Your skills at the table will be called to the fullest extend in any real estate negotiation. Please remember that every thing is negotiable….be it the fair value of the deal, who pays for all the repairs, who pays for property tax or registration fees etc.. it is however important to keep a list of those little costs that can add to quite a bit after you have signed the agreement.

Negotiate and establish clearly as to who pays for each of the following:

1) Repair cost on the building structure or appliances Ensure that the deal contract clearly specifies what type of repairs are required right down to the material to be used. With hold some portion of the total payment contingent on completion of the repairs by a certain date and up to the buyer's satisfaction.

2) Any payments to the building society, pending electricity, gas or Municipal Bills

3) Pending Society / Cooperative dues

4) Legal expenses in drafting agreements, references to property consultants and surveyors.

5) Stamp duty

6) Registration fee for legal title

7) Prepayment penalty any home loan pending against the property

Getting a preapproval:

Your negotiating power as a buyer increases tremendously if you can inform the seller that you can quickly close the deal as you already have several lenders like HDFC, ICICI etc. willing to give you a loan of upto a certain amount. For this preapproval you will need to approach each of these institutions separately and get yourself preapproved after paying a nominal fee in most cases. This gives the seller the confidence that there is a "cash" buyer ready to close the deal quickly.