As we all know that buying a property results in shelling out a significant amount of savings of an individual, and hence one needs to take extra care while buying a flat. One should not just go with the brand name or just consider price factor, rather there are many more factors to consider while buying a flat.
Location and infrastructure
Location is one of the important factor to be consideredwhile buying a flat. Buyer should decide on the location based on the need such as school, hospital and work location. A home buyer should look for surroundings, infrastructure, amenities and road/ transport connectivity. Infrastructure provided/promised by builder, also needs to be verified in context of daily need or practicality.
Price of the property
Price is major constraint factor for most of the buyers and hence exploring the options with reasonable pricing is also important. First you need to be very certain about your budget and then look for the properties falling in your price bracket. Locality and amenities are the factors which impact property price. So once certain developer quotes price for flat / apartment, compare it with other neighboring area properties. Current market pricing of the flats in a particular area can be pulled through newspaper, listings on property portals and from real estate agents around the area.
Legal – Status of the Property
It is very important to ensure the property is legally authorized. Verify if the developer has approvals and NOCs from the local body or Municipal Corporation, Area development authorities, electricity board and other relevant authorities. With RERA law regulations most of the properties have all documents in place, but still one should ensure whether the builder has any right over the property.
Information of Banks approving the project
With many real estate companies holding unsold inventory and not having necessary finances to complete their projects, banks have become extra cautious while financing new projects. There would be many such projects for which Banks do not offer loans. Hence before you finalize the property, ensure that project has been approved by bank, else you wont get any loan from the bank.
Builder-Buyer Agreement
Once a token amount is paid by buyer, then as a next step, agreement is signed between buyer and builder (developer). Often this agreement is in favor of builder and so it is in buyer’s interest to read it carefully and go through all the clauses before signing on. For example, check if there are any clauses related to increase in prices in case of raw material prices hike etc. accordingly raise your concerns.
Additional Charges
Check the additional charges for things like processing fee, agreement cost, club membership, parking and society formation etc., and ensure that you are aware of it and it is a part of overall pricing. In case any other charges that will be applicable in future, needs to be documented. Maintenance charges are taken in different format like one time or monthly maintenance by builder till society handover. In the other case there is lot of ambiguity and it may come to your surprise when society is formed and it may demand considerable maintenance amount on monthly basis.
Flat Carpet Area and Possession
It’s been observed that there is a significant difference between flat saleable area and actual carpet area. You need to be very careful in understanding what carpet area you are getting in a nutshell. This is also an important comparison factor while comparing price between different builder’s offerings.
Similarly, possession time frame of your property does matter, as your further financial planning, how long to rent the current place etc depends on property possession. Usually developers promise about certain timeframe for flat possession, but often fail to deliver the same. With new laws & RERA regulations,builderstry to ensure that they give possession of the flat as promised, but still it adds to the frustration as it spoils your plan. Onecan prefer ready possession flat but it’s not always possible for everyone.
For most people buying a house is once in life time investment and one of the biggest step, hence each of the above points have to be considered before closing the deal.