What is ready reckoner rate?

When you decide on buying a property, the next thing you have to do is to improve your knowledge on all real estate trends and real estate market.
It is also necessary for potential buyers in real estate to know and understand various terms and words used in the Chennai real estate. While there are a lot of terms used, ready reckoner rates is something that every buyers should know about. Ready reckoner rates are prices that are regulated and published by the respective state government on residential property, land or commercial property. Every state government revises these rates on an annual basis. Only based on these rates any property buyer will have to pay stamp duty for his purchase. These rates differ from each and every locality.

How do ready reckoner rates affect real estate prices?
Ready reckoner rate is the primary factor that brings in a big change in the real estate prices of any location.  Though these rates are set by the state government, the builders have freedom to charge premium above this ready reckoner rates. But builders are not allowed to sell the property less than the ready reckoner rates. The difference between the selling price and the ready reckoner rates will be a black money transaction.

Whenever the government rises these rates, then obviously the real estate prices will also increase. Also the fees and tax that the builders will have to pay to the government will also increase with ready reckoner rates. So builder will surely impose these rates on buyers thus resulting in increased selling rice of land and apartment for sale in Chennai.  Not just builders and sellers, these rates also affects people who already own a property in Chennai as the tax to pay to the Municipal Corporation also increases with these rates.

How to know the ready reckoner rates?
You can easily know the ready reckoner rates of any particular location through the ready reckoner site. You can also know this rate from the websites of registration and stamp duty department each state. This helps in maintaining a transparency in the real estate prices across the state and the country. You can also get the rates from office of the sub-registrar where the property in transaction has to be registered.

Ready reckoner rates and built-up area
Ready reckoner rates are always connected to built-up area and not with the super built-up area or the carpet area of the flat in Chennai. The highest revenue source of every state government is through the ready reckoner rates (stamp duty registration). The government has insisted all builders to sell the apartments in Chennai on basis of only the carpet area and not the super built-up area. But most of the builders sell their property only on basis of super built-up area. Even when some builders obey the government, they increase the per square feet area.

Always remember to know the ready reckoner rates of all area in Chennai if you are planning to buy an apartment for sale in Chennai. There are also online calculator to calculate the ready reckoner rate and stamp duty value of any property.

Points that should not be overlooked while buying an apartment!

Indians are known to overlook aspects which are considered important by people worldwide. For example, while buying a car in India safety and quality takes the back seat while mileage and pricing takes the front seat! We are indeed a practical group of people but some important factors have to be considered while buying something that stays with us for a long time. And when it comes to long term investments, buying a home is the most important purchase of all.

In this article, we try to cover some of the points which are generally overlooked by us but should actually be considered as important as the price and location of the house we buy.

Better safe than sorry – Home Protection

Be it a rural area, town or a metropolitan like Chennai or Mumbai, buying property should always consider the safety aspect of the home. If you are purchasing a plot make sure that the locality has a police station, fire service center and also opt for a gated community for added security.

If it is an apartment make sure that the doors and windows and the locks provided by the builder have grilled reinforcements and upgrade them to better quality gear if needed. If your purchase is a retirement solution, make sure that there is help readily available in the form of an association that is helpful.

Legal opinions and second opinions!

Never jump in blindly going by the tags ‘Clear Title’, ‘100% Documents’ and such. Those are commonly used marketing jargons that are in no way validated by anyone. Get the copy of the documents from the builder / developer / promoter and get a legal opinion of it.

Don’t shy away from getting a second opinion if not confident enough. Also, if the property ownership is going to be joint ownership, get the legalities out of the way first up without rushing into it at the last moment.

Surroundings matter

It not just how the house is on the inside, but the approach and surroundings also matter. Often builders lay out a lawn, a pool surrounded by a jogging track and greenery to attract buyers. But if the project is nearby to a waste land or a swamp it is going to be a tricky place to live in!

In the same way, if the approach roads are not well laid or if there are slums nearby, if will be a problem in the longer run. Residential apartments near to industries that pollute are highly not recommended. Research around and see and ask opinions about the locality.

Builder History

There is nothing wrong in trusting a new builder but it is always a safe bet to invest your hard earnt money with a property developer who is well established in the real estate market. With experience comes better quality. Also, visit old projects to see how the construction holds up. Do check on how long the builder supports maintenance for the building after handing over for occupation. The longer the warranty, the more confidence the builder has on his own project!

Atul Joshi is an environmental activist who closely monitors the Green Moment of Indian real estate. He loves sharing the information he holds to the public and he reaches out through IndiaProperty.com

Will the plans on linking property sale and GIS maps bring in transparency in Mumbai Real Estate?

The property prices in Mumbai and other cities are rising rapidly these days owing to the huge demand from potential buyers. With increased potential buyers who seek out for perfect location to buy a property in Mumbai, the demand have increased. The price of a property is highly affected by its location. Even the reckoner rates fixed by the government on each property mainly depends on the location. For instance a property located on a prime location near a bust stand, a railway station or airport tend to have high prices when compared to a property in remote location. So government fixes the reckoner rates only depending the growth of the place in which the property is located.

Reckoner Rates

Reckoner rates fixed by the government decides the rates of the immovable property like commercial and residential properties in Mumbai. It is based on these rates that the stamp duty and registration fees of any particulate property is collected by the Stamps and Registration department of the government. Each state government in the country determines these rates annually based on the location of the property. The government also has full authority to rise these rates.

Recent plan of Maharashtra Government

Though these reckoner rates are analysed and changed every year by the government, it is not very transparent to the public. To make reckoner calculation precise and transparent the Maharashtra Government have recently announced a new plan. According to the new plan, the property transaction data will linked with GIS maps. Initially pilot projects will be started in three cities of the state such as Mumbai, Pune and Thane.

When property registrations are linked with GIS maps, then it would be easy for the government to get precise reckoner rates for each part of the state. Reckoner rates as of now are calculated based on the market rates, local inquiries, documents registered with the department, information from media reports, real estate exhibitions and market intelligence. But all these factors are subject to frequent changes that may affect the ready reckoner rates.

When this plan is executed, the ready reckoner rates will calculated with scientific average calculated by automatic analysis of property transactions in a particular city survey number. This will use satellite imagery to know each and every development in different areas of the state and how it bring in changes in the property prices.

Challenges in the plan

Though this plan may bring in transparency and accuracy in reckoner rates, it has certain challenges. Getting property transaction details of individual Flats in Mumbai may be difficult as most area of the state may not have been updated and digitised. Also it would be difficult to identify the transaction area with just a survey number.

The use of GIS in real estate is a good news to Indian real estate. Location is the prime factor that influences real estate. GIS helps us receive accurate data on the geographical location of any property. Hence we can use GIC not just in analysing property transaction but also in various other task in real estate such as market analysis, spatial analysis and property research.