[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?

[sirius]

Originally Posted by balenoed_

The question I always have is, there are already so many layouts around, unsold, a lot of inventory and why one more.

Attachment 2641011

The same question arises to me. off late land became an Asset rather than a utility or means of production.
During my childhood, 50-60% land in our surrounding villages are not fit for agriculture. Either barren lands or small hills and rocks. So they used to have vegetation like neem, custard apple, thorn trees etc along with grasslands where cattle and sheep were grazed. Peacocks were a common site.

After rain, it is a surreal experience to roam in those areas. We kids used to catch fish in the streams with clean water. Trecking the hills, swimming in the lakes, plucking(sometimes stealing:P) fruits from the naturally/self grown trees (not farm plantation types). Climbing 30-40 feet tamarind, and mango trees on their own without fear.

All gone for the last 20 years. Most of the hills were razed, No more grasslands or mini forests. All of them were converted to plotted ventures and no one constructed a single house in all these years. Even the worst thing is they clear any vegetation on those plots every few years so that they don't look like jungle (which will be disliked by prospective customers). Nowadays they use weedicide to clear them as labour became costly. All those people who buy them clearly know it is very unlikely these plots will ever become houses but they buy them because of the notion that it is an asset that will appreciate and end it with common RE Slogan i.e. "Land is limited but population is increasing".

The current generation dearly misses the pristine nature. I feel that Human greed is doing more harm than whatever biggest volcanoes, earthquakes, floods have done in all these millions of years.

[Mystic]

I finally made a last trip to Bangalore recently after retirement via Tirumala Venkateswara Darshan to close my bank lockers and move the stuff to my Visakhapatnam home town bank lockers. The reason why I had to do this special trip was because of the election code recently and it was very risky to move valuables by road.

During my official relocation from Silicon Valley of USA to Silicon Valley of India in little more than a decade ago, I brought all my stuff including dustbin from USA to India in container. I bought a 3 storied villa adjacent to ITPL in a small gated community of 9 villas for under 1 crore including small modifications. I sold the villa in April 2024 for 3 times the price I paid. I took the help of No broker for the service. I was overwhelmed with showing the house to some 200 people in 1 month. I was very tired of showing the 3 storied villa to people who just come to see the market but don't have enough funds at hand to buy immediately. I can understand their predicament because another villa in our gated community was sold with ZERO appreciation during COVID days and hence the people were curious on how it tripled after 3 years of COVID. Many personally told me that they missed the opportunity to buy during COVID days due to their negligence.

The funds I had after selling the house was wire transferred to USA to buy a beach front home in San Diego as a down payment. I was shocked to know there is a 20% TDS for wire transfers. Anyways, I claimed the TDS during my ITR. I am also surprised at the capital gains laws changing in India on the fly and luckily I am escaping the flat 12.5% and can utilise the indexation due to my sale is before July 2024.

My take on real estate market especially in Bangalore is that I foresee a huge development going forward and Bangalore becomes one of the top places of destination for many. Any investment done now will see a huge growth.

[how_you_doing]

Originally Posted by Mystic

I bought a 3 storied villa adjacent to ITPL in a small gated community of 9 villas for under 1 crore including small modifications. I sold the villa in April 2024 for 3 times the price I paid.
...
...
My take on real estate market especially in Bangalore is that I foresee a huge development going forward and Bangalore becomes one of the top places of destination for many. Any investment done now will see a huge growth.

Thanks for sharing the numbers. We need more people like you in Bangalore to share the exact numbers for others to make informed decisions.

I think Bangalore real estate follows IT salary growth. 10 years back, those who had a 33L Salary now have a 1Cr salary. Also, BSE was at 27k in 2014, now it is at 80k so exact 300% growth.

ITPL was just a village in 2014, there was no connectivity whereas now it has a metro, IT companies, and good connectivity with the rest of the city so a 3X return is reasonable.

I know people who bought 3BHK in Electronic City for 90L in premium society 10 years back and are struggling to sell it at the same price due to more inventory and less demand. I am hoping that EC will take off with the metro starting.

What worries me is, currently Bangalore real estate is fueled by IT couples who are making a combined salary of 50L to 1Cr per year. But for how long is this scalable? Bangalore is getting really costly and even people with 20 lakh salary are living check to check as they have to maintain a certain IT lifestyle.

