We explain why home loan borrowers may end up paying a higher home loan interest, in spite of the low rate quoted banks
With the repo rate now at 4%, home loan interest rates are below the 7% level. However, you may not be eligible for this low interest rate. So, it is crucial for home loan borrowers, to know why they may end up paying a higher home loan interest in spite of the lower rate quoted by a bank. In some cases, the bank may even revise the interest rate to a higher slab in the future, subject to non-fulfillment of certain laid-down criteria.
How does an increase in home loan interest rate impact the borrower?
“A rise in the interest rate increases the cost of acquiring a house. For example, a loan of Rs 40 lakhs, at an interest rate of 7.25% per annum, for 20 years, would mean an EMI of Rs 31,615 a month. The total amount you would be repaying to the bank, would be Rs 75.87 lakhs. If the interest goes up to 7.5%, the monthly EMI becomes Rs 32,224 and you will end up repaying Rs 77.33 lakhs – Rs 1.46 lakhs more, over the tenure of the loan. This is because, while the percentage of increase is very small, it gets compounded over a very long period,” explains Adhil Shetty, CEO, BankBazaar.com.
An increase in the interest rate means that the total amount that you need to repay, also increases. Usually, this is in the form of an increased tenure. However, you can also reach out to the bank and opt for your EMI to be reset to a higher amount, so that you can reduce ore retain the same tenure.
How often do banks revise interest rates?
As per the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI’s) directive, banks are required to revise their external benchmark-linked interest rates, once every three months. Some banks adjust their lending rate immediately with the change in the repo rate, while some may do it every week or month or once every three months.
Why do some borrowers end up paying a higher rate despite low interest rates?
“Most people understand that a poor credit history and score, can make a loan more expensive. However, few realise that the same is true, if you do not have a credit score at all. The credit score indicates your financial history and your skill in handling credit. In its absence, the lender will have no way gauging how well you can handle your finances, which may lead to a higher loan interest rate,” says Shetty.
Banks may offer you the lowest rate on a home loan but there are several conditions attached to it and non-fulfillment can result in an increase in the rate. Several factors may impact your home loan interest rate and you need to stay aware of them.
“When the credit score of a borrower is not clear or low, they may end up paying a higher interest rate. The credit score shows the borrower’s capacity to continue paying EMI. Any decrease in the borrower’s credit score after taking the loan, will alarm the bank and push them to take immediate corrective measures, which would mean an increase in interest rates,” adds Amit Goenka MD & CEO at Nisus Finance
How to avoid an increase in your home loan interest rate
Experts recommend some important tips that can help you to continue enjoying a lower home loan interest rate in the long-term:
Ensure that all your loan accounts have no overdue amounts.
Try to repay existing loans before applying for a home loan.
Do not apply randomly for a loan.
Avoid putting too many loan inquiries.
Examine your credit report regularly.
When applying for a home loan, you may choose banks whose interest rate variation, for borrowers with different risk categories, is not significant. This will ensure that you do not land up paying a significantly higher interest rate, even if your credit score falls by a few points in the future.
The purchase of a property, may have a significant bearing on your monthly finances in 2022. We look at ways to deal with these changes smoothly
Housing affordability in India was probably at its peak in 2021, amid record low home loan interest rates and government-sponsored incentives towards housing ownership. This affordability was further boosted by developers offering waivers in the form of stamp duty or GST reduction as part of their festive deal for 2021. Monetary incentives along with a change in sentiment with regard to housing ownership in the year, also prompted many prospective buyers to take the plunge and seal the deal for their future homes, in 2021. The question is, what lies ahead for these new home buyers in the year 2022?
For those who purchased their new homes, this is just the beginning of a new era, where your financial management skills will be put to the test. We look at how to deal with the expenses of a new house, without much hassle.
Rearrange your monthly expenses
Owning a property involves taking care for it and ensuring that it is supplied with every necessity. Many new expenses will come your way in the form of EMIs, maintenance charges, utility bills, repair costs, upkeep bills, etc. This is precisely why renting has been very popular among the millennials. Nevertheless, for new home owners, the changed fiscal scenario would require you to rearrange your expenses in such a manner that your bills are paid in time, without causing too much strain on your monthly finance.
