Good morning, three property registration offices, two joint sub-registrar offices and the photo registry office at Pune's Camp area had a rough Monday.
The fellas from The Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Co. Ltd. visited each of the six government offices and disconnected their power supply due to non payment of bills to the tune of INR 6.94 lakh.
Were these property registration offices broke? No way.
It's just the way our entire real estate ecosystem works, government bodies included. All that matters is the money coming in. The rest is someone else's job.
Sigh.
🚴♀️🍌🥛
The Plan B Every Stock Investor Deserves
Broadly speaking, there are two kinds of stock market investors. The first kind heads to the pharmacy for anti-anxiety and antacid pills when the market crashes, while the second kind heads to the same pharmacy to collect the month's rent.
If you're the first kind of investor, it's high time to consider branching out into the world of real estate. To be honest, a real estate investment is like a lifeline when stock values sink like stones in a lake.
Here Are 3 Reasons Why:
📉 No Need To Liquidate Portfolio At A Low: Good stock advice warrants investors to leave their portfolios untouched during a stock market meltdown to avoid raking in losses. But when you need the money, that is far easier said than done.
However, if you own a few income properties, you may not have to liquidate a chunk of your portfolio at a loss when you need money. That's because you have the option to easily borrow against the equity you have in your investment properties.
📉 Rental Income Can Offset Stock Market Loss: Owning rental properties is one of the most written about ways to generate consistent income. And guess what? That consistency could come in very handy when the stock market misbehaves.
If you have rental income flowing into your bank account, a temporary loss in your stock portfolio is something you might ride out more easily without beta-blockers or insulin jabs.
📉 REIT Dividends Can Minimise Antacid Use: Today, we all know it's possible to invest in real estate without buying physical properties - by loading up on real estate investment trusts (REITs).
💡 REITs are companies that own and operate commercial properties. There are different REIT sectors you can invest in, and as is the case with stocks, diversifying is best.
While REIT values often drop when stocks are in a free fall, its not the case always. Even so, the great thing about REITs is that they typically pay higher-than-average dividends. And when stock values are plummeting, having that extra income in your portfolio could go a long way.
Wednesday Map Quest
A Tale Of 388 Lapses
This piece of news caught our eye. Spoiler Alert: James Bond marries in the end.
No, seriously folks, 388 housing projects in Maharashtra - that's approximately 20,955 units - have lapsed per RERA regulations. Of these, 52% have already been sold. The remaining 48% (10,093 units) remain unsold, per Anarock Research.
📌 The top five cities in Maharashtra with the maximum lapsed projects are MMR, Pune, Aurangabad, Nagpur, and Satara, respectively.
What if 10,000+ folks had paid for cars that never ever got made? 😅
What Qualifies As A Real Estate Business Now?
The flow of money across international borders is governed by numerous regulatory guidelines, unless you're carrying sacks of non serial number currency notes in a secret compartment under your vehicle.
Jokes apart, when it came to Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in Indian real estate, the guidelines on where overseas money could be deployed in the sector hasn't exactly been the hallmark of clarity.
But Not Anymore
What changed: To bring more clarity in its FDI policy for the real estate sector - meaning how and where FDI may or may not be brought into a project - the government of India has amended and aligned the existing definition of the real estate business itself.
Widening The View
Per the revised definition, 'a real estate business means dealing in land and immovable property with a view to earning profit therefrom.' You should know that FDI is not allowed for Indian real estate businesses.
What's In: Construction of farmhouses and trading in transferable development rights.
❎ FDI Disallowed.
What's Out: Development of townships, construction of residential/commercial property, roads or bridges, educational institutions, recreational facilities, city and regional level infrastructure, townships etc.
Also, earning of rent/income on lease of a property, not amounting to transfer, will not be considered as a real estate business.
✅ FDI Allowed.
What It Means For Indian Realty
This is the easiest bit. Clarity and investments have a straight forward relationship - when definitions become crisper and clarity improves, so do investments from across borders.