Category: Property Advice

Home Loans vs Personal Funds

There are payment options for the property purchase, one to make the entire payment paid in advance, at the time of the booking. For that, you need to have much cash available. The other pertains to the safety of the capital, until the reputation of the seller is reliable.

Advantage in the first case is that the purchaser is relieved of keeping track of payments and ensuring that the installments are not missed, another being the upfront discount usually given by builders. The payment for purchase of property can also be made in installments.

In case the purchaser is taking a housing loan, such installments are paid by the bank directly to the builder.
Most builders keep payment schedule on a time basis. The purchaser is required to make a payment at the time of booking of the apartment, ranging from 10-25% of the cost of the apartment, and the balance amount is spread over a period of time. The final payment is to be made before the handing over of possession, to the purchaser.
Some builders also give the option to link the payment schedule with the pace of the construction work, including an upfront payment at the time of booking, followed by installments depending on the stage of construction completed.
A purchaser needs to plan and track the payments  and also, in case one has opted for a loan, he has to pay interest on a higher amount and for a longer duration. All these costs are normally payable with the last installment, once the apartment is ready for occupation, and just before the possession is handed over.
Generally, stamp duty and registration charges are payable along with the last installment and the recovery of the EMI starts only after disbursement of the entire loan amount.

Green Laws for Realty

Adarsh and Lavasa housing projects have become household names.    With environmental concerns being a major concern in realty sector, major construction projects have recently been pulled up by the ministry of environment and forests (MoEF) on the ground of violation of norms. Notices for the demolition or cease-construction for these projects are pending. Thus, for an investor it will serve well to ensure that all environmental clearances have been obtained rather than investing money in property that may face the risk of demolition in the future.

It is vital for end users looking to purchase or construct property, to acquaint themselves with these rules and regulations and the various clearances that are required.  In Delhi, for any major construction project, the Delhi Urban Art Commission (DUAC) is to give the final go-ahead.  For someone looking to invest in property, the issue of environmental clearances becomes critical; however, the situation would change from city to city. There are also local level bodies from which clearances might be required like the DUAC, Yamuna Standing Committee (YSC), Delhi Pollution Control Committee, in Delhi and it would not be a bad idea to ask builders for all clearance certificates before investing in a property. One must be careful before investing, must either approach local authorities, or lawyers and architects concerned to ensure that there have been no violations.

A word to Small Investors


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When the right time to enter into realty is is a kind of intuitive decision and can’t actually be described in words- it is more or less based on judgment considering the past facts. As per the present scenario, it would be good for the small investors to wait for around 8 to 1o months if they plan to invest in certain areas within larger cities like Mumbai since a correction is expected there in the midterm.

However, if planning to invest in other cities, the right time would probably be now. Since this view is always subjective, one must study the local market and inquire into the expected dynamics and prevalent there.

A proper measure is affordability. Since realty is not a one day investment, one should plan well his wealth and then invest into the market. Also, taking a back seat and using the policy of ‘wait and watch’ should be a game of experts, who on one hand hope for the profit, do have the bravery to bear loss, if any.

Rent depends upon various factors

Real estate
If we talk about rental system, it completely depends upon the age of building. The building of old age is not supposed to be as costly as the new building is. As we know that real estate do not comes into the category of depreciable asset, but still, the building with age factor more than twenty loses its rental market value. The fact behind it is the use of old fittings and loss of elegance with time. Most of the people prefer well maintained modern house for rental purpose.

Update yourself with recent realty trends

Residential property
Real estate is known as growing industry. That is why, change is the only constant thing or I must say that the change is the only predictable thing for this industry. We got the know the prediction that real estate will be on peak for residential properties and in the very next week we hear that investing in commercial properties are good for future. Such trend may create dilemma for the prospective buyers and investors.
The best way to update yourself with recent and upcoming trend is to keep your eyes on reliable websites. Information technology is playing very important role in providing information on time, which is needed before taking investment decision.

“Affordable house” or a compromise?

Finding a home in metro cities is not cup of tea for a middle class family. If we talk about affordable house projects, either such houses are in far fringe areas or a result of poor design, cheap production material and lack of space. This simply means that buyers have to do some compromise with their expectations. Many real estate companies are launching houses at 10-20 lakhs. But most of them are not up to mark. If we talk about tier II and tier III cities, those who are working in metro cities cannot move towards small towns for a house.
As per my opinion, there should be some design standards for builders and if they offer affordable house, cost cutting must not affect the design and production material issues.

