Buying a house, for any person can be considered as a lifetime investment, which is done by spending a major portion of the savings and with the hope of owning a worthy asset. But in reality, the buyers in the urge of owning their dream home, which would be more or less similar to the “Sample House” that the builder had shown, are lured and easily cheated by the real estate lobby.
Construction companies have a number of marketing strategies to sell their projects. These builders are bound to come up with schemes and plans that cater to the needs of a middle class family. The companies however, exploit the urge of the middle class to own a house and come up with plans that seem to be exciting and profitable for the customer.
To name a few, the schemes provided by the builders mainly comprise offers like exciting offers for the first ten buyers, book a flat and own a car, paying the registration fee that accounts to be 12 per cent of the total property, easy home loans at very low interest rates, free modular kitchen and the list goes on and on.
The biggest trap for the real estate buyers is the sample flats or villas displayed by the builder. The buyer is lured by the fully furnished mesmerising villa or flat. In addition to this the long list of concessions and price discounts offered are enough to convince the person to buy the property.
But a buyer should always give importance to the credibility and the brand name of the builder and should thoroughly inquire whether all the facilities available in these sample homes are also provided at the discounted rates. Sample flats or villas are made to look spacious by not attaching the doors and installing glass partitions in the bathrooms that give an illusion of bigger space. The buyer should think about all these factors before saying yes to a property.
Once a person decides to buy the property another trap that many customers fall prey to is the home loan facilities made available by the builder. The builders often put forward many attractive loan offers that include loan availability at 6 per cent for the first 10 bookings, pre-EMI schemes where the loan is disbursed according to the construction stages during which, the buyer has to pay only the interest amount and not the principal component.
Sometimes the builders also provide schemes where they promise to pay the pre-EMI for a period of 12 months or so. The buyers should be vigilant while taking up such offers because most of the times the builders do not complete the construction at the promised time and thus the buyer has to pay the interest for a prolonged period.
It is always safe to bargain at the first place and avail for a loan amount after all the discounts. Moreover, if the buyer opts for a scheme from the builder it is safe to increase the tenure of the pre-EMI scheme to possession of the property rather than till the construction is completed. The builder will thus have a responsibility to hand over the property at the prescribed time.
More and more real estate companies are sprouting up in the market and most of the times they have marketing strategies that aim at the financial and psychological weaknesses of the buyer. The builders make the customer believe that only a few units are left and that the price will increase in few days. This makes the buyer desperate to own the dream home before it’s sold out.
Offering warranties for the amenities, attractive gifts like setting up the kitchen, gold coins are some of the other means to lure buyers. Charging for the parking space is also not permitted as per the law. But the builders most of the times claim that the parking is free and add its price in the property.
Buyers need to do a proper research about the builder and the offers they are providing before buying a house from them. The customer should make it a point to inquire that all the discounts and the freebies offered by the buyer were not after giving you an elevated price that included all these. Being well versed with the legal aspects also decreases the chance of getting cheated.
About Author:
The Auther is a business architect in real estate industry. She has 5 years of experience and she has got knowledge about various real estate projects including commercial properties,Residential properties, villas and bunglows in Bangalore
