With some interesting comments from our readers in the last post, thought I’ll do one more post in this series. This being primarily to identify situations where apartments are better than independent houses purely on an investment basis.

Anyone who has read part 3 & part 4 would know in which direction my views lie. But if I have learned anything in life, it is that there is an exception to every rule and a negative to every positive and vice versa and inside out and forward backward. That’s why the world works and remains interesting to us. To cut short on the philosophy front and getting to the point - not all independent houses are necessarily superior. The ‘location’ matters a tremendous amount.

If you go and buy a villa/bungalow in a village/small town thinking it is a better investment, I am sorry!! You can wait till elephants roost on trees and relatively nothing would have changed on the price front for your villa. Real estate price increases is largely centred around urban centres and will continue to be so. Only exception I know of is Kerala where land prices have increased tremendously even in villages. The reason is unique to it - NRI Keralites are treating the entire state as a retirement home.

One of the good things when you buy an apartment is that you are naturally protected against the foolishness of buying something in a remote corner of the country. The apartment builders who are sinking in their money would have ensured that the location is relatively alright and ripe for future urbanisations. And the degree to which a locality gets urbanised is what will eventually determine the future value of homes in that area. When I say urbanised, I don’t mean noisy-polluted streets; rather that it is an area of job creation so that people will immigrate to it than emigrate from it.

 So, to sum up the investment theme on homes:

If you are an average joe who doesn’t want think too much but want a good investment that is sure to appreciate, shut your eyes and buy an apartment in any of the top Indian cities. You will not regret it.

If you think you are smarter than the average guy and feel that you have what it takes to make indpendent decisions involving relatively large sums of money, buy a villa near a locality that you judge to be ripe for urbanisation. Reward is more if urbanisation happens; but if your judgement is wrong, prices can stay flat for upwards of 10 years..

Probably Related Post(s)

• Independent house vs. apartment - part 4
• Land now being ‘coldsold’ over phones !!
• Best Indian city for Real Estate investments - 2

Continuing from here

Which is the better investment?

Thing with apartments is that the flat owners don’t really control the land; at least not in their individual capacity. The land disposal lies with the society of the housing complex. Typically, no new development activity is undertaken within the premises of the housing complex for several decades because of the various pulls and pressures present in the society.

Some very old chawls in Mumbai are going in for reconstruction of their area after nearly 100 years of existence! The buildings are nearly crumbling now, and I guess only that threat persuaded them to go in for the revamp. In such a scenario, the chosen builder will buy the residence at a rate higher than what it would fetch in the market and then allots similar (slightly larger) apartments in the newly constructed buildings for the old owners. But they also constuct many more apartments, which they sell to new tenants as their profit for the undertaking. This is being made possible because Mumbai has started raising their FSI for these projects on case-to-case basis.

This problem never exists for the individual house owner. S/he can dispose of the land as they deem fit at whatever time they want to.

Now the core of the problem for an apartment owner in Chennai, Bangalore etc. is this. What happens if the FSI is raised substantially by the government 4-5 years from now? It will immediately translate into more supply of apartments in the area and will result in a downward pressure on the price per sq. ft. of all flats in the area.  Even though the newer flats have a lower price because of their lower share of ownership in land, it will reduce the price of even the older flats in the area that were constructed when the FSI limit was stricter. Only way to get the true value of their land holdings would be to reconstruct the buildings of the complex; but that will prove impossible because of emotional attachments of the residents. It is a debatable question whether a new buyer of an old flat would pay more for the slighlty higher ‘imaginary ownership’ of land they get with it. I would say not.

Thus, in future I see apartments getting rigidly slotted into the ‘price per sq. ft.’ category and independent houses being sold by the more correct metric - ‘land cost + constuction cost’.  

Am not sure whether I put my arguments in a cogent enough fashion. Let me know what you guys think…

Probably Related Post(s)

• Independent house vs. apartment - part 4

We have written about flooring materials before. At that time though, we covered only those materials that were widely used in the Indian construction industry like Vitrified tiles, ceramic tiles, mosaic, marble etc. Today we are covering a flooring material that is not yet heavily used in India, but it will surely become more popular as people become aware of all its inherent benefits.

