Are you thinking of buying
your dream house ?
If yes , then you must be having a lot of questions and you must be looking
some guidance from everyone you know, Why not utilize the knowledge of readers
here. Over the last couple of days I was tying to catch up with readers who
have bought flats or other real estate property and asked them 3-4 questions which
could give you good understanding/points of what all you should take care while
buying real estate. You will also get to know some basic tips and tricks given
by our readers here which they learnt or heard from others while making their
purchase in Real estate. Overall see this article as a real life experience’s
of readers on real estate and their learnings out of it for
others.
Most
important thing to take note of while buying the home : Costs other than quoted per square
feet rate. Few of costs like floor rise, parking, stamp duty and
registration are fairly well-known. However, I was surprised when asked to pay
for value added tax liability and service tax. Since I bought under
construction property and with all payments by cheque, I did not have much
option but to pay for these costs. These are substantial costs and buyer needs
to be aware of these additional costs while budgeting for the
property purchase.
Biggest
advice of caution will you give to new buyers : While buying under construction property,
buyer needs to do a thorough due diligence on builder’s track record on
completion of property on time as well as quality of work. It is better to buy
from a big name builder like Raheja, Hiranandani, Lokhandwala like (as far as Mumbai is concerned).
Even though one might need to pay a bit higher rate, it is worth it as it
gives peace of mind when someone accepts all payments by cheques and abide
by contractual terms. A good read from Subra on Mumbai vs Navi Mumbai Real estate .
One
trick/idea which can help new buyers : One thing which helps, is to buy little old / used property,
may be 3-5 years old property. 3 to 5 years do not make much difference in
usable life of property. However, usually one can get such property at much
better rate than normal market price for new property. More important though,
buying little old property has several advantages:
·
One gets good idea of
available infrastructure like nearby groceries, shops, availability of
household help, situation regarding water supply etc which matters more to
the lady of the house.
·
One can see whether
building is being maintained or not. When I visited a building just two-year
old, I was quite surprised to see its shabby look. It turned out that many
members of society were quarreling and not paying their dues. One can easily
skip such headache if buying slightly old property.
·
You can very well see
the neighbours. It might be good idea to just meet them and greet them even if
for only little time. It gives good idea on what standard of living is
maintained by residents and whether one can easily fit-in. For example, my
brother skipped a building which was really well maintained, with quite good
location and flat available within budget. Surprised, I asked him the reasons.
It turned out that almost every one of the residents was having more than one
car in family and holiday trip abroad was fairly common. My brother did not
want to be part of such residency as he thought it would not be possible
for him to fit in with people having such life styles since he could not afford
such life style and, then, he would be odd man out.
·
There are some buildings
where there is only one flat occupied on a floor, others being bought by
“investors”. One can avoid possibility of living on a ghost floor by buying
little old property..
Any
other learning : I am quite amazed by
people stretching themselves on floating rate loans while buying property. I
think people need to be aware that rates could be headed much higher, and
higher enough to make material difference in their EMI obligations. I think there are a lot of people who do not
understand risks of floating rate loans or loans with first couple of years of
very low-interest rates.
So if you are looking
to buy new duplex or house visit Allindiayellowpage.com
to get complete information.