Cultural Assault on Pune’s Habitat September 19, 2008
Posted by arunpurohit in India, Real Estate, Satire.Tags: Culture, Humor, Pune
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I strongly admire the campaign launched by local manoos in putting Marathi signboards and ensuring that every thing in the state should have native names and connotations. I am surprised how they missed out on the great assault Builder , promoter community is inflicting on the culture of city of Pune and around . I wish they notice the names of societies and housing projects which are launched in Wakad, Aundh, Hadapsar etc.
- Regalia
- Edenn Garden
- Megapolis
- Capprichio
- Megapolis
- Blue Ridge
- Apostrophe
- Blue dale
- Rose land and Blah Blah…..
Why cant they be named
- Rajkeeya wada
- Manu Watika
- Bhavya wada
- Lalchi ghar
- Maha gaothan
- Neel pahadi
- Ardhviram vada
- Gulab Peth …etc..
They need to collect all their resources and start blackening , boards of these societies and send warning to these builders and their residents to either localize their names as shown above or pack their bags. Enough is enough. We cant let the rich culture of this great city be desecrated by this builder community.. After all what are the terms caprice ,Regal, Mont Vert supposed to mean to a manoos..
I strongly suggest a campaign to eradicate these names from the landmarks of this Punya nagari. This probably will gain them more headlines on TV channels and also galvanize more followers in his fold.. This will mean bigger vote bank.Also , this can generate a lot of revenue to the state as every builder has to re register their society name. Local advocates will make more money in processing this legal process. Local signboard painters will get a lot of employment .. All their brochures need to be printed in local language.. This will give lot of native writers a chance to write flashy campaigns. Further when investors come to invest , they wont be able to understand any name, specification, brochure etc and they would need translators. Imagine how many translators we would need and millions on jobs which can be generated .There is so much to do .. to reconstruct these cities ..we cant afford to get tired.. The show must go on.. Let us open this front too..
10 steps before Buying/ Renting House in Pune December 20, 2007
Posted by arunpurohit in Real Estate.4 comments
With the recent influx of IT professionals in the Pune city and increase in rentals ,there has been an increase in inclination among professionals to buy residential apartments and houses. The quest for housing is riddled with capricious builders who try to extract unreasonable amount of money from unsuspecting home buyers. a 10 point check lists before settling for a builder or project would prevent grave shock post buying.
- Look for NEC (Non Encumbrance Certificate) for the land first. Many small builders start construction to encash boom with a hope that they will get more land subsequently. Later they are stuck in legal battles. Mont Vert in Wakad is one example of this.
- Check if proper plan exists for the entire plot. Organised builders have 3D realistic models . A good way to cheat customers is to show plan of society and show everything outside it in green. This may not be reality. Jaypee Greens in Noida is one example.
- Check if the builder has a website which is live. If the builder is serious , the website will mostlikely exist. Recently I got a proposal from a builder in an email. When I checked the company website, I found that the site was fraud and it was just a template website which was yet to be developed.
- Check if the plot is square. A square plot with a central space is key to good housing . Do not invest in properties where they have 4 or more buildings in line. these are bad plots. Example Park Street, Park wayz, Capprichio in Wakad.
- Do not ever buy in place which is very low lying. The rain months in Pune are 5 long ones. The rivers swell and water collects in low lying areas. If you buy in those plots the chances of flooding are high. Example , Kapil Malhar on Baner Road
- Look for proximity to main road and availability of Public transport. Most societies are made in obscure plots with upto 1 km earthen or non existing roads. Do not ever buy that. Even a 0.5km drive in rains can bring tears to eyes after the roads are washed off.
- Check for avaialbility of municipal water supply. Normally builders promise that it will be there but considering the red tape, if its not already there inthe locality it may take years to come.
- The builders jack up sq feet rates every month. Today they are quoting between Rs 2200 to 3800 . A thumb rule to calculate the value of a property is to compute total value of 20 to 25 yrs of rent for a similar property in same area. Example a 1200 sq feet flat which fetches a a rent of 10000/month has annual rent of 1,20,000 . Its intrinsic values is between 24 lacs to 30 lacs. Rent is a surer indicator of demand for housing. Use this to evaluate the merit of this deal.
- Look for market nearby. Sometimes we are mesmerised by the models and views of flat but it when you start living in you gete a shock. Even buying a standard bread will need you to drive 8kms. Example in Wakad area you can only find local breads , no Modern, Britannia or Harvest.
- Security is a prime concern in Wakad area. The good looking societies are very vulnerable to thefts and I have seen 3 house break ins in last 1 month of stay in a row house society in Pune. Check for presence of street lights, boundary wall height, barbed wire etc.. Avoid any society which has slums near by. Given the political color , the slums never disappear and are a threat to safety.
These are preliminary considerations , Once you do these , comes the evaluation of construction quality . I will write more on this in my next blog
