Virar - new projects approved - 2013

Western line stations like Virar / Naigaon / Nalasopara continue to be the most popular choice of residence for most of MHFC's Mumbai customers (looking to buy flats less than Rs 10 lakhs).

Thus, this is to inform that MHFC has recently approved several (about 10) new projects in Virar East - generally smaller (about 60 to 70 flats) when compared to our usual larger size approved projects. Not sure how many of these flats are still available but for those interested, please call our Loan Officer Gulab Patil on 9167220732 for assistance (info on status of the projects and flats availability and also terms and conditions of MHFC financing).

New Projects in Virar

Western line stations like Virar / Naigaon / Nalasopara continue to be the most popular choice of residence for most of MHFC's customers (looking to buy flats less than Rs 10 lakhs).

Thus, this is to inform of 2 projects recently approved by MHFC:

1. Shree Sai Apartments (Mangal Murti Developers) - Virar (East)
for more info, see link Shree Sai 1 page info sheet

2. Sai Heights (Sai Plaza Developers) - Virar (East)
for more info, see link Sai Heights 1 page info sheet

or call our Loan Officer Gulab Patil 9167220732 for assistance (info on status of the projects and flats availability and also terms and conditions of MHFC financing).

3 New Approved Projects (Mumbai)

MHFC has just approved 3 new projects in and around Mumbai:

1. Samruddhi Complex - by Poddar Housing - this is opp Bhivpuri railway station (one stop before Karjat on the Central line) - will be a township of about 1300 flats - launch price for the 1st phase is 3.5 lakhs for 1 RK and 4.5 lakhs for 1 BHK. Bookings have not yet opened - will open on Gudi Padva (March 16) but given the price and the several features on offer, we expect this to be sold out quite fast.

2. Star City - by Rashmi Housing - at Naigaon - which is 1 stop after Bhayandar on the Western line (3 stops befor Virar). This is also a is a fairly large project - over 1000 flats - more expensive given the attraction of this side - about Rs 2000 per sq ft - which means flats are between 5.7 and 11 lakhs - booking is already open - about 200 flats left for sale - rest all sold.

3. Sathyanagar - by Shriram Housing - at Boisar - which is frankly not practical for those working in Mumbai as it is about 3 hours by train from VT - but just for information, this is a township of about 2800 flats - 1 BHK and 2 BHK flats being priced at between 5.1 and 5.9 lakhs.

For more information, please email on contact@mhfcindia.com and for builder brochures / websites, please see http://www.mhfcindia.com/approved-project.html

Karjat Visit

We visited Karjat last week - Karjat is about 2 hrs from CST on the central line, however, soon local trains would start running on the harbour line track which will reduce the commute to about an hour and fifteen minutes. As a result a lot of developers have started looking at Karjat to launch new affordable housing projects.

We visited three such projects - all at an early stage; two of them are yet to start construction. But we were quite happy with the price dynamics in the area. As of today, land is quite cheap, and thus a 3.5-4.5 lakh 1-BHK is still feasible. This is great news for a lot of people who earn between 8-15k per month and can afford an EMI of 3-4k per month. While we understand it is difficult to move to Karjat today as it is quite far from the heart of the city, it is a great opportunity to buy a home of your own for later, once good quality infrastructure develops in the area.

In our view, Karjat has the potential to be the Virar of the central line - roughly same commute from Churchgate/CST (once the new line is operational) and much cheaper properties.

All three projects are currently being reviewed by the project approval committee, more details will follow once they are approved. (Tentative launch date - Gudi Padwa - 16th March)

Demand for EWS / LIG - new projects sold out

Re the Sanskruti apartments project (see blog post dated Dec 19, 2009), for 67 flats - this has already been sold out (in less than a month of being on offer - even without any real marketing by the builder / agent) - another sign of the demand for clear title, decent quality homes in the Rs 5-7 lakh price range in the Virar area.

Also, in the latest MHADA round (for sale of 3394 EWS / LIG homes), which closed Jan 31 - the total applications received are about 3.3 lakhs - or over 100 apps recd for each flat on offer.

