How To Pick The Best Home From A Brilliant Project In A Perfect Locality?

Experience may be the best teacher, but this tutor is best avoided in house-purchase matters. One would like to know beforehand the pros and cons of investing in a particular location or project or property, considering a large sum of money is at stake, and making mistakes is no option.

But then, what should you look for in allocation/project/property, apart from the obvious things, of course, before selecting the one meant for you?

One could easily gauge the advantages and disadvantages of a unit if they paid attention to where the unit exactly stands. We are going to talk about selecting the right property in this context presently.

Location: All good in the hood?

Any attempt to undermine the whole stress on the age-old location-location-and-location dictum as mere brouhaha would be deleterious for you, to say the least.  But, this is not to say the “top localities” of a city are the “best localities” for you to buy a property ─ the definition of a “perfect” location is not the same for everyone; our priorities are the key determiner of a locality’s perfection.

For someone who is looking at multiplying their money by investing in a low-ticket property, the perfect location would be, what they refer to as, an emerging area. Since infrastructure is still in a developing stage in such locations, rates of property are comparatively lower.

Investors eyeing big profits in the long term are seen investing in properties along the Yamuna Expressway, for instance, close to Jewar where the country’s biggest airport is scheduled to come up by 2023.

For someone who is buying a property for their own use and who wants to stay close to the city centre, established localities along the area are the perfect location. These are also the place for those who hate to travel for hours to reach their workplaces in central business districts (CBD).

Sample this.

In east Delhi’s Mayur Vihar a 20-year-old re-sale unit of 1BHK configuration would cost a buyer somewhere between Rs 65 lakh and 80 lakh. How come? Those who live here can reach central business district Connaught Place in sharp 15 minutes, travelling a total distance of nine km.

Suburbs are the place for those who are looking for peace and quiet while still being in touch with the city. They are also the place for those with budget constraints. Peripheries are also apt for people looking for large residential spaces.

Noida real estate, for example, is a popular choice for buyers looking for all the three things mentioned above. A new large 4BHK home could come between Rs 60-75 lakh here.

What if there is a mismatch between what you want and what you could afford?

Now, there might be a financial mismatch between what we want and what we could afford. If the mismatch could be taken care of by a couple of more years of saving, it would be advisable to wait rather than adopt desperate measures in a hurry.

Stop-gap arrangements don’t really work that well in matters related to property transactions since liquidation is not easy (no matter how easy they try to make it sound).

Even if one is inspired to believe that selling may not be a problem, real estate flipping has a cost. Each time you buy a property, you have to pay stamp duty and registration charges, for instance. This cost could run up to 6-8 per cent of the property value.

You also have to pay capital gains tax each time you sell a property. In case the transaction is taxed for short-term gains, a great deal of the profit would go to the government. If the seller falls under the highest income tax bracket, they will end up losing 30 per cent of the profit as STCG.

Project: The right posture

Let us assume you have made up your mind about the locality and now looking for a project that meets your budget. Apart from the builder brand, the money and the amenities, are there any other aspects that you should be mindful of?

Well, those are only broader aspects of a property purchase; there are a thousand other smaller concerns involved here, especially if you are investing in an under-construction project.

Majority of people might get baffled when the developer shows them the intricately designed building plan. For the fear of looking and sounding silly, some key questions are left unasked at this juncture.

One needs practice to ace this round of negotiation.

“Building plans of major developers in India are designed using the MKS (metre, kilogram and second) system where sizes of units are denoted using millimeter. As users, we are more comfortable knowing this in foot. Now, 300 mm is a foot. Keep that in mind and quickly calculate the unit area using the formula,” says Abhineet Seth, founder Abodekraftz.

You need to know which direction the project faces, Seth suggests. Only a south-east project would get sunlight all day long, for instance. In projects facing other directions, you would have sunlight in the house only for limited hours in a day. Pick a tower where you get natural light and air as much as possible. It may also be wise to pick a tower that is not staring right at the main road, in case the project is close to one.  

Unit: Sunny side up

A large part of the job has been done at this juncture. By showing a little more of that diligence, a buyer would be able to buy the best of the lot.

Since having natural light and air is high on our agenda, we would try to pick a unit that faces directly the southeast without staring at the main road. This would mean our electricity consumption would be lower and our house would be well lit and cool at the same time. It would also result in our homes being better equipped to fight pests (natural light does the trick) without being noisy.

The floor on which the unit stands is also a key determiner of the kind of air and light we would get. Homes on higher floors would get these in plenty when compared to homes on lower floors. Homes of higher floors would also mean greater privacy.

Home on lower floors, especially till the third floor, means we are not depended on elevators to commute to the house ─ it is strictly advisable to stay closer to the ground if one has motion-related problems. Those suffering from claustrophobia or agoraphobia or have fear of elevators must stay closer to the ground. Panic attacks of anxiety even if mild might be bad for you if they occur on a daily basis.