There is a high chance that the lower 20% of the IT crowd (Testers, entry-level developers), etc will be jobless in the coming years with AI replacing them which will make them leave the city. The current salary hike of IT guys taking a 50L-2Cr salary is not maintainable which means Bangalore real estate will hit a plateau. What it needs is, smart buyers. I see too many youngsters buying the next fancy-looking flat stretching their budget and paying an EMI of 1.2lpm for the next 20 years.

Originally Posted by varkey

We had also completed a transaction back in November 2023 in Bengaluru. This was in the upper 70L range for a 1500 sq ft, 3 BHK, 2T.

This can't be in the IT belt of ORR, Whitefield, etc. If it is, it is a great deal. Buying real estate is about patience. You need a time horizon of 5 years where you have to actively look for a great deal. To get a great deal, you need some kind of advantage over others who resale in your apartment providers. I have seen plenty of people leaving for the USA and they don't mind selling the flat at a few lakh less to a good honest buyer. More importantly, as a buyer in your society, you know everything about it so there are fewer chances of things going wrong. Older societies have also ironed out a lot of issues that new apartment societies face, especially with builders.

[Mystic]

Originally Posted by how_you_doing

Thanks for sharing the numbers. I see too many youngsters buying the next fancy-looking flat stretching their budget and paying an EMI of 1.2lpm for the next 20 years.
.

It is good that you brought up the topic of 1 lpm EMI. I think the youngsters these days are very smart. I personally know many in India who have paid back the home loan in half the duration as they get per diem during frequent on site assignments abroad. Sometimes the per diem is more than the salary. When it comes to youngsters in USA, they are super smart. Everybody is making a huge noise on moonlighting and multiple jobs etc. Sometimes I wonder on why USA Govt allows certain categories of VISAs have 2nd job officially like in Einstein visas as in Professors (EB).

My son who is asst professor in a top university can afford a multi million dollar home in USA and his salary is more than my last drawn salary at retirement. We both are in IT. The only difference is that he had PhD in top 3 universities in the world and I did research in a top Government engineering college in India which is not in top 1000 in the world. I am just in awe at seeing on how composed, matured and balanced are the modern kids when it comes to investments.

[varkey]

Originally Posted by m8002?

Congrats!!! Is the really in Bangalore? :-)

Originally Posted by how_you_doing

This can't be in the IT belt of ORR, Whitefield, etc. If it is, it is a great deal.

Correct, not in ORR or Whitefield. This is in RR Nagar area, close to Mysore Road. Although both my wife and I are in IT, never liked Whitefield or the ORR areas.

Originally Posted by how_you_doing

To get a great deal, you need some kind of advantage over others who resale in your apartment providers.
...
Older societies have also ironed out a lot of issues that new apartment societies face, especially with builders.

True, I felt the same. Many new projects that I had seen get completed in multiple phases, say you purchase a flat in Phase 1 and got possession in a couple of years (assuming no delays), the work in other phases would still span many more years. This means you have to deal with the ongoing construction, many amenities might be deferred until the other phases are complete. In my apartment society too, even though my block got the OC in 2018, the final OC was received in 2022 or so (COVID related and other delays). I had calculated the RoI my flat's seller probably got after taking into consideration yearly maintenance, property taxes etc, and its just 3-4%. The circumstances for an investment can vary which in this case was to get some tax relief u/s 54.

I guess it boils down to the primary purpose of purchasing the residential property. For someone who is looking for a residential property as an investment (say for tax relief or parking funds or appreciation etc), such new society issues wouldn't matter at all, cause they would never be staying there. For those purchasing for self use, it definitely makes sense to go for a couple of year old ready to move property so that you can start living right away and not deal with niggles and problems.

[kamal_parashar]

Buying a Land / Home is not just a transaction. It is an Emotion for most people. First time home buyers are the most worried lot. There are so many Builders that don't care, for whom selling their Land / Apartment / Project is just a way to fleece money. This happens in Every City.

I know a lot of sellers, who take good care of their customers as they wish to have repeated investments. The sellers who have built a brand which ensures customer satisfaction are able to sell projects even before Pre-Launch at times.