Go slow on furnishing the new home
While a new home may require new furniture, fittings, drapes, curtains, lighting, etc., getting all of them in one go might be disastrous financially. Thus, it is necessary to chalk out a detailed plan, to go about the re-modelling gradually. While the first year, your savings could be used to change the furniture, the next year could be used to improve the lighting fixtures. Adjust with your old furniture and other things till you have saved enough to make a new purchase.
Keep an eye on interest rate movements
Housing loans are already at record low rates. You could get a home loan at 6.40% annual interest, currently. While the chances of rates being lowered further are slim, as the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is likely to tweak policy rates sometime in 2022, to tame a stubbornly high inflation, while also boosting consumer spending, it is a good idea to keep yourself updated with all changes in the world of home finance. Changes in the repo rate would eventually reflect in your EMI outgo. Even though the RBI held rates unchanged for the ninth consecutive time in December 2021, sector experts are of the view that the RBI may not have much leeway in the coming months, owing to persistent high inflation.
At this juncture, note that the RBI in its bi-monthly policy review takes a decision to make changes in key lending rates, following which, banks make changes in their respective interest rates. Banks will never intimate you about changes in rates. Hence, in your own interest, keep a track of these things.
Avoid taking fresh loans
Lending rates are at record lows. This makes auto loans, home renovation loans, etc., quite affordable. As banks present it, this could be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to own a vehicle or to get all those expensive furnishings for your new property. This might certainly tempt you to purchase a new car or go for a complete remodeling of the property right after your home purchase. This would, however, have an adverse bearing on your monthly finances. Overburdening yourself with new loans at this point would amount to poor judgement, as the economic conditions also pose a risk on job security and business safety. It is advisable to sit tight and maintain a wait-and-watch mode, right now.
It is only after a significant portion of your home loan is paid off that you should think of applying for a fresh loan. Having to serve two big loans would be a big burden, otherwise.
Do not opt for too many insurance products
As part of home loans, banks also push you to buy home insurance and home loan insurance policies, primarily prescribing all their arguments in favour of these products, playing on the fear factor. The kind of uncertainties we have seen in the recent times, may also prompt us to opt for insurance, in order to face any future difficulties in a planned manner. However, one should not lose sight of the fact that taking excessive insurance, makes a huge dent on one’s yearly earnings. Unless you understand the product properly and its intended benefits, do not purchase home insurance and home loan insurance products only because your banks recommend it.
Save up for small repairs and maintenance
With usage, your new property will be subject to the normal wear and tear. The paint on the wall will lose its sheen over some years. Grout lines may appear on the floor, despite regular cleaning. You would get a leaky tap or faulty electricity wire. Sometimes you would have to call an exterminator for pest control or a plumber to fix a choked pipe. These would, by and large, be regular occurrences that would not only need immediate handling but also cost you. Keep saving additional money every month. to address such issues in the new property. If left unattended, these issues could significantly impact the property’s health.
Adjust your social life to cut down unnecessary expenses
A new home also makes it incumbent upon the owner to make certain changes in one’s social life. You may have to significantly cut down the number of movie outings, fancy dinners and trips to malls, meant for leisure activities. House ownership also means you will be able to throw less number of parties in a year or at least reduce the number of guests invited at each such occasion. Even if you cut the numbers of these celebrations by half in a year, you will be able to save up a significant amount of money, to take care of your new responsibilities as a house owner.
Whether you’re curious about the investment potential of real estate or you’re simply sick of infomercials promising little-known ways to “profit from your property,” it’s worth learning, for real, how real estate creates wealth.
Rather than providing obscure strategies for investing in real estate or a primer on homeownership for first-time buyers, this article will focus on how to make money through real estate. It will cover both the basic methods that haven’t changed in centuries, no matter what kind of gloss the gurus of the moment try to put on them, as well as specific opportunities that have arisen relatively recently.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
The most common way to make money in real estate is through appreciation an increase in the property’s value that is realized when you sell.
Location, development, and improvements are the primary ways that residential and commercial real estate can appreciate in value.
