How do you differentiate between apartments you want to buy?

Make the Right Choice for your apartment

Let's say that you have shortlisted two apartments to buy in Trivandrum. Now assume that they are almost in similar locations, with almost the same amenities, are from reputed builders and are available at relatively the same price. The question is what else do you factor in to decide on this property and how do you differentiate which apartment to buy. 

We offer you a few tips to further narrow down your search results:

1. Understand the Carpet Area, Super built up area and Built up area - Carpet area is the area enclosed within the wall i.e. the actual used area of an apartment. Built up Area is the carpet area plus the thickness of outer walls and the balcony. Super Built Up Area is the built up area plus proportionate area of common areas such as the lobby, elevators, stairs, etc. Thus the share of all common areas is proportionately divided amongst all unit owners and it makes up the Super Built-up area.What is important here is to understand if both builders are charging for the carpet area or the super built up area.

2. Look at the payment plan - Most builders ask for a 15 or 20% down payment at the time of booking and then rest of the payments need to be made based on stage of construction. Here there could be a few differences. Some developers like Confident have come out with schemes which say "pay the rest" only during hand over. This offer is excellent since it ensures that your are not charged unduly by bankers for availing part of the loan if the project is getting delayed. The actual payment schemes by various builders could mean a difference of about 10 to 15% of your project cost , which could be around Rs.5 Lacs paid about 6 months in advance. The opportunity cost of that capital would be around Rs.25,000. Hence you might want to negotiate with the builder on payment terms and make it suitable to your needs.

3. Look for small differences in finishing - For e.g.  Vitrified tiles are stronger and less susceptible to wear and tear than ceramic tiles. Vitrified tiles can be further classified into glossy-finish, rustic-finish (has a rough surface), satin-finish (shiny in appearance but has a rough surface), imported, slab-size tiles. Check if the walls of the rooms will be painted with Acrylic Emulsion Paint and if the windows/Glazing will be Anodized/powder coated Aluminum/UPVC. Also check if the flooring will be of Anti Skid Ceramic tiles in the bathroom and other relevant areas.

4. Undivided share of land - In many instances the builders of an apartment do not transfer the entire extent of land to the buyers of flats. Instead, they tend to retain a portion of the undivided share which is subsequently misused leading to various complications. States such as Karanataka have made it mandatory that the undivided share of the land cannot be registered in isolation and they have to be registered along with the flats. Now why is this important?

Imagine you are building a 2000 sqft home over a plot of 2400 sq ft land. In this case, the undivided land share is 2400 sqft and the super built up area is 2000 sqft. The undivided share of land is thus equivalent to building a flat on that assigned land area. Over time, the value of constructed area depreciates while the value of land area appreciates. Say after 30 years, the building is too old to stay and the entire complex needs to be rebuilt. What you own will be only the Undivided Land Share. 

Sometimes the builders might allot you a lesser land share or may not mention the land share in you sale agreement or even worse they might claim the land share of your entitled land. If you are buying resale flats which are quite old (10+ years), undivided share is important to ensure that you get the value of land at the time of reconstruction.