Investing in your dream home is one of the most crucial decisions of your life. This is precisely why your research should be thorough before you get into a long-term repayment commitment with a lender. Here is a quick step-by-step guide on the process of availing of a home loan – from the point of application to the point of disbursal of the amount.
Step 1: Finalise the property
There are two types of property that you can buy- ready-to-move and underconstruction. In both cases, loan agreement and loan disbursal stage, which are the final
step, varies slightly. We’ll talk about it when we come to it. In the first stage, if you are
not buying the property with 100% cash, you will require a home loan. So, finalise your
property and get set for loan shopping.
Step 2: Filling up loan application
Once you have finalised the property, homebuyers need to fill a loan application.
Homebuyers should enquire about various offers, home loan interest rates, documents
required at this stage. At this stage, you can also negotiate the processing fee with the
bank. You can start a loan inquiry. For this, you should start comparing interest rates
online. This is the easiest way to understand the bank that will provide you the best and
lowest home loan interest rate. You can also find all the details on the dedicated home
loan page on Housing.com. Post this, you can directly generate an inquiry with the bank
either by approaching the nearest bank branch or using the bank’s website.
During the inquiry, you can negotiate for the best available rates. Many homebuyers do
not know that the home loan interest rate is negotiable. On the basis of your good credit
score and income, banks can give you a good interest rate as well. So be aware and ask
for it at this stage before it's too late.
At this stage, you should also know that an additional expenditure also comes in the
form of processing fee which can be anywhere up to 1% of your loan amount. This is
also negotiable and most banks will agree for anything between 0.25-0.5% of the loan
amount as processing fee.
You will also have to pay a fee for due diligence that the bank will do for you. It may
happen that banks lower the processing fee but ask you for a higher charge for due
diligence. It is important that you clarify this early on, to avoid spending more than what
your budget permits.
The next step is related to documents. Salaried and self-employed borrowers need to
provide separate documents to the bank so that the bank can assess the financial health
of the homebuyer. You can refer to the list below. Some of the common documents
included are as follows. You can keep these ready whenever you proceed to apply for a
home loan. Remember that you should pay the processing fee only to the bank that you
feel is giving the best interest rate.
List of documents common for both salaried and self-employed individuals:
List of documents that are different for salaried and self-employed individuals. This may change from time to time or depending on the bank.
Salaried Individuals | Self-Employed Individuals |
---|---|
Original Salary Certificate from Employer/Last 3 months’ salary slips | Acknowledged copies of Income tax returns/assessment orders for the previous 3 months |
TDS Certificate of Form 16 or Copy of Income Tax returns for the last 2 fiscals | Photocopies of challans as evidence of advance income tax payments |
Proof of job stability from the current employer | Proof of business continuity |
In case the salaried employee has changed jobs in the last 1 year, copies of the offer and joining letter of the new company need to be submitted. | - |
Step 3: Bank’s due diligence
Banks will not give you a home loan without assessing your financial background, your
repaying capacity, the legality of the property, and other details based on their field
investigation. This is the next step where the bank does due diligence.Your bank
statements, savings, transactions, investments, business activity, credit and repayments,
bank balance, cheque bounces - all these are studied by the bank. Now suppose that
your cheques have bounced or been returned in the past- this can lead to ineligibility to
get a home loan. The bank also studies your liabilities and loans.
After this, the bank sees your net income and credit score. A score of 750 and above
indicates a healthy credit score and banks are usually willing to give you a better (lower)
interest rate.
Not just financial health, banks also check your personal details through a field
investigation where they check your residential address and contact details. A bank
representative may visit your home to confirm such details. Do note that the nature and
sector of your job also impact and determines whether you are eligible for a home loan.
For example, sectors where there is a risk of job loss or instability, high attrition, are
often not considered good. The field representative usually determines this.
The property that you are going to buy is also checked. The property’s condition, quality,
encroachments, valuation- all these aspects are checked by the bank. If the property is
under construction, then the construction progress, its quality, building plan, and layout
are also carefully examined. This is the technical due-diligence stage.
Next is the legal due diligence stage. Ownership and encumbrance related documents
are checked. In the case of unestablished ownership or a third party’s claim on the
property, banks do not approve of the home loan. This is also one of the reasons why
taking a home loan is beneficial in many ways. Banks check the entire title deed,
possession certificate, sale agreement, etc. It will help you make an informed decision.
Even in the case of an under-construction property, banks study and examine land
ownership, allotment letters, builder-buyer agreement, project approval documents, etc.
Step 4: Estimating your creditworthiness and loan eligibility
Once banks establish that the property you are interested in is sound and free of legal
hassles, it does a deep-dive into your creditworthiness. For this, banks study your
repayment history and check for defaults. You can even get a higher loan amount in
case you have been able to maintain a good credit score, throughout.
At this stage, banks assess your EMI repayment capacity based on your income and
liabilities, if any. For example, Amit has an income of Rs 50,000 per month and a car
loan liability of Rs 10,000 per month. The total disposable income of Amit is Rs 40,000
per month. Banks consider it good if your EMI is not more than 50% of your disposable
income. In this case, therefore, Amit can spend Rs 20,000 per maximum as EMI, and
therefore, the home loan sanctioned may roughly be between Rs 20-25 lakh. It depends
on different banks, how they assess and calculate your repayment capacity. In short,
banks check the Loan to Value ratio and do not sanction more than 80-90 %. It also
checks your income, age, company, nature of work, etc to calculate your home loan
eligibility.
Step 5: Accepting the offer letter
After various checks, the bank sends you an offer letter with the final loan amount
mentioned in it. If you sign, it is considered as accepted formally. You can then sign the
loan agreement. After this, the bank hands over the DD to the seller and you can take
possession of the property.
The offer letter clearly mentions the sanctioned loan amount, rate of interest- whether
fixed or variable. Fixed interest rates are higher than variable but even fixed is not
altogether a fixed rate, these could be floating rates as well and could be fixed for a
certain period. It totally depends on you whether you choose, fixed and floating rate or
variable. The offer letter also mentions the tenure, number of EMIs to be paid, mode of
repayment whether post-dated cheques or electronic clearing; schemes availed such as
PMAY or bank offers, validity, terms, and conditions, etc. You should sign the offer letter
only if you are satisfied with the offer. Do remember to check the sanctioned amount.
Pro Tip: If you can arrange some finances from friends and family, you can also ask the
bank to reduce the loan amount sanctioned.
The next step is the loan agreement. All borrowers need to sign it in case of a joint home
loan. If you have planned to opt for post-dated cheques as repayment option, banks
collect cheques equivalent to the loan amount at this stage, for security.
In the case of an under-construction property, the process is slightly different. A tripartite
agreement is signed at this stage between the bank, borrower, and builder.
The loan disbursement stage for an under-construction property is different and depends
on the progress of construction. Accordingly, the bank pays the builder directly and all
the original documents are collected from you by the bank.
The sale deed is signed in the case of a ready-to-move property. The day it is signed,
the DD is directly handed over to the seller. Prior to this, the bank will check whether you
have made any down payment and whether the sale deed has been registered at the
sub-registrar’s office. Even in ready-to-move property, banks keep all the original
property papers. Do keep photocopies of all the documents that you have submitted in
the bank.
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