Land value to go more in Hyderabad

The state government will increase land value in the twin cities and surrounding areas by 5 to 10 per cent from February 1. This is meant for registration purposes. Sources said the government decided not to increase land value beyond 10 per cent because of the slump in the real estate market.

“Sub-registrars have been requesting authorities not to increase land values in twin cities and surroundings because of the 40 per cent decline in transactions,” a senior revenue official said.

However, in several up-market areas such as Jubilee Hills the land value would remain the same. “Rates in these areas are almost 80 per cent of the actual value in market,” the official said.

The government will also increase land value in Greater Visakhapatnam, Vijayawada, Rajahmundry, Kakinada, Warangal and Tirupati. There will be no increase in Guntur, since a revision was made in December 2007.

District level committees headed by joint collectors will finalise the rates and make recommendations on Tuesday. It is known that the committee has recommended that existing land values be retained in Jubilee Hills, Banjara Hills and Shamshabad besides Tandur and Vikarabad municipalities. In Sanjeev Reddy Nagar, it recommended a 25 per cent increase in value.

However, in Tarnaka, the committee suggested that land values be hiked from Rs 17,000-Rs 20,000 per square yard to Rs 35,000-Rs 45,000. The stamps and registration department officials turned down this recommendation.

The increase is likely to be around 10 per cent in Kukatpally and Madhapur. The cantonment area is also going to see another increase for the second year in succession.

Officials said the number of real estate transactions declined from 1.72 lakh to 1.03 lakh in Ranga Reddy district and 33,000 to 28,000 in Hyderabad, where the revenue also dipped from Rs 312 crore to Rs 299 crore.

The overall growth rate in the sector in this financial year is around 15 per cent as against 40 per cent in the previous year.

Hyderabad realty firm plans ‘Hub’

Aliens Developers, a Hyderabad-based realty firm, has tied up with SMC Alsop, the London-based architects, for a slew of new projects it has planned in and around the City.
Aliens, which is essentially into building residential space, has plans to launch Space Station 1&2 projects in the next six months and a massive ‘Hub’ project by end of 2008.

Mr Hari Challa, Managing Director of the 4-year-old company, said Ernst & Young Consultants have been entrusted with a feasibility report for the Aliens Hub project, planned about 40 km from the upcoming International Airport on the Srisailam highway.

Land acquisition

The company has already acquired 700 acres of land and plans to buy up another 700 for the project, which will have villas, luxury homes, high rise apartments, farm houses and commercial enterprises. The project is planned in two phases over the next 10 years, Mr Hari told newspersons.

For the Rs 4,000-crore Space Station 2 project, again about 10 km from the airport, plans to create 17 million sq ft in high-rise apartment of 2-3 bedrooms. The project will be launched in May next year.

Aliens Developers will start the Rs 1,100 crore, Space Station-1 project by the end of this month at Tellapur on a 20-acre land with intent of creating 4 million sq ft.

Red Fort Capital to invest in Hyderabad real estate

Private equity firm Red Fort Capital plans to invest about Rs 2,700 crore in Indian real estate by 2009, including acquisition of 2,500 acres of land in over 20 cities across the country. The company will develop properties worth Rs 12,000 crore.

Red Fort Capital has already acquired over 1,000 acres of land in different parts of the country, with a strong interest in Mumbai, Pune, Chennai, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Kolkata and Vishakhapatnam markets. Having committed a significant portion of the first fund of 425 million dollar, Red Fort is now in the process of utilising the recently launched Rs 1,000 crore domestic fund.

The company would develop residential, commercial, hotels, hospitals and retail spaces in these lands. The recent controversies have made the company further gun-shy of developing Special Economic Zones.

New system to tackle land disputes’

The State Government has decided to evolve a fool proof mechanism to check the authenticity of conflicting claims on lands made by different parties.

In this direction, the Government was contemplating to entrust a section of staff in each police station the responsibility of investigations into land disputes besides attaching one lawyer each to three police stations to address the legal issues.

“The increasing number of fake documents and general power of attorney letters are making it difficult to ascertain the genuineness of the claimants,” Home Minister K. Jana Reddy said.

