Dear Readers
This article will focus on how to find a resale flat in Mumbai? There are various methods available to a prospective homebuyer like you to find resale flats. Based on my research and experience I will highlight all the methods and tools available to find a resale flat. It’s not at all a difficult process to follow.
This article will cover the below points:
| Sr. No | Content |
| 1 | What are Resale Flats? |
| 2 | Online Methods to Find Resale Flats |
| 3 | Offline Methods to Find Resale Flats |
What is a Resale Flat in Mumbai?
Resale Flats in Mumbai are those flats that already have an owner. The owner can be the first owner, second owner, third owner, fourth owner, or fifth owner. This number can go on till the number of times, the property has exchanged hands. The first owner is the person who bought the flat from the developer or builder. He could have bought this property either during the construction phase or post-construction phase.
Resale Flats are those that an owner decides to sell in the open market to another person. Such flats are called Resale flats in Mumbai. While buying a Resale Flat, there are various stages involved in a transaction. These stages I have explained in another blog named Resale Transaction: What are the different stages in buying a property? You can visit this link to understand the intricacies involved in a Resale Transaction.
Now an important point to make note of is that not all resale flats may necessarily be ready to move in flats. During the construction phase, there may be some investors or existing buyers who would be looking to sell their flats. Hence it’s important to clear this thing in your first conversation itself.
During the construction phase, as a homebuyer, you have two choices to make:
1. Buying a Resale Under Construction Flat from the Investor or Existing Buyer
2. Buying an Under Construction Flat from the Developer or Builder
Here, you will have to make an informed decision. The floor of the apartment, the location, and the view from the apartment will determine your total price. If you are getting your preferred apartment of choice from the Developer then you are free to go ahead with the transaction as a primary buyer, and if you are getting your choice of the apartment in a Resale Under Construction Flat, then it’s better to transact with the seller or the investor.
While buying a resale under-construction flat, you have to pay a certain amount to the developer. This amount is called a Transfer Fee. It is generally a percentage of the transaction value of the apartment between the first buyer and the second buyer.
It will be an additional cost since the NOC (No Objection Certificate) from the developer will be important to go ahead with the transaction. The transaction cannot take place without the NOC from the developer.
Online Methods to Find Resale Flat in Mumbai
While looking for online methods to find a resale flat in Mumbai, the most probable choices are the property portals. The most popular ones are:
1. Magicbricks
2. 99acres
3. Housing
4. Commonfloor
5. Makaan
6. NoBroker
1. Magicbricks:
Magicbricks is a subsidiary of Bennett, Coleman, and Co. Ltd which runs the Times Group in India. Magicbricks is a marketplace for buyers and sellers to source properties of common interest. The portal also provides information on various property-related issues.
The company was founded in the year 2006. It provides its customers with the following add ons:
1. Buyers Guide is a real estate ebook for property buyers with all the tips and tricks related to property buying.
2. PropIndex is a tool developed by the Company to help buyers and investors with relevant pricing information with respect to a particular locality.
3. News Section called the “Property Pulse” covers property news, home loan queries, expert opinion, legal advice, taxation issues, and lastly property trends.
So whenever you visit their website, you will find a lot of properties when you key in your locality and configuration of interest with a budget. These listings will either belong to a direct owner, developer, or real estate agent. You are also given an option to select one among the three.
Even if you do a simple search on google for anything related to the property you will find Magicbricks in the Top 5 results. No matter what budget you have, you can straight away head on to the Magicbricks website and search for your most preferred choice of home.
If you are not a frequent laptop user, Magicbricks has its app available for Android and Apple users.
One tip will be to conduct the first search for all the owner properties listed on Magicbricks matching your location, budget, and configuration requirement. Once you have exhausted the owner listings, you can check with the Real Estate Agents. Among all the properties that you see, you will surely shortlist a few and move ahead with the transaction.
2. 99acres:
99acres is a part of Info Edge India Limited. The company is listed on the Indian bourses. The property portal was founded in the year 2005. Today it has grown to become the number 1 property portal in India.
Info Edge India Limited is an Indian Internet Company. The headquarters are based out of Noida in Uttar Pradesh. The company was founded by Mr. Sanjeev Bikhchandani in the year 1995. The company runs many other portals like:
1. Naukri.com (Online Job Portal)
2. Jeevansaathi.com (Matrimony Website)
3. Shiksha.com (Educational Website)
4. 99acres.com (Property Portal)
Info Edge is an investor and a minority stakeholder in 23 online companies with notable ones like Food Delivery Company Zomato and Insurance Aggregator Policybazaar.
It has to be noted that Info Edge’s majority revenue comes from the Job Portal Naukri.com.
99acres with a different user interface offers similar services as Magicbricks.com. However, the company has won many awards and recognitions. On the portal, you can check for properties listed by owners, real estate agents, and developers.
You will find 99acres to be in the Top 5 on Google Search Results for properties in India. Needless to say, 99acres and Magicbricks have been competing in the Indian Property Market for a long time now.
As a customer, you can explore both the portals and find your property of interest.
3. Housing:
Housing.com was started as Housing.co.in by twelve students in the year 2012. These students belonged to the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay.
