A few costs you should keep in mind while buying a resale property

Here are three costs you should keep in mind while deciding on a resale property Buying a house isn't an easy task. There are a million things to look into and this stands true not just for new properties but also for properties on resale. Here are three costs you should keep in mind while deciding on a resale property.

Lawyer charges

Resale real estate market is full of cases where a single property is sold to multiple buyers at the same time. For this it is advisable to run a check on the property title before you enter into an agreement. For the job, you can hire a property lawyer who would check records of the past 12 years verifying the authenticity of the seller. For this, he would charge you between Rs. 5,000 and Rs. 10,000. The lawyer would also help you complete other paperwork related to property registration and stamp duty.

Repair and renovation cost

Rarely would you find a resale property that does not need some amount of repair or renovation work from your side. There could be a leaky roof, or pealing paint that needs to be fixed. At times, you may need to renovate the entire house, from scratch.

Structural engineer's cost

Properties on resale are sometimes old structures. While the structure may look strong from outside, only a technical expert like a structural engineer would be able to confirm its stability. Keep in mind that getting a good report card from the structural engineer is important, especially if you are taking a loan to fund the property purchase. Usually, the lender ensures that it recovers this cost somewhere or the other via your loan. If you plan to buy the property with your own funds, you will have to pay for this survey cost out of your own pocket.

Pending dues

Make sure that the past owner of the property has paid all bills. These could be electricity charges, water tax, property tax, society charges, parking space charges and the like. If the previous owner hasn't paid any of these bills, you have no option but to settle the same once the house is in your name.

Other costs

Some residents' associations charge a hefty sum to transfer the ownership of a property. So do include this cost as well.

The real estate agent who helped you locate the property will need to be paid once the entire transaction has gone through. This could be a percentage of the buying price of the property.

Source: http://www.livemint.com/2012/02/29214814/Did-You-Know–A-few-costs-you.html