Inflation can also play a role in increasing a property’s value over time.
You can also make money in the form of income from rents for both residential and commercial properties, and companies may pay you royalties on raw land, for example, for any discoveries, such as minerals or oil.
Real estate investment trusts (REITs), mortgage-backed securities (MBSs), mortgage investment corporations (MICs), and real estate investment groups (REIGs) are investment alternatives within the real estate sector.
Real Estate Profits From Increasing Property Value
The most common way real estate offers a profit: It appreciates that is, it increases in value. This is achieved in different ways for different types of property, but it is only realized in one way: through selling. However, you can increase your return on investment on a property in several ways. One way if you borrowed money to buy the property is to refinance the loan at lower interest. This will lower your cost basis for the property, thus increasing the amount you clear from it.
The most obvious source of appreciation for undeveloped land is, of course, developing it. As cities expand, land outside the limits becomes increasingly valuable because of the potential for it to be purchased by developers. Once developers build houses or commercial buildings, it raises that value even further.
Appreciation in land can also come from discoveries of valuable minerals or other commodities provided the buyer holds the rights to them. An extreme example of this would be striking oil, but appreciation can also come from gravel deposits, trees, and other natural resources.
When looking at residential properties, location is often the biggest factor in appreciation. As the neighborhood around a home evolves, adding transit routes, schools, shopping centers, playgrounds, and more, these changes cause the home’s value to climb. Of course, this trend can also work in reverse, with home values falling as a neighborhood decays.
Home improvements can also spur appreciation. Putting in an extra bathroom, heating a garage, and remodeling a kitchen with state-of-the-art appliances are just some of the ways a property owner may try to increase the value of a home.
Commercial property gains value for the same reasons as raw land and residential real estate: location, development, and improvements. The best commercial properties are perpetually in demand.
The Role of Inflation in Property Values
When considering appreciation, you have to factor in the economic impact of inflation. An annual inflation rate of 10% means that your dollar can only buy about 90% of the same goods the following year, and that includes property. If a piece of land was worth $100,000 in 1970 and it sat dormant and undeveloped for decades, it would still be worth many times more today. Because of runaway inflation throughout the 1970s and a steady pace since, it would likely take more than $700,000 to purchase that land in 2021, assuming $100,000 was fair market value at the time.
Thus, inflation alone can lead to appreciation in real estate, but it is a bit of a Pyrrhic victory. While you may get five times your money due to inflation when you sell, many other goods cost five times as much to buy too, so purchasing power in your current environment is still a factor.
Real Estate Profits From Income
The second big way real estate generates wealth is by providing regular payments of income. Generally referred to as rent, income from real estate can come in many forms.
Raw land income
Depending on your rights to the land, companies may pay you royalties for any discoveries or regular payments for any structures they add. These include, for example, pump jacks, pipelines, gravel pits, access roads, and cell towers. Raw land can also be rented for production, usually agricultural production, and land tracts with trees may be valuable for the timber that can be periodically harvested.
Residential property income
The vast majority of residential property income comes in the form of basic rent. Your tenants pay a fixed amount per month which will go up with inflation and demand and you take out your costs from it, claiming the remaining portion as rental income. A desirable location is critically important to ensure that you can secure tenants easily.
Commercial property income
Commercial properties can produce income from the aforementioned sources, with basic rent again being the most common, but can also add one more in the form of option income. Many commercial tenants will pay fees for contractual options like the right of first refusal on the office next door. Tenants pay a premium to hold these options whether they exercise them or not. Options income sometimes exists for raw land and even residential property, but they are not common.
Residential Real Estate: Paths to Profits
Here is a closer look at some of the many ways that you can earn income from residential properties.
Buy and hold
This is one of the more traditional ways of earning income from real estate. There are a number of ways to accomplish this: You can buy a single-family home and rent it out; buy a multi-family home and live in one of the units while renting the others ideally to cover the mortgage and your own housing expenses; or purchase a multi-family home and rent all of the units either managing the property yourself or hiring a management company to handle renting units, collecting rent, addressing needed repairs, and so on.
