Top 5 things to know before getting a Home loan

Know your maximum loan eligibility:

The loan amount to be sanctioned depends on your income and previous track record when it comes to repaying your loans and credit card dues. Home loan lenders generally provide 80 per cent of the value of the property as the loan amount, subject to your income. While assessing the income criteria, they do not consider some of your salary slip heads for calculating your net monthly income. They only consider the income heads which can be used to repay your loan. For example, your LTA and medical allowances are deducted from the monthly net salary you receive. You are expected to spend the amount received under these heads for the specific activities they are being provided for. This is one of the reasons why we generally see a difference in the eligibility amount quoted in the website and actual amount realized once the application is processed.

Check your CIBIL score:

The home loan eligibility depends on the credit worthiness of the individual. Credit Information Bureau (India) Limited (CIBIL) provides a credit score on a scale of 300 to 900 based on your previous credit card usage, how you maintained your bank accounts, any check bounces, existing loans, uninsured existing loans, loan repayments, how many times you have applied for a loan or a credit card. Individuals with a CIBIL score greater than 700 are more likely to get a home loan. All the home loan lenders approach CIBIL for this score whenever you apply for a credit card or any sort of loan. Paying the processing fee to know the maximum limit at more than three or four banks is one of the common mistakes committed by many people. The more times you apply for loan, CIBIL considers it as being credit hungry, so the chances of getting a loan are minimized. CIBIL rating, net salary excluding some variable heads and existing loans and EMIs being paid towards existing loans are the vital components which decide the repayment capacity of the applicant.

Type of interest rate:

The type of interest rate you choose has an impact on the monthly EMIs you pay. It is important that you know the difference between fixed rate home loan and floating rate home loan. If you opt for a fixed rate home loan, the EMIs don't vary over the loan tenure. It is beneficial when the interest rates are expected to rise in the near future. In case of a floating rate home loan, the interest rate is determined based on the prevailing base rates plus a floating rate. The EMIs vary based on the movement of base rates. It is beneficial when interest rates are expected to fall in near future.

Loan tenure:

The EMI is calculated on the basis of the amount of the home loan, home loan interest rate and loan tenure. The monthly EMI is inversely proportional to loan tenure, i.e., the longer the tenure the lower the EMI, and the shorter the tenure, the higher the EMI. Similarly, the total interest paid is directly proportional to the loan tenure. The higher the tenure, the higher the total interest paid, and vice-versa. Know the impact of your EMI payments on your finances before deciding on the loan tenure. Calculate the available surplus under different scenarios and assess the available monthly surplus for each scenario.

Read the documents carefully before you sign:

Don't let the bunch of home loan documents bog you down and just sign on the dotted lines. Check the documents to ensure that the terms are the same as what you negotiated and agreed upon. Read the documents carefully and know the different charges applicable. Importantly, know the processing fee, late payment fee, etc.

Courtesy: NDTV Profit

The unknown wonders of Ancient World

Asvini Foundations was awarded the CREDAI REAL ESTATE AWARD - 2012 for the most affordable residential property (Metros)

The CREDAI REAL ESTATE AWARD - 2012 is received by Mr.Sivagurunathan, Director, Asvini Foundations.

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Laurie Baker: The legendary-visionary British born Indian Architect

“I can never understand an architect who designs 500 houses all exactly the same. It doesn't take much to put all the components into at least half a dozen other combinations. It's perfectly easy to mix materials on any given site so the possibilities for variety are endless... If only we didn't level site and eliminate trees but instead plan to go around them, then we wouldn’t get the long monotonous rows to begin with.” - Laurence Wilfred Baker (Laurie Baker)

Laurie Baker 1917-2007

Laurie Baker, as he is famously known is a British born architect who came to India as part of the missionary work in 1945. Baker studied architecture at Birmingham Institute of Art and Design, Birmingham and graduated in 1937, aged 20, in a period of political unrest in Europe. He is said to be immensely influenced by Gandhiji. During one of his trips to India he was waiting for his ship back to England when he accidentally met Gandhiji. Gandhiji told him that it is not the cities but the rural areas were his knowledge is required. It was Gandhiji’s idea that it would be possible to build a home with materials available within 5 kilometres of the site, which did influence him in his later life.

He started his initial commitment as an architect for World Leprosy Mission; his responsibilities were to convert asylums for lepers into treatment hospitals. He married Elizabeth Jacob and lived in Pithoragarh for sixteen years before moving to Vakamon in Kerala in 1963.

Chengalchoola Slum colony
Courtesy: Lauriebaker.net

He observed that the architectural knowledge acquired by him was not useful in Indian conditions. He started learning vernacular architecture and applied his knowledge to discover new low cost construction materials and procedures. His architectural style was to build beautiful homes at low cost & high quality suiting the needs of lower middle class people. The homes had irregular pyramid like roofs with one side open such that the wind flowed freely inside and perforated brick walls for air movement keeping it naturally cool. The initial designs would completely change on-site by the architect based on the surroundings and the requirement. And his love of nature was immense that he rarely tampered with the topography and never uprooted a tree.

And he created a unique cooling system, a porous brick wall near a small pond such that the air pressure difference would draw cool air through the house. And all of his structures look different.

