DBS Launches New Project - Umang Vatwa

On 26th June 2014, affordable housing company DBS (Design Build Serve) announced a new project named "Umang Vatwa" that will be built in Ahmedabad, Gujarat.

The project will provide both 1 RK and 2RK flats, starting at INR 4.99 lakh. Located close to the railway station and providing modern amenities which include 24/7 water supply, Umang Vatwa is the latest project from DBS that Micro Housing Finance Corporation will partner with to provide housing finance solutions to customers. More information about the project can be found here.

Customers looking for finance options can contact our Manager Kashyap Patel on 9925045276 to check MHFC loan terms and conditions, availability and  general inquiries.

Bookings for the project opened on 12th July 2014. For more information about the project, call the toll free number: 1800-123-6007

New DBS project - Surat

DBS, one of our partner developers (2 approved projects in Ahmedabad - Umang Narol and Umang Lambha), have just launched their next project in Surat (opp the Sachin railway station).

More details will be available shortly on the DBS and MHFC website but in summary, there are 128 1 RK flats and 676 1 BHK flats on offer priced at approx Rs 4.11 lakhs and Rs 7.11 lakhs respectively (excl stamp duties and charges), which we believe is well priced for our segment.

The launch was over the weekend - and from early reports, the response has been excellent - the builder has received bookings for about 50% of the flats already (with 1 RK flats believed to have sold out completely). Encouragingly, buyers are typically from the informal sector (MHFC customer segment).

For more information on the project esp on MHFC loan terms and conditions, please call our branch manager in Surat - Jignesh Patel on 9016507947 - or email us on contact@mhfcindia.com. 

Credit Camp for DBS / Saath customers

Link to write up and video of the credit camp for Saath customers of the DBS Umang project in Ahmedabad (held in June).
http://dbs.avbodh.org/creditcamp.aspx

C ben

Last week we held a credit camp for the Saath customers of the DBS "Umang" project in Ahmedabad (almost 50% or about 150 bookings have been reserved for Saath customers who are typically from the LIG informal sector). It was inspiring for us to meet and listen to their stories - in terms of how they have struggled to make a living despite very difficult conditions, and now that they feel fairly settled monetarily, they would like to take the next step in buying a permanent home. The customers we met ranged from a family of tailors, to vegetable vendors, to maalis and waiters. But 1 couple stood out. The husband was fairly quiet, and the one who did all the talking was the wife - "C" ben. She worked at an NGO - for over 15 years - earning about Rs 5000 per month. She also gave tuitions to slum children for 2 hours every day at a programme organised by IIM Ahmedabad - earning another Rs 2000 per month. Her husband was a driver - working for about 16 years for 1 employer - and was earning about Rs 6000 per month. Total family income was about 13,000. They had made a booking for the bigger 2 RK flat (which cost about Rs 6 lakhs) and sought a loan from MHFC of about Rs 5.5 lakhs. While in any case this was not a possible loan from MHFC as we require a 20% client margin (1.2 lakhs), in any case the EMI (approx 7,000) would be unaffordable for the family from our point of view. We advised that we could not support her request, but would happily support if they bought the smaller 1 RK flat (which cost about Rs 3.5 lakhs). Initially, they were not very pleased and we had a long discussion on the affordability. But eventually she also realised that buying the larger flat would place a huge financial pressure on the family. Finally, she agreed to switch to the smaller flat and take a smaller loan of approx Rs 3 lakhs and pay an EMI of approx Rs 4,000 - but not without trying to negotiate for everything - the down payment required, the loan tenor, the pricing !

DBS Housing Blog

link to blog by Bala, Director, DBS Affordable Housing - it has information on the launch of the project in Ahmedabad - which saw about 2000 visitors on opening day.

http://dbscommunities.blogspot.com/

New Project - Ahmedabad - DBS

We met with DBS Housing on Friday. This is a new company - formed by a team of professionals who are passionate about creating homes for lower income families. Their approach is bottom up - in that their plan for a township in Ahmedabad (near Vatva) is based on views from the community - and after a lot of research on needs of expected end users. In fact, they have a tie up with Saath (http://www.saath.org/saath/index.php) which works very closely with communities in Ahmedabad slums to provide integrated solutions in health, education, basic infrastructure, job training etc - and who will spread the word on this project. This is exciting for us as it will probably ensure that buyers on the project will be mostly end users from our target segment - lower income families from the informal sector.
The project opens on May 2 - about 1400 flats (1 RK, 1 BHK and 2 BHK) on offer - price range starting 3, 5, 7 lakhs in each category. It has been conditionally approved by MHFC - final approval will be after receipt of all planning permissions. Our LOs will be on site for the opening to take details of prospective buyers.
More details on DBS and the project on their website - link below:
http://www.dbsaffordablehomes.com/index_files/Page304.htm