Moreover, the fact that it is now available for use in India through several importing agencies should drive its adoption in the country a bit faster. We got these details from one such agency – Halcyon in Chennai - when we happened to speak to them. The material we are talking about is Vinyl sheets.

Vinyl is an artificially created flooring material. It invariably has several layers within it; consisting of protective wear layer, printed design layer, glass fiber, etc. The exact arrangement in which the various components in the sheet are put together and their thickness can differ from case to case. And with these varying compositions, the properties of the concerned sheets can change.

 The key properties of vinyl are:

1. It provides protection against germs because of its anti microbial nature.
2. UV coating on the wear layer ensures that only a minimum of dust accumulates on the sheet and that it is easy to clean.
3. Glass fiber reinforced cell with foam backing maintains the dimensions of the material. This means that the flooring does not shrink or expand due to climatic variations like hot & humid conditions.
4. Good noise reduction. Vinyl sheets absorb footfall sounds much better than the other flooring options.
5. In some Vinyl sheets, a thick clear transparent layer at the top makes it resistant to abrasion. Thus, it is low on maintenance after installation.
6. Vinyl does not react to reagents used in hospitals and clinics. Thus it should be used in places where the floor would otherwise get stained easily.
7. Bright, colorful patterns can be created – like natural wood finishes, marble /carpet /slate finishes.
8.  It is very easy to install, almost a do-it-yourself project. As little as a single night is required to lay the flooring for an entire house. Vinyl can even be laid on top of most existing floors without having to dig up the old layout. It can be removed quite easily in case you want another change later on. 

In our opinion, Vinyl floor is a candidate that should be considered when you select flooring for your new/renovated home. The fact that PVC floors are stain free, easy to clean, low maintenance, reduces noise, germ free and easy to install; makes them quite suitable for domestic residences

The price usually hovers at around Rs. 30 – 200 per sq. ft (LG Chem Floor). GerFlor starts from 70 per sq. ft. It can vary a bit depending upon the type of Vinyl sheet you choose. This price compares with the other high end options for the homemakers like foreign marbles (Rs. 250 per sq. ft.), vitrified tiles (Rs. 50 per sq. ft. onwards), granite flooring, hardwood floors (above Rs. 150 per sq. ft.), wooden laminates (Rs. 80 - 400 per sq. ft) etc. Kerosene cut and water cut in mosaic tiles – 50 per sq. ft.

The write up will not be complete without mentioning the drawbacks of the flooring. You should be careful to mop up water that forms on top of a vinyl quickly. This is because water can loosen the adhesive used to attach the tile to the floor below. This is less important if you use a vinyl sheet (instead of vinyl tiles) since the seams between the tiles are not present there. The durability of the tile is from 5 to 20 years, depending upon whether it has a urethane wear layer and also the overall thickness of the tile. Good care will extend the life of the tile. Another point to note is that this flooring is not advisable for staircases; it is meant for flat level surfaces.

In case you want to know more about this innovative option, please feel free to drop us a line contact@aavaas.com or alternatively, you can contact murali@halcyoninteriors.in. Murali gave most of the information for this introduction into vinyl flooring.

We will be covering more of these lesser known home making options in the coming days. Surely, there are many more of these items out there and in case you know of some yourself, don’t hesitate to let us know.

Probably Related Post(s)

• Land now being ‘coldsold’ over phones !!
• Videocon’s S 091 DX refrigerator - Price and Review
• Prestige Electric Rice Cooker - PRWC 1.8 | Price and Pictures

We had recently written an article about the house being constructed by Mukesh Ambani in South Mumbai. Quite a few people have been landing up at the article after having searched in Google using the keywords containing “most expensive house”. This started me out on an interesting search… Is it really the most expensive home ever built?The answer wasn’t hard to find. It isn’t. Not by a long shot. Not even by Indian standards. In fact all of us are already familiar with a more expensive house built in India – our very own ‘Rashtrapati Bhavan’.

