Track2Realty Exclusive: Awards have often been the source of sulking within the business community. However, when it comes to real estate, one has got absolutely no reasons to sulk as awards are not just rigged but customised for the companies at a cost. Track2Realty finds while some buy it for recognition, brand promotion or just notional value; others dismiss the offer being aware that m0re than they needing the award, such trophies need their brand value for establishing credibility.
No wonder, while these award shops nowadays even travel tier-II & III cities for greener pastures, they compete among themselves to emerge as the numero uno of the award market.
Ritika Dhawan went on a house hunting spree in one of the most upcoming locations of Gurgaon, only to find that the location was manipulated by the property sharks who are misleading the gullible buyers and promoting a handful of developers’ projects who were offering good commission to these brokers.
With no trust on the brokers and herself having no background whatsoever of property market, she decided to do her own research & Google search about the credibility of the developer before putting her hard earned money.
Her search ended with the developer who could boast off as the “Most Award Winning Real estate Company”. However, it turned out to be one of the most repentful decision of her life and the trust that she could inspire with the award winning realtor was soon exposed to be a case of trophy in the greedy hands.
Industry insiders admit this is one of the well-known secrets of the sector which in the world of real estate is something that everybody knows but nobody admits.
Many of the award winning realtors don’t have even one flagship project to showcase but the overt branding packaged with a trophy lures the end-users and the investors alike. The moot point is whether an award, a trophy or a citation is a sales driven exercise or a brand driven exposure?
Some of the leading developers privately admit they stay away from the awards in the wake of realty awards getting bad press for rigging more often than not.
Requesting anonymity a Mumbai-based leading developer rather questioned why should realtors be greedy for awards anymore. With so many awards happening, it is the organisers who now need developers to buy the trophy and they are ever ready to customise even the category of the award to suit the business interest of the developer.
“More than we needing awards, nowadays awards need us,” is what this developer candidly said. Market leader DLF also dismissed the idea of getting any facelift with the award. “For DLF, the satisfaction of all our stakeholders including customers is more important than any award. It gives us immense satisfaction when the value of our property appreciates,” says Sanjey Roy, DLF spokesperson.
…..to be continued
