Three tips to buying a home

With the return of buyer sentiment, builders are obviously determined to capitalise on it, via increased marketing efforts. According to Kishor Pate, CMD, Amit Enterprises Housing Ltd, “Property buyers they should be judicious while evaluating offers and schemes and base their purchase decisions solely on the real value of the home, instead of on freebies.” 

Freebies such as gold, cars and household goods have an attraction, but they do not add to the value to the home. 

Pate explains, “The price of a home is obviously an important consideration. However, looking for the cheapest options on the market does not make much sense, because it is quality that determines value.” 

In the case of residential property, the quality of an offering is vested on three aspects: Location quality, brand value of builder and amenities. 

Central locations are traditionally the costliest, thanks to the fact that they offer great access to many important parts of the city— most importantly the CBD and SBD (central and secondary business districts). Pate says, “These areas tend to host  the offices of high-profile companies, which also tend to offer a vast cross-section of jobs— from highly-paid management to more modestly-paid support staff jobs. Even the second category of jobs is attractive because growth prospects in high-profile companies are usually very good. Many of a city’s outskirts have become very desirable places for homebuyers, and they are far less expensive. 

“Unfortunately, such locations attract all kinds of developers — from those who have a reputation for creating true lifestyle value offerings to those who specialise in constricted, lifeless ‘pigeon-hole’ homes. This is where the brand value of a developer plays a significant role,” says Pate. 

The consideration of ‘ticket size — the cost of a flat — is obviously important, but one still only gets what one pays for. Ultimately, a home is not just an asset but one which performs the very critical function of offering refuge, comfort and security — the three mainstays of lifestyle. Buyers must look for options which offer them these three advantages to a satisfactory level. Branded builders provide these as part of their standard value offering, because their reputation demands it. 

If four walls and a parking space are enough to serve our housing needs, the real estate industry  the world over would be a very unexciting one at best. The fact is, urban life today places a lot of stress and demand on us, and our homes cannot be places of refuge alone, but must also provide healing and rejuvenation from these. A clubhouse, swimming pool and children’s park are no longer luxuries but the bare minimum an Indian home-buyer can and should expect. A residential project that does not offer these falls far short of the required mark.  

Obviously, even projects without such offerings will find buyers because of their lower prices —but such buyers find very little comfort in their purchases. While short-listing prospects for home purchase, it is definitely important to ensure that the final selection provides a decent lifestyle and not just an abode. 

If one looks at the supply on the residential property market from such a focused perspective, the bewildering choice of options automatically narrows down to a more manageable and comprehensive level.