Check out these important tips from women in the real estate profession before you buy property. By Subroto Roy

Today, it's perfectly acceptable for the woman of the family to negotiate with a broker or builder while buying property, and when it comes to her family's comfort and safety, she would rather be calling the shots.

For as important as the price of the property, are the little details that are more often than not, overlooked. Some of Pune's popular architects and interior designers share a few dos and don'ts to guide you while buying a home.

Health And Wealth At Home
“If you're buying a home on a street choking with carbon-monoxide and with deafening and prohibitive decibels of noise pollution, then you better not have a balcony at all,” says Madhura Mulay, an experienced architect and interior designer, who has also designed the Symbiosis Vishvabhavan on the Senapati Bapat Road in Pune.

Mulay is clear about today’s needs. "Your lifestyle is the deciding factor. If you're a software professional and working from seven in the morning to nine at night, you had better create a cozy, comfortable, warm, inviting and large bedroom with, maybe a reading arrangement in bed. The bedroom should be quiet and not on the roadside.

Kitchens stopped being a social hub for ladies a long time ago. “A friendly neighbour would, in earlier days, drop in for a chat or a cup of tea and spend time in the kitchen where the woman of the house would continue with their chores. Now, neither do you have a friendly neighbour during the day, nor are you available. So, you would rather have a smaller, but utility-friendly kitchen.”

But does this mean, one settles for a skeletal layout? Mulay advocates just the opposite. “The utility of a kitchen and the feel of it are two different things. We need a tastefully done cooking area, if not large. It has to be in keeping with times. Consult your designer for tips on remodelling your kitchen to avoid being outdated.”

Technically Right
Mrinalini Sane, a member of the prestigious Pune Construction and Engineering Research Foundation, lends her technical opinion. “Don’t be obsessed with the dimensions of rooms. See that the doors and windows are positioned correctly so that they do not restrict a creative furniture layout.

Also, check how many ugly beams are poking out into your rooms. Try and reduce them at the design stage with the architect.” But she cautions that there are certain technical specifications of say your bedroom or living area that you cannot overlook at all. “Your builder will show you a brochure indicating that a five feet by six feet bed could fit in the bedroom he is offering. But this should

be checked thoroughly. Make a real layout of the room specifications and you might thank yourself for having done it. Sometimes the room is actually good enough to fit just a small bed, not a normal double bed.” A window is synonymous with fresh air.

Sane urges you to insist for slender and more shutters on your sliding window coupled with at least three-track channels to slide them. “If you have a two-track sliding window system, you will have half your window always closed and that means lesser fresh air. Insist on a three-track fitting so that only one-third of the window is closed when you slide open the window fully,” she advises.

Sane stresses that you should make your choice clear to your builder on things like the balcony if you need it. “In drawings sanctioned by the municipal body, the balcony is often shown as a separate entity, but not so in the sales brochures. Builders presume that you'll need a larger room and enclose the balcony. So, when most of them hand over the keys of the house to you, you’ll find that the rooms are inclusive of the balcony. If you want it that way, fine, but if you need the balcony, you should insist on the builder going according to plan. The builder cannot deny it to you, as long as it was shown to you in the sanctioned drawings,” she says.

In Synch With Your Lifestyle
Nandini Sapre, partner with Iqbal Chaney and Associates says, “We are living a Western way of life where, we women have to manage a home and a job. So you must have the right spaces for the right things in your home.

You should talk to the architect or interior designer and ensure that spaces are created in such a manner that you don’t have to spend too much time cleaning and clearing the dust out of small niches and crevices.” “And select the right architect, that's vital.” And how does a busy lady do that? Simple. “Inspect an architect's/ interior designer’s previous projects,” she says.

For a newly-married couple her advice is, “If the house is large enough, there is no problem as one can convert the second bedroom into a guest room with all facilities. But if it is a smaller house and children are yet to come and may be later parents, one has to creatively use the available area. You should interact closely with an architect and spend a lot of time to ensure that the person understands your needs perfectly.”

A Clear Path
Arti Sanghvi is an architect with an extensive experience in designing large housing complexes in Pune and she has some interesting suggestions. “A homemaker should ensure that she can clearly see the entrance from the kitchen or the living area, specially if it is a bungalow.”

And in case you have to answer the door while in the kitchen, you should not stumble into furniture. “There have to be clear pathways from the kitchen to the door and the dining area. Furniture should be literally kept at arm's length,” she adds.

Sanghvi’s prescription for the professional woman is based on personal experience and choice. “I have set aside a quiet little space for myself, where I am hardly disturbed. It goes a long way to prepare for the next day or to complete unfinished work.”
But whether a working woman or a homemaker, she says, “Don't let the lure of split-levels (which may look very attractive) within your home overtake you, as you will suffer in the long run. Despite efficient and faster cooking and heating appliances, you will still have to shuttle between the kitchen, the main door, the dining area and maybe the children’s room.

With a split-level house, you could be the ‘fall-gal’ or end up with frazzled nerves with all that running around.” And let's not forget the kids. “If children are not provided their own area you cannot blame them if they nag you,” Sanghvi cautions.

You really don’t have to accept formula dwellings. It's all up to you whether to accept a key to boredom and restrictions or to an abode of your dreams.