Mahesh, a good friend of mine came to me with utter confusion written all over his face one afternoon. He has been looking for a good residential project to invest in and was completely overwhelmed by the number of ads out in the media on homes. Almost everything seemed to promise the sun, moon and stars combined.As any discerning customer, he knew not to take things on face value, but being able to read through the fluff was proving difficult.We spent a good while discussing the subject and came to the conclusion that real estate ads tend to claim a set of features that seem too good to be true.While these claims may be true, it is important that you learn to read through the fluff that is expert ad writing. We narrowed down on a list of words/terms that you may want to look into more deeply when you are evaluating a potential home :

1. Centrally located

Centrally located is a subjective matter as far an individual buyer is concerned. The property may be centrally placed in terms of geographic location in your city, but you will have to look into distances to your work place, school and other important amenities, before this term actually applies to you.Moreover, centrally located may be understood as a neighbourhood that may be at a good point in the city but it is the location of the property within that neighbourhood that matters. Take for example, Bannerghatta road which stretches for close to 50kms. Centrally located here becomes subjective to where the property is placed on this road and how interior it may be as well.Another example would be distances mentioned on brochures – Often builders claim to be only a few kilometres from the city centre or important amenities, whereas reality is something quite different. Such false claims may be quite misleading to potential buyers, especially NRIs.

2. Upcoming neighbourhood

There are several new neighbourhoods coming up across Bangalore. You will have to evaluate how new the neighbourhood actually is.Look around for the development taking place in the area; evaluate utilities available, distances to emergency services and the like. You will also want to know how far you are from entertainment options and the time taken to commute to common places in your daily life.Upcoming neighbourhood is also often the reason cited for inflated prices on a project. Independently verify property prices in the area and see if you are getting a good deal.

3. Close to Amenities

Common amenities that you need are hospitals, schools, stores that provide you with everyday needs, entertainment options, restaurants and the like. Make a list of amenities that you cannot do without and check to see how far each of these is from the property.With most things going online today, especially as far as shopping is concerned, you need to know if the area this property is in facilitates Internet connectivity. There are quite a few localities that are not yet conducive to Internet connectivity.

4. Water-front property

Considering the fact that Bangalore does not have coastline, this is a feature that has to be well understood. We have a number of lakes which have properties placed in close vicinity. In fact, there are even a few builders that are making the effort to revive a lake in order to provide their property with this feature.What you need to look out for is whether the waterfront view will be visible from every apartment or from a select few. Will these have a premium price tag attached to them is also something to consider.

5. Lots of natural light

This is something that you will have to see for yourself. The floor plan and the exteriors of the building will determine to a large extent the amount of natural light coming in.What you may also want to see is your surroundings. If there is a chance of another high-rise development coming next to this property, your exposure to natural light will reduce.

6. The .5 room

Many builders offer you what is called a 2.5 bedroom home, where you have 2 proper bedrooms and a smaller room that may be used as an office/playroom/gym or the like.You will want to check the dimensions of this room and its placement to see if it actually may prove useful to what you have in mind for it.

7. Ample parking space

There are a few details of this that need to be made clear – is the parking closed or open and how many vehicles may be accommodated.You may also want to look into whether there is a possibility for the allotment of an additional parking space if needed. The arrangements for two wheelers will also have to be seen.These are the primary terms that you must not take at face value. A good amount of research will help you decipher ad talk in a much better way. This will help you make a good decision.Takeaways

• Real estate ads must not be taken at face value.
• Each term in the ad may not give you the exact picture.
• It is important that you evaluate in each in your own perspective and according to your needs.