By: Ravi Sinha
With the reasonable expectation of a roof over the head not very long ago, the real estate boom in the last decade has scaled up the liberty of choice for the average home buyers. While the aspirations of even the middle and lower middle income with moderate budgets have gone up, there are very many residential projects launched in recent times that seem to fill the gap with the promise of faster deliveries, hi-tech amenities, luxurious lifestyle, lush green surroundings within the affordable range of 20-40 lakhs.
However, amidst this problem of plenty one also goes through all those anxiety pangs that normally come while mulling over the decision of buying a home. In the euphoria of buying a house most of the first-time buyers overlook their wants and needs and make mistakes. This is where a house hunting checklist comes into the picture. If you create a checklist of the things you need in a home as well as other things worth looking at along the way, you’ll have a much easier time with the house hunting process. The first step, however, is to keep in mind the budget and then look for what best is available in the given budget.
Experts believe that the legal and practical checklist remains the same whether one is opting for a house worth Rs. 20 lakhs, 30 lakhs or 40 lakhs. However, the value addition that is on offer goes up with more budget in hand. Location, size, construction, amenities and outdoors are some of the parameters to consider when the buyer shells out 30 lakhs or 40 lakhs for the house. “License in hand and approved building plan are the most vital document a buyer must check. Fire, pollution and environmental clearances are the other factors to check”, says Brijesh Bhanote, Senior VP, the 3C Company.
However, Pankaj Jain, Executive Director of Real Estate Consultancy Realistic Realtors has a word of caution for the home buyers. He says, “Customer perspective needs to be changed and they should have realistic expectations if you have a budget of Rs. 20 lakhs. Instead of focusing on fancy apartment of modern living, check the basic necessities like the size of the bedroom and drawing room.” He even suggests that a prospective customer must speak to the RWAs of the developers previous projects to get the first hand reaction.
Amar Kapoor, Director of Urban Heights, however, advocates living life king-size even with a budget of Rs. 20 lakhs. He believes since the demand drivers of today’s residential properties are the young population who want bigger house with quality of life, the developers today focus on all the recreational facilities, vitrified tiles, electrical appliances, bathroom fittings etc. “Today’s young population does not mind travelling two and half hours to work if he is getting A1 quality living in exchange. Moreover, one normally buys a house with a time horizon of 5-10 years when the connectivity will be much better. With the kind of fast paced development that is happening today, even a place like Manesar which is further down Gurgaon is selling like a hot cake in the given budget of Rs. 20 lakhs,” he says.
The final choice rests with the home buyers if they have a budget limit while purchasing the house. Whether they want to go for a modern living on the periphery of the city or would prefer to live close to the city with less fancy offerings. Whatever be the choice, they must get their checklist in place before house hunt begins. The catchword here is not to get lured by fancy international picture and remain realistic with the expectations. Expecting luxuries like the golf course is fraught with danger keeping in mind the ground realities where affordable housing project is always a challenge for the developer too.
If the budget is Rs 20 lakhs and one is moving from a rented flat to his own, one should look at the location and distance from the work place. Since most of such projects are on the periphery of the city, one must also look for the infrastructure within the project. A buyer can be a bit fancy if he has a budget of Rs. 30lakhs expecting the size of the bedroom & drawing room to be a bit bigger and facilities like car parking being provided. A difference of 10-15 per cent can be expected if the buyer is looking for a project nearer to the city. With the budget of Rs. 40 lakhs, however, one can expect to elevate the level of living with far better architecture and amenities, like garden & play area, swimming pools, club, modular kitchen and full power back-up.
The author is the Managing Editor of Track2Realty
