Are you paying the right price for your apartment

Despite an expansion in cities, property prices are far from being affordable. Even in the far-flung areas of cities, prices of apartments are more than Rs 10 lakhs or so. Buying individual houses is out of the question for salaried individuals. Developers release attractive ads for the properties they are building, advertising the amenities that they are building within the residential community. Think this over- should you pay 20-30 percent more for an apartment simply because it has a swimming pool or a community hall built in? These amenities would hardly count at the time of valuation of the property.

There are certain factors that you must use to determine the correct price of the apartment. Some of them have been discussed below:

  

Possibilities of Capital Appreciation:Even though most of us buy property India for end use, it does not harm to find out the prospects of capital appreciation for the property India. Rarely does land depreciate in value and hence you should know the growth trajectory of capital value before buying it. Some aspects which determine the capital value growth of a property India are:

Connectivity of the property:For rapid capital appreciation, a property has to be well connected to the rest of the city. Properties which are located near a railway station or the airport undergo rapid capital appreciation. Modes of transport such as autos, taxis, rickshaws and buses must be available from the property to the central business districts. Having a metro station near the locality is an added advantage. 

  Infrastructure available: A locality which is self-sufficient does well in the property market. Greenery, wide roads, proper sewerage and water connection, garbage collection facility, cleanliness, absence of slums, uninterrupted power supply and security are some of the infrastructural factors that determine the rate of capital appreciation. There is no point in buying a luxury apartment in a residential community which is based in a slum area.

  Social Fabric: You would not be too inclined to travel 4-5 kilometers for your everyday needs. Therefore, the locality that you select should have grocery stores, super markets and departmental stores, banks and ATMs, schools, entertainment areas nearby.

  Projection of the builder for a flat: Builders use a lot of technical jargon in order to attract buyers. By quoting large numbers, they want to impress buyers into booking properties. However, research a little into the quality of the construction and the flats on offer before booking one. The common configurations on offer are 1/2/3 BHK flats by builders. However, the area of each flat is projected in a different way. 

Some of the common terminologies used include:

  Carpet Area: The area of an apartment from wall to wall.

Cover Area: The area under the roof of an apartment.

  Built up Area: The area of the apartment including the thickness of the walls and columns. Compared to what the actual area of the property India is, this is almost 10 percent higher.

  Super Built up Area: This measurement not only considers the built up area but also common spaces used by the flat such as the lift, staircase etc. This can go up to almost 50 percent of the flats.

Many builders tend to dupe buyers into booking for properties by quoting the built up or the super built up area. As a conscious buyer you must always consider the carpet area on offer as that is the space that you will actually enjoy on the property.