Lifestyle living or Lifetime saving

In my previous post i had given details of the apostrophe. Putting those details i get a question in my mind, does the lifestyle living justify the price it has. Looking at the pricing of apostrophe a 2BHK for nearly 48L, which in my opinion is 15-20L more than a very good 2BHK which you can get. Now a 2BHK coming in the range of 30-35L will still have good enough fitting and build quality.

Doesn't 15-20L extra for those imported doors and imported tiles seems too much. I guess if you plan to do it yourself it still will be much much less than 15L.

According to me if for e.g. a decent propety having good enough features is having a rate of 2300/sqft then a property with any additional features as higlighted by apostrophe can max should be in the range of 2800/sqft or less.

Then why do they have such an exhorbitant price, is it give you neighbourhood of only those having BMW's and Audi's, and to get off the commoner from booking. But even if you have such neighbours you still are living in Wakad and not Koregaon Park.

Apostrophe Wakad: What makes it so expensive?

In my previous post i had given details of mont-vert tropez, Its now turn of apostrophe which too i had visited.

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Apostrophe
Location: Wakad
Quoted Rate: 3300psf
Value of 2BHK (1270 Sqft) @ 3300psf = 41,91,000
(Though i was interested in 3BHK but with their price even a 2BHK was out of my budget)
Car Parking = 1,75,000
MSEB = 85,000
Club & Ameneties = 75,000
Registration = 30,000
Legal charges = 7,000
Stamp Duty @ 5%

Total Value = 47.7 L
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Approach road or should i say no road (because what is there doesn't classify as road by any means), is pretty narrow and full of potholes. This is the same road for couple of more sites. Thankfully for apostrophe you dont have to travel full length of this road.

From the very moment you park your car beside the sales office, to the point of being seated inside the sales office, you get a feel of the sophistication you are in for. The entrance to the sales office foresees a well maintained garden with artificial water bodies. Yea, you can say 'upmarket'.

On reaching the office i was polietly lead by the sales person to a separate cabin. He asked a few preliminary questions like what are you looking at, a 2BHK or a 3BHK and then hit his sales pitch.

He started with the layout of entire property. He emphasied on:
--the palm avenues,
--water bodies
--ladscaped garden with a walking zone free of traffic
-- the senior citizen area
--the club house

Now he comes to explaining the apartment layout. Once again, it was using adjectives with all the features such as:
--Imported doors
--Italian tiles with finishing like wooden floor
--Quality of tiles they are putting in terrace and bathroom and all other thing.
--Imported and top end brand fittings

For a moment it did appear that I'm probably not dealing with a property sales but a hardware store salesman. Did i mention how proud or boastful he appeared in telling this? Well may be he has to get such details into the mind of the customer or else how he can he justify the price he was going to quote later.

After his pitch laced with obscene use of adjectives, was my turn to ask some specifics regarding carpet area and loading. I ask these specifics for all properties i have been visiting. So here are the specifics:
--30% loading ( i.e. in the area they sell to you, 30% of it will be common area like balcony, stairs)
--Carpet area - 1115 Sq ft

On being asked about the reason for loading being on the higher end, i got the same rhetoric: "Its still less with us, others charge more than that, and in Mumbai its more than 40%.". Well i'm not buying property in mumbai !!!!!! So this guy is upbeat about what he is selling without the idea that he is beginning to sound a little stupid.

He now offers us to have a look at the flats. Whilst taking me to the sample flat, he told me the location of the club house, garden and all. I finally reach the sample flat. Woolah !! I must admit it is indeed impressive by all means. You really will see all the things the salesperson was so boastful about and they do look good. Doors were far better than what i had seen in any other property and why not! they are imported from italy (as told by salesperson). Tiles and fitting and everything else was great. Not to forget the massive sized windows to each of the rooms. The layout of the bedrooms, dining and living areas was fine. As per the balcony, 3BHK flat has only one balcony with the living/dining area. No balcony with bedroom. With 2BHK you will get balcony with both living area and bedroom.

I was also showed the parking area. I believe it was an open parking area where they were putting tiles at that moment and salesperson didn't forget to mention the price of those tiles. Hahahahaha, i was laughing inside. What do i have to do with parking! But on a second thought, unless they tell about the tiles, how will they charge obscenly for that as well:D!

So we come back to the office and asked for the quote. He gave me the per sq ft figure as mentioned above and worked out the 2BHK to be somewhere around 48L and 3BHK for 58+ L.

Now comes the big question. So what do you want to buy, a 2BHK or a 3BHK (It seemed like he was asking are you still interested). Unfortunate, as it was for him, he stood firm on the price. Intriguing property, BUT (and thats a biiig BUT), the worth of this money IS TO BE CAREFULLY CONSIDERED. My critique wife was pretty impressed with the flat, but she still managed to point out a design fault in the poor ventilation in the flat. Though they have big windows but there was no way for cross ventillation unless you keep the door of you bedroom open(Whats the use of the Italian doors if they cannot be closed hahaha:D)

With the price quote, the upmarket property, and a flat laced with imports, I was in dilemma. However, how much can you negotiate with them and even if you get them to come down a few lakhs, it still will be too much (we are talking 40 Lakh for 2 BHK if he gives 7 lakh of discount). But i took my chances and asked for discount. BANG came the reply: "this is the price after discount. We have been selling at a price of 3700/Sqft". To the Ambanis ???

