10 Frequently Used Real Estate Terms And Their Meaning
Before venturing into the real estate market or investing in a property, there are several real estate terms that are important to know. It will give a brief idea on how to approach investment in real estate with some fair knowledge on the sector. It has also proven to be useful in understanding the fluctuating market trends. Here are some of the frequently used real estate terms used across Indian real estate and what each term represents.
1. Carpet Area: Carpet area is the actual physical space which you can use in the house. To elaborate, the carpet area of a house is the space within it that does not cover the surface area of the inner walls. The space enclosed within the walls is used to measure the carpet area of a house. Also, when the carpet area of the entire house needs to be calculated, half of the terrace and balcony areas are considered for measurement.
2. Built-Up Area & Super Built-Up Area: Built-up area includes every space covered within the house, which includes, the carpet area, the thickness of the outer walls, inside walls and the balcony area as well. However, the terrace area is considered as half of the built-up area during calculation. Built-up area is the actual area of the house that comprises the inner walls as well as the outer walls. Sometimes it is even called as the plinth area and is just 10-20% more than the carpet area. On the other hand, super built-up area is 15 to 25 percent extra than the built-up and includes the usable areas like lobby, lifts, staircases, corridors, walkways, terraces and so forth.
3. Per Square Foot Rate: The actual value of the building is determined by using the per square foot rate on the super built-up area. Interestingly, this is why the super built-up area is often referred to as the saleable area.
4. Floor Space Index: The actual proportion between the built-up area and the available plot area allowed for sale by the Government for a particular location is known as the Floor Space Index or FSI. Higher the FSI, higher is the built-up area. Premium FSI means acquiring permission to develop extra floor space by paying a premium amount.
5. Credit Score: Generally used by money lenders especially banks, credit score is a statistically derived score of a personâs credit worthiness to know the likelihood of that person repaying his/her debts. It is based on the personâs past credit history.
6. License Agreement: An agreement entered into by the owner of the property giving permission to another person to use the property in question is known as the license agreement.
7. Refinancing: Restructuring of your home loan is called refinancing where you can replace your current home loan with an entirely new home loan with different interest rates and payment structures. The primary reason people refinance their home loan is to get a lower interest rate on the loan, and hence lower the monthly payment, i.e. EMI as well as the overall debt owed.
8. Pre-Approval Letter: Before buying a home, a pre-approval letter helps you determine how expensive a home you can purchase. The pre-approval letter is given by the bank and provides an estimate on how much loan the bank can lend that person.
9. Equity: Simply put, equity means ownership. So when you are a homeowner, equity refers to how much of your home you actually own, i.e. how much of the principal you have already paid off. The higher the equity, the more financial flexibility you have as you can refinance against the equity you have built already. To put it otherwise, equity is the difference between the market value of your home and the unpaid balance of your loan. If you have bought a 50 lac home, and you still owe 30 lac on it, you have 20 lac in equity.
10. Variable-Rate Loans: There are two types of loans that are handed out: fixed-rate and variable-rate loans. In a variable rate loan, the interest rate can change over the course of repayment of loan at five, ten, fifteen year intervals. There is always volatility involved in this type of home loan as the interest rate can suddenly skyrocket depending on market conditions.
These are some of the frequently used real estate terms that one should be aware of before making any investment or transaction in real estate. So, if you are looking for a home in Pune then before you take a decision, factor in all the pros and cons and then come to a decision. Especially if you are interested in 2 BHK flats or apartments in Wakad, Pune then you should explore the best residential apartments the area has to offer.












