Guides to buying, renting and financing a home

• Buying your first home: the steps in order — From deciding a budget to collecting the keys, the stages of a purchase and what to do at each.
• Documents to check before you buy — The papers that show a seller can sell and a building can be lived in.
• Understanding RERA and how to check a project — What the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act asks of a builder, and what to look at as a buyer.
• Home loan basics: EMI, rate and tenure — How a home loan is priced and repaid, and the choices that change what it costs you.
• Stamp duty and registration, explained — The two government charges on buying a property, what they are paid on and why they differ.
• Buy or rent? A way to decide — The questions that matter more than the headline answer, and a calculator for the money side.
• New project or resale: what is different — The trade-offs between buying from a builder and buying from an owner.
• Renting a home: a checklist — What to agree, check and keep when you take a home on rent.