Flipping
Property flippers specialize in adding high-return fixes to houses in a short time and then selling them. Flipping can be lucrative if you know how to find properties to fix up, you have the necessary skills to do the renovations yourself or oversee a crew to carry them out, and you have a sense of a property’s underlying costs and potential value.
Airbnb and vacation rentals
The demand for home-away-from-home rentals had taken off in recent years as many travelers preferred this option to staying in a hotel. Homeowners could earn income by renting out a house or even just a room on a short-term basis, especially if the property is in area that’s a well-known tourist destination. It’s unclear when that market will return. But should it reappear, keep in mind that short-term rentals are regulated and sometimes even banned in certain cities. Check your city’s bylaws before listing a property on a website such as Airbnb, VRBO, or HomeAway. And also figure in what additional deep cleaning and sanitizing between guests will add to the costs.
Alternative Real Estate Income Sources
Real estate investment trusts (REITs)s, mortgage-backed securities (MBSs), mortgage investment corporations (MICs), and real estate investment groups (REIGs) are investment alternatives within the real estate sector. They are generally considered vehicles for deriving real estate income but they have varying processes for doing so and varying processes for entry.
REITs
With a REIT, the owner of multiple commercial properties sells shares (often publicly traded) to investors (usually to fund the purchase of more properties) and then passes on the rental income in the form of a distribution. The REIT is the landlord for the tenants (who pay rent) but the owners of the REIT record income once the expenses of operating the buildings and the REIT are taken out. There’s a special method to assessing a REIT.
MBSs, MICs, and REIGs
These are even a further step removed, as they invest in private mortgages rather than the underlying properties. MICs are different from MBSs in that they hold entire mortgages and pass on the interest from payments to investors, rather than securitizing portions of principal and/or interest. Still, both are not so much real estate investments as they are debt investments. REIGs are usually private investments with their own unique structuring, offering investors equity investments or partnership servicing.
Other Ways to Invest in Real Estate
One option is an informal residential real estate option, which requires that you pay a fee, or premium, to have the right to buy a house for a specified period for an agreed-upon price. You then find investors who will pay more than your option price for the property. In this case, the premium you get is essentially a finder’s fee for matching a person looking for an investment with a person looking to sell no different than a real estate agent’s commission, really. Although this is income, it doesn’t come from owning (i.e. holding the deed to) a piece of real estate.
Other options include:
Short sales this involves purchasing a home from a lender when the mortgagee is behind on payments. Short sales can be a time-consuming and complicated proposition.
Lease options these are what the name implies. When you lease with an option to buy in a bull real estate market, where prices are rising, you may be able to complete the purchase later at a lower, pre-set price, or make a profit by selling your purchase rights.
Contract flipping instead of flipping houses, this type of flipping involves the transfer of the rights of a purchase contract to another buyer. If you can locate distressed sellers and motivated buyers and bring them together, you may be able to make a profit this way.
The Bottom Line.
There are several proven strategies for making money in real estate. Appreciation, inflation, and income rank high on the list but several alternative real estate investments also exist. Understanding your investments, risks, and whether the overall process is worth it or not is up to you. .
Once the Coronavirus lockdown is lifted and we are permitted to get back to work, each industry will face its own unique challenges. Owing to the lasting impact of the pandemic, these businesses, including real estate brokerages, will have to come up with effective solutions to stay relevant. Here’s a look at the changes that real estate brokers will have to implement, in their personal space management strategy, to grow their business in a post-Coronavirus world.
How to start planning to return to work?
While there may be suggestions aplenty, it is first important to ascertain what should not be done. “In absentia, the office has become a facility based on stasis. It is not just the buildings that are frozen in time but the very idea of the buildings too. That so much energy has been dedicated to the quick fix, to resume the life suddenly locked down, shows us that there is a considered desire to pretend that none of this lockdown malarkey ever happened,” says Neil Usher, a global workspace design and author of the book The Elemental Workplace, in his recent article titled The Office-In Search of its mojo.
Making arrangements to read the body temperature of each staff member at the entry point and creating seating arrangements that ensure appropriate and safe distance is maintained among the workers, would be a fair starting points and so would be the sneeze guard, desks with in-built hand sanitisers and plexiglass barriers. Companies worldwide are busy engaging with office interior experts, to get quick makeovers for their office spaces.
