[Tapish]

<Mods please delete if this is against the rules>

Hi everyone,

Over the past few years bought a couple of properties in Uttarakhand and have evaluated others in Himachal etc. The idea is twofold:
1. Property prices are cheaper in the villages right now and may rise over time.
2. To build a dream home, ideally one that is away from the crowd yet accessible and promises a good view and great climate.

While doing the transactions above, I realized that the information asymmetry in the market is huge. I am a local in Uttarakhand, even then it is difficult for me to find a good place, check the antecedents of the property and make sure that I have not been taken for a ride. I ended up buying both properties from family/ friends and in areas where family/ friends already own land. However, if I wish to buy a small plot in a village deep down that has great Himalayan views for example - I have no clue how to go about it.

I was thinking - can we as a group put forward our experiences of buying land/ cottages etc and guide the group as to how to go about it. From zeroing down to a good location to finding the right seller (I am not sure about this as this may violate Bhp guidelines - Mods please advise)

The format may be as follows:
1. Where/ When did you buy the property?
2. Why that place?
3. Purpose/ Investment horizon
4. Price point (INR/sqft for standardization) (then vs Now too)
5. Other places you know of that are upcoming/ would make for a great buy.
6. Restrictions: Uttarakhand -outsiders can buy upto 1.25 nali. HP - only serving officers and locals

Maybe we can get a group together and buy a BHP village somewhere.

Tapish

[Pancham]

Guys, I have finally received the handover letter from my builder. However, instead of it being a joyous occasion, I was in for a bit of a shock since the final amount payable overshot by almost 4 Lakhs. Here are some of the charges (I had no idea of) mentioned by them in the final letter:

1. Maintenance Corpus Deposit - INR 90,800.00
2. Interim Maintenance Charge - INR 1,08,960.00
3. Documentation charge for preparation of Deed of Conveyance - INR 85,062.00
4. TDS which is deducted from all these amounts (and a few more) to be deposited u/s 194IA - INR 52,738.00

I had budgeted an amount of INR 6.50 Lakh (after discussion with my RM at the builder) for this final payment. However, the final amount payable is above INR 10.70 Lakhs.

Any idea what pt. 1,2 and 3 are for? Also, what is the provision for TDS in this case and what is the applicable GST rate here?

[ani_meher]

How are points 1 & 2 not conveyed to you at the time of agreement? The builder will maintain the building till it is handed over to society, hence he will take some corpus and few month's maintenance charge as lumpsum. But generally this is conveyed at the time of agreement, not at the time of possession!

[Rajeevraj]

Originally Posted by Pancham

Guys, I have finally received the handover letter from my builder. However, instead of it being a joyous occasion, I was in for a bit of a shock since the final amount payable overshot by almost 4 Lakhs. Here are some of the charges (I had no idea of) mentioned by them in the final letter:

1. Maintenance Corpus Deposit - INR 90,800.00
2. Interim Maintenance Charge - INR 1,08,960.00
3. Documentation charge for preparation of Deed of Conveyance - INR 85,062.00
4. TDS which is deducted from all these amounts (and a few more) to be deposited u/s 194IA - INR 52,738.00

I had budgeted an amount of INR 6.50 Lakh (after discussion with my RM at the builder) for this final payment. However, the final amount payable is above INR 10.70 Lakhs.

Any idea what pt. 1,2 and 3 are for? Also, what is the provision for TDS in this case and what is the applicable GST rate here?

1 and 2 should have been conveyed in some form to you. The corpus should ideally come back to the association when the builder hands over as a lump sum.

4 should be deposited by you, but should be reduced from your total amount payable if I am not mistaken because the builder can claim this back in some form later (Not very sure on this.)

[Pancham]

Originally Posted by Rajeevraj

1 and 2 should have been conveyed in some form to you. The corpus should ideally come back to the association when the builder hands over as a lump sum.

4 should be deposited by you, but should be reduced from your total amount payable if I am not mistaken because the builder can claim this back in some form later (Not very sure on this.)

Originally Posted by ani_meher

How are points 1 & 2 not conveyed to you at the time of agreement? The builder will maintain the building till it is handed over to society, hence he will take some corpus and few month's maintenance charge as lumpsum. But generally this is conveyed at the time of agreement, not at the time of possession!

