sreekys

Dear All,

I have been keenly following the RE business especially in Mumbai for the past one year. I have found this entire industry being taken over by the rich and the mighty leaving hss middle class buyers like us in the lurch.

First of all in the forthcoming budget the builders lobby has asked for incentives to continue for them to continue providing so called 'affordable' homes. Secondly, as a self appointed spokesperson they are lobbying with the FM to raise tax exemption limits for interest and capital repayment deductions. Hello!! why dont they just keep the rates steady for a while if they are so very interested in buyer welfare. I have seen projects in thane that charge as high as 6 lakhs for a car park. Many cars are not even worth half of that! And what happens to people who don't own a car? The builders can really get away with anything...they promise you eco friendly homes on a site which was created by erasing over a 100 trees..What a paradox!!

Act 2 is the banks and the RBI plays the lead hero. The RBI is suddenly worried about teaser loans and potential bad debts hence it increases the CRR...so what do the banks do? They obviously cannot take pangaa with the regulator so they happily end their teaser loans and suddenly the buyer is rewarded with a rise in interest rates.

The entire circus does not stop there...the press joins the party with some quotable quotes of 'renowned builders' who find the time to give press bytes rather than focus on issues with project completion. Am not going to take any names here but pick up any news paper or magazine the story is the same grim truth. The so called journalists interview only the 2-3 builders and property consultants who always give u a forecast of a robust and healthy scenario and in the same breath announce week on week that there cannot be a better time to buy....

So the builder blames the banks...the banks blame the builders and press keeps screaming from rooftops that it's the best time to buy.

The end user if anyone cares is left to deal with the intricate jugglery of home expenses rising food prices, poor infrastructure and heavy pollution and a host of other things. Pls do not think that this is a sympathy note on behalf of the buyers...this only goes to show that if you do not stand up for yourself some one else will. Why is there hardly any voice from any association like the RE buyers association and what are its powers. Frankly I don't even know if anything like that exists and am sure there are many like me who don't....why??
because they are NOT GIVEN A CHANCE TO BE HEARD!!

So dear buyers...GET TOGETHER AND SPEAK UP!

geeee

They say that a fool and his money are easily parted. It's not just real estate but anywhere where the buyer is ready to buy anything that is sold to him, he deserves to loose his money. Nothing stops the so called middle class from walking away and not buying but, everyone is just following the herd. You have to buy a new sedan coz. ur neighbor bought one, you have to buy that new flat that you can barely afford because your coworkers just bought flats there, you have buy stocks coz the guy on television / ur broker / ur friend who knows a broker, told you so. And all those things are never going to change.

boldm28

We are trying to buy a flat from 2007 . and the saga contiunes .. every time i have to up my budget by 10 lacs .. first it was 30 to 35 .. then it was 40 to 45 .. then it was 55 to 65 and now it is anything above 70 lacs .. this is so frustrating

high5

Should have taken the plunge this time last year....fortune favors the brave.

wiseman

Bold,

You have either gone from 1-bhk to 2-bhk to 3-bhk. Or maybe you went from middle-class neighborhood to upper-class to super-fine-class.

Or both!

I can see no other way to explain how your budget kept going up, up and away from 2007 to now.

Even Almighty's property has only gone up around 2% in this timeframe as per his own admission!

cheers

boldm28

when i first started in 2007 end -- i had shortlisted blue group of building( atul builders) .. they were charging a rate of 5300 per sqft for 850 super build up
ready position did not like their construction as ready flats had all salt coming out of the walls .so i let it go .. that time i could have bought that flat for 40 lacs .. now the same area is charging a premium of 8000 to 8500 per sqfeet .. wake up and smell the coffee .
other egs

rustomjee elenza -- 2008 --6500 2009--9750
kalpataru --2008 --6000 2009 8000

so on so forth

sreekys

and as if the hurt was not bad enough service tax has been slapped on the buyers and the banks have announced their intentions in the days to come ICICI and Kotak leading the way...bottom line everyone wants to just give lip service to affordable housing but none of the stakeholders wants to forgo even a rupee of their profits..

sagi7

Guys if its an investment, one can differ and in todays context quite certainly, however if its need-based and well-researched, hind-sight has taught that you should take the call, in the long run it will only be benefecial.

wiseman

Bold,

Agreed.

Unless you have a compelling reason and enough cash, it might be a better idea to rent and put your budget to better use building up your cash position for a more opportune day.

Currently, builders are putting up a brave face as well as their prices in the hope of breaking the buyer's resolve. But their debts are very high, interest rates are likely to rise putting pressure on both, their own loans as well as demand for high-priced homes. Sometime they have to break.

Besides, another big crisis in the EU and US will once again put demand in the ditch (due to sentiment diving) and put even more pressure on the builders to get sales going! Sometime in the next 4-6 months is my expectation (might even be sooner).

There is a lot of truth in the popular adage, "a fool and his money are soon parted" (not that I'm calling you one). Be wise if you can. And patient too!

Good luck.

cheers

boldm28

anyone paying more than 5000 per sqft for places in kandivali or more than 6000 for a repute builder like kalpataru , rustomjee is just not wise.having said that builders are known to create ways to extract money from people like us
for eg
kalpataru -- parking spot 5L ( mandatory)
scanning and documentation 5 thousand

legal and documentation fees 5 thousand
Consultancy charges for finalization of rateable value ( what does even mean) 5000
Development charges (what does this mean) 18300
so you see 25 thousand is for I dont even know what to call it .

and this is from kalpataru .. i just shudder to think about not so good builders
so the per sqfeet may come down but all the above mentioned cost will go up and the grand total will same from 80 lacs to 1 crore