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Count Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy, usually referred to in English as Leo Tolstoy, is a name which I need not have to introduce but for those who doesn’t read much (literature, I meant), he was a Russian writer who is regarded as one of the greatest authors of all time. I think his one work, a novel War & Peace, itself will be enough as that can be a lifetime work for most authors but that will be an insult to Tolstoy to bind him to one novel. Anyways, his words about a home speak so many things in so few words because a home is a feeling & not some structure or a commodity, is what it means! Actually, he has compared home with friends but to me a home is man’s (woman’s too) best friend also, where you can share everything, you have those walls if from outer side keeps you away from outer worlds troubles the from inside, they keep your secrets from the outer world. Here in a home, you can car, laugh, sing, dance as per your wish & not just that the home takes care of your emotions as well your moods too & this is why may you be a class four worker (please, its for just income wise, no social offense) or a middle-class manager or higher middle class vice president or a successful profession or you can be a top-level bureaucrat or you can be a billionaire business tycoon, yet its your home where all are king & queen in their own way!
Unfortunately, any other industry manufacturing such product (a Home) which serves you to best level in your life would have been treated by utmost respect & professional way not just by the govt but entire society (or say system) but fact is, real estate somehow always lacked on the front of getting that respect but denied from getting right treatment also! And exactly this is my subject of sharing!
Its mid-22, and entire society has survived three waves over last two & half years & yet the virus threat or say fear hasn’t fully gone, with new cases of variant (sorry, is there need to mention name of number of this virus) on rise but somewhere people are getting used or say already used to live with fear & virus & that’s the best sign for entire society! The war hasn't ended yet & may not end so early but for most trades the life is started on full speed & living example is when my sister decided to go to Kashmir for summer vacations in May, the travel agent told her not to go there as every available hotel room was booked. And why Kashmir, when I visited Mahabaleshwar for a one day trip with my Forester group, at a joint of Mapro (a local food giant’s eating outlet) then there was no place to park vehicles as all four parking lots were full, such was the crowd! The scene in Pune’s malls & restaurants’ is not different where people are flooding & it’s understandable because its more than two year’s suppressed urge to go in out & enjoy which we are witnessing & its best for entire business fraternity yet the scene in real estate is not as buoyant as other outlets & the only reason is policies (as usual) of every segment related to real estate!
And it’s not just the govt (well, it has biggest part though) but right from allied agencies such as manufacturers of construction material, the raw material suppliers i.e., landlords & even the clients, all join hands to make life of the builder a shade miserable, such is the scene of real estate. But I won't blame any of them as the famous philosophy of Saint Vamanrao Pai (and many philosophies including Adler’s too) says, “tuch aahes tuzya jiwanacha shilpakar” which means “you only are responsible the way your life shapes up”! The same principle is applicable to real estate also as for decades it was the builders which were blamed to make other’s lives miserable & today it’s just the tide has turned, is what not just me but all above entities will say, if we as a builder complains for making their life miserable! Leave apart the blame game just the way we can’t change the past, we can’t change the facts of the present also but if we want to change the future then unless we accept & understand present facts regarding real estate, how can we expect to change them if we want a better future, right?