What is the nature of this corpus? Is it refundable to me or to the society capital?

I dont remember these being informed to me. I am travelling right now and will call them once I am home. I am sure these were mentioned somewhere in fine print to which they will point to.

[dre@ms]

Guys, i am nearing 40 and property/land bug has finally bit me. Looking for a decent 2/3 bhk apartments in and around Chennai. Budget less the better, but not to the lowest but to a mid range.

Any leads, suggestions?

[Rajeevraj]

Originally Posted by Pancham

What is the nature of this corpus? Is it refundable to me or to the society capital?

Typically it should go to the society capital once the builder hands over. Many builders collect this initially at time of purchase itself and misuse the funds. In your case, one good thing is that it is being collected at the time of hand-over. But it should have been called out pretty clearly in the payment terms. So will be good to check that and also what exactly is this going to be used for.

[R.G]

I am planning to sell my 8 year old apartment in Bangalore . I got relocated to my hometown couple of years back and do not have much connections in Bangalore now.

I have listed my property in housing , magicbricks (paid) , 99acres(paid) etc. but yet to find a suitable buyer.I am unsure if the amount quoted is a deterrent here ,as it is at par (may be lesser) with the other flats for sale from the same apartment and the area.

It has been an year now.

Any suggestions on finding a buyer .

How is ICICI Home Search and similar services from different banks , to list and sell my flat ?

How is NoBroker and such services ?

Any good/reliable agent I can approach ?.

An year back I thought it would be easy to advertise online and sell my apartment , but not being physically present in Bangalore is a big draw back for me.

Any help or guidance is highly appreciated.

[rajivr1612]

Originally Posted by R.G

I am planning to sell my 8 year old apartment in Bangalore .

Hi, I am looking for a flat in Chennai in a particular area, and most of the houses in that area are resale flats. The houses which I have seen so far are in the range of 5-10 years. I am concerned that if I have to sell it after say 5 years it will be very difficult to find a buyer. Maybe that's the reason why buyers for old flats are hard to come by. Also what I see is that owners of these flats are quoting insane prices.

[dailydriver]

Originally Posted by R.G

I am planning to sell my 8 year old apartment in Bangalore.

The resale market in Bengaluru seems to be a bit dull nowadays, the huge inventory of new projects available at attractive prices being one of the deterrents.

Where is the apartment located?

If you can't sell it, why not rent it through nestaway? They have good reviews and will take care of the property, repairs-maintenance, documents, rent collection etc.

Disclaimer: Not related to or a beneficiary of nestaway.

[R.G]

Originally Posted by rajivr1612

Hi, I am looking for a flat in Chennai i

I have gone through this when I bought my apartment 8 years back. Back then also 5-10 year old property in a good location costed the same as a new apartment in not so prime location. My observation is that the premium is for the location and the accessibility to various institutions and services. I invested in the apartment thinking I would settle down in Bangalore and saw a good 20 years there. For me the apartment is till in its teen and your comment on 5-10 year old flat made me realise a buyers view on the same.

As a buyer I wanted a flat which was in a reasonable price range for me and as a seller I want a price that will not hurt me , had I put the money I invested in my flat in some funds/financial services. I think , all boils down to the proper valuation of the property , on what is a realistic price I should expect . My yardstick for the price was based on my research online on similar properties listed in the locality and in the same apartment complex, plus a margin for negotiation.

Originally Posted by dailydriver

The resale market in Bengaluru seems to be a bit dull nowadays,

I agree . The apartment is in LB Shastri Nagar , Kaggadasapura.

The apartment was on rent from the time I relocated. Finding a tenant is not hard . The reason I want to sell my apartment is to settle down in my hometown.


Is there an index I can refer to check the resale price of my property ?

Any good/reliable agent I can approach ?.

Thanks dailydriver and rajivr1612 for your thoughts and insights

[rajivr1612]

Originally Posted by R.G

I have gone through this when I bought my apartment 8 years back. Back then also 5-10 year old property in a good location costed the same as a new apartment in not so prime location. My observation is that the premium is for the location and the accessibility to various institutions and services.