However, these measures alone cannot solve the various problems that business are now confronted with. Besides preparing the building to welcome the staff in the post-pandemic world, the more complicated task lies in preparing the staff.
How businesses can prepare to go back to the office
Communication with the employees
Convincing your staff to come back to the office, will be a major challenge, especially since previous research indicate that around 16% of flu transmission takes place in the office. Hence, a lot will depend on how effectively you communicate with them and prepare them to get back to work. Be mindful of the fact that in case of attrition, the average cost to hire new staff would be much higher than the price you might pay to rearrange your office.
Office rules in a post-lockdown era
While employees may have been used to a certain office conduct before the pandemic, many habits will need to change, now. One of your key responsibilities of employers, would be to make your staff conscious about these changes and to ensure that they adhere to the new social distancing protocols.
Sharing their lunch, is something your employees may have to stop. The same may be true of keeping their personal belongings at their workstations. With innumerable small and big changes that we all will have to make, to keep the workplace safe, the employer’s role as a communicator and moderator, will be crucial.
Allowing remote working practices
Contrary to what many may believe, remote working will not replace the traditional office. Your staff would be willing to come back to office, once they are assured that it is safe to step in. In this scheme of things, remote working practices will become crucial towards unlocking the potential of the office.
Adopting a policy of rotation / working in shifts
Another effective way to lower the chances of contamination, is to ensure rotational working shifts. However, this may be hard to achieve for the many offices in India that have followed strict and fixed working hours.
Changes in HR policies after COVID-19
Human resource policies can be adjusted such that sick employees are sent on paid leave, to reduce the chances of transmission.
Likely changes in office spaces after the Coronavirus
“ACs and coolers are fine, but nothing evokes my memories of childhood summers like a ‘khus ki tatti’,” says Gurugram-based businessman, Avinash Arora. Confused? Arora spent his summer vacations in a little town named Tundla in UP. North Indian summers are infamous for their intense heat, which can even prove fatal. Very few things can help you survive such weather and a ‘khus ki tatti’ is one of them, the businessman maintains. A ‘khus ki tatti’ is a wholly natural blind/ curtain mat that is made of reeds and special grass, laid out neatly in a box and complete with water pipes for drip wetting. This mat is laid across open doorways and windows and helps lower the temperature indoors.
1. Use water to cool the home
Home hacks can work well. A simple trick involves using a bucket of water. Dip the bottom hems of your curtains into the bucket and leave the fan on. The water slowly seeps upwards through the fabric and the breeze will carry the coolness into the room
2. Keep the rooms dark
We all know how relaxing it is, to get away from the glare of a hot summer sun and into a cool space, under the shade. To achieve this, buy cotton curtains in the darkest colour possible. Ensure that the curtains have a thick lining, so that the sunlight doesn’t fade them. Dark green or brown are easy choices. Keep the curtains drawn shut, right from morning. If your room stays shielded from sunlight all day, it is bound to remain relatively cooler.
See also: Tips to get your home summer-ready
3. Leave the bathroom door open
Keep your bathroom door ajar, pour a few litres of water on the floor and let the breeze do its job again
4. Place plants near the window
Leafy plants, too, can work wonders. If you have some large decorative or potted plants around, move them closer to your windows. They will absorb most of the heat and create a cooling effect around them
5. Leave the fridge alone
You may be tempted to reach for cold water and ice-cubes frequently, but opening and shutting the refrigerator multiple times, increases the load and temperature on its motor. This, in turn, increases the ambient temperature in your house
6. Use cool lighting options
From LEDs to fluorescent lights, there are many cool lighting options available, so there’s no reason to continue using hot incandescent bulbs. Similarly, switch off all electrical appliances, especially the TV, when not in use. Even a mobile charger emits heat
7. Buy a dehumidifier
You will breathe much easier, once the intense humidity is reduced. You can check online sites for the best deals
8. Use cotton fabrics
Summer is no time for fancy satin or silk bedsheets, or for faux leather upholstery. Buy at least one set of crisp cotton bedsheets, in white or pastel shades. If your couch is upholstered in any fabric that’s not cotton or linen, buy some sofa covers or throws that are made of cotton
9. Open the windows at sunset
If you throw open your windows at the right time, you will get the benefit of the cool evening breeze. This will lower the temperature of your home and make it more comfortable for the night ahead. Also, open up every internal door in your house, including kitchen cabinets and bathroom, bedroom and closet doors. This will help, to dissipate the heat that is built up during the course of the day and reduce the overall temperature. Remember to close these doors as soon as the next day dawns and the sun is up again.
