Confessions of a Property Broker

“We get cheated a lot in rental deals. People get to know about the property and then finish the deal themselves”

People think property dealers are up to no good. They also believe that we loiter all day doing nothing and overcharge customers without working. It is insulting when people tell me that property brokers make easy money. Often, we have to pay informers to find out about available property. If we get cheated, that money is gone.

If I get ten customers in a month, I am really lucky. But that does not mean I have any free time on my hands. No matter what, I have to hang around the shop at all times. You can’t trust servants as they tend to walk away with the customer and I am left to pay the electricity bill and their salary.

We get cheated a lot in rental deals. People get to know about the property and then finish the deal themselves. There are instances when the husband contacts us, sees the house, meets the landlord and then backs off. His wife then comes in and finalises the deal with the landlord. That is why I take full details of the family before showing a house. If any deal in the area is finalised without a broker, I visit the house at least once to make sure that I have not been cheated. Once I got cheated without even arranging the landlord-tenant meeting. It turned out I had arranged a meeting two years ago, and knowing that the house was vacant once again, the tenant did not need me anymore.

After the deal there follows a long period where the customer tries to avoid paying. I act tough, but if the customer turns out to be tougher or more shameless than me, there is nothing I can do. Sometimes I have been paid as little as Rs 1,000.
I actually own most of the houses I sell. Besides a profit, I also charge the customer the full commission. There is no way I can be cheated in this kind of deal.

(The property broker lives and does business in Gurgaon, Haryana, where he also runs a neighbourhood general store)

As told to Alok Singh

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arindam