Housing.com was acquired by Elara Technologies Pte. Ltd in 2017. The company also owns Proptiger.com and Makaan.com.
Recently, Elara Technologies Pte. Ltd was rebranded as REA India. REA Group is a Digital Real Estate Company based out of Melbourne in Australia. The Group has a market capitalization of A$20 Billion.
REA Group has a 61% share in REA India while the rest is with a subsidiary of US-based News Corp. News Corp is a majority shareholder in REA Group.
Housing.com offers listings of new homes or under construction homes, resale homes or ready-to-move-in homes, rentals, plots, and co-living spaces in India.
The company provides comprehensive expert real estate services covering Advertising, Marketing, Sales solutions for Real Estate Developers, Personalized Search, Virtual Viewing, Augmented Reality, Virtual Reality Content, Home Loans, End to End Transaction Services, and Post Transaction Services to consumers looking to buy or rent real estate.
On the portal, you will easily be able to find properties advertised by owners, real estate agents, and real estate developers.
4. CommonFloor:
CommonFloor.com was founded in 2007 by three IIT Roorkee and JSSATE Computer Science Graduates. It is one of the Top Real Estate Portals in India. The company was acquired by Quikr.com in the year 2016.
Started off as an Apartment Management Platform and later transformed into a Real Estate Platform combining property search, apartment management, and vendor management.
The company was listed in 33 start-ups by Tech in Asia. The Apartment Management Platform links neighbors who live in apartments. The company also launched CommonFloor Groups providing apartment communities with better communication, management, and coordination among Residents, Owners, and Residents Welfare Associations.
Here too you can search properties listed by Owners, Real Estate Agents, and Developers. Whenever you search for properties, you will find CommonFloor.com on the first page of the Google Search Results.
5. Makaan:
Makaan.com is an online real estate portal that displays listings from real estate brokers in your preferred locality. Makaan.com is a part of REA India and follows the same ownership pattern as that of Housing.com.
Makaan.com was founded in the year 2007. Before changing hands in 2015, the company belonged to Anupam Mittal promoted People Group. People Group owned other businesses like Shaadi.com and Mauj.
Makaan has a rating system for Real Estate Brokers based on their responsiveness and listing quality. The company had a primary business model where Real Estate Brokers used to pay Makaan.com certain fees on the leads closed by them.
This model had a loophole where disclosure by Real Estate Brokers on leads closed was a questionable thing.
The business model underwent changes and now it has become a listing platform for Real Estate Brokers where they pay for the listings in advance.
Sometimes Real Estate Brokers get combined (Makaan + Housing) quarterly, half-yearly, or yearly listing packages.
As a buyer or tenant, you will find Apartments on Rent or Purchase on the Makaan Platform. For buying, you have an option to select Owner, Builder properties, or Real Estate Agents but for rent, the majority of the listings will be dominated by Real Estate Brokers.
6. NoBroker:
NoBroker was founded in the year 2014 by Mr. Amit Kumar Agarwal, Mr. Akhil Gupta, and Mr. Saurabh Garg. NoBroker is the only Real Estate Platform in India that connects buyers and tenants directly with sellers and owners of the property.
The company has become the 38th start-up to become a unicorn as recently as November 2021. They offer many services like:
1. Rental Agreement
2. Online Rent Payment
3. Painting and Cleaning
4. Packers and Movers
5. NoBroker for NRI’s
6. Lead Generation for Real Estate Developers
7. Furniture on Rent
8. Subscription Plans for Buyers, Sellers, Tenants, and Owners
9. Property Listing Services
10. Property Management Services
The company has been formed to address many problems that a buyer or tenant faces while hunting for a home to buy or rent. Information Asymmetry and Brokerage are the prominent ones. The company claims to have saved the buyers and tenants worth INR 5000 crore in brokerage to date.
So if you are looking to buy or rent a property, your first choice should be NoBroker as it is Brokerage Free and helps you to connect with Property Owners directly. The other platforms mentioned here entertain Property Brokers, Real Estate Developers, and Property Owners to list with them.
When you are hunting for a property it’s best to check all the platforms with the available owner options. If you don’t find a home as per your preference, then approaching a Real Estate Agent should be a straightforward choice.
However, for similar services, you will end up paying lesser charges via NoBroker compared to a Real Estate Agent. The difference is quite huge if you calculate the mathematics.
With this, we come to an end of Online Methods to find resale flats.
Offline Methods to Find Resale Flat in Mumbai
There are some offline methods that you can adopt as a home buyer to find a resale flat in Mumbai. Let’s try to understand pocket-friendly methods to find your dream home.
1. Check with your Friends, Colleagues, and Relatives: The most asset-light model in terms of the home search is leveraging your relationships to find your dream home. Your friends, colleagues, and relatives will be able to help you out with their contacts. These contacts may help you find a home of your choice.
You can also ask for the contacts of the secretary of the apartment owners association. They also have a few inventories to help you with.
If you are getting into a transaction directly with the owner, I suggest hiring a lawyer and a chartered account. Even if you are going through a Real Estate Broker, you will still avail of their services to prepare the draft agreement, registration, and TDS deduction. You can also structure your transaction legally and in a tax-friendly manner.
