House hunting in Mumbai

I have been trying to buy a house in Mumbai sub urbs since June and has not been able to find the right one. Unfortunately, apart from one house, we did not find anything livable.

The one we liked, the owner asked for 30% in cash. I am a salaried individual and i can no way pay in cash, especially when most of the money is going to come from a loan.

I sometime wonder how people in Mumbai pay vulgar price for a shitty houses.

One house i saw was a duplex and had all walls broken, including the front . The broker was trying to sell me the concept of rebuilding the way I want to. There were about 10 flats in the building with 8 being empty.

One house I saw was a 2BHK with 3rd being optional. The builder did not build the 3rd bed room, but kept provisions for the 3rd bed room. In this way, he had to pay lesser tax but wanted to charge the market rate to me if I wanted to buy.

The best had yet to come. I saw one under construction building, hoping to be ready by Mar 2010. When I went to see the flat, I was told that builder is in distress and I could buy any flat. However, when i went to see the buuilding 2nd time with my wife and liked one, broker told me that everything is sold. I could buy a flat at 40% higher rate than what was originally told 2 days back.

It is crazy and I dont know people like me, who come from outside, would ever be able to buy a livable house, which costs same as that in Singapore, however, in a shitty location with very poor construction.