03/08/2023
Apartments or Independent Homes- What to Choose and Why?
Over the past few decades, the real estate in Bengaluru has sky-rocketed in worth from thousands to crores. Owing to these increased prices and of course a spike in the working population, Bengaluru is now bustling with residences anywhere and everywhere. If you are looking for a house, you have a wide variety to choose from; there are studio apartments, penthouses, and duplexes options in low-rise apartments and high-rise apartments in Bangalore. And in terraced houses, villas, gated community residences, and several other kinds in the independent or private-access buildings category.
So today, let’s take the broad categorization of Independent houses and Flats/ Apartments in Bangalore and discuss various aspects of both of these categories.
What is an Apartment?
Apartments or flats are the most popular and highly preferred residential spaces in Bangalore today. These are just residential spaces within a larger building and include common modern-day amenities, luxuries, and security. There is a designated group/ management to take care of regular maintenance in this kind of setup. Here, the buyer gets the right to a certain amount of land calculated based on the area of their house and parking spot.
What is Independent housing?
An independent house is built over a piece of land wherein the owner of the land has complete rights and responsibility over the land and the house. Here, the owner gets to choose their own design and ideas for the construction of the house. Independent housing offers the flexibility of living alone on your own terms. However, the owner has to bear all responsibilities related to the upkeep of the building and land.
Apartments vs Independent Houses
At first glance, both types of residences look convenient and seem like neither of them surpasses the other although both of them might have advantages of their own. So, why is it that so many people nowadays prefer Apartments? Could it be the money? Could it be the comfort? Could it be the facilities? We believe the reasoning differs from person to person.
Let us take a bird’s eye view of the pros and cons of both and decide which one suits us best.
1. Finance
Money is the first thing that comes to our mind when we plan to buy a house, isn’t it? After all, we aren’t multimillionaires who can make uncontrolled spending on a place called home.
An independent house will need an initial investment in the land and then on the construction. Even a small plot of land in the outer area of Bengaluru will cost no less than INR 50 lakhs. Adding to it will be the construction cost which would be no lesser than INR 35 lakhs for the basic construction. The fancier and bigger the place, the higher the cost, and if you wish to buy an independent house in prime localities of Bangalore, you will have to have a couple of crores in hand.
On the other hand, affordable apartments in Bangalore will be available at prices as low as INR 35 lakhs and very spacious apartments in prime locations in Bangalore might cost around a crore.
2. Maintenance
Managing a home is no child’s play. A person who has managed the house even for a month will know that there are several things to take care of.
There is waste to be dealt with multiple times a week, water to be pumped, cleaning the premises, being present for bill generations, booking and managing all required repairs, and several other petty jobs. Owners of an independent house will have to give a lot of their time and energy to all these jobs amidst their already busy lives.
However, a good number of these tasks will be handled by other designated parties in the case of Apartments, leaving the owners with lesser stress and more time for themselves.
3. Amenities
Think of your dream home! In addition to the basic number of rooms and the structure of the house, you might also picture a home surrounded by greenery, a swimming pool, a little play area for your children to play in, a spacious hall for gatherings, an elevator, and several other big and small things. But we do have it in our capacity to include all these in dream homes?
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Unless you are a multimillionaire, accommodating all these facilities in an independent house in Bengaluru will be impossible for the reasons of the investment and the space all of this would take, not to mention the year or year maintenance burdens these amenities carry.
Look at apartment residents, on the other hand, there might be a lack of privacy, sure! But with a little bit of adjustment, they can enjoy swims in a swimming pool, party with friends and family in the banquet hall, enjoy the sight of the green lawns and flowery plants any time of the day, work out at the gym, benefit from the lifts and what not.
4. Safety
The safety of people and property has been the primary concern in our society for ages, and it continues to be. Every day as we walk out of our homes, we worry about the safety of the loved ones we leave behind.
Most independent house owners do not try to get into the expenditure and pain of appointing a security guard. The maximum they do is install a couple of CCTV cameras. They might ask the neighbors to keep an eye and the neighbors might keep a watch in all goodwill, but they have their lives too! Thus, a few pairs of footwear go missing one day, and then some scraps, and one fine day something bigger. Scary, isn’t it?
In the apartment residences, however, there will be one or more designated security guards- 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Saying that there would be zero crimes in apartments would be an outrageous lie. But it is still an assurance knowing that someone is watching over your house, surroundings, and family all the time.
5. Investment
A lot of us buy residences to live in, several others as a source of rental income, and many as a long-term investment.
According to us, independent houses are good places to live if the previous 4 points are acceptable to you. Independent houses are a good source of a worthy rental income if the house is in one of the prime localities. But we definitely agree that independent housing is an excellent option for long-term investments- today you spend a crore and after a few decades, gain a multifold value at sale.
But then again, apartments are good places to live for all the previous points made, semi-furnished or fully furnished apartments bag good rental income month on month. And apartments also make for a great long-term investment.
There are several other points that you might want to consider while deciding what kind of housing you wish to buy/ rent. But the 5 points mentioned above are the most critical make-or-break differentiators.
Signature Dwellings are builders focussing mainly on Apartment type residences because we feel that we can reach more people, and help more families own their dream homes. What bigger joy than watching a happy family in a happy home!
