10 Things You Must Know Before Buying Your Dream Home

Real Estate in India is one of the most important revenue generating sectors. With new homes being built in almost every location, developers are competing for your money with attractive offers or offering incentives on property buying. Before you go ahead and make an offer on a house, remember the huge commitment you are about to make, and ensure you have done your research. There are lots of factors to take into consideration before you make your purchase. Following are ten important things you must know before buying your dream home.

• Property Rates: The property rates varies depending on number of factors such as real estate trend in the city, type of cities, localities and infrastructure available in that area, type of home etc. Knowing property rates in different parts of city you are planning to invest will help you in deciding locality and type of property you can invest.

• Type of house & neighborhood: Once you made a thorough research on property rate, next step is choosing type of property and neighborhood. There are different types of properties such as individual homes, apartment complex, and apartment under construction or going to start construction, constructions completed projects, resale or secondhand property etc. Now you have to choose whether you are going to buy individual house or a multi storey apartment and decide the number of bed rooms you need (2, 3 or 4). Make a wish list of property you are looking for. Check that the property you are interested in is close to the facilities you require, Will car parking be provided, how much is the maintenance charge, What is distance from your home to key areas such as workplace, shopping or entertainment place, educational institutes, banks, hospitals, nearest railway station or bus stand, how safe is neighborhood etc. So before choosing type of house and neighborhood, it is very important to consider all these factors. The most important aspect of a home’s value is the neighborhood it’s in, so shop for homes in the best areas you can afford.

• Know your budget: Once you know the property rate and type of house you are planning to buy, next important thing is plan your budget. If you know your budget, your real estate agent can help you in showing the homes or apartment that suits your budget. Getting pre-approved for a loan gives you more buying power.

• Other expense: There can be other expense while buying a property such as solicitor fees, broker commission, registration charge, down payment, Home loan processing fee, credit card or other emergency expense etc. Make sure you keep this in mind when putting down any sort of money.

• Ready to compromise: You will not get everything you want or listed in your wish list. Keep your budget and limitations in mind and come up with an amount you can afford to pay. It is not always that you can rent or buy a property that has every thing you want. It could have your desired no of bedrooms, desired amount but you may mean a longer journey to work.

• Stick to your budget: You must stick to your budget and discard a property if the seller is unwilling to drop the price to something that you can realistically afford. Sometimes, your broker will deliberately take you to see places beyond your budget, hoping you will buy them and he could somehow scrounge and get the money.

• Asking questions: Asking questions to the broker or seller relating to the property helps you to clarify your doubts and know more about the property you are planning to buy. Ask questions until you understand all of the information they have given. You can also ask from whom the seller bought the property and other questions relating to property title or documents.

• Negotiate Property Price: Remember that properties do not have fixed price tags. Be aware that the asking price is often set high in order to encourage a higher opening offer than would be given with a lower asking price and you are expected to negotiate. If the seller want to sell the property quickly, they will be more likely to accept a lower sum than the asking price.

• Scrutinize the house: Scrutinize the condition of the house from top to bottom. Consider the cost to repair any problems when deciding what to offer on the home. Scrutinize the condition and age of the roof, the plumbing and the condition of the pipes, cracks etc. You can hire a home inspector for scrutinizing the condition.

• Making an offer: You can make the offer even if you’re not 100% sure you want to buy the house. If you see a property that you really like but it does not “cut it” on the financing side, make an offer anyway. If it is a buyer’s market you may be surprised at how willing the seller is to meet your price. You never know what will happen when buying a house.