Problems I faced while buying a house in Bangalore
(A two act tragedy and ethnofiction on the sets of Bengaluru Real Estate, just like the previous drama)
Now that I had sold my house I was looking to buy one in a more peaceful area, in a residential society. While no one had told me about the problems of a seller, luckily brickbazaar was here to help me this time. They have a nice article.
ACT I: The Classifieds
I had already decided against the builder apartments, hence I by-hearted the problems related to a seller, and went into the market. By market, I mean the classifieds again.
Inadequate data
None of the classifieds focus on the data from a secondary sale point of a view. The documentation data is completely missing. The floor plan is as non-existent as the long locks of hair on my head. They do not even have a good data about the number of sub-units or floors or kitchens the property has. They talk only in BHKs as if there is no difference in a house and apartment.
But I could do nothing but complain. Only they have the numbers. So I reached out and started to call each owner for more details that I needed.
Unverified data, duplicate data
This is when I met the second problem. The data was not even authentic. Many a times, I found that the property has been sold or the seller is not “interested” in selling. Sometimes, in the name of “owner”, a broker is talking to me.
Not just that, I found that the same property has been posted multiple times, not just on different portals, but on the same portal. One was done by the husband, the other by the wife, and the third one by a broker as the “owner”.
I had maintained an excel sheet which started looking like this:
Unrealistic, top-of-the-head pricing
Now, I had some properties I had liked, but wanted to visit. I took appointments, but out of the 3 homes, first one’s owner did not honour his appointment (went for a movie instead). I could find the other two though, (despite one of the locations being way off in magicBricks). Both were currently inhabited by the tenants, and they answered me to the extent they could. But the main problem was that I found the prices a bit too unrealistic.
ACT II: The brokers
The first few weekends went out like this, just wandering around and getting nothing. Then I decided to seek professional help. I called a broker, and agreed to give him 1%. He was supposed to scour properties for me and based on my requirements show me the best ones.
Too many stakeholders with limited, duplicate inventory.
On my first visit to him, he showed me a couple of houses nearby, which I discarded. He phoned his associates (read, nearby brokers) and sent me with them. They took me on a round to 5 more properties, 1 of which was sold out, 1 was locked, and the other 3, again worthless. The best part, 3 of these 7 properties, I had already seen through my personal efforts. So in the end, what was more worthless that day, was me. I felt like a spin top with a wobbly bottom.
No professionalism
Every weekend the broker would call me, but he would never remember my requirements. He would call me with B Khata properties, or those without a garden, or those too small for my taste. I eventually had to ask him to keep a notebook and write down my need in it.
By the end of the month, he started selling me apartments. I already had so much trouble looking for houses, so I agreed. But this too did not last for long. After two weeks of resale apartment search, he started selling me a penthouse in a builder project he had recently tied up with.
Primary is way easier
Builder flats do not need much background check. If you set out for a prestigious builder, you can be assured that they will not sobhatage you. The only problem is of a little bit of delay, but see how many months you have already lost in searching.
These were more or less the words with which he was trying to pitch me the penthouse. Eventually, getting tired of the process, I caved up. I looked for the same penthouse in the classifieds, found 4 more buyers, talked to them, and got the best deal that I could.
To summarise:
Problems with Classifieds
- The classifieds, which are mere ad agencies, put up any data that is thrown to them.
- They do not and can not authenticate the data (even in the so-called “verified” scenarios).
- Owner postings are very amateurish and do not contain enough data.
- The prices quoted by the owners are based on one or two data points, which do not come close to the actual pricing.
I would like to point another fact here that these big-wig companies, with probably hundreds of IITians employed as analysts, claim to give you the best pricing, but their data is all hearsay, and quoted by the sellers. None of the classifieds can ever have the real sale data, or the issues that the property has.
Problems with brokers
- They do not have enough resale properties.
- Still, they force you to come and visit the options they have, so that they can rope you in.
- They do not believe in service quality. It is a one time transaction, so who cares.
- They have tie ups with the builders, and will push you to buy the same. It is way simpler for them, as well as the customer.
P.S. I have recently come across a new startup that claims to help our souls. They go by the name of Settlin. I am not sure how good they are, some one amongst you can probably talk to them and tell us better.
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The writer is just a morbid story teller. He does not have the money to buy a house and hence just lives the process through his imaginative piece. Hopefully, he will have some sense soon.
