Land isn’t cheap these days, and most of us are only fortunate enough to be able to afford a plot only once in our lives, so it should be a very well-thought and carefully-made decision. No matter how big or small the plot is, we all dream of building a place which we can call home. Home is not a necessarily a beautiful tall building with lots of rooms, if it suits your needs; a small and simply designed house can be your home.
After a year of research, site-visits, discussions with property dealers and combing through the internet, we were finally able to purchase a plot where we can build our dream home, but this past year also taught us a lot. These are 3 common mistakes that you shouldn’t make while looking for a plot. This also applies if you’re looking to buy a house rather than a plot.
1. You might not need what people (around you) are buying
Think hard about your requirements before you decide on plot size. It’s not wise to spend all your money on plot and then not being able to build a house on it, or worst; building a partial house. Take a day or two, note down your requirements, start with the smallest possible size and move up the ladder. The plot size that checks all the boxes on your requirements’ list should be ideal for you. You can always add/remove requirements which ultimately; will increase/decrease your plot size, but this practice is absolutely necessary before you go out for a plot hunt.
This rule also applies on the plot location. Don’t pay money for a fancy place if you can live more happily at a (relatively) simpler place.
2. Never pay anything to Property dealer before meeting the property owner
You meet a property dealer. They have a list of plots, you see the list and they offer you to visit the sites too. Fortunately, there is a plot that you like. You tell the property dealer that you are interested in that plot. Now what?
Our Experience
We learned that the hard way. When you like a plot, you should ask the property dealer that you wanted to meet the owner to make a deal. In our case, property dealer asked us to pay some advance so he can tell the owner that he got the advance and arrange a meeting. We paid him some advance advance and came back home.
After three days, he called us and told that he arranged a meeting and we should reach his office in an hour. We were busy, so we requested to reschedule the meeting. He said the owner came only for that meeting and cancelling it will jeopardize our deal. We were surprised but we asked him that we can’t come to the meeting at such short notice and that we’ll discuss this again tomorrow. The next day when we called, he said that the owner thinks we are not serious in making the deal and that the deal is cancelled. We said okay and asked for the refund of our advance and he said that we are late. If we’ve asked yesterday, he would have fully refunded us, but now he can’t give our money back.
This obviously wasn’t fair, so we went to housing society head-office for help. They said that this is a private matter between two parties and they can’t be a part of it. So long story short, we lost our money (that we paid as an advance) and we weren’t even close to finding the right plot for us.
Lesson learned, never pay any advance to property dealer before meeting the owner in person. Meet the owner, discuss the terms, make an agreement and only then; make a payment.
3. Know rules of the area where you’re planning to construct your house
If you’re planning to live in a society, better go to their head office and get the rule-book. Each society has their own set of rules for construction. For example, you can only cover some area of your plot, leaving some area in the front and back, sometimes even on the side. There should also be tons of rules for the building, plot, sewerage, water tank etc, mentioned in the rule book, so better read them all before deciding to purchase a plot.
Hope this helps. Let us know if we left something or if you have any questions. Leave your comment below or send us an email via Contact Us page. We’ll try our best to help you as much as we can.
I totally agree with you that building your first home can be a difficult task. It would really take a lot of research and find the right people to help you succeed. Thank you for sharing this.