Home buying tips for women

Buying a property is a big decision for anyone. It is all the more bigger for women, simply because it demands longevity and continuity in investment. That said, it is not so very difficult, because more and more women are investing and leading real estate developers in India are taking female investors quite seriously.

Here are a few takeaways from some successful women investors:

The author is a credit expert with 10 years of experience in personal finance and consumer banking industry and another 7 years in credit bureau sector. Rajiv was instrumental in setting up India's first credit bureau, Credit Information Bureau (India) Limited (CIBIL). He has also worked with Citibank, Canara Bank, HDFC Bank, IDBI Bank and Experian in various capacities.

1. Build a corpus

This is something Jayashree J Nathan, an entrepreneur from Delhi, did. She managed to pay up almost 80 per cent of her flat cost. "I was clear that I did not want to take a heavy loan. So I saved almost for 15 years, sold a couple of land investments I had and bought my house," she said. So, try to save up as much as possible and reduce your dependency on loan.

2. Decide on the purpose of buying a house

This is an important step as this decides the kind of house you want to buy and also its location. If it is for investment then you need not be particular about the distance from your work place, in which case you will have to make provision for paying rent for the place you intend to stay.

3. Brace yourself for controlling costs

Since you are not used to paying an EMI till now, it is going to be difficult for about a couple of years. "Almost half of what I earned was going towards the EMI, it took me about a year to get used to it," said Shashwati BT, a Bangalore-based software engineer. "I had to reduce my weekend parties, spending on my dresses, going out for lunches and dinners. But at the end of it, it was all worth it," she said.

4. Legal verification

This is the most important and a daunting task. But this could be simplified if you are applying for a bank loan, bank will do legal verification before they grant you a loan.

5. Know your credit worth

Just when you decide to buy a house, know your CIBIL credit score. This can be done by logging on to Cibil.com. A credit score shows how credit-worthy you are. This is needed if you want to apply for a home loan. Over 80 per cent of loans are granted to people over a score of 750. If you do not have a credit score it is important to build one. If your score is low, you have to work towards increasing it.

6. Shore up funds for rainy day

Women tend to take sabbaticals. The most unavoidable sabbaticals are the ones during child birth," said a credit manager with a public sector bank. So save up enough to pay up for the EMI during your sabbaticals.