I felt like Amitabh Bachchan — giving autograph after autograph on an endless sheaf of papers. Just that they were not autographs, just signatures, and the papers were the official builder and home loan documents for buying a house. Yes, my husband, Vikram, and I were proud owners of a luxurious flat in the NCR — finally!
We’re both in our thirties and have two kids. I moved to the NCR a decade ago after marrying the man of my dreams. I began my new life in a two-storey house in Vasundhara, Ghaziabad with my in-laws. I had everything I could hope for — loving family members, good neighbours and a cosy house. But as the family grew, so did our needs. We found ourselves wishing for a garden, spacious rooms, a swimming pool and a green play area for the kids. Suddenly, our 750 sq ft house just didn't seem enough.
And so began our househunting.
After a whole lot of calculation — thinking-rethinking, checking-unchecking — we finally decided on ready-to-move apartments in Indirapuram. And took to Google. Every day, dozens of prospective purchases landed in our inbox, followed by calls from dogged agents. After two to three weeks of hard labour, we were looking at a posh, 3 BHK flat. But it wasn't meant to be — the carpet area shown online was way less than the actual space.
Photo: Savemoney.co.za
But we learnt Lesson No 1: Always deduct 20-30 per cent of the area shown to you in a picture or a brochure. It feels really bad if you have to let a property you have fallen in love with go.
We then set our sights on one of the most sought-after ATS properties in Indirapuram. And we got two agents answer our call. One was a friendly young boy from Himachal with a typical Himachali accent. We vibed instantly. The second one was a pompous middle-aged guy who never took off his Ray-Ban sunglasses. We proceeded through the Himachali guy and negotiations began, but we didn't exactly let go of the other agent either. While talking to the owner, it turned out that our second agent had another prospective buyer as well. We spoke to him and, convinced that we were in a better position to secure the deal, he advised us to stick to our price, as the owner was in need of money. But you know what they say about best-laid plans. The pompous one double-crossed us, lowered the resale price by Rs 50,000 and sealed the deal with the second party behind our back!
He also gave us our Lesson No 2: Deal with only one agent — keeping your feet in two boats at once is never a agood idea.
We had almost reached the end of our tether. We were in touch with almost all property agents in the area — and we had gained the reputation of being the family that didn't really know what they wanted to buy. Most agents started ignoring us. In the past six months, we had already met more than 20 flatowners and lost count of the number of agents we had spoken to. I was on the verge of giving up when we found what we were looking for. An agent called us up from nowhere with an offer for a property that would finally become our dream home.
Hence Lesson No 3: Be patient. Things will happen when they have to.
However, there was one catch. My mom-in-law hates high-rises and this one was on the 13th floor! The number, too, didn't particularly sit well with her. However, the flat was beautiful and the prospects seemed good. Negotiations began and we were getting the deal at our price. And this was a 4 BHK. So when everything seemed picture-perfect, my mom-in-law didn't have the heart to bring up the height and the floor number. "I'll just see myself as closer to God now," she joked. "Maybe he'll answer my prayers more often."
Photo: Decorationcentre.com
That brings me to Lesson No 4: Focus on the positives, not the negatives. And always follow your heart.
What followed was a flurry of paper work, bank transfers and registration meetings — and it kept getting more and more chaotic! But it is amusing how people think if you have enough money to buy a flat, you'll be willing to swindled as well. The lawyer at the registration office casually remarked when we were signing our papers, 'This property is expensive, so you might get an income tax notice. But if you want, we can sort it out." My husband and I looked at each other and we both knew in that fraction of a second that this was nothing but a pressure tactic to have us shell out more money. We gave him a firm "No, we'll cross that bridge when we get to it" answer, and continued with our registration.
We knew this was Lesson No 5: Everyone is out to make an extra buck. Beware of swindlers.
But at the end of it all, we were ecstatic. All that running around had paid off, and we were finally going to move into our own house. It was fun, but there was also the sadness of leaving behind our old house. What do you do with all the memories — the scribbles on the walls, the useless knickknacks, the carefully preserved old clothes?
But you have to learn to move on, I guess. Armed with these five nuggets of wisdom, it shouldn't be too difficult.