For a Buyer, you need to be very patient. Whenever you go to inspect a land, look for things like:

1. Road width.
2. Size of Plot / Number of floors.
3. Water availability in the area.
4. Any Black Board which reads OS/****
5. Latest Encumbrance Certificate.
6. Use Dishank App when in Karnataka (A beautiful Initiative) shows if there are any litigations on the property.
7. Discuss Patiently with the Seller.
8. If the Seller is being inconsistent in his claims, be careful.
9. Stay away from Sellers who promise lands at Cheap rates like 1000/- 2000/- per sqft and more so, if they are taking a booking amount of 4 - 5 Lakhs under the pretext of membership of Co-Operative Society.
10. Ask for copies of the Property - Show it to a good Lawyer before going ahead.

[JediKnight]

Originally Posted by how_you_doing

ITPL was just a village in 2014, there was no connectivity whereas now it has a metro, IT companies, and good connectivity with the rest of the city so a 3X return is reasonable.

Not everybody was that lucky. I bought a plot near ITPL ( Near Sadarmangla Village) in 2009 in private BDA layout. Completely legal A khata plot. Cost price was 21.2 Lakhs then. Add another ~3 lakhs for registration and khata transfer, bribes etc. Yes you need to pay bribes even if you are completely legal. I sold it 47.5 Lakh in 2019. The actual rate of return if I include the cost of capital since I had taken loan comes to less than a fixed deposit.

Also in between there was a scare where one village guy tried to put a false case on the layout to extort money. Was unsuccessful since we had some well connected local guys as investors.

Selling the plot was not easy. Corruption is rampant. In hindsight a very negative experience. I would have been much better off had I invested in stocks instead.

[mxx]

Originally Posted by Mystic

My take on real estate market especially in Bangalore is that I foresee a huge development going forward and Bangalore becomes one of the top places of destination for many. Any investment done now will see a huge growth.

I disagree. A lot of people think this way seeing the increase in prices post covid years. However, the fact is that what is happening in post covid years are an exception created by various factors caused by disruption due to covid (which many say is a once in a century event). To base any predictions on this scenario is not correct.

This is speaking as someone who has owned a property (tier 1 builder in IT belt) in Bangalore from late 2000s. Till covid (2020 - 2021), the appreciation was ok, not great - if you factor inflation. However, everything changed post that, and the rents and valuation sky rocketed.
Right now, the prices at their peak and more or less stabilized. If you need a home, any time is right to buy. But do not buy it as an investment. The prices being at the top, dont expect any significant increase in valuation in the next 10 years. That is if everything is normal and no positive or negative disruptions in economy.

However, with development of AI at the greatest pace ever, there can be significant changes in job markets. Initially it will be low level executives but mid level executives are not safe either. I wonder how Bangalore real estate will be affected at this.

[Mystic]

Originally Posted by mxx

I disagree. A lot of people think this way seeing the increase in prices post covid years. However, the fact is that what is happening in post covid years are an exception created by various factors caused by disruption due to covid (which many say is a once in a century event). To base any predictions on this scenario is not correct.

This is speaking as someone who has owned a property (tier 1 builder in IT belt) in Bangalore from late 2000s. Till covid (2020 - 2021), the appreciation was ok, not great - if you factor inflation. However, everything changed post that, and the rents and valuation sky rocketed.
Right now, the prices at their peak and more or less stabilized. If you need a home, any time is right to buy. But do not buy it as an investment. The prices being at the top, dont expect any significant increase in valuation in the next 10 years. That is if everything is normal and no positive or negative disruptions in economy.

However, with development of AI at the greatest pace ever, there can be significant changes in job markets. Initially it will be low level executives but mid level executives are not safe either. I wonder how Bangalore real estate will be affected at this.

Very interesting analogy on post COVID real estate appreciation in Bangalore. May be this once in a century pandemic affect needs to be further discussed on this forum for the benefit of all with their experiences.

As for me I have seen half of all countries out there on this planet and almost all important cities in this world. In fact my education was abroad except engineering. I never had an opportunity to visit Bangalore until I relocated formally by my company. Hence no bias towards Bangalore. My prediction is based upon discussions with some of my engineering classmates who are in top positions with Government and participate in various strategic development initiatives in various potential Indian cities. My son is a professor in AI in one of the top 3 universities in the world and he participates in various discussions on AI replacing jobs etc and I get to discuss the same with him.

