A home for my wife

The thought of buying a home for his newly-wedded wife prompted Edwin Fernandes, a businessman, to go house hunting in 2008.

The thought of buying a home for his newly-wedded wife prompted Edwin Fernandes, a businessman, to go house hunting in 2008. "I got married and had to move out of my brother's house in Vasai (W). We lived in Mira Road (E) on rent for a year before I bought this flat in January 2009," says Fernandes. We spoke to him about his home-buying experience:

The house hunt...

It took us some time. We didn't really want to go on living on rent. Initially we took the services of brokers, but later gave up on them due to the high brokerage charges. Thereafter, we started referring to newspaper flats. We must have seen around 20 flats in our eight months of house hunting. Finally, we came to know about this flat in Sanghvi Park and booked it

We took a home loan from SBI Bank for this house. The documentation work took us some time. However, it's much better to take home loans from nationalised banks as the interest rate is low. In all, we took a home loan to the tune of 75 per cent of the total cost

The flat...
It is a 560 sq ft 1BHK flat, situated on the fourth floor that gets good amount of air and sunlight. The complex is well-maintained by Sanghvi Builders and has nice gardens. We have a pretty flower bed in the living room window

The location
The location suits us. I have my automobile business in Vasai (W), which is close by. And unlike Vasai, Mira Road doesn't have long power cuts and is better connected with Mumbai. There are a number of malls, multiplexes and restaurants in the vicinity

Lessons learnt
Always check the reputation of the builder and whether the title to the property is clear or not. The complex should also be well-connected by rickshaws and buses

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