Whether you are looking for flats in Bangalore, planning to buy flats in Chennai or looking for flats in Mumbai, you need to be aware of certain facts. It’s the biggest investment of your life and usually requires a lot of investment. But staking your savings and getting a bank loan does not automatically guarantee success. This is true whether you are looking for flats in Omr, flats in Pune, flats in Thane, flats in Kolkata, flats in Hyderabad or flats in Delhi.

In order to help NRIs to make informed choices, here are certain steps that you need to take that will help you have your dream home.

Checking Credentials

Before putting your hard earned money on any project, you need to check whether a builder has secured all the approvals to start construction, you must check the ownership of the land on which the project is to be developed . Make sure to check the builder has
approvals for building plans and floor plans, structural safety certificates, no-objection certificates from the civic authorities, environment clearances, urban land ceiling certificates , commencement certificates and title deed.

Buyer-seller agreement

Be sure to have take a look at the Buyer-seller agreement before putting in your advance. This agreement has all the clauses, terms, conditions and legal implications for the buyer and developer should there be a default on either side. Important points are interest, penalty and default charges for a buyer and clauses of refund of payment in case the project is not completed or is scrapped.

Shortcut to Checking

If you are planning to buy a flat, the best way to make sure that the developer is truly clear is to buy it through a bank loan. You need to realise that when you take a bank load to buy a flat, the bank automatically accepts the apartment as collateral when they give a home loan.

Since the bank’s money is at risk they will do all the checks, including that of the credentials of the builder, to ensure that the market value of the collateral does not diminish.

As an NRI you may have the money to put down on a flat without a loan. However, the safer alternative is to take a small loan from a bank so that it too is involved in the whole process. Later, if you want, you can prepay the loan as this does not attract any penalty.