House hunting can seem like a complex maze game with many ins and way too many outs. It’s very easy to get confused understanding what’s the best way to look for a home. A home that suits your requirements and fits well within the budget. Its outright time-consuming and effort-intensive. Over the last decade, technologies like Augmented Reality and 360-degree photo/videoview have made online real estate platforms really effective in terms of viewing properties, helping users cut down house-hunting efforts by a huge margin. 

With today’s busy lifestyles and hectic schedules, more people are becoming dependent on it and are completely steering away from in-person visits. While online can be pretty helpful, it surely has its disadvantages that you need to be aware of.  It all depends on your needs… how do you want to get your first impressions? how important it is for you to get up-to-date info about amenities or how quickly you need the property?   

That being said, let’s start with the basic step of house hunting… ScoutingAreas!  

Scouting Areas! 

Area is the most important thing you need to sort out as your entire planning relies on it. You’re about to start a new chapter in your life with a new home, and obviously, you want to live a comfortable life in an area that fulfills all your and your family’s needs. Before you look at properties, you need to finalize on a few areas that serve as viable options as per your planning. Say for example, area A has great schools in it. Area B has great healthcare and schools close to all residential areas.  Whatever your needs are, you need to start shortlisting areas right away.  

Should you do it online or in-person? 

Do it online! Online clearly is the best solution as information is readily available on the internet in today’s time. Schools, colleges, gardens, malls and health-clubs… whatever it is you need, you’ll find it online and will be able to easily judge which area(s) works as the most suitable option for your needs. You can easily map out various spots by searching them online.  

Shortlisted the areas? Time to hunt the properties! 

To fully understand what kind of an approach you’d want for your house hunting journey, you need to first decide whether you’d like an agent with you on this journey to offer expert advice at every step, or do it on your own as per your convivence. These are 2 different scenarios in which both the online and in-person visits offer advantages and disadvantages 

Let’s take a look at the advantages and disadvantages of both options, in different scenarios; 

Scenario-1: Looking for property with an agent; 

Doing it online 

Advantages 

1.     Low-cost info:  Working with an online agent can be cost-effective as online agents usually provide quite a lot of information for a particularly small amount. You can find online agents through platforms like Magicbricks.com, who will coordinate with you over the phone or via text messages. 

2.     Smart agents: Online agents are usually tech-savvy and possess a lot of digital brochures and guides about various upcoming properties, along with a lot of important and insightful resources.  

3.     Multiple agents:  The best part is that you can work with multiple agents. Since the cost is low and you don’t have meet them in-person, working with multiple agents is very much possible in the online world and can be beneficial for you in terms of finding the best of deals. 

Disadvantages 

1.     Fake profiles:  There is a high risk of engaging with fake agent profiles on online real estate platforms. These people tend to pass on forged information and can dupe you for money. 

2.     Outdated information:  Online information can be outdated at times, which can lead you into believing something which is not true or entirely superficial. 

Doing it in-person 

Advantages 

1.     No troubles locating houses: Agents are very thorough with areas they operate in and can guide you very well as you go house hunting with them from one neighborhood to another. 

2.     Expert opinion about the area: Once you’re on-site, you can ask your agent about various on-going developments, road infrastructure changes and upliftment programs around the property, just to get a sense of how your future neighborhood is going to get shaped.  

3.     Check-out nearby options:  You can schedule ad-hoc/unplanned visits on the spot which are close-by, based on your agent’s suggestions. This way, you can explore more out of a particular neighborhood.  

Disadvantages  

1.     Time-consuming: This is outright the most painful disadvantage of looking at houses in-person. Going for property visits can extremely time-consuming and tiring.  

2.     Dependency on one person: Having an agent can make you dependent on just one person’s advice and block out everything else you see or hear. Even though agents are quite well-versed with their areas, they too can miss out on a few properties which can be very suitable for your needs. 

Scenario-2: Looking for property without an agent; 

Doing it online 

Advantages 

1.     Time-efficient: You only a limited amount of time at hands in a day. You can fully utilize your time to look at least 10 properties online. 

2.     Convenient: Sitting at your home and just browsing through a computer can be quite relaxing compared to commuting through different areas during rush hours. 

3.     Quick comparisons:  When you’re on online platforms, you can have a side-by-side comparison for at least 4-5 similar properties, based on their price points, amenities and a wide spectrum of parameters, all in just a quick glance.  

Disadvantages 

1.     Critical information is masked:  When you’re looking for a property online without an agent, there is a high chance you might be deprived of some critical information like damages to the property, recent repairs etc. Owners/builders usually avoid mentioning such information.  

2.     No status updates:  Most of the times, owners, builders, or even brokers for that matter, fail to update the property status i.e. whether it’s still available or not. You could be running the risk of shortlisting a sold-out property. 

Doing it in-person 

Advantages 

1.     See it as it is: Seeing the property in-person means you get to see the property just like the way it is. You know how big the bathrooms are, where exactly the kitchen is and how spacious the apartment really is.  

2.     Book in-person: Sometimes what you see is too good to be true. You may find a property that perfectly matches your expectations and is too good to pass on. For such cases, you can book the property there and then itself, as you will be face-to-face directly with the owner or the owner’s agent at the time of viewing. 

3.     Check out the neighborhood: Doing a site visit can allow you to explore the neighborhood and check out various eateries, local cafes and convenience/grocery stores around your property.  

Disadvantages 

1.     Locations can be difficult: Without an agent, it can get difficult to locate properties with just an address you got from a friend, a referral or a newspaper. Also, as mentioned before, it can be very time-consuming. 

If you’re looking for modern and luxurious residential apartments in Pune, you can check out BramhaCorp properties as it is a premium real estate builder with a wide range of properties,  situated in some of the most prime locations of Pune.  

To learn more about BramhaCorp properties online, you can visit this website for more information on individual properties- www.bramhacorp.in