* You must start looking for places early. Start as early as April/May. A lot, and I mean truckloads, of people join the industry in June/July/August. The law of price elasticity of demand applies and you might have to shell out a couple of grand more in case you're late.
* Ideal places for bachelors are Gachibowli, Kondapur, Miyapur, Madhapur, Kukatpally, Srinagar Colony, Ameerpet and Begumpet (if your office is nearby) and parts of Jubilee/Banjara hills.
* Jubilee/Banjara hills, Srinagar Colony, parts of Kondapur and Madhapur are a tad costlier. Gated communities cost more. If you want a swimming pool, gym within the community, be prepared to shell out more money. The places mentioned above must be the epicenter of your search. You should look for houses within a 2 Km radius around these places.
* Start with these websites
These are the most comprehensive ones of the lot. There are a couple of caveats with online house hunting. These ads are put up by brokers/agents and they quote less than what the owner expects. When you go to them, they just make a sorry face and say, 'Oh, the owner wants Rs. (n+2000). But, we will help you negotiate with her'. Also, many of the ads boast of superior amenities, parking etc., which turn out to be a bummer. Check out every place before placing it in your filtered list.
* Be clear on what you want - an apartment, an independent house, or co-existence with the landlord. Each has its own pros and cons. While an independent house allows you to do almost whatever you want, an apartment building gives you slightly better security. Co-existence might restrict movement but gives you a slightly better deal.
* Contact brokers. Scores of brokers. Ask your seniors, colleagues, friends for phone numbers of people who deal in real estate. Be on the lookout for such information on fliers, wall posters, graffiti. Broker dudes show you around, help you negotiate with the owner.
Brokers charge brokerage, which usually amounts to 50% of one month's rent from your side and 50% from the owner's side. Note that bargaining is not in the broker's favor, so you must talk to the owner yourself and settle on an amount. I've met brokers who wanted one month's rent in advance. If someone insists, just say 50% is the norm and that is the maximum you can offer him in return of his services.
* If you don't want to get in touch with brokers, check out each target locality for TOLET signs. This is very time consuming, tiring and frustrating. Your friends might be able to help you out, but the broker way is faster.
* Now that you have places to check out, this is more or less what you should be looking at -
- Is the house/apartment secure? This is irrelevant in case of a gated community.
- Uninterrupted power supply. Power backup. Power thefts in the area.
- Water? Borwell water/municipal supply/filtered water?
- Is the place well connected? What's the traffic like during peak hours?
- Are there places to eat, where you can eat daily without pooping in your pants, nearby? This is important if you don't plan to cook/hire a cook
- Can you get house keeping? I do it myself. So should you, unless you're really lazy.
- Are there departmental stores, utility shops etc. in the vicinity?
- Internet service providers in the area.
* Strike a balance between the rent and the time that you're going to spend in the house. There is no point in shelling out 18K for a 2BHK, if you plan to come back only to sleep. Likewise, there is no point in getting a shabby place if you're doing night shifts or whatever.
* Never tell which organization you work for. People start guessing your budget and you might end up leaving the landlord/broker salivating and not open to negotiations. Just say, you work for an IT company/services company.
* Once you're done negotiating, you are supposed to pay the token amount. Please don't say no to this even if you're moving into the new place after two months. It's like a tradition. Spit and shake hands types!
* Make sure your paperwork is solid. There is something known as a lease document. This must be crystal clear in case 2/3 of you are sharing. Each one of you should appear on that document as joint leasers. It should mention how much each person is contributing towards the total rent. Be on the lookout for 'small-fonts'. It's a legal document after all. Don't throw away the receipts, you'll need them for IT returns
* Oh, and please respect others right to peaceful existence (I just created one!), which means no loud music in the dead of the night, no boozing in the courtyard and definitely no chicita business - can't help it. People hate this!
* And lastly, there is no substitute for field work!
A big thank you to everyone who helped us out with all this - IV, Devansh, Gunjan, Sugandh, Jitu, Ap0c, Jimmy. Really appreciate it!
Khuda Hafiz,
Sultan of Samarkand.
7 comments:
Thanks for the post. I'll bookmark it for next year :)
Happy bloggers' day!
Amazingly comprehensive!
Btw, surprisingly, towlichoki doesn't come up in the post anywhere. Neither is it the 2km radius of the places mentioned.
Isn't that where the writer of this piece dwells ? :D
you've really done a very comprehensive search..
this will surely help a lot of guys..
nice comprehensive post, would surely help many people...
some time back I had written a post on the frustrating process that is house-hunting... esp for bachelors :)
nicely done. this needs to be publicised more ... it's going to save someone a lot of work
You have done a nice work.You can also search properties at bharathrentals.com which I found very useful in my flat search.
There are no two ways about the fact that the global economic scenario has hit the real estate sector dearly. Even the Indian economy that is touted as one of the most developing economies along with the Chinese economy had to naturally bear the brunt of the economic showdown. Cities like Hyderabad that witnessed almost overnight and rapid development owing to the growing IT sector are amongst the badly hit. The commercial properties especially the hotels in Hyderabad have also seen falls in their occupancy. Though the occupancy of the business hotels in Hyderabad is still better as compared to the leisure and luxury hotels, it is not as good as it used to be. However, the good news is that the bigwigs of the hospitality sector are undeterred and the hotels rooms in the ITC hotels in Hyderabad are expected to rise by a whopping 5600 rooms in addition to the existing 2000 rooms. This is good news not only for the city but also for the country as the rising hotel rooms and the rise of the budget hotels in Hyderabad along with the business and the luxury properties is only indicative of the fact that the Indian economy would get back on track and business would flow in and boom never as before.
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