For more info, see link below:
TOI article on MHADA sales - Jan 2010

New project approved in Virar (East)

MHFC has just approved a project in Virar (East) – Sanskruti Apartments. This is by the same builder of an earlier approved project – Vaishnavi Sai Complex – also in Virar (East) – where all 328 flats were sold out. This new project is small - 67 flats of which about 30 are in the smaller 1 RK (approx 350 to 400 sq ft size) category and thus less expensive (starting at about Rs 6.2 lakhs all inclusive). Booking opened Jan 1 - and MHFC has negotiated for its clients a special rate (Rs 50/sq ft less than the public rate - or approx Rs 20,000 savings) for a month. We are in discussions with vendor associations, NGOs and MFIs, who deal with the informal sector, and expect to help place the flats by the end of Jan.

For detailed information, see http://www.mhfcindia.com/approved-project.html OR please call our rep at the site, Savio d'Souza on 9821730702.

Note: MHFC is NOT a builder, and is not responsible for the quality and title of properties even if approved by MHFC for customer financing – buyers need to make independent verifications. We also do not receive any commissions from the builder. Our interest in spreading the word is solely to bridge the information gap – to make those in the informal sector aware of projects aimed at the LIG segment, and further, to make them aware of financing available.

Neetu moves into her new home

One of our first clients, Neetu, recently moved into her new home in Virar. She is certainly our typical customer - a housemaid, who lived in a central Mumbai slum in very poor conditions (small room, poor sanitation, common toilet, no open space, etc) with her husband (a driver), her mother, 3 brothers and a younger sister. She has been wanting to buy her own home (one with clear title and reasonable quality) for some time now and with her husband, could put down the 20% margin on a home purchase from a private developer. The issue was to find a bank to finance the remaining 80%. When we met her, she said she harboured little hope in getting a loan as she had been turned down several times for much smaller loans in the past - because of a lack of documentary support to prove her income. At MHFC, we were convinced not just about her ability to repay the loan (by verifying her income with her employer) but also her willingness (the loan tenor is set at just 5 years evidencing her strong desire to be debt free as early as possible).

Attached are a couple of pictures - one of her old home and one of the new building. Its still a squeeze for 7 adults to be living in a 360 sq ft flat - but Neetu puts this in perspective when she says they used to live in a 150 sq ft room, and hence find the new home very comfortable.

Virar pics

Before I talk about the Virar project - just yesterday I was at a microfinance conference in Delhi and the chief guest was none other than the father of microfinance - Prof Muhammad Yunus. It was great to see him and hear him speak live. Simplicity and Humility personified.



Back to our project...

Key features of the project
- Four buildings almost 70-80% complete, other four at foundation stage
- Good location - close to the railway station and on a main road
- Really good quality of construction (including fancy PoP at corners on the ceiling)
- Impressive kitchen and bathroom fittings

Few pics -






Random pic (below) from the train - the Virar temple - it can be seen from all over in Virar

New Property at Virar / Drivers reaction

Last week (Friday), Ramesh (our property expert) and Nachiket went to check a property at Virar East - about 5 to 10 mins auto ride from the station - which is almost ready (about 3 of the 8 buildings are pretty much done with the rest to follow during the year). It seems that there could be about 100 flats available (of about 340 sq ft) which could cost about Rs 5.5 lakhs. This is slightly above our target price range - but having said that, when I asked some drivers to see the property - they actually wanted to buy the next higher value flat (which is priced at about 7.5 lakhs)! They were willing to put in 2.5 lakhs as margin and were quite comfortable with servicing the EMI on the 5 lakh loan required for 15 years. I asked them why they would take on this kind of additional pressure and why not just buy the smaller 340 sq ft 1 RK flat ? They all said that they had to plan for the future - for their children (extra room needed) and even for guests from the village. This showed both their aspiration levels and more importantly, affordability levels - the drivers were all earning in the region of 12,000 to 15,000 and so the EMI of approx 5,000 was not a problem.

Anyway, re loans against the property itself, MHFC is doing a soft launch - just circulating the possibility to people who have been asking us for some time about properties and loans - and it looks like we will have 100 buyers from just this personal reference list. We will be able to test our systems through this initial process - so treating this as a pilot.

Nachiket took some photos of the project itself which I am sure he will put up shortly.

Pictures

Above: Near completion projects in Virar East
(we did not approve these, there is hardly any space between two buildings and there are new buildings coming up right in front)

Below are a few pictures from TMCity -
(A complete (mock) building and an overview of the current construction status)