I'm still waiting patiently and have confidence that I will build my home in Pune. Do you?

Hello friends, I was pretty late in posting on blog as I was busy with something else but now with couple of more active members added, I think I'm getting closer. Thanks Mr Vivek Gupta for joining the active team.

I recently visited one of the reputed school in Latur (Rajashree Shahu Education institute) whose trustees are my uncles friends. They constructed a school building on their own without subcontracting anything to contractor. The total constructed area is - 60,000 sq ft and what I learned about the construction cost is unbelievable but true which I confirmed with others as well. It is < 400 / sq ft. Yes less than 400 per sq ft! If it comes to City like Pune, you add taxes, octroi and some extra for city labor as per your judgment and I will leave up to you on how much it will be in Pune. Ofcourse there is land cost but how much at the max?

And as I mentioned before, I just can't think of being a slave of some company for 15-20 yrs just for the 2 or 3 BHK house with no expansion scope unless your next generations do the same until their end of working lifetime! All HNIs,NRIs and onsite migrants may be exception to this which I don’t believe is entire picture to sustain RE in long run.

Housing prices are keeping pace with your salaries and they are closely monitoring it. They simply think as you earn more you give it all to RE companies just because you still consider home is something like next to impossible to build for individuals, always appreciates and you will buy from builder and builder only period. Yes there is need but can't we survive without? Certainly yes. Renting is the best option these days - ask any financial expert (not RE agent or builder salesman) and he will tell you if its viable in todays scenario and todays prices.

Hoping to be more active myself going forward.

All the best!

Step # 2 - We decided Area/location and now select your requirement in Poll section

Dream-home owners, as the area/location poll time is over now, it’s time to announce the area! We received 12 votes on location and below are the results. Actually I was expecting more people to vote but that’s OK to narrow down on area.

East - 3 (25%)

North West - 8 (66%)

Pimpri Chinchwad - 1 (8%)

Obviously North-West seems to be the choice majority would like to go with. Though I stay in East of Pune, as per the group rules, I go with what majority has voted for and thats North-West of Pune. Those few who voted for other locations are most welcome to join. Let me tell you what location I voted for - it was East. Yes, I stay in Hadapsar as per my profile. Anyways, whatever it is, our aim is not to build something close to work but somewhere at decent location in Pune your dream home. As an employees, I do not consider you would will be or willing to work in same company, branch for rest of your life; surely not, at least for IT folks.

Now, I would like to open the discussion for the next obvious requirement, choice or preference which will provide approx land requirements. It can be Flat, Rowhouse, Twin bungalow, Independent bungalow etc. For that I have started next Poll, so please cast your valuable vote and help taking a group call. As per my plot search and people's experience, given below are rough numbers in West of Pune. I'm neither construction expert nor have building experience but I believe this is not a Rocket science either.

- Land cost per Gunta/100 sq m/1089 sq ft: 10-12 L (this might vary more depending upon locations but this is rate for a decent location) I don't believe we even need a prime location like next to PANCARD club.

- An independent house (you may call it bungalow) with corporation sanctioned plan can be build on Approx 3000 Sq ft plot. (Yes, if you wants to do legally, corporation does not sanctioned plans for anything less than this area), A twin bungalow on 2000- 2500 sq ft, A row house on 1500 - 2000 sq ft. And don't forget to add some additional common enmities space per each member.

- Construction cost: as per my discussion with friends and relatives, it should not exceed 1100-1300 / sq ft with branded fittings, accessories and quality raw material. You can check it out yourselves with those who are in construction or real home owners who built.

- Other costs: 100-200 / sq ft (it includes admin, legal, MSEB). MSEB per each member ideally should not exceed 10k -15K with optimistic estimates. Whatever builders charge like tens of thousands is all their indirect margins , nothing else

I guess this should give you quick overview on how much you can invest in to come up with a requirements.

And finally, I would like to talk about members number in group and what would be good strength to start activities. Currently, as per Google group, we are 16 ,members and anticipating few more (in case they are interested), I consider approx size of 20-30 would be good number to form legal group entity to begin with. There still will be opportunity t0 meet required number if required.

Please post comments , concerns , suggestions. Remember, doing it yourselves would feel like time consuming but I assume, you are here to prove yourselves and fulfill your dream in less budget.

STEP # 1 Google group formed - weaverbirds!

As majority of emails I have are Gmail and my better understanding of Google products, I have created Google group which I hope shouldn't be a problem except few who might have to register with Gmail ID. So, here we have Google group to begin with and I have added almost all those who responded to my earlier posts (with few exception of not opted to be added directly as members) and shown willingness to join. Thank you Aditi for valuable inputs and suggestion.

I'm going to put a simple no cost advt in online portals with our land requirement and will keep you updated. But before that I would like to share and finalize with your comments the MISSION STATEMENT which I believe is very critical when we go out in market for something different like this. The very first question anyone (landlords, brokers etc) likely to ask is - who are we and what are we going to build / archive. Isn't it? That clear understanding gives an good impression and confidence to them that you really can cut land deal and have strong group of like minded people with you.

With all these, my lawyer relative-cum-best friend suggested to have some common guidelines which will protect a common interests and trust people have shown. I will share some simple (not complex like Credit card :) ) guidelines which members need to accept.

Again thank you for joining the mission and feel free to let you friends, colleagues and relatives know and to join the group.

Finally, myself and my wife are very excited to see ourselves getting closer to that dream. Again welcome to Dream home owners club!

Buying Vs Renting - a very simple maths

With this very well managed campaign of economy coming out of recession and situation improving, many of you must have started home search and few of them may have even bought thinking yet another lifetime, now or never opportunity of real estate.

Undoubtedly, economy going down and rate of fall has been slowed down but it doesn't mean it is heading towards another boom. Many commercial media houses (ET,PT, TOI blah blah) may be shouting aloud but it’s simply because of economy of revenue from these plays (Builders, promoters etc) and nothing else!

If you are much worried that you will miss another tide or a bus, then I would suggest to think over about fundamental notion of Buying vs. renting. Is the artificial rate rise giving you sleepless nights? Take a time to see couple of videos (links below) and do simple math yourselves and you will surprised to know how the nexus of banks/builders is trapping middle class and how much we end up BURNING hard earned, after tax money. I understand the sense of joy, pride and accomplishment after owning the home , but hey - is that the only single most important thing you wants to achieve and expect in life? I can go on and on but i'm sure these couple of videos will give meaningful insights.

Renting vs. Buying a home

Renting vs. Buying a home (Part 2)

Renting vs. Buying (detailed analysis)

Lets get started!

Now that you all are convinced and somewhat understood that we can do it ourselves. So before laying detailed map and nitty-gritty, I would like to start with group formation. Friends, followers and believers of Housing Self Help group, I’m confident that with word of mouth publicity, many more will join and will be part of some group as per are preferences. So far in short time of 20 days, I have received 10-12 invitations to join the group. I see majority of the interested are for Baner / Balewadi area but anticipating the wide diversity of city and diverse population, I just don’t want this to be limited with just particular location or my preferred area. Instead wants to have voting on area preferences and would not be surprised if we end up with multiple area groups. Considering the wide range of municipal boundaries, we will start with 3 options opens to begin with. These are: - 1. East - Kharadi, Hdapsar, Wagholi and near Amanora , Magarpatta, Manjri
2. North West – Baner, Bavdhan, Pashan, Balewadi, Near Hinjewadi, Wakad
3. Pimpri Chinchwad - Akurdi, Nigdi, Pimple saudagar etc

Please select overall preference of location and also specific area inside comments if you have