When to buy: This one is simple. Buy it as soon as possible. Buy it now. Don’t worry about leaving Bangalore and going back to your hometown. You can always sell it later. And at a profit too. The best time to buy apartments is during the pre-launch offer. These offers run for about 2 months and the rates are up to 200/- per sqft lower. As soon as the builder gets the plans approved from the govt authorities (and the project is officially launched), the rates shoot up (and keep on shooting up). The number of units on offer during pre-launch is very less though.
Amenities: All the apartments are advertised to have a club house, swimming pool, gym, garden, and playground etc. It would be a shame to call that pit a swimming pool but the point here is that you are made to pay for these things. If you are going to buy a house in one of these projects, there is nothing you can do to avoid paying for them. But what you can do is to buy a house in a much smaller apartment complex. These complexes typically have only 12-20 units and don’t have any of the above “luxuries”. You can see these kinds of complexes everywhere in residential areas like Koramangala. The prices are about same as big complexes but then you get to live in the city and in a much better locality.
Salespeople: Do NOT trust the marketing executives who take you to the site and give you a tour. They would promise anything just to sell you the damn apartment. Always call up the customer care department and verify it with them. Better still, go to their office and have a look at the papers yourself.
Cost: Like there is an ex-showroom price for cars, apartments have an ex-builder price (I just made up that term). A typical price of, say, 2000/- per sqft quoted by the builder does not include charges for Water supply, Electricity, Car parking, Service tax, VAT, Registration, and legal expenses etc. You won’t get any wardrobes or kitchen shelves either. Add 30% of the base cost for these things (total cost now = 2600/-). The builder should be able to tell you exactly how much would these things cost. Your loan eligibility is calculated on the sum total of all the above costs.
Premiums: Some builders, or rather all of them, ask for a premium for corner units or upper floors. In other cities, lower level floors cost more than the higher ones but in Bangalore it’s the other way around. This premium rate is typically 20/- to 50/- per sqft per floor. There is no problem in paying it except that it is not shown in any of the documents. Your house would still be registered at a rate of 2000/- only. See if your builder can waive it off or reduce it; most do.
Another thing to note is that builders do not release (put up for sale) all the units once they launch the project. They keep some units for selling them later at a higher price.
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