Betting on a better home

Buying a home with extra amenities can be a risky proposition, but it can also offer significant gains.

November 15, 2013 05:56 pm | Updated November 22, 2013 05:59 pm IST

If the house comes with a host of amenities, then making the best use of them also counts

If the house comes with a host of amenities, then making the best use of them also counts

Living is just getting more and more about the spaces around you, not just the area inside your house. The popular experiences being promised and sold by developers are the “greens”, the “golf experience”, “walk-in-the-woods”, “swimming pool”, “fully-equipped gym and club house”, and so on. Some realtors even promise malls, schools and hospitals in their private townships. Should you cock a snook at these enticements of a better lifestyle?

As the saying goes, “beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder”. So in this case does the value of such amenities. If having these around you can make you feel better, there’s no reason for you to shy away from making the most of such offers.

Today, realtors are willing to bend over backwards to accommodate new home buyers with a slew of sweeteners and discounts. And if you intend to make a move to the “higher” lifestyle, this is as good a time as any, if not better.

What this requires in a tight financial market is the liquidity to fund such a purchase, or the credit profile to raise adequate funds through a home loan to seal the deal. Some home buyers are paying the booking amount to purchase such homes with an intent to swap the new homes with their old ones, once the under construction houses are ready. This can be a risky proposition, but not without the promise of significant gains.

Take the example of an individual wanting to move into a complex in his present locality. A new house with frills will likely attract a premium over an existing, older property in the vicinity.

More so, property valuations tend to improve as construction progresses—provided the realty market is mostly stable. Given these observations, an individual booking a new home in the locality will tend to lock-in at a lower rate and reap valuation gains through such an exercise (net of any relative value loss of the present property—see Math of Home Swap).

A note of caution: such anticipated gains can quickly turn to losses in a property slump. So, let your decision to move to a new home be determined by your heart and your wallet. In doing so, however, it is fair to include contribution of sale proceeds from your present home in your financial calculations.

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