Vaastus hastra originated thousands of years ago in ancient India. Earlier, people were dependent on the fundamentals of nature to fulfill all their basic requirements. Sun provided light & heat, wind gave cool breeze, rivers & rain were the main source of water, earth provided food & shelter and fire heat & protection. Thus the philosophies of the building discipline laid down during those days too were constructed only on the effect of foundations of nature.
Basic elements of vaastu
Vastu distinguishes five essentials of creation that, when honored, augment the flow of prana, universal life-force vigor, within a building. Worshipping nature is a blessed acknowledgement. The five elements
Earth
Air
Fire
Water, and
Space
These are energetically linked with particular directions. Earth is associated with the southwest; air, northwest; fire, southeast; and water the northeast.
Use optimistic sounds: Some sounds irritate you, and you simply ignore them like creaking sounds of doors and windows, sounds obtained from any kind of friction etc. These sounds generate negativity in your environment. Have a perfect solution to such irritating sounds. Sound of Ring balls and conch is considered appealing and good. As they help in killing the negative energies.
No clutter allowed: Avoid clutter in your house because in Vaastu it is called as a stuck up energy. So much clutter in a house make the inmates of that house restless. This is so bad if you are not relaxed in your own home. So avoid it. Get all the things systemized..
Light in each corner: If you use light only in those rooms which are working in the evening time, then it’s not right. Vaastu recommends that every room and each corner must be lighted once, in the evening. Darkness is a symbol of destructive powers. Vaastu also recommends that northeast and last corner must be kept lighted every time.
Avoid smells: Smell directly affects mind as they form of negative energy. One should avoid it. Use incense and oils of flowers in your house. This will help you to kill the negative energy.
Don’t keep dead things in your house: Broken wall clock and other electronic/mechanical things should be repaired before it affects your vaastu. You can give them away to someone who can make better use of those things. According to Vaastu consultants in India, such kind of dead things increases inactivity and negativity in the family members in the house.
Don’t keep dead things in your house: Broken wall clock and other electronic/mechanical things should be repaired before it affects your vaastu. You can give them away to someone who can make better use of those things. According to Vaastu consultants in India, such kind of dead things increases inactivity and negativity in the family members in the house.
Qualities of Vaastu Consultant in India
The basic quality of the right Vastu Consultant is the insight vision, practical knowledge, intuitive and a sound state of mind. This is essential to assimilate, understand and interpret the observations, diagnose the deep rooted problem and give practical yet effective recommendations with relevance to modern times and expert Vaastu Consultants in India are blessed with all these qualities.
In these uncertain times amid the Coronavirus pandemic, real estate marketers and agents are finding it hard, to earn the trust of their prospective clients. Here’s how you can make yourself a credible real estate brand, in three easy ways
As economic activities around the world come to a halt due to the Coronavirus pandemic, most of the countries are staring at a recession, with no possible solution in sight, at least till the lockdown is over. Amidst all this, home buying has become more challenging and a risky decision for many. Home buyers and investors are looking for trusted advisors and experts, who can guide them in these difficult times. As a realtor, this is an opportunity for you to get your prospective clients’ attention, by establishing your brand in a positive way. Here’s how you can earn the trust of your buyer, in three ways:
1. Create helpful and educational content
Create and share helpful articles with your potential clientele. You can also collate a property market report, where you can list out the benefits of investing and expected rental returns from specific localities/projects. Share useful news items on your social media profile, to keep your clients engaged. You can also experiment with video content for mass appeal. However, ensure that the look and feel of the content is professional and it is of optimum quality.