Addressing a press conference here on Tuesday, he admitted that the department was faced with constraints on the staff side to tackle land disputes, mostly civil in nature. But, the department had succeeded in identifying 110 gangs involved in land grabbing under the jurisdiction of Cyberabad police commissionerate. Stringent action was being launched whenever such instances were coming to light. To a question on remission of sentence to prisoners on January 26, he said though the arguments were completed in the Supreme Court, the court had not yet announced the date when the judgment would be delivered.

To another query, he said he did not receive any representation from TDP president for allotment of a new bullet-proof car.

Hyderabad realty firm plans ‘Hub’

Aliens Developers, a Hyderabad-based realty firm, has tied up with SMC Alsop, the London-based architects, for a slew of new projects it has planned in and around the City.

Aliens, which is essentially into building residential space, has plans to launch Space Station 1&2 projects in the next six months and a massive ‘Hub’ project by end of 2008.

Mr Hari Challa, Managing Director of the 4-year-old company, said Ernst & Young Consultants have been entrusted with a feasibility report for the Aliens Hub project, planned about 40 km from the upcoming International Airport on the Srisailam highway.

Land acquisition

The company has already acquired 700 acres of land and plans to buy up another 700 for the project, which will have villas, luxury homes, high rise apartments, farm houses and commercial enterprises. The project is planned in two phases over the next 10 years, Mr Hari told newspersons.

For the Rs 4,000-crore Space Station 2 project, again about 10 km from the airport, plans to create 17 million sq ft in high-rise apartment of 2-3 bedrooms. The project will be launched in May next year.

Aliens Developers will start the Rs 1,100 crore, Space Station-1 project by the end of this month at Tellapur on a 20-acre land with intent of creating 4 million sq ft.

Telangana issue hits real estate business

With the Congress leaders raking up the Telangana issue, real estate business around Hyderabad has been affected. Though land prices have been stagnant, there have been no transactions, according to property dealers in the city.

Congress leaders from the Telangana region have voiced their concern over the proposal for setting up the second state reorganisation committee. A senior party leader and MP, G Venkataswamy, even threatened to resign as MP if the government constituted a state reorganisation committee for the sake of Telangana.

The Congress leaders have also warned industry to keep off from land purchases, especially around Hyderabad, saying that the new government, post-separation, may defer land purchases.

Following this threat, property dealers said the Companies which had entered into agreements have been going back on the deals. ‘‘They prefer to wait and watch the situation for some more period,’’ a major real estate dealer told FE. Though the opposition Telugu Desam Party and the Telangana Rashtra Samithi had earlier waged such threats, the Companies had continued with their transactions, he added.

Notwithstanding the hullabaloo by Congress leaders from Telangana favouring a separate state, chief minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy feels that since the issue has been left to the party high command, all leaders should not voice their views on it.

Interestingly, the Congress high-command has decided to postpone the issue of the state reorganisation committee due to opposition within the party. The Reddy camp, hence, feels that the decision on a separate state may be delayed further.

Meanwhile, the struggle for separate state has taken a new twist. The Congress leaders from Anantapur district have sought merger with Karnataka, claiming that the merger would benefit the farmers in the district as they could get irrigation water from Tungabhadra without any obstruction.

Real estate ‘bank’ opened

Offering one-stop-solutions in property matters and promising transparent transactions for both buyers and sellers, Real Estate Bank India (REBI) opened its first master franchisee ‘Orange Infraa’ in the city here on Wednesday. The franchisee was inaugurated by the former Chief Minister N.Chandrababu Naidu.
Services

Informing this at a press conference here, REBI president and CEO Lakshmi Narayanan said the master franchisee would provide end-to-end services in real estate for a customer.

The services offered include brokerage, financial, database, relocation and other related matters.

Assistance would be extended in buying, selling and leasing property and exhaustive information of available properties would be showcased to a customer.

The REBI has also tied up with some banks to facilitate easy loan process with multiple options, he said.

The REBI has already commenced operations in Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Rajasthan apart from overseas operations in Sri Lanka.

