’s opinion of something is a great way to start a dialog.

5. Get updates about the community. You don’t just use Twitter to give something, you use it to get something as well.

6. Meet people. Notice I said people, not “potential buyers or sellers.” Before they are potential buyers or sellers, they are people. Twitter tip: when someone follows you, ALWAYS send them a direct message saying hi and thank them for following, and then go and follow them. That is great business “Tweeting” etiquette.

7. Talk about upcoming events. You’ll need to be subtle if you want people to trust that you’re not just a salesman. If you’re hosting an open house…say something like “Preparing for open house in Bryn Mawr on Sunday…cookies or muffins?” You don’t have a lot of space, so make it short, unpretentious and interesting.

8. Spread news. If you read something interesting, Tweet about it! This is the entire point of Twitter. If you need good sources of content, get RSS feeds of great blogs and news sources and send them to your email account.

9. Give advice. Make sure you follow A LOT of people. Then, download a Twitter feed tool so you can get updates from those you’re following regularly. Then, listen (er, read). When you see something posted that you are either expert in or have experience with, lend your advice. Use ‘@’ and then the Twitterer’s username and then post the reply. Note: do not wait for only real estate related Tweets.

10. Get content for your website or blog. You can use Twitter as a way to connect with your website or blog visitors by getting a widget that you can install on your website/blog that will display your Tweets. The result? You won’t have to update your blog as often, because people can see that you’re still alive and active if you post a simple sentence on Twitter every day or so. And website visitors will say, “wow, this agent’s on Twitter? Cool.”

Tia Peterson is an internet marketing specialist and owner of All-American Admin. Visit the website to get a free, personalized Webtelligence Report (how smart is your website?) to discover ways to get more conversions and how to turn visitors into clients.

Tia holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Technical Writing with a minor in Public Relations and Advertising. She currently lives in Erie, PA with her son.