Mumbai Man Reveals Reality Of Buying House In City: 'System Penalises Honesty'

A Mumbai man has caught social media's attention after sharing his 'exhausting' experience of house-hunting on his 'completely white' and legit income. Explaining that the 'system penalises the honest', the man highlighted that he and his wife were salaried employees who had been house hunting in Mumbai for the last year, only to be left disappointed as property owners resorted to under-the-table tactics to complete the transaction.

After a laborious search process, the man said he finally decided to go ahead with one of the properties in Kandivali East, where the price 

"I had offered an all-inclusive price of Rs 4.10 crore for a 1,070 sq. ft. carpet area apartment, while the owner was expecting Rs 4.31 crore all-inclusive. I tried to stretch my budget further and proposed a Rs 4.21 crore all-inclusive deal, but that was also turned down by the owner," the user wrote in a Reddit post.

The man said the inflated demand by the owner was not the issue, but the expectation that he must pay Rs 80 lakh in cash for the purchase to go through.

"To make this happen, I would have to convert my hard-earned white money into black money just to afford the house. He wants the agreement value to be Rs 3.50 crore instead of Rs 4.31 crore," the man said.

"I am honestly exhausted by all of this. As a salaried person, my taxes are deducted upfront through TDS. We deal with poor infrastructure around us, and on top of that, people expect us to arrange Rs 80 lakh in black money. I am genuinely tired of this."

Check The Post Here:

System Penalises the Honest
by u/SafedGenda in indianrealestate

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Social Media Reactions

As the post went viral, social media users advised the man to seek other properties and avoid paying in cash, as the owner was likely doing it to evade taxes.

"Be cautious if they have asked for cash. Please do a thorough research on the property and its legality," said one user, while another added: "I hear you - not sure if you're going through a broker or not, but I've told my broker to only find me a buyer/seller who will do an all-white transaction. Just like you, I'm also a salaried person and I have no intention of converting my hard-earned legit income into black."

A third commented: "Invest the Rs 4.3 crore in diverse fixed deposits, bonds and debt mutual funds and use the proceeds to pay rent. After you are done working, find a peaceful place away from the city to retire. You can actually buy that faraway place now and let the area develop for living there eventually."

A fourth said: "Basically, the owner is trying to evade tax even on the sale value. And this'll cost you more later. Say that you bought it for 3.5 crore on paper, the rest cash. Then, a few years down the line, you decide to sell it (let's say for Rs 5 crore). Now your capital gain becomes 1.5 crore, whereas it should've been around 1.1 crore if the sale deed had the actual amount."