Buyers Guide

Buyers Guide

Home Selection Criteria

Parameter Questions To Be Asked
Location of the Project While selecting the ideal home, you need to keep the following factors in mind-proximity to the main roads, bus stops, railway lines, transportation services, civic & recreational amenities like educational institutions, park, police station, temples, community hall, hospitals, and auditorium within reach?
Affordability Does the location fit your budget?
Place of employment How much is the distance of your office from the desired location?
Market area Is there a market nearby?
Education Where is the nearest school?
Public transport Facilities Is public transport easily accessible from the location?
Developer Does the real-estate developer have good reputation in the market?
Accessibility to water and electricity Is there steady supply of both?
Hospital / Medical services Are medical facilities easily near the project?
Monthly Society maintenance Is the monthly society maintenance a strain on your budget?
Safety and Security Is the security systems in place, like a professional guard or electronic?
Parking Spaces If you own a vehicle, you will need space to park it. Is it available? How much is the parking cost?
Chain of title It is a priority to have all the registered documents from the proposed seller who declares the ownership of property. These documents are vital for you to apply for a loan from the bank?
Affordability Do examine the internal as well as the external state of the building?
Water leakages Any property with water leakages should be an immediate no as it is bound to impact the building as a whole?
Maintenance of the flat Is the paint/wallpaper from the wall peeling away or Is the concrete crumbling?
Neighbours Grumpy and Intervening neighbours can make life very unpleasant?
Transfer charges If the society transfer chargers are too high, then you need to factor that in your budget?
Ownership Type In some projects, the property available is only via power of attorney or "pugree" basis. Getting funding for such properties is a problem?
Self constructed property (SCP) SCP is when, you buy a plot of land and construct your property there. Though you Might like that, banks don’t. As, not all banks may fund such a project?
Under construction property at an initial stage Many banks do not prefer to fund such projects. Though, if the builder has a good Track-record, it shouldn’t be a problem?

Disclaimer : The information provided herein is just for reference purpose collected from various sources. Rajesh LifeSpaces shall not be responsible for any changes in policies.

Home Loan Facts

Banks arrive at the base rate after looking at their cost of funds and other factors. Hence, it is varies for every bank. Loans by banks are related to their base rates (below which they cannot lend). The loan rate is usually base rate plus a margin, for example, base rate plus 50 basis points or bps. The base rate may vary from time to time, but the bank cannot alter the spread or the margin at which it has offered loans to existing customers. For example, if the base rate comes down from 10% to 9.75%, the interest rate for existing customers will fall from 10.5% to 10.25% (considering a spread of 50 bps) Banks can offer new loans at a higher or lower margin, for example, base rate plus 25 bps. So, for the new customer, the rate will be 10% (base rate at 9.75%), while old customers will continue to pay 10.25%. There are two ways to deal with the problem of differential rates. One, you can transfer the loan to a bank offering a lower rate. This is now easy, as pre-payment penalty on floating rate loans has been abolished. The new bank will charge only a processing fee of 0.5-1% of the outstanding loan. Some banks may even waive the fee Fixed or floating? Majority of the banks have discontinued the exercise of providing home loans with fixed rates, though there are still some of them who provide such loans. Presently the interest rates are in a back seat, so it’s best to opt for floating rate loans. Other then this, the differential factor between floating and fixed loan rates is 2 percentage points- which majorly depends upon the lender. Bank charges certain amount of fees to process the home loan. It differs from one bank to another. Few banks will have nil amounts of fees whereas others may charge 0.3 per cent to one per cent of loan amount.

Disclaimer : The information provided herein is just for reference purpose collected from various sources. Rajesh LifeSpaces shall not be responsible for any changes in policies.

NRI FAQs

An Indian citizen who stays abroad for employment / carrying on business or vocation outside India or stays abroad under circumstances indicating an intention for an uncertain duration of stay abroad is a non-resident. (Persons posted in U.N. organisations and officials deputed abroad by Central / State Governments and Public Sector undertakings on temporary assignments are also treated as non-temporary assignments are also treated as non-residents). Non-resident foreign citizens of Indian origin are treated on par with non- resident Indian citizens (NRIs).

A person of Indian origin means a foreign citizen (other than a citizen of Pakistan or Bangla desh or Sri Lanka or Afghanistan or China or Iran or Nepal or Bhutan) who: - held an Indian Passport at any time, or - whose father or paternal grandfather was a citizen of India by virtue of the Constitution of India or the Citizenship Act, 1955

Yes, under the general permission granted by the Reserve Bank of India, property other than agricultural land / farm house / plantation property can be acquired by NRIs provided the purchase consideration is met either out of inward payment in foreign exchange through normal banking channels or out of funds from the purchaser's NRE / FCNR accounts maintained with banks in India and a declaration is submitted to the Central Office of Reserve Bank in form IPI 7 within a period of 90 days from the date of purchase of the property/final payment of purchase consideration.

The Reserve Bank has granted some general permission to certain financial institutions providing housing finance e.g. HDFC, LIC Housing Finance Ltd., etc, and authorised dealers to grant housing loans to NRI nationals for acquisition of a NRI house / flat for self-occupation subject to certain conditions. Criteria regarding the purpose of the loan, margin money and the quantum of loan will be at par with those applicable to resident Indians. Repayment of the loan should be made within a period not exceeding 15 years, out of inward remittance through banking channels or out of funds held in the investors' NRE / FCNR / NRO accounts.

All NRI investments in real estate or immovable properties are considered as transactions that get regulated under the FEMA. This is essential as an NRI would be dealing with foreign exchange. It is considered to be a type of transaction which is bound to have some international financial implication. The current account transactions or capital account transactions of the NRI which are used to make investments in real estate thus gets automatically regulated under FEMA. Current Account Transaction consists of payments due as interest on loans and net income from investments.

To read more on FEMA visit www.rbi.org.in/scripts/Fema.aspx

Capital Account Transactions means transactions which alters the assets or liabilities, including contingent liabilities outside India of an NRI. It includes transactions involving acquisitions or transfers of immovable property outside India, other than a lease not exceeding five years by an NRI or a resident, remittances outside India of capital assets of an NRI and foreign currency accounts in India of a person resident outside India. Even deposits between a person resident in India and a person resident outside India are considered as capital account transactions.

The Reserve Bank has granted a blanket permission to NRIs to purchase property in India for their residential and commercial purposes. There is also no limit on the number of investments or the quantity of investments that can be made in real estate. The immovable property can be purchased by inward remittances from any place outside India or through funds maintained in NRI accounts in the banks within the country.

FEMA stipulates that before making a purchase a specified form called the IPI 7 needs to be filed with the central office of the RBI along with the title deed or any other certified copy of the document proving that the NRI has executed an agreement to purchase property within the country. The form has to be filed within 90 days of the purchase of property and has to be accompanied with a bank certificate stating the consideration paid for the purchase. Permissions are generally granted without undue delays if all the relevant papers are submitted.

Disclaimer : The information provided herein is just for reference purpose collected from various sources. Rajesh LifeSpaces shall not be responsible for any changes in policies.