Finding a home in Mumbai

Spending a fortune to own a home is a risk many Mumbaikars take. House hunting is an exhaustive activity but should the experience be horrifying? Not always. Let's look at ways to make this house hunting experience rewarding.

Mumbai's real estate is very expensive. With avg. selling pricing of Rs. 25,000 to 75,000 price per sq.ft, Mumbai is the most expensive city in India. Let's go through following checklists to make a wise decision that tops the bucket list.

Identify the requirement

Why are you buying a home needs a very convincing answer. It is not that easy as it looks. Many home buyers yet don't have a concrete answer why they bought a particular home in a particular building.

When I bought a home in 2012, my initial requirement was like any other home buyer limited to budget. Thinking about it, I now have a dozen criteria to finalise a new home.

Limiting home to suit your budget is horrible decision which one will regret very soon.

Location

Besides the budget, there many other things to look at. Are you frequently commuting using local train? Does your profession involve flying very often? Do you commute with a car and need easy accessibility to highway? Do you need home closer to schools and colleges of kids? Does anyone at your home often need medical help and so a hospital nearby is necessary? Do your parents often spend long hours at religious places?

Identifying the above questions and then weighing the importance of each stake holder will help you to shortlist the location.

Configuration & Layout

Are you looking for an upgrade in configuration or just an upgrade in lifestyle with more spacious house? Older flats are more spacious then those built after 2010. Currently avg 2 BHK in Mumbai is 600 sq.ft. While some builders offer upto 820 sq.ft of spacious 2 BHK, there are also builders who offer a compact 2 BHK in 450 sq.ft.

Another important requirement to look out for is the layout. Do you regularly host house parties and need a larger living room? Does your office room at home need to be spacious to store office storage? Those with kids might want a larger room to be with kids or a smaller separate room for kids. Fitness conscious might need a balcony to store their tread mill or yoga mat. Some like to develop small garden in balcony. If you are passionate about cooking, than you need a big kitchen. May be an open kitchen?

Having clarity on configuration and layout makes it easy to choose the home without compromising on a flat which you don't feel good about but bought only because someone from developer's team convinced you.

Project size

Some prefer a single storey tower while some prefer a multi wing housing society. Both have their benefits and limitations. Someone who stays aloof from socialising doesn't really care about single or multi tower. But if you like meeting new people and take active part in society functions, than you should be looking at only multi tower societies. Besides, larger societies have bigger play areas, parking facilities and amenities sections.

Project Stage

Under construction or projects at initial stage will have a cheaper price and your payment will be spread through couple of months. There will be risk in terms of project completion period. MahaRERA does come to rescue but one cannot negate the risk completely here.

Nearing completion or ready to move homes with OC come at a premium since there is no risk involved and such homes are in higher demand. You can also see construction quality and be convinced if this is the right home for you.

Research

Once you are clear on what you need, all you need to do is apply your requirement filters on property listing sites like 99acres.com, magicbricks.com, housing.com and commonfloor.com. Your trusted property consultant or agent will also be handy to shortlist inventories that suit you.

What ever project you choose, there is one debate which we will discuss later on buying a flat in Mumbai vs renting it. Till then, happy house hunting.