All first time homebuyers share the same sense of trepidation about owning a home. Do I have enough money? Where do I even begin? These are just some of the millions of questions that scroll through the mind of a first time home buyer.
We decided to speak to Sunitha Prabhakar, a young 34-year-old mother, and working professional who successfully bought a new home recently after many months of searching. We asked her about her experience of the home buying journey, and what advice she would offer first-time homebuyers. Here is Sunitha’s story.
I grew up in Jayanagar, which was a very leafy and quiet suburb in the 1980s and 1990s. My parents had built a fairly large house with four bedrooms, and my brother and I had plenty of space to play around.
After I got married my husband and I rented an apartment. It took me some time to adjust to this shift from a house to an apartment especially in terms of the space. But I found that an apartment is much easier to maintain than a house.
A few years later, after our son was born, we decided that it was now time to have a place of our own. Having fond memories of the place I grew up in, I was adamant that I wanted to give my son the same kind of space to play in. But at the same time, since both my husband and I were working, we were sure that we only wanted an apartment and not a house as it is easier to maintain.
Getting started
Naturally, in addition to doing our own research, we started asking people around us for their opinions on the best way to start the process. Friends who had recently bought a house, family members who have been living in their own houses for many years, acquaintances who had just begun the paperwork for a new house. Everyone had a word of advice. And they were all conflicting!
An uncle had highly recommended Whitefield as a good area to invest in, but the very next week a friend immediately shot down the area for various reasons. After a while, we were thoroughly confused, which was also very discouraging.
What I learnt
Refrain from asking opinions on neighbourhoods and similar personally relevant questions. What works for one may not for the other. However, asking about how to get started on home loans got us some useful information apart from what we read online.
Applying for a home loan
I realised very quickly that applying for a home loan is not exactly the first step. It is checking your credit history and making sure that it is spotless. When I was waiting at the bank to get some paperwork done for the home loan, I struck up a conversation with the lady sitting next to me. I had noticed that she was holding home loan papers in her hand. She said that she had defaulted on a credit card payment some time back. It was for a very small amount of Rs 150.
She had missed the intimation from the bank because she was going through an address change at that point and she had forgotten to notify the bank. And now, she had to go to great lengths to rectify the damage that had been done to her CIBIL score.
What I learnt
Even a seemingly insignificant amount can dent your credit score, which in turn can affect your home loan eligibility. Life gets in the way all the time, and it helps to keep reminders about key things like repayments. It is also helpful to schedule timely checks on your credit reports so that when you need to rely on them for loans, the process is trouble-free.
Searching for houses
Our home loan got approved, thankfully, with not too much trouble. I heaved a sigh of relief at passing the first hurdle. We were now free to look for houses! It’s what I had been looking forward to especially since I thought that we had it all figured out. We knew exactly what we wanted, didn’t we?
Yes. But we hadn’t separated want from need yet. That was one of my biggest learnings along the way. Very quickly, our notions of owning an apartment near the city centre or anywhere in Jayanagar seemed impossible. There were so many factors that just didn’t seem to sit right together at once!
As we piled up the apartment viewings, we flexed on our requirements. The balcony need not be so big, but the kitchen has to be spacious. We can do without an extra bedroom, but we definitely need more storage areas. We began to consider localities we previously would not have. They seemed to accommodate our changing preferences.
What I learnt
Reduce your expectations at the beginning, and don’t decide on a house immediately. It sounds like common sense but it’s amazing how we can get carried away with the superficial. Model apartments can be deceptive because they are done up tastefully to lure the buyer. Clear your mind of the interiors and look at the place as it is for the space, the quality, and other functional aspects like locality and amenities.
Getting a valuation
After many months of trudging around, we finally found an apartment that fitted most of the things we were looking for. I was happy that it had a play area for my son, and our apartment had an ample balcony too! Our apartment is in Hebbal, a neighbourhood we had previously never factored in but once we saw the apartment, and tried out the commute, it seemed manageable.
But there was just one more step we had to finish before we forked out the money. Although it was a relatively new apartment, I wanted to get a quick evaluation done to see if we would incur any heavy costs in the future. I had been explicitly advised to get this done by one of my colleagues who had had a bad experience and had learnt from it. So, even though the evaluation cost us a good amount, we were at least assured of no nasty surprises in the immediate future.
What I learnt
Evaluation includes combing through the builder’s history, and papers, and checking if the finances are all in place. We went through all the documents ourselves, but when we presented it to a property lawyer he had many more clarifications. At the end of it, we were doubly assured that we could safely go ahead with our purchase.
It’s now been a few months since we moved into our new apartment. It’s slowly becoming home for me as we dress it up according to our liking. We are doing up different rooms little by little every month, which helps us envision the space better, and also balance the expenditure. We are finally enjoying our home and having fun!
