Ready to move or under construction: which suits you

This is the fork most buyers reach early, and it usually gets decided on instinct. It is worth deciding on the actual trade instead.

A finished home removes uncertainty. What you walk through is what you buy. You can see the light in the rooms at the hour you would be there, hear the road, check the water pressure, and look at how the common areas have aged. You can move in or start earning rent immediately, so you are not paying rent and an instalment at once. GST does not apply to a completed property, which is a real difference in the total.

What you give up is choice. The flats left are the ones nobody took, which often means the less favoured floors and orientations. You are also buying at a price that already reflects the building being finished.

An under-construction home usually offers more to choose from: floor, facing, sometimes layout changes if you are early enough. Payment is staged against construction milestones rather than due in full, which for many buyers is the deciding factor.

What you take on is delivery risk. The building has to actually be finished, on something close to the declared timeline. This is exactly what a builder's completion record is for, and why it deserves more of your attention than the show flat does. A promoter who has handed over repeatedly, on dates that held, is selling you a different risk from one who has not.

So the question is really about your own timing. If you are paying rent now and need to stop, or you want the thing you can see, finished is the honest answer. If you can wait, want a particular floor or facing, and the staged payment suits your cash flow, under construction earns its risk, provided you have checked the record.

Bhandary has both at the moment. Canyon at Bejai and Vertica at Kadri Kambala are going up. Patla Garden, Park-Inn and Iniha Business Centre are finished. The team will show you one of each on the same afternoon, which is the fastest way to find out which kind of buyer you are.