Noida November 15, 2008 Tejeesh N.S. Behl House hunting in thencr is akin to a picnictake the day off and visit several propertiesand property dealers, haggle till your tongue drops off and thenhaggle some more. My first stop: Eldeco Utopia in Noida's Sector 93,just off the Expressway. Inside the on-site marketing office, Iquickly get down to business: that I am a bona fide house hunterlooking for a minimum three-bedroom apartment.
The sales officer offers me three-bedroom plus servant room unitsthat are ready-to-move-in. I cut directly to the chase: damages.Rs1.24 crore is the basic sales price (BSP), plus extra charges likecar parking, preferential location charges (PLC), etc.,he says.This, for a 2,150 sq. feet apartment (Super Area) which would workout to approximately 1,500 square feet carpet area.
While a down payment would fetch me an 8 per cent discount (ateaser, as I discover later), installments make me eligible for only4 per cent.
Rs 1.24 crore is a bit on the higher side,I tell him, especiallysince I figure that apart from the Expressway, there's not much thisapartment can boast of. No nearby provision stores or markets, noeasily available transportation, no education or medical facilities,I argue. He responds with future prospects and valuations I stick tothe present. He throws in another 4 per cent I am now up at 12 percent discount and hungry for more.
What's your offer?he queries. I quote Rs 80 lakh. He baulks, butadds another 4 per cent to the discount basket making me richer by16 per cent. Round it off to 20 per cent, I suggest. Clearly, he's alittle weary now and hesitatingly accepts. It's not much, but it's astart.
Next halt, the under-construction Omaxe Grand Woods and OmaxeForest Spa, also in Sector 93. The company's already discounted thelisted price of Rs 7,100 per sq. feet for a 2,900 sq. feet threebedroom apartment at Forest Spa by Rs 900 per sq. feet.
If you opt for a down payment, there's a further rebate of 10 percent,informs the smooth-talking company representative. A price ofRs 5,580 per sq. feet even before I start talking. Greedy, I pushfor more. He needs authorisation from company for more. At the OmaxeTwin Towers, in Noida's Sector 50, a three-bedroom plus servant room2,150 sq. feet apartment is offered for Rs 4,950 per square feet ameasly discount of 10 per cent. I protest and gingerly he reachesout to his calculator and punches in a few numbers. Rs 4,851 per sq.feet, he comes back. I push for more and the outcome is Rs 4,800 persq. feet. I know there's more juice left and the companyrepresentative confirms it with his parting shot:If you are willingto write a cheque right now, we could negotiate something to yourliking.I smile mission nearly accomplished.
Apartment visited: Eldeco Utopia
Listed price: Rs 1.24 crore plus
Area: 2,150 sq. ft
Price after bargain: Rs 1 crore plus
Gurgaon
November 18, 2008
Tejeesh N.S. Behl
Indian it's el dorado, Gurgaon, is a living example of an idiot-proof city with little by way of signages and infrastructure, itensures that idiots and directionally challenged people stay away.Searching for DLF Royalton, I manage to chance upon the nearing-completion Connoisseur Apartments in Sector 43, right next to theGold Souk. The 2,500 sq. feet four-bedroom apartments, as I learn,come with an asking price of Rs 6,400 per sq. feet and I am offeredan all-inclusive price of Rs 1.65 crore. Sure, it includes allwoodwork, modular kitchen and air-conditioning, but the eight figuredigit is way too much, I reason with the company's representative.It's a sign of the times that realtors are amenable to pricessuggested by customers he suggests a discussion on the price. WhileI start with Rs 1.1 crore, he responds with Rs 1.55 crore. I quoteRs 1.3 crore he suggests a teleconference with his MD Anil Sharma,who's unwilling to go below Rs 1.4 crore.
Fobbing them off, I head towards DLF's Royalton Towers where asoftware firm owner, probably singed by the heat of the meltdown,wants to get rid of his fourbedroom 3,900 sq. feet apartment. Hisasking price: Rs 6,000 per sq. feet. It's probably been bought as aninvestment, so you could negotiate, suggests the broker. I check afew other properties Vipul's Belmonte on Golf Course Road, where afour-bedroom 4,100 sq. feet apartment is quoting at Rs 5,800 per sq.feet, DLF's Belaire, launched at Rs 6,000 per sq. feet for afourbedroom 3,200 sq. feet apartment, fell to Rs 5,600 per sq. feetand has stabilised at Rs 5,800 per sq. feet.
I check into a local real estate consultancy, Temple Estate andSecurities and get talking to Anant Bawa, CEO, Gurgaon-Residential.There's been a softening, he confirms, but only to the extent of Rs100-200 per sq. feet in most cases with a few exceptions like theRidgewood Estate where a three-bedroom 1,400 sq. feet apartment wentfor Rs 76 lakh vis-a-vis an asking price of Rs 84 lakh a few monthsback. He suggests if my budget is in the region of Rs 4,000 per sq.feet, I should probably look at apartments on Sohna Road.
As I make my way out of his office, his sales executive motionsme aside.
If you're willing to wait for a month, I can assure you pricesaround this part (DLF Phase 4 and 5) will be down by another Rs1,000-1,200 per sq. feet,he informs. My Gurgaon trip hasn't gonewaste after all!
Apartment visited: Connoisseur Apartments
Listed price: Rs 1.65 crore
Area 2,500 sq. ft
Price after bargain: Rs 1.4 crore
Kolkata
November 11-12, 2008
Somnath Dasgupta
Kolkata, as usual, has to be different: it is almost impossibleto find a builder in the organised sector who is offering discountson the list price, although, over the past few years, there has beena boom in real estate led by a clutch of public-privatepartnerships, private players and national names.
