House hunting adventures in Bangalore - 3 (Documentation)

Documentation is a very important part of the property you zero in on. 

1. Property related :
1. Check the documents thoroughly.Dont leave this to some two bit lawyer appointed by your agent. Be sure it is someone knowledgeable and indeed looks after your interest(preferably someone who is on YOUR payroll)
2. Akrama-Sakrama factor. This means there are building complexes that are built with an extra floor or extra villa etc other than what is in the original approved plan.  http://www.deccanherald.com/content/45737/ipl-2012.html Its quite convenient for Sellers to leave out this info under "Buyer Beware"
3. A Khata versus B khata. This is another factor that a good lawyer can give your details about how accurate your home papers are. http://basunivesh.wordpress.com/2012/05/16/difference-between-a-khata-and-b-khata-bangalore-property/
2. Bank Related :

1. If the Bank loan officer says the property papers are allright, dont just take their word for it. They are paid on commission for every loan they sign on and have been scammed for overlooking dubious papers. 
2. Most often than not the loan officer will ask you to "just sign" and they will do the rest. Easier said than done. but with so many forms to sign it gets difficult to read it. 
3. As one of the Bankers said, if we read everything on the terms and conditions, no sale would ever take place. 
4. So yes, its like that check box in most internet sites "I have read the terms and conditions" scary but somethings we just leave to fate!
5. The whole deal while working out a Bank loan involves a lot of paper work/details/copies/identity proof etc. Keep a set ready and handy all the time : copy and scan the following documents
• Passport copy of name/address proof
• Letter from your bank stating you live currently at so and so place
• Letter from your office stating your address
• Electricity bill from current place of residence
• Rental agreement
• Utilities bill
• Bank Statements
• Marriage certificate copy if required
• Keep the above for both the person in whose name the loan is being taken and the person who is an addon(example spouse)
3. Registration related :
1. While registering the property just remember that most of these government offices open at 1030-11:00ish for business. So unlike our banker and our agent who knew that the office would open so late, we were asked to turn up with the seller at 08:30a.m.! Quite an awkward place to be, esp since we are new to the act of registering but agents/Bank officers are not. One wonders why they add to the anxiety. 
2. Keep your identification details with you as you will have to show that while signing the agreement.(something your agent/banker might conveniently forget to inform)
3. Keep some cash on hand(10-20k or more as discussed with the agent) for "sundries" -dont expect a bill for it.

Good luck with the documentation. 

House hunting adventures in Bangalore - 2

In our search for our dream home, well we certainly saw a lot of places. Out of every 10 homes we saw in a fortnight, we probably liked 2. Dont despair, some people find a place and like it and sign it immediateley - Remember they are an exception and NOt the rule.


You might wonder if your agent have some quota of places he needs to show in a day and is that he is showing you a few crappy ones too. Be firm and state what you don't want to waste your time looking at stuff which is not in your criteria. 


As we dont have any HGTV in India, most apartments/houses are very very poorly staged. So its very important to like what you see because of what you think it can become in the future. Worst are places where current tenants maintain the home like a sewer!

1. A few homes we saw and liked had some super master bedrooms but a galley like kitchen. In our homes we dont have maids to do the cooking. It is a joint activity. So our Kitchen criteria was something with a lot of work space. Say in case two women-(imagine that) are in the kitchen.
2. Make a list of who all are going to stay in your apartment/house. If there are elderly, be sure NOT to choose too many split levels -as these are sure  traps for having a fall.
3. Ensure the bathrooms are well lit/roomy/dry and elderly/child friendly too. Not all guests/visitors leave bathrooms dry like you might want to, so ensure that is taken care of in the guest/common bathroom.
4. Look for places that dont require too much re-modelling. Sometimes one man's treasure is another man's trash. We were keen to buy an empty shell if the wood work was not up to the mark in most places. 
5. Remember that most sellers who bought their place for investment, and have tenants currently, would have compromised on the interior work with some cheap woodwork. 
6. Do a little home work around the society/gated community you are targeting. Are those sports/gym etc actually working? 
7. What is the cost of maintenance?(some places have a higher maintenance charge)Dont forget to factor that in, as it will add to your monthly expense along with your EMIs.
8. We made a mistake of making just some perfunctory queries thro our agent, who ill advised that some known tenant in the same property said "they had absolutely no problems". 
9. What we overlooked was the gym had stuff which was not working, a swimming pool that was redundant, water issues that were being addressed by the committee and so on..
10. Also a good idea is to figure out what are the rules of the committee,the charges etc. We for one had to struggle while doing up our interiors -as the rules of work timing/workers staying in property changed all the time. 
11. These are things that might have become clear had we introduced ourselves to the committee instead of the builder.
12. Find out the water situation, example we didnt know that after HAL there was no Kaveri drinking water. We have borewells that are treated with Reverse Osmosis.
13. Check the common areas and how they are maintained. 

