Sanchita always had a dream. A dream of her own home. A well-decorated home, a piece of heaven of her own, without the prying eyes and ears of the ‘next door’ neighbours.
She was born and brought up in Jamshedpur where the ubiquitous apartments did not make their marks in her childhood. She lived in a small house with a beautiful garden in front.
Those childhood memories always haunted her and when the time came for settling down in her own home in Kolkata, she wished to buy an independent bungalow a little away from the city proper, in the lap of greenery. Her husband, Sumit, however, is a banker and he pointed out the pros and cons of buying a flat vs a bungalow.
Let us find out the advantages and disadvantages in both cases.
A Bungalow Offers Better Exclusivity
Buying a bungalow is surely good if you want to live with adequate exclusivity away from the mundane interactions of your neighbours. You can live comparatively peacefully, often with a garden in natural surroundings.
If you value your privacy very highly, then living in a bungalow is likely to appeal to you. Living in a bungalow also increases your social standing and you are well appreciated by your friends, colleagues, and relatives.
Nowadays, there are a number of bungalow townships are coming up and they offer central amenities and facility management to make life easier for the residents.
Apartment complexes Generally Offer More Amenities
If you buy a flat in a gated community, generally you can enjoy a number of amenities. There are adequate safety, health, social amenities present in almost all such communities. You don’t have to worry about security or power back-up in case of a power failure.
Additionally, in a housing complex managing these amenities is rather convenient as it is supervised by the residents’ committee and not dependent on any one individual. Efficient facility managing companies are often roped in to maintain these amenities, whether it is general maintenance like watering the lawn or emergencies like fixing a choked kitchen drain.
In the case of individual bungalows, managing each and every amenity is the owner’s responsibility. It is not shared among many residents as in an apartment complex and consequently, the maintenance cost in a bungalow is much higher. It can be quite trying these days as this takes quite a lot of time and effort. However, in a modern bungalow township, these issues are taken care of by the residents’ association.
A Bungalow has Higher Scope of Customisation
A flat has a very limited scope of customization whereas a bungalow can be built according to your personal taste and requirement. For example, you can have a custom-built library or a sound-proof workstation which is quite difficult to build in a flat.
Moreover, bungalows generally come with some open spaces which you can use for gardening. Sitting in a garden all by yourself and listening to a bird’s chirping is a luxury in itself in a city.
Financing a Flat on Mortgage is Often Easier
It is easier to take a home loan for buying an apartment than an independent house. Most banks usually offer pre-approved loans for residential projects. For independent homes, the lending process includes somewhat tight scrutiny of all property papers. Additionally, it may be difficult for a lender to perform the property valuation for an independent house. Consequently, banks provide only up to 70% of the plot’s value as loans. The remaining amount, including the stamp duty and registration charges, has to be arranged by the borrower. For an apartment, banks usually provide up to 90% of the property’s cost, as loan. However, in the case of a gated complex of bungalows, it is much easier to get a loan than a standalone bungalow.
Which is a Better Investment?
An independent bungalow in the centre of the city is often prohibitively costly, apart from the fact that new development is hardly possible because of poor land availability. In such a scenario, most bungalow projects are coming up where a good stretch of land is available, and that is rarely at the city’s central districts.
An essential character of a good investment is the liquidity it offers. Flats score hugely over bungalows as they are much easier to sell because of relatively lower ticket sizes and the convenience of ownership.
To sum it up, we can state that both flats and bungalows offer their unique living quotients and you must choose based on your taste, investment philosophy, and financing options.
The distinction between buying a bungalow and an apartment was adequately explained. Nice elements were addressed, such as the apartment’s amenities.