A guide to finding and buying real estate in India’s state of Maharashtra.
The book is a must-have for those who want to find property worth more than the nominal price.
The author, Anant Prabhu, is the head of an urban planning agency, Prabhus, and his team of agents has been selling land for the past five years.
Prabhus sells real estate at a loss.
A year ago, they started buying properties from the government, but their profits did not grow.
Their sales dropped from $1 million to $1,000 a month.
Praghus told Business Standard: “Our sales were at $100,000 and now it is $40,000.
We lost about $5 million in that period.”
Prabhus said he is now struggling to find land worth more.
“We have to sell it.
We cannot sell it because it is too expensive,” he said.
“I will sell it for Rs 3 crore if I get it.
But we will not sell it at the market rate.”
Pragbhus said a property can be sold for Rs 1.5 lakh if it is bought by a local resident.
If a land is bought for Rs 5 lakh, the buyer will have to pay more than Rs 10 lakh in taxes.
A land sale is a legal process in Maharashtra, but there are no clear guidelines on how to buy real estate.
Prabhuss said he found a way to get rid of the land in a way that is legal.
The land is usually bought by the local resident through the Land Registry, which is a registry of properties in the state.
The land can be bought by paying an amount that can be fixed by the Land Department.
Pradhan has a house in Kalkaji village in Kolkata, one of the largest slums in Maharashtra.
He has sold the property for a total of Rs 8 crore.
He said that a family of five will need to pay between Rs 10 crore and Rs 20 crore in taxes on the land, as the land is not a farm.
Pradhan said he can sell it without a tax.
Prasad has a farm and has sold his land for Rs 2.5 crore.
“The land sold for a nominal price of Rs 1 lakh.
My income went up from Rs 1,000 to Rs 3 lakh,” he told Business Class.
Prasad said the land has been abandoned and he has not been able to sell the property.
“We cannot sell our land.
It is a dead property,” he added.
The Land Department in Maharashtra said it could not provide the exact amount of the taxes that had been paid to Pradhuss, but the revenue department estimated that the taxes would be around Rs 5 crore a year.
A government-run agency, Gyanamagam, does not have a land sales agency, so Pradhus said he would buy land from the Land Ministry, and then apply for the appropriate government-backed loan.
Gyanamamagams officials did not respond to queries about whether Pradhes farm was sold at the government-mandated price.
The owner of the farm said the farm was abandoned and Pradhs family had not been paid for five years, and was unable to sell because of the current drought.
Pradhus said the government had given the farm to his son.
He also said that Pradhu had not asked him to sell his farm because he did not want to lose money.
“I have no interest in selling it.
If I do, I will sell at market rate.
I am not asking the government for anything,” he explained.
Pranash Bhaskar, a resident of Sanyal in North Kolkana, also sold his property for Rs 10,000 in April.
He said the property was abandoned in 2014 and the family had no income.
He did not know whether the land was sold or not.
He sold his house for Rs 15,000 last year, but has not sold it since.
“The land was abandoned for five months and we were not paid the rent for the property,” said Bhaskaran.
“It is very hard to sell a house.
We have no income and we have not been paying the rent.
The family did not get any compensation from the state.”
He said he could not sell the house because of poor water connections.
“Every house has its water problems.
The house we bought for $2 lakh in 2014 was completely covered in water and sewage.
The sewerage has been closed and no sewerage is running,” said the businessman.
According to Pranash, he sold his home because he could no longer afford the rent and did not have any income.
“When the water is shut, we cannot pay the rent,” he lamented.
Prash is a retired farmer who has a property in the area.
He sold his farm in 2015