Operation Home - V

Inscribed by Hariharan

So … With the widened scope … and more "Brokers" to serve us … life was getting more interesting …

I met this one broker who was actually my Barber … I think he used to do part-time broker job initially, but after his success he now does part time barber work … Anyways he was not all that good a Barber … So I planned to avail has services to see some flats …

He started showing some flats priced starting 12-15 Lakhs and all of them about 10 odd years old … So all of them crossed my upper limit of 5-6 years … They were all shabby TN Housing Board Apartments … But I was amazed by the way our "Broker"
Marketed it … He would say that the flat was furnished … I would go in and find all the shelves and other cabinets uncovered … Then I would ask where was the "furnished" part of the flat .. He would show me the sofas and the wooden cupboards etc (that's what he meant by furnished) … At that moment, I just found a new definition of the word "Furnished" Apartment.

He would talk at length about the financial planning I should do … He would advice me to purchase two flats … Stay in one and give off the other for rent so that way there would be a steady inflow of cash … Good advice but who would loan me such an amount (I would never be eligible for such a humungous amount) and how on earth would I pay my outrageously high EMI ? (I would cover the Loan Part in the subsequent sections ... That's a different story altogether) Well … He wasn't worried … He only wanted to shell out his free advices … So he showed some flats … didn't appeal much to me … Seemed like he was deliberately quoting high for the flats he showed me.

After a while you started getting bored seeing properties. I started fearing the weekends (as I would have to see properties in the weekend only). My mom would tirelessly scan the papers and prepare a list of properties to be seen in the weekend and I would religiously have a look at each one of it. Some of them were really beautiful like one land I saw very close to the beach … The problem was that it was too close. For those not aware, due to last year's Tsunami, a rule has been brought in that properties that are within 500 Mts from the seashore will not get a plan approval. So all this while I was desperately trying to be patient enough to wait for right property and not rush into something just because the whole process was taking a long time.

That's when I called this "broker" who sounded different … Normal brokers that I was in touch with were all "local" category … no style etc … This guy spoke to me in English and spoke good English … Sounded very polished … Informed me about his brokerage charges upfront and then told me about this second hand flat in Velachery … Gave me the details about it and set up a time when I could inspect the flat … Though it did induce a spark in my mind … I was still feeling It would be the same old crap …

But seeing that flat changed the course of events … I and Jan saw the flat and instantly liked it … I guess whenever I take her to see properties it always clicks … :-)

Rest in the next …