Most lawyers have tie-ups with registration agents to help you register your property seamlessly. Property is bought once in a lifetime, and hence documentation is the heart of the transaction. Taxation is another crucial element that needs to be perfect.
If within your circle of reach, you are able to find direct properties, it will help you save on Brokerage. Secondly, you will not be under the influence of any third person to enter into a transaction.
2. Make friends with the Watchman of the Society: Investing in the watchman or security guard of a society is never a bad deal. You can pay them a lump sum amount if you get a property of your choice. This amount turns out to be far lesser than the Brokerage that you would have paid for the transaction.
This can be an extremely time-consuming process as you may not get the preferred home of choice easily. However, it’s still worth investing your time.
You can ask the security guard to connect you with the society secretary or manager. If you get connected once, you have made a contact and it may help you find a resale flat easily.
3. Checking out with your Community Group Members: Your community group can be a goldmine of contacts if you get connected with the right people at the right time. Within a community, people are always willing to help and sometimes for free.
Hence, leveraging these connections can be a smart choice. However, make sure you don’t get connected to Real Estate Brokers within your community.
Although they can be your next best option if you don’t find the apartment of your choice. Use it but at the right time.
4. Visit the nearest Real Estate Agent’s Office: You would know some good Real Estate Agents in your area. You can directly visit their office and check with them on property prices and availability.
Rather than investing time online, you can visit the area where you want to buy a home and bump into the office of a Realtor.
Visting the office need not necessarily mean you are going to mandatorily transact through him or her. You can understand the pulse of the market and get back to your drawing board.
In fact, Real Estate Agents are better to talk in person compared to on a call. They may not reveal all the relevant information that you are looking for over a phone call.
No matter how traditional it may sound in a Digitally Connected World, Real Estate Transactions still happen by meeting people in person. Also when the transaction amount is substantial, people personally like to talk over a call or meet rather than only connect on Whatsapp or any other online forum.
With this, we have come to the conclusion of this article on How to find a Resale Flat in Mumbai? I hope you found this article an interesting one. However, I am open to more ideas on finding Resale Flats apart from the ones I mentioned here. You can put forth your thoughts or ideas in the comment section.
If you want to understand how Real Estate Brokers get clients for a property or what are the marketing techniques adopted by them to sell a property you can refer to an article that I have written Real Estate Broker: How to do Marketing of Properties for sale.
In case you wish to avail of the services of a Real Estate Agent, you should know what assistance will you be getting in return for a Brokerage that you pay to them. You can refer to another article that I have written Real Estate Agent: How to provide the best services?
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ’s)
Is resale flat good to buy?
Resale flats are good to buy. However, you need to make sure certain factors are in place like clear title, age of the building is less than 10 years old, and no encumbrance on the flat. A strong proposition favoring a resale flat is you get the keys as soon as the transaction is completed.
Does flat have resale value?
Flats do have resale value. You can enjoy price appreciation till the age of the building is less than 15 years. Once the threshold of 15 years is crossed, depending on the condition of the flat and the overall building premises, the value will be determined. However, expect steep depreciation if the building age crosses 20 years.
What is a resale apartment or a resale flat?
A resale apartment is an apartment that already has an existing owner. The owner would have bought the apartment from the developer or builder. So in short when the property exchanges hands from the first owner to the second owner, it becomes a resale apartment or a resale flat.
How much loan can I get on a resale flat?
A resale flat will derive its value based on the age of the building, the location, the condition of the premises, and the ongoing price in the locality. The mortgagee will conduct an internal assessment to derive the value of the resale flat. You can expect to get 75% to 80% as a loan based on the agreement value of the resale flat.
Should I buy a 10-year-old resale flat?
Yes, you can definitely buy a 10-year-old resale flat. Nowadays, you can expect the life of the building to be in the range of 25-35 years. However, make sure to hire a lawyer and do a thorough run on the property documents before calling it a deal.
Is it worth buying a 25-year-old resale flat?
Well, the answer is not that straightforward. It will depend on the condition of the flat and the building. If you are someone, who is an investor and willing to take the risk of redevelopment, then it is worth considering. Someone looking to stay in may not be a good proposition.
Why is resale flat more expensive?
A resale flat is more expensive because it is readily available for occupation without any risk of construction. However, other things will also play a role like the locality of the resale flat, its condition, and proximity to public transport. Also, you have may not find a lot of inventory in the resale market for the same flat.
Dear Readers,
I started this blog with a Vision to add value in the buying journey of a home buyer. I come with 5+years of experience in Real Estate Sales divided into 2 parts i.e. couple of years of experience in Primary Under Construction Projects of a developer based in Bangalore and 3years as a Real Estate Freelancer in Mumbai. I completed my MBA in Marketing in 2012. Currently, I am based in Mumbai. Hence, most of my articles will cover projects specifically in the areas where I have been functional as a Real Estate Consultant. Going further, I will try to cover as many aspects possible in relation to Real Estate making it simpler for the prospective home buyers to take a decision.