Here are some interesting facts about it:

1. 17 long years were required to complete (1912-1929) its construction. Then on its 18^th year, India became independent. Interesting, because the house was built as a symbol of British Imperial strength. J
2. The cost of construction was an astounding 14 million rupees. Not sure how much that would be in today’s prices, but that is astronomical by the standards of pre-independent India.
3. At today’s real estate prices, the land itself will be worth more than 16,000 crores ($4 Billion). The house is built on an area of 335 acres or so, right in the heart of New Delhi. After all, New Delhi itself was designed by Lutyens with Viceroy’s house as its centre.
4. The building has 340 rooms within its 4 storeyed structure.
5. At one time 2000 people were required to look after it. Not sure whether that is still the case though. Might have been a colonial time extravaganza.
6. Although Lutyens and Baker – the two main architects, quarreled bitterly over the details of New Delhi and Viceroy’s house (they actually ceased speaking to each other), the eventual results is considered to be an elegant mix of Western and Indian styles. Indian architectural patterns such as Buddhist railings, chhajjas, chhatris and jaalis are found in the building. Chhajjas are stone slabs designed for preventing the sunrays from falling on the windows and protecting the walls from the rains. Chhatris adorn the rooftops of the building through their elevated positions. Jaalis are stone slabs designed with delicate floral / geometric patterns.
7. At 630 feet long, it is longer than the Versailles Palace.
8. By the way, the place also has nine tennis courts, a polo ground, a 14-hole golf course and a cricket field.

To the west of Rashtrapathi Bhavan is the elegant Mughal Gardens, which occupies an area of 13 acres. It has Mughal style canals, fountains and terraces at different levels with flowering shrubs and Western style lawns, hedges and flower beds.

To the east lies a vast court with the huge Jaipur column of red sandstone. It is topped with a bronze lotus and the six pointed glass star of India, in the centre. 

You can also view the Satellite image and the roadmap of the area. 

To all Indian Presidents’ credit, none of them have ever occupied the actual Viceroy quarters, deeming it to be too extravagant in nature. Instead all have occupied certain portions of the guest enclave of the building.

By the way, I can think of at least one other home building which might be even more expensive than the Rashtrapati Bhavan (not in India, though). Will cover that after some more research.

Probably Related Post(s)

• Mukesh Ambani’s new house - Antilla
• Antilla - Ambani Home: Some Pictures

Thought it will be interesting to cover the house being constructed in Mumbai’s Altamount Road by the world’s richest man – Mukesh Ambani. Yep, he’s officially the richest now with the skyrocketing share prices of RIL.

The house (called Antilla) is being valued at Rupees 4000 crores and will be 173 metres tall. Normally that is the equivalent of a 60 storeyed tower, but in this case each floor is more than twice the height of a normal floor, with the result that the building will only have 27 floors when completed. Given the prevailing state of skyscrapers in Mumbai, this building will be more than twice as tall as the earlier tallest buiilding. The view from the top will be breathtaking, no doubt.

Some other absurd facts about this ‘house’..

1. 3 helipads on top. Mumbai corporation has not given permission for making this operational yet.
2. Hanging gardens within the structure
3. Swimming pool within the structure
4. A two storey Health centre
5. Parking space for 168 cars (6 floors). I initially thought that meant there will be a mini office in the building but apparently that is not the case. All these cars will belong to Mukesh Ambani! Just in case you are interested, he drives a 5 crore Maybach now.
6. A floor exclusively for servicing these automobiles within the building.
7. A floor for Home theatre – sitting capacity of 50

Most absurd of all, the house will have a staff of 600 (sic) to do the maintenance activities. That gives a ratio of 1:100 for people living in the house and those who are paid to take care of it. The six lucky (?) ones are the man himself, his wife, his 3 children and his mother Kokilaben. The family will be moving in from their old home ‘Sea Wind’ which was a 14 floor building at Cuffe Parade.

In fairness, Mukesh bought the property in 2002. So he has not spent anywhere close to the $1 billion people are now valuing the property at. And it is not just him, plenty of other rich tycoons have indulged in their residences. Two people who immediately come to mind are Mittal & Gates.

UK-based steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal (he is still an Indian citizen though) bought the most expensive house in London last year, paying £60m for a place in Kensington Palace Gardens.Microsoft founder Bill Gates had his house built as technology showpiece several years back. The house is reputed to have cost upwards of $100 million. I will write about this particular property sometime in the future. It is much more interesting than the Ambani house, because Gates tried to implement many new, yet to be proven technologies in his blueprint.

Probably Related Post(s)

• Antilla - Ambani Home: Some Pictures
• Rashtrapati Bhavan - Most expensive home in India
• Elecrama 2008 - Upcoming Exhibition | Mumbai