2. Improve your visibility
You have to be more visible than your competitors, to establish your credibility in the market. Aspire to become a thought leader and make your expert views known to others. For this, you can attend and participate in virtual summits or webinars and share the links on your business profile. Contribute articles to various online publications, to establish a positive online presence and share the link of your published articles and coverage on your social media feed. Connect your prospective clients to your social media network, so that they can see all this and know that you are a trusted advisor in the sector. People are more likely to believe you, if you have a frequent online presence and there could be no better way of creating an online reputation. This is the time for marketers to take the driving seat and with the right kind of content and useful resources, you can establish a long-term brand for yourself.
3. Be a thoughtful seller
Follow-up is one of the important parts of being a persistent seller. Be gentle but direct in your words. Usually, sellers shy away from asking directly about the purchase decision but if you stand firm in what you think, your client might share his concerns about buying right now more openly. You can also communicate that you are willing to customise your services, according to their needs. Always tell your client why they should invest with you and the value additions they can expect, if they have you as a trusted advisor. You can list reviews and testimonials from your previous clients, to showcase how you have treated your buyers in the past and how satisfied they are now.
Until the lockdown is over, there is little scope for buyers stepping out of their homes, for site visits or inspection. With many districts declared as containment zones and strict surveillance everywhere, social distancing is the only option. So, how do you sell a home in this scenario?
While most of the buyers and investors are keen on holding back their investment, at the same time builders are offering refundable booking deposits and other bargains. To lure these fence-sitters, sellers should have a complete plan and a list of steps to be taken, to ensure a hassle-free experience for the buyers.
Here’s Housing.com News’ step-by-step guide for selling your inventory without hassle.
Prepare virtual tours
As the lockdown was announced without any prior notice, you may not have a ready Digi-tour of the unit. In this scenario, you can ask the builder to provide the necessary materials, including the brochure and images of the sample apartment if it is an under-construction project, or photos of the actual apartment if it is a ready project. You can also keep 3D floor plans handy, to explain the layout to your buyer.
If you are pitching a resale unit, the owner may have some pictures. You can also ask the owner to join the call and help the buyer to take a positive decision.
To do all this, ensure that you have a stable internet connection and a professional-looking background, to conduct the meetings.
Discuss about the location and neighbourhood
Another thing that you should keep handy, is information about the locality. To explain the nitty-gritties of the neighbourhood, you can also use Google Earth and Google Maps. This will help the buyer to understand the exact location of the project and what lies nearby.
You can also search for locality videos on the internet to justify how property prices may move, in the next few years. If you know anybody who lives in the same neighbourhood, you can ask them for help and get to know a few locational advantages. If you know an existing buyer, try getting a short video from them, explaining how they feel about investment in the project/locality.
Negotiation and final discussion over property price
As the buyer will be looking for discounts, you can include someone from the developer’s team and let them do the negotiation. While you moderate the discussion, ensure that the deal does not go awry, because of minor cost differences. Explain the benefits of investing right now and how prices may increase, once things get back to normal. With everyone looking for cost benefits, the buyer will look to you, for a beneficial deal.
Keep the sale agreement documents ready
While the physical verification of the documents is not possible right now, you can scan the essential documents and send it across to the buyer for scrutiny. You can also ask the buyer, if they want to involve a lawyer through video conferencing. Always include a representative from the developer’s company, so that any query raised regarding the legality of the project can be easily sorted out. Once this is done, you can have another meeting with the buyer, where you involve the home loan agent for processing their loan application. Meanwhile, you can also ask for the token money from the investor.
Once the token money is received and realised by the developer’s company, you can send a confirmation about the same to your investor, from your official ID and clearly mention the terms and conditions of any refund, if possible and other details you have discussed in the earlier stages.
Lighting can make or mar the décor of a house. This is why home owners have to be extremely careful, when planning the lighting scheme in their homes.
Basics of home lighting
Lighting alone, cannot enhance the look of a house. It has to be used in combination with other elements in your home. No amount of lighting can uplift the atmosphere of a room that is painted with dull and dark hues. Similarly, artificial lighting can only have a limited impact, when natural light is completely blocked. Moreover, while lighting can be used to create a personal style statement at home, do be mindful that its functionality is equally important. For example, a large chandelier that you could not resist buying, may be too big for your living room and it may seem more like a distraction in the room.
