Online Safety: 8 Quick Tips for Buying a Home Online

The days when the only way to buy your dream home was to contact a neighborhood property broker are long gone. With the onset of online shopping portals, real estate in India too has entered the e-commerce domain. In a short span of time, a number of real estate websites have grown dynamically, including proptiger.com.

The portals, apart from offering an exhaustive list of properties, are also developing innovative apps and novel techniques to make the homebuyers’ search easier. The apps include map based location and apartment searches, safety scores for localities and cities, portfolio trackers to track the appreciation in real estate investments, 3D images and virtual reality devices to give a better overview of the projects on sale.

With rapid technological innovations, booking a home online is now as easy as buying apparel, gadgets and other consumer goods. However, since property purchases are big-ticket investments, it’s important for you to tread carefully when buying a home online.

Here are the eight tips that can help you buy better on real estate websites: 

1. Buy through a reputed real estate website – The online real estate business has mushroomed in the last few years. The internet has witnessed a bombarding of online property sites, making it hard to choose the right platform. Though real estate sector elicits mistrust owing to instances of delayed projects and other complications, a handful of real estate websites are adding professionalism and building trust among customers and investors. The sector has had so far largely been dominated by unorganized brokers but now has been emerged as an established asset class and preferred investment option. Go for a reputed e-commerce portal that gives you in-depth details on projects and their locations, prices and amenities.
    
2. Online Market Survey – Always do a quick check on the market rates of similar properties in the area you are planning to buy property in. Check for prices and amenities of similar projects to make sure that builder is not overcharging you for facilities which are not more than regular features for such projects.
    
3. Start with a budget and the right neighborhood – To begin with home search, you should have a clear idea on how much you can spend on buying a home. The apartments in the affordable housing projects fall under the range of Rs 25-50 lakh while most luxury housing projects start at 1 crore and above. If you are looking for cheaper housing options, you could also look at government housing schemes from the DDA, HUDA and BMRDA, among others.
    
4. Check for online offers – Before making any decision on property, you must find out if there are any sale offers available for the project. Developers across India often deploy every possible measure to appeal to homebuyers and investors. This includes marketing exercises such as discount offers on basic selling price of flats and freebies such as TVs or a free holiday trip, free car parking, modular kitchen, et al depending on the price of the property.
    
5. Refer to builder websites – When you have finalized the property you want to buy, you must check out the details for the project on the builder website as well. The website must have exactly the same information as on the e-commerce portal you are buying from. These days, almost all reputed builders have their own websites and it makes sense for you to  cross check on the facts in order to avoid overlooking any additional information that might be available.
    
6. Save the search – It is advisable to save snapshots of the web pages listing the project details. In case any information gets updated on that webpage, you would still have access to the original information.
    
7. Do a Google search on location – A few minutes of Google search can do wonders. Always give some time to research on the area where you have chosen to buy home in. So, if you are looking to buy a home in Sector 78, Noida, you could use specific keywords (apartments in Sector 78, Noida or Flats in Sector 78, Noida or 1/2/3 BHK flats in Noida) rather than generic keywords to get better search results.
    
8. Always leave a feedback – Leaving a feedback on real estate websites is a must do activity if you are an online shopper. In the age of internet fraud, word of mouth publicity can do wonders for websites which are doing a good job. If you like a property, you must spend some time writing a feedback or review - it also helps other buyers in the real estate market make an informed decision.