As BT played middle-class buyer to visit offices of major as wellas unorganised builders across the city, the reply was the same:
What discount? We don't have any discounts.An official of privatesector major Merlin even boasted:We are selling a flat every day.There has been no fall in demand.
According to Abhijit Das of Jones Lang LaSalle Meghraj PropertyConsultants, there are two reasons why builders here can afford tostick to list prices. First, most of the land bank was built upyears ago and so acquired relatively cheap. Second, Kolkata has moreend-users than speculators.
Demand has come down, he says, but only because housing loanshave become expensive.The economy's growth over the past few yearshappened because of low interest rates,says Das.
Now, demand will go up only if rates are cut by two or threepercentage points. A half-percentage point cut will not do anything.
Pradeep Sureka, President of Credai Bengal, the confederation ofreal estate developers' bodies, says Kolkata has always been a veryconservative market.Builders are not overleveraged, the laws here donot permit large land banks, and so the supply chain is also notvery large,says Sureka, who is also Managing Director of one of thePPPs changing the face of the state, Bengal Park Chambers HousingDevelopment Ltd.
A private sector major cannot hold more than 25-30 acres,saysSureka. Also, he says,prices here have not galloped as they haveelsewhere.
Sureka says there has been some correction in central areas,where land is hard to come by and is very expensive, but this hashappened over the past year and is not connected to the creditcrunch.
Apartment visited: Ashray Residency (Marketed by PioneerProperty)
Area 1,037 sq. ft
Listed price: Rs 25 Lakh (plus parking)
Price after bargain: Rs 25 Lakh (No Change)
Mumbai
November 12, 2008
Anusha Subramanian
As i got cracking on my house-hunt, Thane was an unlikely firststop for the simple reason that the discount was mind-boggling onehouse free on purchase of a house.
Ek Ghar pe Ek Ghar free ... read the advertisement from CosmosPrime Projects Ltd. Curiosity led me to call the firm and visit theproperty. The properties were available in Cosmos Lounge, CosmosSpring and Sankal Heights. I was told that on the purchase of abungalow or a 1,200-1,300 sq. feet unit in any of these threeproperties, a 500 sq. feet unit was free. The new flats are beingsold at Rs 3,600-Rs 6,200 per sq. feet. The catch: the free flat islocated some 20-25 km away from Thane towards Kalyan at a placecalled Kaler. Despite this, the scheme sounded enticing.
Back in Mumbai, I called Swastik Realtors to check on a two-bedroom unit in Chembur and Ghatkopar in Central Suburbs of Mumbai.Both are prime residential localities. No two-bedroom units areavailable in these areas; all are sold. I could check in Tilak Nagar(a pocket area between Chembur and Ghatkopar), the developer tellsme. At Tilak Nagar, I am shown a 1,050 sq. feet sample flat on thesecond floor of an underconstruction building. The building iscentrally located with all amenities like a grocery, departmentalstore, bus facility to all parts of the city, rail stations (Harbourand Central) to get to town, school, restaurants and the works.
The price of the Rs 6,800 per sq. feet flat with all formalitiessuch as registration, stamp duty charges etc. works out to Rs 70lakh. Initial down payment: Rs 11 lakh. I bargain, but the builderrefuses to budge. The running rate three months ago in the samelocality was about Rs 7,800 to Rs 8,000 per sq. feet, I am told.
Some more haggling later, the builder is willing to offer a fewtrimmings. The sample flat with designer fittings in the bathroomsand kitchen (modular kitchen) and furniture will be ready within 15days and that if I am interested, I could buy a fully-furnished flatat no extra cost.The very next day, I get a call from SwastikRealtors office offering to arrange for a bank loan. Had I been abuyer, the property was worth homing in on.
Apartment visited: Swastik Realtors
Listed price: Rs 70 Lakh Area 1,050 sq. ft
Price after bargain: Rs 70 lakh +furnishing
Bangalore
November 15, 2008
Rahul Sachitanand
With a clutch of software companies housed on Bangalore'sSarjapur Ring Road, this road seems to be the best place to get myhouse-hunting plan started. My first stop is at Sobha Carnation, oneof a line of Sobha Developers in the heart of Bangalore's ITcorridor.
My target is a three-bedroom apartment close to a clutch of MNCIT campuses, but not too far away from the centre of town. My budgetrandomly fixed at Rs. 50 lakh is already stretched. I am told thataluxury flatat this development will cost as much as Rs 70 lakh.
It is all about the location,the executive says. Apparentlyconvinced by his logic, we amble around the 2.5-acre complex, whichhas 216 apartments ranging in size between 1,564 and 1,725 sq. feet.Prices start around Rs 50 lakh and go all the way up to Rs 70 lakhplus, I am told.
I am still undecided. The executive now offers aspecialschemeoffering an 8-10 per cent discount tovalued customers . When Iconjure up a lengthy list of developers also lining up outside mydoor, another 5 per cent concession is made.
But you must move quickly,he warns.
With one study recently claiming that up to over 40,000 housingunits unoccupied in Bangalore, these concessions are hardlysurprising. Already there has been one big name DLF which hassharply cut rates at its debut project in Bangalore.
Apartment visited: Sobha Carnation
Listed price: Rs 50-70 Lakh
Area 1,564-1,725 sq. ft
Price after bargain: Rs 55-65 Lakh
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