You would have heard so many times from friends and relatives saying that this is not the right time to buy a property. If you ask them when to buy, then they’ll say ‘wait’, and you would wait for an indefinite period but that ‘right time’ will never come. I have learned a lesson that whenever you buy a property, you would feel that there is a chance of further discount or negotiation.

Similarly, when you have sold a property, then you’ll suddenly start meeting with the people who would offer you better rates then your disposal price. So, when you step in the realty market for buying a property, then waiting for the right time, is like chasing a mirage which you can never catch!

Find out, are you ready to buy a property?

What are the basic things you need when you are planning to buy a property? The list is as mentioned below:

• Stable income
• Capacity to pay down payment for getting the loan
• Availability of a suitable property at your choice location
• Your financial readiness in terms of timely repayment of EMI for long term, without disturbing other financial objectives

Above mentioned points can help you to easily figure out your readiness to buy a property.

The decision to delay property buying could be counterproductive

Reasons due to which people are ready to delay the property buying decision are:

• The interest rate is high, it may fall after a few months and that would be the appropriate time to buy
• Price of the property quoted by the developer is high, wait for a few months for the price to come down
• Can get a better property at other location

Property buyers have several dilemmas in the mind like are they paying the right price for the property, is there a chance of property rate to come down in the near future, and can they get a better location within same price range, etc.

If you continuously delay property buying decision for too long, then you may find erosion in purchasing power of money due to inflation. For example, a property whose present value is Rs 50 Lac, if you try to buy it after 5 years, then it may cost you around Rs 63.8 Lac (Considering inflation at 5% Pa).

When you buy a property on loan, then you need to pay for the cost of property at today’s market rate, whereas inflation keeps on depreciating the value of money. So, you borrow money based on current acquisition cost and pay EMI for the entire loan tenure, whereas the due to inflation impact, the property price continuously increases by the time you clear the loan. So, the more you delay, the more money you would need to pay for acquiring the same property. Inflation may also result in higher income but at the same time your expenses would increase accordingly, so you may find it difficult to afford the same property if delayed for too long period.

Apart from inflation, due to increase in population and income of the people, the property location may quickly reach to a saturation point and you may no longer get a property in such location. For example, twenty years back, people might have easily purchased the property in the Mumbai’s city area, but now you won’t get such location anymore. So, delay in buying a property can push you away from the desired location choice.

Need, financial capacity and availability of a property in desired location are the three important criteria that you must consider while deciding to buy a property or to avoid it. While you are making up your mind to buy a property, there is a chance of getting deal where you may need to pay a little more than the market value, but you must not reject the property outright solely due to this reason. It is important that you use your analytical vision to dive into the future and assess the expected cost of lost opportunity, before making a final decision.