FAQ

The impact of the Coronavirus on real estate is being felt globally. This, however, may be a temporary setback, as real estate portals gear up to face the aftermath of COVID-19. In the short-term, transactions will dip but in the long-run, property buying will still remain lucrative and promising With a complete lockdown being imposed across India, amid the Coronavirus outbreak many among you may have been left in the lurch, especially if you had been contemplating a house purchase in the near future.

The Coronavirus fears have hit property markets worldwide. Thanks to technology, we are equipped with resources that will help home buyers and sellers through the pandemic. “Many have postponed their site visits or home-buying plans and home staging plans have gone for a toss but we know that we will adapt to this change in no time,” says Kumar Saurabh, a Ghaziabad-based real estate agent.

Take your home hunt online Choose from a range of properties Visualize better Switch to discussion forums Don’t forget to use the features The Buying Guide Price Trends Real Estate News Home Loan and EMI Calculator

Ans - Keep your website updated Comply with RERA Team up with channel partners and brokers Answer public queries online Make the most of AR/VR Think beyond

In a recent survey by London-based real estate agent company Benham and Reeves survey, 83% respondents said they would not abandon their home-buying plans due to COVID-19. The company also notes that during the flu outbreak in the United Kingdom between March 2009 and August 2010, home prices grew by 12.3%.

While it is not safe to go out, you can definitely go ahead and research about the property online. Some developers may also be agreeable to closing the sale online. Do make a decision given the local advisory in your state.

Absolutely! There are some reputed online real estate brands such as Housing.com that are in the business of real estate for long. These portals will help you with end-to-end service. If you are keen on a property, use their online services to make an informed choice.

The first thing you must do is to price the property correctly. Price is the main attraction for buyers and a big differentiator. The real estate market has been sluggish for the past few years. Sales have plunged and prices are falling due to high inventory. In such a scenario, selling a house is not easy. But what if you had bought it as an investment for a goal such as your child's education and cannot wait? Don't worry. We tell you how to get the best possible price, and that too quickly, for your house. Pricing it correctly Determine the Right Price Do Repairs Choosing Broker Advertise Effectively Paper Work

Before you can call a place home, you have to tread a long road that involves detailed planning and years of savings. A good real estate agent is all it takes to make the journey smooth. For this, it is important that the selection is done carefully. "Consumers tend to trust the advice of brokers at face value and subsequently realise that they have been misinformed. Consumers' choice about service and price options is restricted by informal anti-competitive practices that brokers indulge in," says Sachin Sandhir, managing director, RICS South Asia, a self-regulatory body of real estate professionals. How can you know that your broker is taking care of your interests and not playing tricks that will benefit only him? Persuasive Pitch Quality Control Distance Sale Transparent Fees Online Ads Big Advantage Unlicensed Brokers

RICS, a self-regulatory body, has launched a code for real estate brokers. The code has been supported by several leading brokerages. Some points of the code include: Conduct business in an honest, fair, transparent and professional manner. Ensure that clients are provided terms of engagement and incorporate details of complaint-handling procedures. Avoid conflict of interest and, where they do arise, deal with them openly, fairly and promptly. All communication with clients should be fair, timely and transparent. Advertisements should be honest and decent. Brokers should have professional indemnity/ error or omission insurance to ensure customers do not suffer loss as a result of any negligent act. Give a realistic assessment of the likely selling, buying or rental price or associated cost of occupancy to the client based on market evidence and using best professional judgment.

The first question you should ask the salesperson is that if the builder has legal rights to sell the land or not. Find out who is the current owner of the land? Is it a builder himself or not? A lot of builders either buy the entire land from the previous owner or enter into a joint agreement with the owners to sell or develop the land and sell the plot scheme. No matter what, make sure that this part is clear. Ask for the documents which clearly show the builder has legal rights on the plot himself.

Builders often take a bank loan for the Plot schemes and even residential schemes. It’s a sign that the builder is more serious about the project and it’s also a positive sign, because if there is the money with builder which will be specifically used for the project development.The builder is not dependent fully on the advance money the home buyers. It shows that there is a cash flow dedicated to the project and the issue of cash crunch will be minimized.

By default, all the land in India is ” AGRICULTURE LAND”, unless it’s defined for some other purpose by the govt. So a piece of land is either agricultural or non-agricultural (commonly called as NA in real estate industry) Agricultural land can be used for Agri purpose, whereas if you want to do any other thing other than agriculture then one has to first convert that Agri land to non-agricultural (NA) NA – Commercial, NA – Warehouses, NA – Resort, NA – IT, NA – Residential (this is the one where one can build a residential house)

Suppose you bought a plot of size 2000 sqft for building the house on it. How much construction can you do? Here comes the concept of the FSI or Floor space index. FSI simply means how much construction can be done on a piece of land and it depends on the location of the plot.FSI of 100% means if you have a plot of size 2000 sqft, you can build a house of 2000 sqft on that. If the FSI is 75 %, then you can only build 1500 sqft of house on that 2000 sqft land.

So understand that FSI has a very important role to play when you will construct something or even when you will sell the plot to someone else. Imagine 2 plots which are of the same size (2000 sqft), but with different FSI like 50% and 100% Plot A (50% FSI) – You can make just 1000 sqft home on that, which will be like a 2 BHK) Plot B (100% FSI) – You can make a 2000 sqft home, which will be like a 4-5 bedroom Bungalow.

You should ask the salesperson about the other projects done by the builder. Check if they have done other similar projects in the past? What was the response to it? What is the quality of those projects? Were there any legal issues with those schemes? Are the buyers happy with the builder work there?

You will often hear about the “agreement to sell” which is executed when you book the flat/plot and clear your initial payments (around 35-40%). This is the time when you pay stamp duty and registration charges. Once the agreement to sale is completed, a lot of buyers think that the flat/plot is registered on their name and now they are legally safe.

“Sale Deed” is the document that needs to be registered in the office of sub-registrar in order to make the sale happen. Unless the sale deed is done, you do not become a legal owner.Hence, ask the builder or salesperson about the sale deed? When is it going to happen? The sale deed is generally done, only when the builder gets all the dues from your end.

Let me first help you understand what is “7/12 extract”? It’s a term which you will often hear in states like Maharashtra and Gujarat. In Karnataka its called 7/12 Uttara. It’s the document maintained by the revenue department which mentions how the land moved from one owner to another owner in the last 30 yrs.So in a way, its a history of the land and you will find exactly on which date who sold to whom. This way you will find out who is the current owner of the land also.

Once you buy the plot, there is annual maintenance that needs to be paid which goes towards maintaining the basic amenities like security, upkeep of the project, gardens, water, security etc. It should not be a surprise for you later. This maintenance is generally paid on a yearly basis and it’s proportional to the plot size. For example, if it’s Rs 4 per sqft and your plot size is 2000 sqft, then your maintenance per year would be Rs 8000.

- Don’t assume that your plot is always going to be a piece of flat land. If it’s a big project, it might happen that the overall land which builder has acquired is uneven or has slopes. So when it’s divided into several small plots, many plots might be on the slope or it might be uneven. You will ask what are the main issues when we build a house on land with slope or an uneven plot?

Always ask how they are going to provide water and other basic amenities. Is it going to come from the municipality or the gram panchayat? Or they are doing their own arrangement for it? And also ask some other questions like : What about electricity? Are they going to arrange for a individual electricity meter? How much are they charging for it? If the plot/land is too much away from the main road, then what about the access road? Who will develop it? What about fencing of plots? What about security? Ask everything in detail and in points.