There are pros and cons with large apartment complexes. 

1. Ask yourself if your kids need a larger play area, and more friends/people to hang out with - a larger apartment complex helps that. 
2. Imagine in a smaller complex if you didn't get along with your  US returned, always-complaining-about-everything-neighbours, well you are stuck aren't you ? But the flip side is its also cosy and you get to know everyone intimately(Maybe a con for some)
3. We zeroed in on an eco friendly building complex which was not ostentatious to look at, and had a very earthy feel to it. It also had fewer buildings/villas and thats why seemed less crowded. 
4. A smaller apartment complex is good if you dont want the crowd and the whole beehive look of the residential property. 
5. Selling and buying property in large complexes would be easier as they are differentiated on price and value addition done.
6. Larger complexes have a good supply demand of work force and prices can be kept optimum esp for domestic help, gardeners, car washers, dog walkers etc..Might not have the same luxury in smaller residential areas.
7. Do check proximity to markets, schools, public transport. Places that are away from the noise/well secluded have the issue of planning your outings/errands due to distance.

So choose whatever appeals to you and your family. Think long term. These are expensive decisions and cannot be changed overnight.  

House hunting adventures in Bangalore

It all started when we decided that it may be time to move into our own place after having lived in a rented accommodation for two years.

A few things we added to our "must have" and "nice to have" list.  

Must have list 

1. Right price within budget
2. Bearing in mind that my husband and in laws are quite tall,  a factor to be included i.e. higher ceilings. Some homes in Bangalore have low ceilings at the most inopportune  places
3. Another "must have" was Privacy. Rooms situated in such a way that there is enough privacy for everyone. 
4. We prefer rooms that are NOT dotting the living room, guests/visitors needn't know where every room is.
5. Good light/air
6. My family is quite loud, so hopefully no ground floor where one probably shouts out to each other, "where did you keep my purse" and so on..the neighbours hear everything. 
7. Also ground floor usually meant less light, or having curtains drawn all the time, another no no.
8. Proximity to place of work. 

The "nice to have list" was quite long as you can imagine. So I will leave that out now. 

Online searching and Agentinvolvement

The search criteria was set up in some of the realty portals : magic Bricks, 99acres.com,indiaproperty and so on.

While we did line up a few places from the search, having an agent or two on the task helps. Their network is way larger and they can line up more places to your liking on a specified day.

Our agent was an old time friend, so there are pluses(lots of hard work and personal involvement) and minuses in such a relationship - one that takes the other for granted 

1. Give your agent a Budget criteria. If your budget is say 30 Lakhs, be sure most Indian agents will start showing you places for Rs. 50 Lakhs. 
2. Most would say "your budget is not enough". It never is "enough" for them. Even at Rs. 2 Crores, agents are known to say they have only property for Rs. 4 Crores. Dont get swayed by it. 
3. The higher the budget, the higher their commission. Ideally most agents like working for big ticket budgets. But dont let that bother you. They are also sensing how far you will stretch your budget.
4. Stick to your budget. Imagine if you said your budget is 20L, your agent will start showing you something for 30L. Get the drift ? See a few. and then decide what is your actual budget and what you are NOT ready to budge from.
5. Fix your walk-away price after that, since you get a glimpse of what work the agent can do and what are the properties in his kitty. 

