[varkey]

Originally Posted by GeeTee TSI

I happened to complete a transaction including registration of a resale apartment (not a tier one brand of builder here) in the same complex where I was staying on rent (but another unit). Some of my reflections with the power of hindsight

We had also completed a transaction back in November 2023 in Bengaluru and it was a positive experience for us. Thought I'd share that as well amidst the negative experiences.

Resale but unused flat in a 150 flat, 3 tower apartment society, maybe a tier 2 or 3 builder. My flat is in the oldest tower which got the OC is 2018 or so, but remained un-used, the owner had not even taken full possession from the builder. We were staying in a rented place maybe 250m from this apartment, and used to pass in front of the gate every other day. We really liked the area, good proximity to public transport (metro within 900m, bus, railway station within 2 km). We were casually looking for a flat in and around the same area, and noticed this flat listed for sale on Magicbricks. The seller had used some realtor agent who had made the listing, we reached out and checked out the flat. Found it pretty good, the floor plan, and the floor was per our liking. The listed price was also pretty decent, I mean when we see prices in crores everywhere, this was in the upper 70L range for a 1500 sq ft, 3 BHK, 2T.

We agreed on a price (3-4L lower than listed), and I had also got a legal review and property inspection done. There were some things to be addressed by the builder, and also the seller had not registered the property in his name, so a tripartite agreement was made with the builder, seller and us with the terms and the total sale consideration. In the sale deed, the seller was to be named as a consenting witness as proof that the seller has no further claims to the property.

Since the initial registration to the seller was not done, I was in touch with the builder's CRM officer and they agreed to facilitate the documentation and property registration. Their fee was Rs 20,000 or so, which is kinda high, but then I thought it is what it is and went ahead. This is mainly for preparing the sale deed, facilitating the registration and might include other "convenience fees". The seller also cleared the maintenance, property tax and Bescom arrears.

With respect to the home loan, we went with BoB Advantage (A saver type HL, which allows you to park excess funds in a linked account, I find it very beneficial). There are many banks with such a home loan product, but most have the RoI much higher for this type of loan, however with BoB, the RoI was same as a regular loan which is why we went with it. There were some delays with home loan sanction, mostly to do with legal review. BoB uses empanelled lawyers who does the review and the lawyer the branch manager recommended was simply delaying things due to some other commitment. Also, the branch manager seemed bit new to all this, and she messed up couple of things causing further delays. Anyway it all ended up good. In retrospect though, maybe going with a DSA might have been better as most things the DSA would have taken care.

Timeline
Late August 2023 --> Initial contact with the seller's agent
Early September 2023 --> Token advance
Late September 2023 --> 10% payment (inclusive of token)
Early October 2023 --> Agreement (delayed by few days due to some government holidays)
Early November 2023 --> Sale deed registration and balance payment, loan amount DD was handed over post registration, had shared a copy of it as proof prior to registration day.

So around 80 days from initial contact to sale deed registration. There was some delay in between in registering the sale deed due to BoB home loan sanction and the seller also had some prior commitment so was away for two weeks in between. The guidance / fair value of the apartment was around 90% of the sale consideration, and was registered at the actual sale consideration. Post registration, initiated Khata transfer and BESCOM name change, we didn't use the services of any agent, and submitted applications ourselves. DIY is not at all complicated if all docs are in order, and everyone should try it, an agent is not required at all. Didn't pay any bribes, just the official charges. The builder's CRM team quoted Rs 15000 + official charges for khata transfer, I politely declined.

Pro Tip - You can get encumbrance certificates (which basically shows all transaction pertaining to the property/land) and certified copy of the sale deed at https://kaveri.karnataka.gov.in/, the fees are nominal. In fact if you want a copy of the sale deed, it is actually cheaper (Rs 60 or so) to just get a certified copy, you get a good quality scan. With sale deeds having 30-40 pages, even a photocopy might cost more than that.

Post possession, we didn't find any major issues with the flat, just some issues here and there which had to be addressed as part of regular maintenance. One major challenge that we had was with EV charging, which even though we checked prior to sale, the timelines for setting up a common charger got extended which caused us some inconvenience. I wrote about it in another post (EV charging issues in apartments). We had also purchased an extra car parking space from the builder directly, it was initially an open parking space, but the builder had told they will take care of installing the covering canopy like other such parking spaces. This unfortunately got delayed a lot and needed continuous follow-ups. However not a major issue in the overall scheme of things.
We didn't face any water shortage as well during the summer, apartment has a BWSSB connection and borewells. We were self sufficient the whole time and didn't need to use tankers then or now.

One pending item at the entire apartment level is the complete handover from the builder, which is getting delayed as there is a discrepancy in the actual land area within the boundary wall vs what is in the deed. The difference is less than 1% though, but then with the current land prices, I think that would still be worth 50-60k per flat. However, one good thing is, the UDS is pretty high per flat, more than 50% of the SBU area, which by itself is pretty awesome. The association is in talks with the builder, but I think the best outcome could be a one time payment from the builder as compensation.

[m8002?]

Originally Posted by varkey

We had also completed a transaction back in November 2023 in Bengaluru and it was a positive experience for us. Thought I'd share that as well amidst the negative experiences.

Resale but unused flat in a 150 flat, 3 tower apartment society, maybe a tier 2 or 3 builder.

Congrats!!! Is the really in Bangalore? :-) Feels too good to be true. If you dont mind, can you please share the property details.

[am1m]

Originally Posted by varkey

We had also completed a transaction back in November 2023 in Bengaluru and it was a positive experience for us. Thought I'd share that as well amidst the negative experiences.

Originally Posted by m8002?

Congrats!!! Is the really in Bangalore? :-) Feels too good to be true.

Yes, thanks for sharing positive experiences/outcomes in the cesspool that Bangalore real estate is!

My neighbor(s) too had a good experience when they sold/bought the house next door to ours. My original neighbor had constructed the house back in the early 2000s. Then they decided to move out of Bangalore and decided to sell the house. They took their time, it took them almost 3 years to sell the house. But they were very particular about the kind of person they wanted to sell to, the price and the type of transaction (all accounted for money).

Our new neighbors, who bought the house, were also of the same frame of mind. They wanted to deal with sellers who were above-board and also had no illegal money to hide. Am glad it worked out for them and we have very nice new neighbors too!

I guess the key is to have enough time, years, when looking to buy/sell a place.

I wish there were more avenues for like-minded sellers and buyers to connect without any of the drama associated with normal real estate deals. How is no-broker as a site these days?