Buy and sell via e-mail
PHOTO: K. BHAGYA PRAKASH
PROSPECTIVE BUYERS: Browsing through the e-group website.
HOW DOES a tech-savvy Bangalorean find answers to his queries on property and related matters sitting at home? If you say he/she does it through computers and the Internet, you have got only half the answer. The full answer is "He/she does it by becoming a member of an MSN group." MSN is the Microsoft Internet portal.
The group, bdasites@groups.msn.com, which has over 2,000 members, gets about 30 to 50 messages a day on buying and selling of property and construction of houses. Many have found the e-mail group useful.
One member recently sought to know whether he could deal with a particular builder. He got the answer from another member, totally unknown to him: "Highly unprofessional and careless are two words that would suit the builder... He is a ... tout. He talks smooth initially and, as time passes, shows his true colour.
He had promised to finish the apartment by November 2004 and, if you visit it now, there is still a lot to be done. And if you ask how long will it take, he has standard answers — a week or two! But you better ask those who've already shifted. A few of those inhabitants are the builder's own people. So make sure that you talk to everyone and ask them the basic questions." Referring to a recent scam involving a few builders, who cheated hundreds of investors, one of the victims sought to know whether he could get back the money. Another member replied that all the offices of the builders are closed. "All the phone numbers with whom we spoke earlier are still not working. The Madivala police, with whom we registered a complaint, told me that investigation is still on (and it) will take around a month (to complete)." Thus the group site has emerged as a communication tool for a set of people who are not known to each other. There are many discussion boards.
Here are a few: general (which has so for received over 7,900 messages), Arkavathy Layout, Visvesvaraya Layout, Anjanapura BDA Layout, Rules-Act-Legal (aspects), Banashankari BDA Layout, Corporation sites, Older BDA layouts, BDA-approved sites, BMRDA-approved sites, CMC layouts and Grama Thanas.
Make sure that you choose the right option while joining the group. If you choose to receive individual messages, your mailbox will be full in a few days.
It is advisable to opt for daily digests wherein you get messages every day bunched together. You also get a report on the number of messages received under different heads. In addition, you get a weekly report informing you about new members and their e-mails, pictures and documents..
Alternatively, you can choose to view all the messages online without receiving them in your e-mail inbox. Then you run the risk of missing something that might matter to you most.
* * *
How to log on
HERE ARE the steps:
Sign up for a hotmail account at hotmail.com.
Go to http://groups.msn.com/bdasites.
Click the link "Join Now."
Type your nickname (it should have a minimum of three letters).
Specify your e-mail ID.
Choose how you want to receive mail (inbox, daily, or on the web).
Tick the box before "I accept."
Click "Join Now."
GOVIND D. BELGAUMKAR
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