We took a good 6-8 months in our search. At times in a job market like ours, sometimes a possible long term overseas posting etc might put the brakes on your house search, so be transparent with your agent and seller about it.

A piece of advice while house/apartment hunting :

1. Check the property in daylight. Which rooms have enough light and air, would be easily visible.
2. Check for quality of doors and windows. These soon become big ticket items if you were change or repair everything
3. See walls for dampness or for water stains. Address Seepage problems with builder/seller if possible
4. Check floors for stains. possible water logging(example in balconies/bathrooms etc)
5. Quick check the plumbing. Are the flush/taps working
6. If there is wood work done, check for wood borer problems. if its an empty place even better. 
7. Check balconies to see if there is a proper sunshade or so to divert the water from rains. 

A good idea will be to sign some of these off with the seller/builder before closing a deal.

Remember you are a buyer/customer and therefore can make a few demands like asking the seller to include some stuff if required in the agreed price and so on. 

Watch out for sellers/and seller's agents who put on an act like they are doing you "a favour"(in case you come off as someone who loved the place too much) you might end up seeming needy and agreeing to most of the seller's demands! This is a buyer's market so please know you can push a little. 

A fact :

You will never know what a "good price" for a property is untill you check around enough to know what "VALUE" it has for you right now and in case you decide to upgrade and sell this in the future. 

Agitated Customer of Banks, Financial instituitions, and other Nuisances

Working with banks should be easy right ? wrong!

• HSBC/HDFC phone banking : Some of the most IMPERSONAL banks i have ever known. Its the toughest to get thro to a "phone banker" if u forget your phone code, god save you. By the time one gets thro the maze of dial one, dial two, dial 3 for etc etc , one is at ones wits end. The result ? you make a trip to the bank to do your transaction. and Then ? the Bank CHARGES you for it!! like hello!! Whatta scam!

The other day i had a make a deposit, but didnt find the time. Sent an assistant only to be told that the Bank will levy inr 100 for that transaction since it was depositted by someone Other than the account owner. Another lovely scam!

• Phone sales callers:

1. I usually make it a point to return all missed calls.(yeah yeah, some i miss out deliberately, and conveniently forget to call back)I Had 4 missed calls the other day(was in trainings). I tried desperately to call back only to hear an engaged tone. I feared the worst. Assumed it was my domestic help who was unwell. But no, it was State bank of india. I politely declined their services. and then what ? they call back a week later. New person, obviously the old list was not updated, that i was NOT interested. ANd then again a month later. One wonders if the Bank is stupid or the staff
2. Then there were calls from this lady from one Gurgaon number. The lady says " i want to offer you INR 50,000" i said, why ? and she says "if you want" and went to drone about services from ABN Amro bank. One of the worst banks to deal with in terms of back office function.
3. A lady called for a colleague who had left from Citibank wanting to speak to my colleague. I said he has left the company and please don't call here again. She asks me "WHY"? I just asked her if they didn't learn from banks being sued for disturbing customers ??
4. Some of the most nagging callers are from ICICI or mocked as Aisa Waisa bank on the Matrix advt!

Website usage

One of the worst websites is HSBC/HDFC and of course ABN Amro. Not the easiest to navigate. and not the easiest to get started on in the first place. Right from filling a form, which i have done 4-5 times a year and still not recd an access!!

Email Apology

One thing you can learn from these banks is HOW to write apology letters to the customers. Very well drafted. Standard, one size fits all. Usually reaches no solution untill escalated.

Working over the Counter :

Beware the angry cashier at the counter at a canara Bank or an SBI. It seems like it was a mistake to have gone there in the first place. I remember on two occasions when i took it up with tye branch manager at Canara Bank and at Corporation Bank(Dahisar) about their staff being rude to my mother. The Managers ofcourse apologised and mentioned "it will not happen again" Which didnt. So, well done on that front.

Customer Services One thing is for sure there is a sure scope for improvement. Give me a co-operative bank like Greater Bombay anyday. Not so much as a musty smelling SBI, neither is it intimidating as an HSBC. Its truly service with a smile. One knows your job will be done if you walk in there,