On Wednesday, MahaRERA came out with a circular, introducing of real estate agent training and certification program. This will come into effect for all renewal as well as fresh registrations from May 1, 2023 and all brokers need to get a Certificate of Competency before September 1, 2023.

Section 9 of the RERA Act, mandates every real estate agent to be registered with MahaRERA before facilitating the sale or purchase of or act on behalf of any person to facilitate the sale or purchase of any plot, apartment, unit or building as the case may be in a real estate project or part of it being sold by a developer and accordingly.

The circular states, “Real estate agents being the public face and an intermediary between the home buyers and promoters it is essential that real estate agents have comprehensive understanding of the real estate transactions in order to guide the home buyers through each stage of purchase of any plot, apartment unit or building so as to avoid any misunderstanding and disputes.”

MahaRERA claims that in the State of Maharashtra, there is a need to make available an institution for real estate agents to undertake formal training and certification course and thus enable homebuyers to get comprehensive professional advice and expertise inputs thereby assisting the home buyers to make an informed choice / decision in the real estate market.

Now in order to bring about certain level of consistency in the practices of real estate agents, enhance knowledge and awareness of the regulatory and legal framework and practices, enforcement of code of conduct and with a view to ensure that real estate agents are professionally qualified to help and assist home buyers , MahaRERA has proposed to introduce basic real estate agent training and certification course for real estate agents across the State of Maharashtra.

MahaRERA has over the past 2 years, in consultation with associations of real estate agents, homebuyers, promoters and All India Institute of Local Self Governance (AIILSG), has developed the basic curriculum for real estate agent training and has empaneled training providers for imparting the training as per the convenience of the real estate agents: online, physical and in hybrid form with effect from first week of February 2023. Institute of Banking Personnel Selection (IBPS) will undertake online examinations so that real estate agents who clear the examinations are provided with “Certificate of Competency”.

Now from May 1, 2023, only those real estate agents who have a valid MahaRERA Real Estate Agent Certificate of Competency can apply apply for MahaRERA real estate agent registration and renewal of registration.

The circular clarifies who all it applies to, this new clause will apply to all individual real estate agents in case of individuals and authorized signatory (authorized for making application for MahaRERA real estate agent registration) in case of firms / companies / organizations (Other than Individuals). Also to all employees / staff / officers by whatever designation called working in firms / companies / organizations of real estate agents, who interact with homebuyers / allottees for effecting transaction in real estate projects.

Existing registered real estate agents shall obtain MahaRERA Real Estate Agent Certificate of Competency before September 1, 2023 and upload the same at their respective web page failing which action shall be initiated by the Authority.

Also from September 1, 2023 developer of real estate project shall ensure that the names and addresses of the real estate agents that they provide to MahaRERA for their project shall be only such real estate agents who have MahaRERA real estate agent certificate of competency.

Also Read: MahaRERA initiates scanning of all housing projects registered in 5 years

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Funding will support the firm’s expansion across multiple cities in India and fructify its plans to enter international markets

A fast-growing company in the real estate broking sector, Homesfy Realty, has raised $1.1 million from early-stage growth investors Girish Gulati, Dnyanesh Bhatavadekar, Neha Idnany, Yogesh Bagaria, and Amit Bagaria.

The company is planning to list on the Indian bourses and has filed its draft red herring prospectus (DRHP) for SME IPO with NSE Emerge. The proceeds from the proposed offering will be used by the company for its Working capital requirements, General corporate purpose, and organic growth, the firm said in a statement.

“Real estate is poised to be a $1.5 trillion industry in the near future. As real estate developers consolidate market share via launches and construction velocity, they need the right partners to drive sales. Through the use of proprietary technology tools, rigorous processes, and talented sales agents, Homesfy simplifies the home-buying experience and is positioned to lead the channel partner sales for all major developers across India,” said Girish Gulati, who is a veteran investor in the public equity markets. Gulati has led many small companies to scale while supporting them through his large network and ample experience.

“Buying a home for personal use or as an investment continues to be a popular choice in the country. Due to the pandemic, even the reluctant youth has realized the advantages of investing in hard assets. This, coupled with the regulatory framework coming into the real estate sector through RERA, has paved the way for a growing interest in real estate transactions. We, at Homesfy, started our journey with the aim to simplify the home-buying process. With the new strengths coming in and this fund-raise, Homesfy is committed to delivering growth to its employees and investors and satisfactory services to its customers,” said Ashish Kukreja, Founder & CEO at Homesfy.in & MyMagnet.io.

Currently, Homesfy is headquartered in Mumbai and has an operational presence in 4 cities in India including Pune, Bengaluru, and Delhi NCR. With a team strength of nearly 400 employees, the firm partners with all reputed builders in the country to facilitate their real estate sales. The company has recently initiated the process of acquiring EQServ, a Mumbai-based real estate broking firm that has been facilitating residential property sales for category A+ developers across the city.

Founded a decade ago, Homesfy quickly became self-sufficient and expanded to facilitate bookings totaling Rs 1,650 Cr on its platforms in the last financial year.