Just Google and see what are the potential cities in the world which everyone is looking for development. Bangalore is one of the hottest destinations.

[androdev]

Unlike, say, NIFTY 50, real estate investments fall into a very broad range, so individual experiences differ by a great deal. On one extreme, you have people using corruption money buying land from poor farmers for pittance without paying any tax (income tax, stamp duty, capital gains) and holding it for decades. At the other end, you have salaried people buying small flats in overexploited/over-marketed mega projects with all sorts of overheads (interest, income tax, stamp duty, maintenance fees, property tax, club membership fees, etc.) trying to flip in a short period. No surprise that opinions about RE are usually very polarised.

Housing demand will not subside in Indian cities like Bangalore because there is a tremendous influx of people from villages, towns and other states seeking better opportunities. It's like immigration without visa restrictions - they will come to the cities and some of them will do very well financially and will create demand for housing. Unfortunately good investment opportunities are not available in the EMI based "click of a button" type purchase category.

RE is an interesting asset because it's probably one of the very few things that you can enjoy owning it and not lose money. I like this aspect a lot and I feel not many appreciate it enough. Parking money in stock market for 30 years has a huge non-financial opportunity cost especially if my basic aspirations are postponed by several decades. Buying a flat as an investment is not such a great opportunity IMO. I would rather upgrade my current house to a better one because I'll get to enjoy it.

[ValarMorghulis]

Real estate in Bangalore is in a very interesting phase. Top builders (Sobha, Brigade, Prestige, Salarpuria, Embassy, TE, Purva) are selling flats at exorbitant prices and supposedly all of them get sold in no time. 1,2 & 2.5 BHKs seem to be selling faster than candies and even 3BHKs are the mercy of the builder now (sir, only west facing, corner flat is available and so on).

4BHKs in these big builder societies are puny ~2400 sq ft and selling at >Rs 14000 psft!

A friend bought a resale 3500 4BHK flat for 4.2cr in Brigade society in Whitefield last year and I think he got lucky! Because the same are available now at 6cr!

Thinking of villas in these societies? Good luck. One has to shell out a minimum of 9crs for a 4000sqft 3/4BHK villa in a Total Environment society in Whitefield!

Real estate in Bangalore is now absolute bonkers! Just when one thinks prices can't go beyond 10k psft, the asking prices in Whitefield are now 20k psft!

[ninjatalli]

Originally Posted by ValarMorghulis

Real estate in Bangalore is in a very interesting phase.
...

Real estate in Bangalore is now absolute bonkers! Just when one thinks prices can't go beyond 10k psft, the asking prices in Whitefield are now 20k psft!

To my knowledge, there are two different set of rates for every "popular" apartment complex; and resale apartments go into 3 blocks. This is based on data collated for multiple apartment complexes; and this covers Tier 1 & 2 builders.

1. Apartments at an appropriate / reasonable rate that is somewhat in line with market rates and historical figures for that complex. 9 out of 10 are by owners who generally end up selling to fellow residents who have lived as tenants or have visibility of how good the complex is and are always on the lookout for apartments for sale. Most such apartments get booked within a few days; sometimes the rates are agreed and token is paid up within a day.

2. Apartments that are extremely inflated rate that is shared on housing forums (99Acres, MagicBricks, etc.). 9 out of 10 such ads are by brokers who at times collude to ensure the image of a higher price point is maintained for that apartment complex. Such ads stay up online for months but what they do is ensure the price point for the 3rd block (below) is raised significantly up.

3. Apartments that are on sale but mostly handled by brokers. The rates are dependent on a mix of factors - how "quickly" the seller want's to sell; how much of negotiations the buyer is getting into and his knowledge / visibility of the going rate of similar apartments as sold by genuine owners. The brokers reference the ads (block 2) to argue for higher prices. The sales in this block can fit anywhere between block 1 & block 2 rates.


