Useful Tips on Selling Property in India

Many of immigrants to the USA from India have their own property in their home country of India. It becomes extremely difficult and troublesome at times to maintain this property in India as you will be stationed at the USA, far away from India. That is why many such USA residents have started selling such properties in India so as to save all such trouble and get some capital that can be invested profitably so as to earn good interest on the capital obtained by selling the property. I have recently sold my house in India and have been able to get rid of all the hassles of maintaining it in India during my long absence. I have covered some useful tips and hints that can be very useful in selling your property in a shortest possible time during your visit to India.

First of all, make sure that the property you want to sell is clearly in your name without any ambiguities. The next aspect is to ensure that all the mortgage payment on the house is paid fully and there is no outstanding amount left to be paid. As soon as you reach India, give the advertisement in leading local newspapers in local language indicating some pertinent details about your property and your contact phone number and the time during which you can be contacted. In this way, the responses will be very quick and multiple in numbers. It would be also a good idea to fix the broker for fast actions. However, such brokers will charge around 2 to 3 % of the sale price. Try to keep the property you want to sell in the best possible way by getting it cleaned, painted, and arranged nicely. This small investment would be able to help fetching you a good price for your property. Also, try to collect the data about the past deals made in your area for such property. This would help you to fix up the proper selling price of your property. When some prospective client likes the property and asks about the price, please tell the price clearly keeping around 25 % margin for the mutual negotiation at a later date. Try to be very open and honest about the facts related to your property and explain them to your clients.

Once the sale price is mutually fixed, clearly specify that you will be taking the full amount in white and shall give the due receipt for the full amount. Though, this may make you liable to pay some income tax on the capital gains of the deal, it would simplify your life and there would be no tensions later on. If you are selling the property that is more than 20 years old and the capital gain is less than Rs.5 lakhs, you are not liable to pay the income tax as per Indian Income tax laws. The next step is to obtain the no objection certificate from your housing society for selling the house. The society also may charge some amount from you for this.

The next step is to make a suitable deed on the prescribed value judicial stamp paper between you and the buyer. The value of the stamp paper will be depending upon the sale price and any property broker or lawyer will be able to make these papers ready for you. Normally, the expenses for making such deed are to be borne by the purchaser in India. Once the deed is ready, it is to be signed by both the parties in presence of a magistrate or Authorized Notary, appointed by the government. If the purchaser has to obtain loan from any bank, the original deed is to be presented to the bank giving the loan. The bank shall hand over the check of the sale price to you in your name. By this way, the timely full payment is ensured. As soon as you receive the full payment, you may hand over the keys etc of your property to the purchaser. You will also need to write one letter to the Municipal Corporation of your city indicating that you have sold your property to somebody from such and such date. And the possession of this property shall be with the purchaser from that date onwards. The copy of the deed executed may also be attached with the said letter. This action would free you of all your liabilities toward that particular property from the date of sale deed. And all the future bills for light, gas, house tax and other utilities would be sent to the purchaser after the deed is executed. You will have to show this deed in your annual income tax return, which is to be filled every year latest by 31^st July. You also must show where you have invested this amount in your annual tax return. You must preserve the deed very carefully with you for the remaining life time.

The key factor in the whole exercise is to be very clear and precise in making the deed and ensuring the receipt of full amount at a time from the purchaser. I hope that the tips and the guidelines given in this article shall be of help to all my AC friends, interested in selling their property. However, if any further clarifications are needed in the matter, feel free to contact me.