One will realise that home hunting can be a daunting task, only when one goes through the hassle of comparing a few projects and weighing out the positives and negatives of each. It's not just time consuming, it is confusing, says Sunder P., Managing Director & CEO, TTK Services (of the TTK Group), focused on providing technology-enabled consumer services.

The group launched 'HomeShikari' an online real estate portal, in Bangalore towards the end of 2011, "with the goal to usher in transparency and to make home-hunting easy for consumers as it aims to change the way consumers interact for their property needs," he says.

Numerous wasted weekends and the hassles that one goes through while hunting for a home got the founders at TTK Services thinking of an innovative idea for zeroing in on the dream home. "The real estate market in India is highly fragmented, localised and opaque. Most brokers are out to make a quick buck. A real estate portal that would cater to consumer needs and shift focus from just selling and advertising, is what we wanted to do," says Sunder.

The portal claims it has created a platform to involve all stakeholders - buyers, sellers, home owners, tenants and builders - to connect with each other, thus eliminating brokerage. HomeShikari has brought in a feature called 'Verified Listings' for India, where their team visits the property, takes pictures and videos, measures the property and draws up the floor plan before uploading it onto HomeShikari.com, with a verified tag. "This ensures that prospective consumers are able to get accurate, verified and detailed information about each property and can decide on which ones to actually visit. It also helps build trust because what people see on the website is what they will get. No misleading information," the portal representatives explain. They explain that from a lister or builder perspective, it provides an appropriate channel (rich media) to disseminate as much information as possible. The portal supports a strictly no ads , no spam policy resulting in better qualified leads, lower cost and lesser effort for sellers.

HomeShikari has also launched another feature - 'Builder marketplace' - that gives consumers all the information they require in their search for new homes. The website lets consumers choose the updates they receive to contact interested parties without compromising on their privacy. Explains Sunder, "HomeShikari focuses on transparent and unbiased information. It is a hassle-free online experience with allied services to consumers. The service encourages consumers to go direct and pay no brokerage. Our other value-added services can help consumers with property tax payments, getting encumbrance certificate or Khata, managing their tenant, monitoring vacant property and a lot more."