Choosing A Real-Estate Agent Or Broker

Everywhere you look, there are advertisements for real estate and for real-estate agents. Yes, it’s true—we are everywhere! But all these advertisements will not tell you the credentials and capabilities of the real-estate agents posting them, nor their work experience. This being the case, how are you going to separate the good, experienced agents from the not-so-good, inexperienced ones, unless you take the time to ask the right questions?

Most people choose a professional, in any industry, by asking for a referral from a trusted friend or colleague. This does not, however, mean that any person referred to you is a quality professional—everyone has a brother, sister, aunt, uncle, cousin, or Indian chief (all wonderful people) who is in the business, but other than their family connection to your friend, what do they have to offer you in terms of their real-estate experience? Here are some questions you should ask to narrow your search for the real-estate agent best suited to assist you:

How long have they been in the business? Pretty much any average person could decide they want to get their license today and have that license in their mailbox a couple of months later. As such, your real-estate agent’s experience is very important. A new agent will learn a lot their first year and will continue to learn more with every transaction. Don’t automatically decide against a new agent, but if you do choose a new agent, make sure they have a great support system behind them as they learn the ropes.

Is the agent you are considering a Realtor? Not all real-estate agents are Realtors. Members of the National Association of Realtors have to adhere to a strict code of ethics, or they face having their membership revoked. Also, you must be a member of the National Association of Realtors to have access to the MLS (Multiple Listing Service), which is what gives Realtors access to almost every home for sale in their market area.

Can you get a list of some of their past customers? Take the time to call a few of a real-estate agent’s past customers. Ask for their strengths and weaknesses (and make sure they don’t share the agent’s last name).

Who is the agent’s broker? Can the customer call him? Real-estate agencies are moving towards the “mega-brokerage” mentality, which means that many real-estate agents today rarely see their real-estate broker. If an agent doesn’t have their broker’s cell-phone number (or says he or she is not free to give it out), be aware up front that you will only be able to contact the broker directly at the office when the broker is in.

Is real estate the agent’s full-time job? This is the number one important question! It always surprises me how many people are willing to let their officemate down the hall handle the purchase or sale of their home. You need someone who handles real estate transactions full-time, day in and day out, to make sure your best interests are taken care of and that they are on top of the marketplace, getting you the best price and terms for your home.

How “on top” of the real-estate market is the agent? Ask them to show you comparisons of what homes in the area have sold for and when they sold, as well as what is presently on the market, what they are selling for, and the average time it has taken for those homes to be sold. Part of the presentation you should be shown should also include homes presently on the market that you will be competing with as well as possible homes that were on the market that were recently withdrawn because of price or other market reasons.

Experts say that about 70 percent of house searches begin on the Internet. For that reason, agents need to be completely comfortable using the Internet (not just that they do e-mail and check it once a day). You want someone who knows the technology and is completely comfortable with it, an agent who can take photos that make the house look good online.

Make sure the office your real-estate agent is with has its own website that can be surfed by prospective buyers at any time. Ask where the listing will go online. The answer you want to hear is “everywhere I can put it.” Don’t let the listing appear on just the broker’s website and the Multiple Listing Service site. Make sure your real-estate agent’s firm subscribes to reciprocity (which means that other brokers are able to post your listing on their sites, giving you full exposure). Don’t take no for an answer.

Here are some additional important considerations when choosing an agent:

Determine the right asking price. Don’t base your choice of an agent on who tells you the house is worth the most. The worst thing you can do is to price your home too high. Potential buyers will ignore the house or they won’t even notice it at all if they’re searching on the Web by price range and your house is artificially above their upper limits.

Communication. You want an agent who is easy to communicate with. A good real-estate agent should be able to provide you with a cell-phone number in addition to an office number. Since a major percentage of real-estate market transactions happen before or after office hours as well as on Sundays, it is important that you have a way of reaching them. An agent that is not easy to reach is also not easy to find by a prospective buyer or another real-estate agent wishing further information on your home.

In addition, you should discuss, up front, how often your real-estate agent will be in touch with you with feedback, and how you wish to be contacted—e-mail, cell phone, paper airplane, whatever! It is vital for you to be in regular touch with your agent, first so you know that the agent is alive and working, and second so you can be updated regularly on the feedback and reactions from potential buyers.