I flatly told him my budget for a 2BHK and left the property. As i left, a few questions came to me: Is the price of lifestyle gone so high???? Somewhere my mind told me that all this is a sham, a nexus and there are possibilities where the lifestyle is achivable for less with thoughtful plan.

more on the cheating done by pune builder

Not one but many it seems have been cheated by the same builder.
http://exposepunebuilders.blogspot.com/

Story of an IT professional Cheated by pune builder

Make sure you go through the property agreement in details and dedicating it enough time.
That surely will save you from your worst of nightmare. Most us have an habbit of signing the documents withous giving due dillegence to it, and taking the words of the other person.

Here is the experience of a person who could not read his agreement before signing it.
http://cheatedpuneconsumers.blogspot.com/2007/04/buying-house-in-pune-be-careful.html

Make sure this doesn't happen to you.

Sites in Wakad

I have visited couple of sites in wakad and pune. I wanted to mention some of them.

To start with i'm giving my experience with mont-vert tropez

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Mont-vert Tropez:

Location: Wakad

Quoted Price: 2666 psf

Total Value of a 2.5BHK (1297 Sqft) @2666 = 34,57,802

Infra Charges = 1,75,000

MSEB + Legal Fees = 85,000

Agreement Value = 37,17,802

Stamp Duty & registration = 1,96,340

Total = 39,14,142

Extras

Maintenance Charges from the date of possession upto March 2011 @ 1.35/Sqft Per month.

Solar Water Heater Charges = 29,000

Grand Total all inclusive = Approx 40L (less than 40L by some amount)

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Had the worst of experience while meeting the mont-vert sales person. The approach road to the mont-vert site is decent when compared to apostrophe and some other sites in wakad. Yet it looked more like a slum area around with lot of construction going on. As i have mentioned in my previous post that i do follow Ravi Karandeekar blog quite often, and he seems to have a really good impression about them. I too went with the similar impression explaining my wife that they are reputed builder and usually have a bit higher rate than the others. But they probably are wort considering their quality. While approaching the site saw some banner by mon-vert saying "Reduced Rate" & "Early possession".

Reached the sales office, salesman started to explain me their layout plan and told me that there are only 3BHK flats available now, 2BHK have all gone in the buildings which are almost ready. There are 2BHK in the new building which are yet to come up. Showed me the plans of 3BHK, but i was more keen on seeing a sample flat. Asked the salesman to show me the sample flat, he instructed me to go to building E where they have their sample flat ready. Saw the sample flat and adjacent flats too. First impression....Flats were of really good size, with good size living room. What I didn't like the kind of fitting used by them in kitchen and toilet (looked very cheap), and the tiles used in kitchen and toilet wall (Seemed to be the cheapest one available). Came back and first thing i asked the salesman was about the fitting, which fittings are they using....reply "Jaquar". When i told him that they doesn't look like Jaquar he said we are using Marc. Tiles he said will be the same as you saw. Then came the question of pricing, he told me the rate as 2666/psf. and gave me all inclusive figure. Now after this when asked for discount sales person came back with a discount of 1.43L and told me an all inclusive figure of Rs 40,38,431. I was surprised to find the figure to higher than the original quotes price and that too after discount.

And as i had already seen some of the other sites i was also shocked to see MSEB charges of 85K, whilst the other had that at around 65K. Sales person answer to this was they have paid money to MSEB to get the electricity to the society and had paid money under the table. And this will be your society you will be charged with that. Yet i fail to understand why the builder even want to make profit in the MSEB charges when they are already doing so in the PSF price and other charges. After reading http://www.rtiindia.org/forum/2982-your-realtor-cheating-you-mseb-s-name.html and finding the truth, it becomes even more bitter pill to swallow when being charged such a exhorbitant amount.

When i told the salesperson my budget which i'm ready to pay, he started saying you can get in such a rate in areas like Pimple Saudagar. This shocked me further as compared to wakad atleast pimple saudagar have got some shops and a mall coming up. Wakad doesn't even have any decent grocery store near these sites. Thats what appalled me, and i asked him if somebody moves in by July 2009 here in your society where is he expected to go to buy veggies and grocery. There are no decent approach road here and no ATM nothing. Why should i pay such an amount.

Reply: 4 Years before pashan didn't had anything and now you see, and you know the rate there.

My Reply: Yes then dont sell the property with the rate of 2013 now.

Please also go through what Mr. Karandeekar has to say about Mont-Vert here

http://ravikarandeekarsblog.blogspot.com/2009/04/mont-vert-reduces-property-rates.html

Why this blog

I'm part of the crowd who is considered by Developers in pune as cow, whom they considered to be soft spoken and whom they can milch to garner BIG profit. Yes i'm an IT professional, We probably get looted almost everywhere in our day to day life, be it Rickshaw walla, vegatable vendor or Landlords looking for prospective tenant.

Since last 1 month i have been doing rounds visiting many societies/flat for a rental accomodation and first thing i get asked is what do you do, where do you work. May be i'm cynicist and reading too much between the line. But the rent i'm quoted after giving the answer about my job doesn't make me believe otherwise.


I'm also trying to find a home to buy in pune. And have visited many sites (mostly in Wakad and Pimple Saudagar) to enquire about the rates and plans. No wonder my search is still on.


Also i have been following some real estate blogs most prominently the famous Ravi Karendeekar Blog. More and more i have read his blog i feel he probably doesn't share the pain of people like me. I found it hard when he justify the price of 3000+ for a property in areas like Wakad and hinjewadi. Not to disparage his efforts in giving some insight on the RE projects in pune, but when it comes to pricing...as a buyer i dont want to believe him.


Thats the reason for this blog of mine, to be able to give my views on the property in pune not as a Real Estate SALESMAN but as a prospective buyer.