Beware of Some Common Tricks Played by Realtors While Selling Property
As the real estate sector has become increasingly popular and decreasingly transparent, so have the real estate developers. For making way to sell residential and other projects, most developers employ various sales and marketing strategies to lure individuals interested in buying house property as well as property for investment.
Buyers, while looking at a residential property, hope to make a good deal since it’s their lifetime of savings that is at stake. Therefore, it becomes all the more important to be cautious and smart when seeking housing property as there are many a trap that may be set by developers in the arena to entice buyers.
Here are some common traps laid down by realtors that you need to stay wary of.
“Prices will increase in the near future, and this is the best deal!”
Most real estate agents as well as developers will present to you the same idea almost every time. They will try and convince you that this is the best time to invest in that property because, shortly, the same property might be available in much higher prices. However, the present condition of real estate in the urban cities of India holds contrary to popular belief.
Owing to the large number of ‘unsold’ inventories that these developers have hoarded and fewer buyers, it is safe to say that the market has gone a little on the sluggish path.
In any case, it is extremely hard to determine exactly how much rent a property is going to fetch in the coming future. Between 4-5% of the property value is considered to be a reasonable annual rent amount, usually, but it becomes hard to keep the rent up in this range if the property prices are on an increase.
“We did not make any corrections to our prices.”
It has been observed that in India that the property prices have undergone ‘corrections’. It has also been a food for thought circulated by the media. However, your developer or dealer might simply try and shun these reports claiming that his/her area is in its boom and such corrections, though a reality in other locations, have not been made in his/her particular area because of the preferable features such as the location, facilities, etc.
However, there may be lesser truth to the whole statement. On the face, developers may shirk from outrightly lowering the prices. However, they have learnt by now the art of reducing net prices by offering lucrative discounts, reducing gym memberships, etc. In fact, the stamp duty and registration charges are also born by the builder in certain cases.
“We offer the most affordable housing in the locality.”
While hunting for a suitable house property, it’s quite pertinent that you, as a consumer, are well aware of the prices and the general trends in real estate in that particular area. It’s not very hard for the dealer to make you fall prey to the ‘most affordable’ story.
What you must, however, check is that whether this particular dealer, while offering you a lower price, is compromising on the ‘flat/land area’ most importantly, and also some amenities that the other developers might be offering. It has been seen that the median apartment size has decreased over the years in urban India.
Pre EMI sharing schemes
The whole idea of the pre-EMI sharing scheme is that when you take a home loan, it gets disbursed across the construction stages. Hence, you need not pay EMIs on the loan until the construction is over and you have the possession in hand.
However, homebuyers tend to pay the loan interest from the first disbursement and many developers nitpick pre-EMI sharing schemes where they pay this amount for a time period of, say two years.
Prior to choosing such a pre-EMI scheme, the buyer needs to make sure that the developer has not padded up the cost by not offering any discounts or good deals. Bargaining beforehand might play a good role at this juncture.
“We can refund the payment any time you don’t like the house.”
It is recommended that the buyer does not blindly believe such a statement put forward by the developer while sealing the deal. It is simply so because most dealers, at the time of selling a property, ask for cash and it is very difficult to get a return on that. Besides, many of them may also charge you between 10-20% of the amount while giving you the return that you have asked for.
In order to avoid such a situation, one must read the sale agreement carefully. Since the contract is binding to both the sides, if either of them fails his/her commitment, the other party gets the right to assume the contract as null and void.
“We have built the exact home you dream about.”
A lay person might not be able to comprehend the nitty gritties of the blueprints of a house property or apartments, etc. To make it all fairly simple, some model apartments are made so that the buyer knows exactly how the apartment will look like.
However, it is not as simple as that. The amenities in the model flat may be much more than what is offered in the contract and even certain furniture setting and lighting might give the model flat of being bigger in size than it actually is.
Therefore, it is wise to act cautiously and not presume details while seeking housing property. Understanding the details of the property and market conditions will help overcome the probability of falling for the traps dealers might have set for the buyers.