The human eye is also extremely sensitive to lighting. Hence, acutely bright lights will cause discomfort, while dull lighting will result in anxiety. With these basic principles in mind, let us see how to light up each part of the house, in the best possible way.
Lighting for the entryway
For your home’s entryway, you can use mild track lights. Note here that excessive lighting could be blinding and spoil the ambience.
Lights for the living room
Your living room must have overhead lights, along with spotlights that highlight your artwork, furniture or other décor items, if any. You can opt for ambient lighting when you have guests at home, while task lights would suffice, if you just want to read alone in the living room.
The size and luminosity of your lighting elements, such as lamps and chandeliers, should be proportionate to the size of the room.
Workstation lights
Your workstation needs overhead, as well as accent lighting. In case of a table lamp, the bottom of the shade should be at your shoulder height. If it is placed higher, your vision may be blocked by the light.
Bedroom lights
Your bedroom should have a combination of ambient, accent and task lighting, to ensure you get the most out of the lighting arrangement, depending on your mood. While the ambient light (overhead light) would light up the entire room, you would strain your eyes in the absence of a lamp, in case you wish to do some light reading. The height of the lamp should not be more than the height of the night stand. For further illumination of specific spots and artwork, use accent lighting in the bedroom. Also known as spotlights, these can also be used as night lights.
Kitchen lights
Just like your bedroom, your kitchen must have a combination of ambient and task lights. Too many ambient lights will not serve the purpose, when you are performing specific tasks in the kitchen. In case of a kitchen island, the spotlight should be positioned in a manner that the overhead lighting does not cast shadows. Home owners can also install under-cabinet lighting, to illuminate the kitchen countertop. Several kitchen chimneys also come with pre-fitted lights.
Bathroom lights
Your bathroom is no different and requires a combination of lights – accent lights to perform specific tasks and overhead lights, for overall illumination. Again, an overhead light can cast shadows. So, choose a longer, horizontal fixture for better lighting.
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Space adjustments
A couple of spacing adjustments can make a big difference. When rearranging, feel free to experiment with different layouts. Every room deserves a focal point. It can be an artwork, a TV unit, a window or a wall with photo frames. Arrange your furniture around this focal point. Arrange the furniture in a way that it fulfills the function of that particular area.
Swap and rearrange
You can merely swap a few things around, to give a makeover to your home. Do not randomly swap anything and everything. Instead, consider the interior style and colour theme/ palette and work towards that.
Sometimes refreshing your home is as simple as rearranging some furniture. The bigger furniture pieces can be rearranged but the smaller pieces like the side table can be swapped. The side tables from the living room could be swapped with those from the bedroom but keep the theme and style of the room in mind. You can also mix the sides tables of different rooms. Asymmetrical, matching sets of furniture can make a room look clean and sharp. However, there is no rule that furniture needs to match and varying a few elements can add contrast and texture to a room.
Do not be afraid to use a blend of different finishes. You can combine metal and wood or different wood finishes also. For a cluster table, try teaming a small round side table with a long, rectangular coffee table or an oval coffee table with a square table.
Swapping accessories
The easiest way to refresh your home is by mixing and swapping throw cushions. Look for throw cushions from different rooms, in different colours and patterns that will coordinate with the palette of the specific room. Combine multiple textures and vary cushions sizes.
You can split up a pair of table lamps and use them in different spots in the room. You can even swap or rearrange your artwork. Swap your bedroom artwork with the living room or combine a few pieces and make an illusion of a bigger artwork. You can also rearrange photo frames on a wall, to refresh the look of the room.
A rug can totally change the look of any room. If you are looking to pull a room together by only swapping out one item, then, the rug is an excellent place to start.
Clean and declutter
Narrow your space down to essentials. There are often accessories that really do not need to be in your house. Get rid of unwanted accessories, so that you have less items to organise. You can move around your home and enjoy the space, instead of moving around things that are in the way.
These simple decorating ideas and swaps can help you refresh and restyle your space with minimal effort on your part.
Property Thane 