OUR HISTORY

1996 was an eventful year.

It was the year when Nelson Mandela stepped down as the President of South Africa.

Steffi Graf was the reigning queen of womens' tennis and Tiger Woods was still playing amateur golf.

The fastest processor in the market was a 200 mHz Pentium chip, Sabeer Bhatia had just launched Hotmail and Michael Jackson conducted his first tour India.

It was the year in which Leander Paes won the first individual Olympic medal for India in over 44 years.

And, this was the year PVVA launched.

They say there are no coincidences in life. And yet, we attribute our very existence to one.

It was during a casual meeting with friends, when young Pankaj Vora coincidentally learned about a family acquaintance fighting over ancestral property.

This news shocked him; for he knew the family members to be reasonable people who weren't the sort given to fighting.

He decided to get involved and went through the case papers thoroughly. Having understood the case, he prepared a couple of probable scenarios and presented them to the family members. After much deft manoeuvring young Mr. Vora managed to get the matter sorted out amicably between the family members and also got the property paper duly processed.

This was a first of its kind of experience for Pankaj Vora, and it triggered a thought process. He became aware that he was able to understand the legal aspects of property and real estate contracts with remarkable ease.

Then, why not, he thought, offer property consulting services? The market at the time was fragmented. There existed huge brand-name property consulting houses at one end of the spectrum and then there were the neighbourhood property brokers at the other. There weren't many players in between.

Young Pankaj Vora decided to launch PVVA to cater to the South Mumbai real estate market. The choice of location was strongly motivated by the fact that Mumbai was the financial capital of India and some of the biggest businesses had their offices in this part of the city.

Soon Mr. Vora realised, understanding real estate contracts was easy, but surviving in the business was a totally different matter. It was what is popularly known as, a two-sided market. Where you are the enabler and the buyers as well as the sellers are your clients.

He found himself in a typical catch-22 situation - unless you had enough property listings, buyers wouldn't come to you and, if you didn't have enough buyers, property sellers would stay away.

He had to go after both sides. It was going to be difficult without leverage. This is when he started collaborating with other players in the market. Some of these relationships exist even to this day.

1999 was another turning point year.

That year PVVA closed the first major deal at Bank Street for the Manickchand Group. This was a milestone on many fronts: the sheer size of the deal, the legal complexities involved as well as the amount of coordination required to execute it. Unknowingly at the time, this deal also set the company's focus on corporate deals.

Over the next few years the company grew steadily, but Pankaj Vora already had his next goal in mind. For him, PVVA's unstoppable journey had only just begun.

From here onwards, PVVA bifurcated business operations according to the market reality, hunting for property listings and servicing clients became separate functions, thereby catering to both sides of the market. And designated experts to focus on these areas.

The next landmark year for PVVA was 2007, when we were invited to broker the Sasmira College deal. It was bigger than anything we had handled till then. It was a first on many fronts, the size of the property, the size of the deal as well as the time taken to execute it. It took us 18 months to sell the 1,50,000 sq. feet space.

And this prepared us to play with the Big Boys, and soon PVVA was called to handle another challenge - to sell Resham Bhavan at Churchgate. PVVA was appointed the agent to auction the property through a mandate.

Over the years that followed PVVA's growth continued steadily, but Pankaj Vora was well aware of the developments in the market and the growing importance of technology in every sphere of the business. To address this opportunity, PVVA has brought in the second generation into the company. The ability to look ahead with courage and determination were the innate qualities that guided the founder, and it is these qualities which will always guide the people, who have joined him over the years.

Proud heirs to their founder's vision, the second generation of leaders continues to prove themselves every day . Striving to remain true to the qualities embodied by him. They are the innovators, yet they appreciate the importance of impecable service and the drive to go the extra-mile.

Using their own words, the new leadership says, "we are proud of our heritage, but we don't dwell on it, because we know, what truly matters is what we do in the present to take care of our future. PVVA has done great things in the past, today they are doing greater things for the future.

We intend to be at the fore-front of market developments. That's where we have come from. It's where we belong. Our history is still being written."

Today, this dream is what drives the company. A wind of pushing the boundaries still blows over, which brings together the over 22 year long journey.

So, as it appears, coincidences do happen, and what we have been able to do with ours has been priceless!