Go green, Bengal Chief Minister tells Realtors

KOLKATA: Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee Chief Minister of West Bengal expects real estate developers to think green.

Inaugurating the ‘Realty Expo 2008’ organized by Confederation of Real Estate Developers Association of India (Credai-Bengal) at the Science City grounds on Wednesday; he said realty industrialists should concentrate on developing green buildings which make better use of solar energy.

“Global warming is a real threat to the society,” the chief minister said, while explaining the rationale behind the need to have eco-friendly buildings. The government is considering the merits of making rainwater conservation mandatory for developers. “I am in discussions with the municipal affairs minister (A. Bhattacharya) to have rainwater harvesting included in the municipal Act,” Bhattacharjee added.

The green building has already started taking roots in the city, particularly in the IT parks arena. A typical eco-friendly building uses alternative energy sources, such as solar or wind, ensures water efficiency through rainwater harvesting and also has effective waster management systems in place.

New real estate opportunities include hospitals, logistics warehousing and airport

The traditional real estate areas are residential, commercial, retail and integrated townships. But the future trend will not be the same. Future real estate area will include medicities, hospitals, logistics and warehousing, airport or port based business districts, mass housing and slum rehabilitation, and education infrastructure.
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Landlords Build Riches On EMIs

Person owning flats in Mumbai are taken as privileged one. The owner-tenant divide is almost as pronounced as the rich-poor divide.
Mr. Shishir Baijal, managing director of Kshitij, the realty fund of Future Group, earns a big amount, but still he is a tenant. He has no home of his own. He stays in 3500 square feet flat for which he has to pay a staggering rent of Rs4 lakh a month.
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NRI Organization Demands Fast Track Courts for Their Real Estate Dispute

In a recent development, a famous Non Resident Indian association has demanded to the Indian Government to bring in fast-track courts to facilitate quick disposal of their real estate disputes back home.Worldwide Group of People of Indian Origin (GOPIO), US based NRI organization further clarified that NRIs have substantial properties and investments in residential and commercial real estate in India, but the laws of the land do not give enough relief to guard them from defaulting tenants or usurpers.When it comes to getting their property vacated in India or when a tenant fails to pay rent, an ‘An NRI faces huge difficulties in resolving issues like this. Their properties are often seized by others, including relatives, and they have almost no redressal. This is a main problem of the community living out of the country.Mr. Maheshwari, a GOPIO member said that since the legal process in India is disgracefully staggered we think there should be fast-track courts for clearance of cases of NRIs. We demand this simply because we cannot be present in India and fight our cases endlessly. ‘In India there are separate courts and tribunals for some segments, Consumer protection courts. Can’t we have fast-track courts for NRIs? Else we are simply concerned about the security of our property in India,’ Maheswari said.The organisation has approached Overseas Indian Affairs Minister Vayalar Ravi and Law Minister H.R. Bhardwaj with their demands and is optimistic that the government will come out with a solution.

RBI monetary stand may strike real estate industry

The real estate sector may discover the going tough with a expected go down in housing demand following the RBI kept key interest rates untouched, belying hope of rate cut.

Real estate industry, which was hoping a slash in the interest rates on housing loans, felt although property demand would continue to boost, a cutback in rates by the central bank could have given a boost to sales. In addition, it could have produced millions of jobs in the building sector.

“Low interest rates would have unquestionably encouraged requirement in the real estate, but still at the offered rates, the demand would remain on to rise as economy is on an upswing,” DLF Group Executive Director Rajeev Talwar told PTI.

The banking & real estate sector had wished that following a 0.75 % cut in interest rate by US Federal Reserve, the RBI would also bring down interest rate by 0.25 to 0.5%.

The interest rate on house loans have gone up from around 8% to over 12 % within two years, hitting the home sales in metros and tier-II cities as well.

“We would have liked a softening tendency in interest rates to come out from the credit policy, which would have assisted not only the real estate industry but also in keeping the tempo of economic growth,” Omaxe CEO Parekh said.

“Unlike the US Federal Reserve which is always ahead of the curve, Indian Central Bank is behind the curve and we take action only when we see economy slowing down,” Parekh said.

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