Thanks for your insights. During my search so far I have observed that the the owners are quoting insane prices for old properties. I saw a few new properties directly from builders as well. Those were in the range of 6500 to 7000 per sq. ft.. So for a 1000 sq. ft. house it comes to 70 lacs. plus taxes. However owners of flats of 5 to 10 years are quoting the same price. Recently in one of the property sites a flat with ~1000 sq. ft. was put up for 81 lacs. And this flat is surely close to 10 years and near my present rented house where prices max out at 7000 per sq. ft.. So it's a big challenge to find a good property.
Last year I finally managed to sell my flat in Dombivli, MH. It was in process for close to 3 years. It was a 6 year old flat.

[Akib Khan]

Originally Posted by rajivr1612

Thanks for your insights. During my search so far I have observed that the the owners are quoting insane prices for old properties. I saw a few new properties directly from builders as well. Those were in the range of 6500 to 7000 per sq. ft.. So for a 1000 sq. ft. house it comes to 70 lacs. plus taxes. However owners of flats of 5 to 10 years are quoting the same price. Recently in one of the property sites a flat with ~1000 sq. ft. was put up for 81 lacs. And this flat is surely close to 10 years and near my present rented house where prices max out at 7000 per sq. ft.. So it's a big challenge to find a good property.
Last year I finally managed to sell my flat in Dombivli, MH. It was in process for close to 3 years. It was a 6 year old flat.

The reason old property demands a premium rate over a new construction is because of the carpet area available. Currently the builder lobby is charging 50% super build up area. In old projects this was limited to max 30%.
For example if you are purchasing a flat in say 10 year old building with 1000 sqft of total area then the carpet area will be minimum 700sqft where as in a new project you pay for 1000 sqft but get a max carpet area of 550sqft. The amount of 450sqft (which the builder charges as super buildup area) is far more compared to the premium asked by the onwers of the old flats.
Hope this helps.

[rajivr1612]

Originally Posted by Akib Khan

The reason old property demands a premium rate over a new construction is because of the carpet area available. Currently the builder lobby is charging 50% super build up area. In old projects this was limited to max 30%.
For example if you are purchasing a flat in say 10 year old building with 1000 sqft of total area then the carpet area will be minimum 700sqft where as in a new project you pay for 1000 sqft but get a max carpet area of 550sqft. The amount of 450sqft (which the builder charges as super buildup area) is far more compared to the premium asked by the onwers of the old flats.
Hope this helps.

While I do understand that carpet area in older flats are more than in newer ones, the flats that I have been checking out are not the huge complex ones. These are standalone buildings with 4 or 6 flats with stilt car parking. No other facilities. So where is the question of sacrificing carpet area for common areas such as lobby, entrance foyer, clubhouse, swimming pool etc.?

[sunilch]

I can share my experience that might help a buyer (or may be a seller but that would depend on his perspective at that time).

1) Never go by only the most negative factor of the house that you are buying and try to reduce the applicable value.
2) Owners quote anything and everything based on their expectations and on what they understand about real estate. After all, everyone thinks that he/she is a master in this matter.
3) Deals will close only when the price is nearby what other properties are going on in the same locality. Give or take say 10% for a comparable property either in the same building or in a building nearby.
4) As a buyer, focus primarily on Rs / Carpet Sq. Ft. mentioned in the agreement. Do not take built up area or the super built up area or the extra duct or balcony that the owner might have taken inside. Stick to this as a valuation and comparison parameter and you will find it easy to compare multiple properties.
5) A property with better facilities, amenities or a better parking spot or an extra parking spot (allotted as per the society norms and transferable) can command a better rate.
6) A well maintained society, even when 5-8 years old, can demand a premium. This kind of shows that the society members are active and care for the surroundings.
7) Based on the above, if you find anything missing from the said property, you can reduce the price quote accordingly.
8) Any alterations done by the owner, should have an NOC form the society as these are usually not approved by the Municipality and might result in issues at a later date.

The best way to buy a property (but only for self use) is to live in the locality that you desire on rent for about 6-12 months so as to get the insider feedback from the residents. Though not everyone may have the liberty to do so.

Hope this helps