New Delhi: When you look at the hoardings and advertisements put up by real estate developers, the phrase 'dream home' is almost always part of the promotion. And since we all dream of owning our home one day, this is definitely a useful psychological hook to use in property promotion. But what really constitutes your dream home? Let us examine this in some depth.
Home ownership is not a desire we suddenly wake up with one morning - as Indians, it is practically something we grow up with. It is the highest ideal of the Indian Way of Life to own a home, so we dream about ours from very early on. Usually, this 'dream home' is larger than life, beautifully decorated, in an impeccably planned neighborhood and the envy of our friends and relatives.
With the passage of time, our dream home tends to become a little more realistic. For example, most of us have to accept that a bungalow in the classiest part of the city may not be within our means. In other words, the mental imagery of a mansion surrounded by lush lawns and trees lining the compound fade, to be replaced by a spacious, ultra-modern flat.
By the time we have launched our career and managed to save enough money for a down payment, even this picture will have moderated in accordance with new realities such as actual spending power.
Nevertheless, the original blueprint of our dream home tends to linger - and this is where many aspiring home buyers make serious mistakes during the home selection process. The maximum mistakes in this respect are committed on the resale.
The ideal home for you should not be as close a match of your dream picture of it, regardless of how tempered it has become by reality. For instance, you should not have to pay for the expensive interior decor and German modular kitchen that the previous owner has put in. Nor should you have to pay for two parking spaces when you have no intention of ever owning more than one car.
