Gone are the days when real estate brokers used to flock to your houses if the locals came to know that your house is on sale. Instead technology has taken over and a whooping $ 43 billion which is worth the transactions of Rs. 2, 58, 000 crore is directly influenced by internet annually. A recent research by Google India in the paper titled “Real estate in India – The digital Influence” Google pointed out that the real estate growth will be of the order of $140 million by the year 2017 out of which people who will take recourse to internet will be of the order of 450 million. An alarming figure! Isn’t it so?

The internet giant Google points out internet options, the property search engines and the aggregator sites gives different kinds of options to the brokers, builders, buyers and sellers and caters to their individual interests to give all the customer segments a meaningful and rich experience. It is expected that this will enable many of the users to choose internet as the real estate transaction medium and many online real estate search engine companies have started providing the option of mobile apps too.

With the internet age in the fray many may be a little hesitant about online property transactions and may be pondering about how to deal with the financial part of the transactions online. For such confused or hesitant users we give an easy to follow guide and the answers to the FAQs for online transactions to help them clear their doubts and build confidence in the usage of internet transactions.

What are the modes of payment in internet transactions?

Most of the websites and search engines accept all the payment methods in vogue including booking through credit/debit cards, internet banking, Maestro/Master/Visa/Rupay debit cards and M-Pesa Mobile wallet. 

How do we know that the transaction is successful?

After successfully paying the amount on the payment page one would be redirected to a confirmation page and a unique voucher code will be supplied to you confirming the receipt of the payment. One would also receive a confirmation e-mail in the inbox of the email address being given to the website at the time of booking the property. Few websites also sends an SMS to your mobile number being supplied by you.

What is the process of redemption of the voucher to the respective seller?

Once the payment is made and the e-voucher is received through email, the same can be shown to the builder or the seller or a printout can be taken of the same. On the builder confirming the voucher code one can go ahead and make the remaining payment to the builder as per agreed payment schedule between the buyer and the builder. 

 In case there is any discrepancy and the builder or the seller refuses the receipt of payment the website authorities should be contacted to resolve the issue.

Is there any transaction fee and if at all at what stage? 

Different websites take their transaction fees at different points of the transaction. Few sites take it at the booking stages and most of the sites take the transaction fees by adjusting the amount of the final settlement from both the parties.

Does the property price include the stamp duty charges? 

In most of the cases the prices of the properties do not include the stamp duty charges.

What is the procedure for cancellation of booking?

The booking can be cancelled any time until the receipt voucher is presented to the builder and the remaining amount is paid. On cancellation the full amount is generally refunded by many websites. The process of refund may vary from different websites. In case of few websites one may call the customer care number and initiate the process of refund and in other cases one can send an email. The refund amount is transferred to one’s bank account within a stipulated period of time. It may be 10 to 15 working days or a month depending on the terms and conditions of the real estate search engine you are using. 

Whatever it may be, the best thing to do is to read the terms and conditions of the website before going for any online transactions. If there is any doubt regarding any terms and conditions or if one feels dubious regarding any clause, one should clarify it with the customer care representatives of the search engine website by dialing the number mentioned in each website.

Your initiative to buy a new home is understandable especially when you work hard to withstand the jolt of the EMIs of the home loan every month. In such a case it’s quite obvious that one would long for a newly built property or a property under construction. What the experts feel is their learning from hard reality and they stress that one should not be so obsessed in buying a new property and they give valid reasons for it too. 

It is also understandable that many have an ambition of possessing a newly constructed property but that may not work out as expected because of delays in construction, shoddy construction, and troubles of shifting into a new place can create relentless problems for the owner. The experts note the advantages and disadvantages which have come up from their observations of varied cases. We detail them below. 

Advantages: 

There is certainly a change of psychology which gives an impetus to life when one shifts to a newly built home with the walls smelling of paint and there are no hassles of making the premises livable. 

Disadvantages:

The new property comes comparatively at a price of 10 percent to 15 percent more than such existing properties of similar sizes and with same facilities. 

Brand new apartments or homes may seem a great and exciting option but that would entail paying a hefty premium for it. But if one makes a decision considering the travel distances, one’s lifestyle and wants to optimize one’s savings, going for an existing property and upgrading it gradually as and when the budget permits may be a great alternative.