Well, starting from govt of which real estate was never a dear child has already messed up many things especially on policy, throwing the ease of doing business (I really don’t believe any such thing exists) on a toss. Indeed, this govt wants homes to get cheaper & no harm in it but that should be on the cost of dead bodies of the home makers, is what I feel & if you think I am exaggerating the scene then look around & speak with any builder of the record (big or small) & listen what he has to say about his financial condition! Indeed, nobody ever accepts that all is not well in public but in recent past big names have doomed in real estate & do mind these names were or are not one-night builders! Some of these names in real estate were in business for nearly thirty years & have done well yet they went into bankruptcy making thousands of peoples as well institute’s lives miserable & hard! This can be called the fault of the builder if there would have been only one or two such cases but today there are many such cases & if still, we call it the fault of the respective builder then we are fooling ourselves is what I will say! And when I say govt then every dept count, right from Urban Development which is to boss of planning policies to local authorities like PMC/PMRDA/PCMC to infra provider bodies like MSEDCL (MSEB) every where you will find delays & confusion causing not just delays but adding burden in making cost or say production cost of the homes! May it be contradictory policies like sanction building plans by one dept & asking NOC for the same from other depts such as Water NOC even when the zone is residential or may it be Air Force NOC, the jokes list (cruel jokes) is unending here! And on top of it, if one sanction authority asks to hand over Amenity Space to them then another authority asks to develop by yourself & then third authority won’t allow essential amenities like transformer room or sewage treatment plans in amenity space. And on the other side the very same authorities later auction the amenity spaces as they are unable to develop these. Here only, the joke is possible that, if you give a road for public purpose from your piece of land agreed you get twice FSI for it but you have to pay for the road making charges when it’s your land potential which is getting reduced & when court itself has ordered against such rule. Then why don’t you ask to build a school or take money for school building while acquiring land for school reservation? Then there are issues of difference in fire premiums as well road cutting charges & illogical policies like no road cutting during Monsoon for any purpose which can be drainage line or water line or power line & this can delay your possession by four months! Instead, why the PMC (local body) can’t ensure that no rood cutting will be required ever by making arrangements of crossings at regular intervals, well, you don’t ask such questions here! RERA is there, to punish the builders who fail to follow their promises made to the clients but what about promises made by local bodies to their clients (i.e., builders as well citizens) about providing proper infra in time as the local bodies also take money from builders for the same, right? Here the same local body not just fails to provide basic infra like roads, drainage, water but puts that responsibility on the client itself even after taking money for the same! All these aspects not just make the homes costly due to added burden on making costs but makes it harder to buy for the home buyers also as he too has to spend for all these a bit more because of lack of proper infra in place wherever he is presently living!
Then comes the finance or banking policies as the banks can raise their interest rates as per their need but what about the needs of the builders as well home buyers, nobody thinks about it! At the same time right from stamp duty to tax policies, everything is targeted at making as much money from the real estate without even thinking its these things which are making a home costly. And on top of it increased fuel charges makes the basic ingredients or say materials cost gets hikes by respective manufacturer, that also the govt doesn’t control, so whom the builder should look after for his issues, is the question?
And lastly, the clients & the landlords, all they are interested in getting the best deal which for most home buyers is the cheapest rate per sft for the flat (home), for the landlords its, maximum buying rate per sft of the land & for redevelopment society’s its maximum additional area free of cost than their existing area! Nobody thinks how the builder is going match all these thread & I am not blaming any of the above segment because it’s the builders which were doing this magic of making all associates happy (may not be home buyers but most of them has got possession is also a fact) for decades which has made the expectation bar or all above segments now so high that this generation builder is finding it impossible to jump over it, is the situation which most builders have found themselves in! Still, real estate is a wonderful business to be in, but high time to understand the changed rules or say the dimensions of the game. No more, it is just appreciation or return giving cow, but it's just like any other essential commodity industry which will be in demand but for that the makers have to understand the nature of the demand & understand the rules of this changed version of the game! The govt also must open its senses (not just eyes) & make policies by understanding this new version of real estate, then only it can make money out of it! And the home buyers as well the landlords also check their own greed as no harm in having something more but always do mind cheapest is not best same way maximum price doesn’t guarantee the best buyer! And most important, the builder himself must decide why he (or she) is in business; is it to make others happy & carry a false ego of having many projects under your belt or to make some money & enjoy peaceful sleep at nights? I think, high time to analyze every project through this vision & then move ahead, that’s the reality of the present real estate!
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Sanjay Deshpande
Sanjeevani Dev.
Please view my sharing about real estate in Pune at You Tube link below...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g4xX7eopH5o&t=5s
Please do visit my blog links below to read about real estate & home buying!
https://visonoflife.blogspot.com/2021/09/choosing-right-home.html
http://jivnachadrushtikon.blogspot.com/2021/09/blog-post_21.html
Creating Togetherness; team Sanjeevani Way (Click link below)
https://www.flickr.com/photos/65629150@N06/albums/72157627904681345
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www.punecorporation.org
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