Also Read: Delhi: JC Chaudhry of Aakash Education Buys Property Worth Rs 51 Cr

The post Proptech firm, Homesfy.in, raises $1.1 Mn appeared first on Square Feat India.

By Varun Singh

The moment we hear the word real estate agent, we think of a man, obviously because for years we have seen a man doing this business. However, women have made a foray in this male dominated profession and have also made a name for themselves.

Square Feat India caught up with such three women realtors who find the profession of selling homes a way to live their dreams. While some happen to come in this profession by chance, for some this was a conscious decision.

Here are the three women realtors who have made stood tall in an industry filled with difficult terrain.

Faced Difficulties But Picked Up Myself Everyday

Nisha Dusija, Co – Founder of RR Real Estate has spent more than nine years in the real estate profession.

For Nisha, her whole and sole reason and in her words her true inspiration of getting into this profession is her younger brother Rishi Dusija (Founder of RR Real Estate). “Honestly it started of at a point where I was at a phase where I was lost in my life and confused what to do, and my younger brother encouraged me to start helping him initially and stood by me during the whole journey,” she says.

There is a lot of competition that Nisha faced by colleagues in the same industry. “A lot of times you face both emotional and mental stress as there is no work for a few months, there are difficult clients to deal with rightly etc,” she says. But apart from all this she use to pick herself up daily and work hard. She acknowledges that struggles are part and parcel of every journey and cannot keep her spirits down. “I’m thankful that amidst all this it’s still been a very healthy journey.” says Nisha.

In her initial days, there was not one day that Nisha didn’t feel like she wanted to quit. Standing for long hours, going around showing houses, keeping the patience going on with the difficult clients, working hard and still no deals getting closed had become a part of her life. All of this would definitely give Nisha crazy emotional breakdowns, but she didn’t give up. “Over the time what I have learnt is that every person has their set of challenges they face, but even with that the beauty of meeting the right owners/clients, having them support me and also believing in my work has kept my spirits going,” she says.

For all the ladies out there, Nisha says that real estate is a beautiful work place to be in if you enjoy your work of giving the right homes and spaces to work to people . “If you believe and you know you can deliver positive spaces and the right ones suited to each requirements, this is the right place for you . The competition is really high, due to which a lot of times we see a very dull period which goes longer than expected , we face a lot of mood swings not only from clients but at times with colleagues and our personal stuff too, but coming back to the saying “the right energy sells a house” I make sure I understand my client, know the right availability and deliver it rightly to each client. To the new beginners specially women, know that we are all blessed with making home a more beautiful place, and what more can be of giving the joy of providing a right one for others,” ends Nisha.

Real Estate Teaches You To Leave Your Ego Behind.

Sunita Advani of Advani Realtors has spent more than 16-years in the real estate profession.

Her reason for getting into this profession is family business, but she started property brokerage on her own. She has a law background and helped family members with their Real estate issues including buying properties, this is what created her interest in the field. From here she has been actively working in the real estate profession and there has been no looking back.

According to Sunita she didn’t face much of a struggle to break this male dominated profession. She claims that the markets were positive and hence she had a smooth entry. She did face issues with closure but then that almost all in the real estate brokerage industry does face, immaterial of their gender.

While she didn’t face much of a struggle, and never felt like quitting the profession so far, but there have been challenges of their own. For example she talks about the current challenge seeing the market conditions from a sales perspective, to overcome this, she feels there’s a need of change in strategy of how homes were being sold earlier.

Her message is for everyone in the industry, she says that her message holds good irrespective of the sex of the person. “Real estate consultancy is a business which teaches you to leave your ego behind as you deal with your customer. Women have skills like compassion and competitiveness which are advantageous in handling issues connected with home buying and leasing ensuring deal closure,” she says.

According to Sunita, the profession also teaches you to work to satisfy the client’s real estate requirement and then expect the results of that exercise as the last step. “In that sense it’s very different from many other professions. One also has to treat other fellow brokers as partners in the business due to the networking nature of the business despite the competitive element of the business,” she ends.

They Think, They Can Take A Woman For A Ride

Yashika Rohiira, of Karma Realtors, has spent six-years in the real estate profession.

Yashika’s reason for getting into this profession of helping people find their dream home is different. She can’t recollect he day, when it went from assisting her husband in his business to handling it all by herself. Her husband moved out of real estate brokerage and now Yashika handles the business on her own.

The biggest struggle that Yashika faces is that there is most brokers work in an undisciplined manner and many also suffer from the propensity to think that they can take a woman broker for a ride. Being a woman broker isn’t that of an easy task, explains Yashika.

Yashika says that this profession requires a lot of patience she narrates, “We were working on a premium sale for a more than a year, where twice in that period the deal was about to fall apart, but, with constant effort and perseverance we came out successful and that was a turning point for me to never look back.”

Her message for other women who wish to get into businesses that’s male dominated, “The deal is not closed, till the brokerage is not received in full.”

The post Yes, ‘She’ is a Proud Real Estate Broker. appeared first on Square Feat India.