Proof of the pudding

I have seen this in my apartment complex where the apartments get sold on the internal community forum at a much lower price point as compared to the ads on portals. I have heard the same for apartment complexes in Marathalli and JP Nagar; and will probably hold true across the city. Every other day, I see a post by a tenant asking if any apartments are for sale and if so what's the price point. There are ads with nearly 1.8x the price online for over 6 months.

I also faced this conundrum for a Sobha apartment complex that I was considering late last year. In my conversations, I once reached out to a broker who was residing in the complex. He quoted nearly 1.5x of the price of an ongoing resale flat for options that he had visibility. When I told him about the resale flat and the price asked by the owner, he vehemently refused but also kept on badgering me to share details of the flat / owner. Thankfully the owner had told me to not share his details as apparently these brokers then push the owner to not sell at that price; and rather inflate it via their services or create a nuisance.


Here's a review from a resident of a pretty old and decently known apartment complex in Koramangla, "Raheja Residency"; that expands on this situation The review is available here.

As a resident of Raheja Residency for 20 years, here is my review. It is mostly to help the people who don't know about RR and looking to take a flat on rent or buy a flat. It is a 30 year old apartment with 1st block getting delivered in 1995. Every block got delivered in the next 1-2 years. I think the newest was delivered in 2002.

There are 8 blocks, A to H. Each block has 80 flats, C, E and H have 100+ flats.

To Tenants or those who are looking to rent a flat -

1. Avoid outside facing flats. You can't sleep with the noise. A block is facing road where you will keep hearing traffic noise from 6 AM to 2 AM.

B and C blocks (outside) are facing Wipro and other commercial buildings who keep running the generator.

D block outside is facing another Raheja construction who have made our lives living hell for older citizen like us with continuous drilling and construction noise. E block and F block outside facing also get traffic and construction noise. F and G block are again facing main road so don't even think about taking it for rent (outside facing)

Only the center H block is reasonably insulated from outside noise. Flats of every block facing inside are OK although C, D and E block still get drilling noise from construction.

2. Till last year, 2 BHK were going for Rs 42-48k for rent and 3 BHK for 60-65k. Suddenly I am seeing 2BHK are going for 55k+ and 3BHK for 70-80k+. I guess brokers have figured out that IT people are loaded with both spouses earning so lets ask for 30% rent hikes.

3. Before taking any flat on rent, do talk to previous tenant to know the problems in the flat. Take his number and talk to them later (not in front of broker). If broke says he don't have the tenant number, take it from the block manager. Before taking flat on rent, do talk to the block manager too to know about common problems in the flat (previous tenant may not tell the whole truth as he wants his deposit back asap)

I hope RR association have their own property managers instead of allowing outsiders to manipulate the association flat rentals.

To prospective buyers -

1. There is a cartel of few brokers/agents. There is Gowda, Anand and Murali. There may be couple more who make sure the prices remain inflated. 50% flats are on rent and the owners are not living in Bangalore so these people have made sure property at RR only goes through them.

2. Till last year, 3 BHK on lower floors was going for 1.2=14 crore, suddenly they are asking for 1.8 crore? the higher floors were going for 1.6-1.8C, suddenly there is price hike of 30-40% and now brokers/owners are asking for 2.3-2.6 crore (for a 30 year old flat with lot of wear and tear)

3. Do talk to previous tenant and Manager of the block multiple times. Do see the flat multiple times during morning, afternoon and evening. Some flats don't get any sunlight at all.

4. The actual price of the flat is most likely 20-30% less than what the owner/broker is saying. Do not rush. There are flats which are on sale for 2+ years.

5. Broker/agents have no reason to be honest with you. Talk to current owners, tenants and block managers to know the actual value of flats getting sold. It was Rs 9k-10k sqft on lower floors and 11k-12k on higher floors till Feb 2023. Nothing has changed for the prices to go up since then.

I don't know how much money IT people are making but this pricing is ridiculous and non IT/retirees like us can't even imagine to rent flats, forget about buying it.

I hope young IT guys consider other options and don't blindly chose Koramangala and throw away their hard earn money to brokers and inflated real estate. If you are working from home, may be consider Kanakpura, airport road side and areas which are closer to metro.

Koramangala is saturated and is falling apart. People who own properties are living somewhere else enjoying their rental income when you are paying 20-30% of your salary on rent/EMI and living with constant pollution, dust and noise.