The Hamlet: This is Baker’s home built along the slope of a hill in Trivandrum. A remarkable & beautiful home built for his family with materials from un-conventional resources. This place has limited access to water and no one other than Laurie Baker would dream to build a home.

Birds eye view of the Hamlet
Courtesy:Lauriebaker.net

He has constructed for many institutions, built residences and few of his notable projects are International Leprosy Mission, Welthy Fisher's Literacy Village-Lucknow, Andhra Pradesh Quaker Cyclone Project, Latur Earthquake Proof Housing Project and Tsunami-proof Housing Project. He has built more than 2000 buildings in Kerala alone.

Throughout his life he has received many prestigious awards including the nomination for the Pritzker Prize (considered the Nobel Prize in Architecture).  And many institutions have conferred a doctorate on him. He lived till the age of 90, and he died on April 1, 2007. Though he is dead his “Baker Style” is gaining popularity. Though Laurie Baker conceived his style for the poor today it is being commoditised.

He was called as ‘the Daddy” by his students and workers. His work has awed many architects and many of his writings have been published. Though he is no more, he has left an impeccable impact with his work. His buildings will live to speak about this legend. 

Source: http://lauriebaker.net/

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The funside

Urbanization: The changing face of Indian Society

A COUPLE of centuries ago, India was just a conglomeration of villages and small towns. The kind of lifestyle and practices followed were those inherited from our forefathers. A dramatic shift came about after the arrival of the Portuguese, Spanish navies followed by the French and the English.  During this period the whole of Europe was being transformed by the Industrial Revolution which lasted till the 19th century. By the end of the 19th century India was slowly being consumed from within by the British crown for various obvious reasons.

The metrics in India changed with Bombay, Calcutta and Madras becoming centres of governance for the British rulers. A rash of activities started mushrooming in these cities like roadways, railways, trams, colleges, hospitals, and the manpower required was to be filled by the natives. Though most of these were done for their convenience, the infrastructure boom and the opportunities that arose resulted in the migration of people to these places.

The tradition bound people started observing a new way of westernised behaviour from their rulers and the change started ticking. The end of World War II resulted in a major shift, with countries across the world realigning and of course an independent India came into being.  Though the English moved out of India, they left an indelible footprint of their culture and practices. And the craze to impersonate the white skin was deeply embedded on the Indian society.

India with a strong culture & heritage had practices like festivals, melas, community gatherings and even marriages happening to be reasons for socializing. The sands of Time worked and these events moved out from the social calendar. Though the Western culture imbibance was a factor, the socio-economic demands became a decisive factor. In this process the traditional joint family splintered into smaller nuclear families. This resulted in a paradigm shift in an individuals’ behaviour which by and large impacted the society as a whole.

The traditional joint families did teach an individual about interpersonal behaviour, civilised behaviour, self-management of finance, respect for elders and more importantly, it had mentors inside a home, whereas in a nuclear family all these were missing.  But with the advent of gated communities a major shift is happening.

In cities like Mumbai where such gated communities came into existence almost 20 year back, the traditional values are being imparted in the form of celebrations, get-togethers and many activities. Eventually this will spread and communities which come together because of socio-economic demands will evolve into traditionally modern society teaching our younger ones a new way of life.

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Urbanization: Need for larger townships

MANKIND HAS evolved from being a nomad, to dwelling in a fixed place, the predominant reason being food. Civilization, thus, grew in fertile places and gradually spread to places connected by sea, which eventually became commercial hubs. Commerce developed, giving raise to many a non-traditional jobs. With the steady in-flow of people in a place, the demand for decent living conditions compelled the need for town planning. The study of the Indus Valley civilization suggests that Harappa had sewerage facilities designed by its town planners.

Today, the need for proper housing and urbanization is not just about sheltering people but much more. As the cities grew with new urbanized facilities, migration from rural areas became inevitable. Today, more people live in urban areas than in rural areas. It is predicted that by 2030, 6 out of 10 people will live in urban areas which will grow to a mammoth 7 out of 10 by 2050, in contrast to just 2 out of 10 people, who lived in urban areas, a hundred years back.

This kind of rapid growth leads to massive revamp in the housing and infrastructural requirements. In modern day towns, mobility is an important criterion in town planning, besides housing. While these demands evolved over a period of time the societal behavior (we will discuss this in our next article) of people has also changed. All these changes are fuelled by technology.

Housing facilities combined with necessary infrastructure is the need of the day. This leads to the development of satellite cities which have all the facilities & opportunities. The only best example in India is Navi Mumbai, which is the largest planned city in the India. The only major problem is, there are only two roads connecting Mumbai and Navi Mumbai.

These kind of satellite cities are much needed in India, since all the major metros have become over-populated. In Chennai, though specific areas have grown, the Greater Chennai plan that was promised, never came to reality. The Government of Tamilnadu is contemplating on amalgamating Kanchipuram and Chengalpattu, while the other options are to expand Chennai till Gummidipoondi and Uthukottai taluks in the north, Sriperumbudur in the west and Chengalpattu in the South.

This expansion cannot be compared to that of Greater Mumbai or Greater Noida since the socio-economic scenario, culture and climate in the region play a vital role in the success of any satellite township. Though dubbed as the Detroit of Asia, Chennai needs a much larger visionary plan like the Navi Mumbai city since, Chennai is bound to attract much more foreign investments which are bound to increase the demand of housing & infrastructure of this city.