Buying a house from US

dixit · Post by **dixit** » Mon Feb 28, 2011 1:23 am

Hi Folks,

One of my aunt (a single mom with two kids) is going through a rough patch and is finding it real hard to rent a house on her own (in a tier 2/3 city).
My wife and I have decided to buy a house (a small apartment) there. It will give us a chance to finally make some investments in RE in India and we will have something to look forward to if and when we decide to R2I. Our aunt will get a place to stay and we will get someone to take care of our property.

1. Now, the issue is at this point of time, both my wife and I are unable to go to India. So, can we buy a house in India sitting here in US? Can we complete the whole process of buying and registering the house from US? Both of us are Indian citizens and are on EAD in US. Are there any companies/agencies who can help us with that?
We have already identified a house available for sale. My wife and I have been there multiple times in the past and are very comfortable with the house and the location.

2. Neither my wife nor I have ever worked in India and we don't have the a PAN number/card or a ration card. Can we buy and register a house without a PAN number? If not, can we apply and get PAN number from US? Again, are there any companies (such as yourmaninindia) who can help us get that?

3. What are the tax implications (if any, other than the property tax) on buying a house? We don't have any other asset in India except a savings account with less than Rs. 100k and a NRI Rupee account with less than Rs. 5k.

4. Once everything is settled, what's the easiest and most efficient way of transferring a large sum of money to India (approx $40-$45k)?

We don't want to involve our parents or other relatives in this transaction in fear of unwarranted questions and making it extremely uncomfortable for our aunt.

Thanks,

Dix

FB2020 · Post by **FB2020** » Mon Feb 28, 2011 8:37 am

dixit;372698Hi Folks,

One of my aunt (a single mom with two kids) is going through a rough patch and is finding it real hard to rent a house on her own (in a tier 2/3 city).
My wife and I have decided to buy a house (a small apartment) there. It will give us a chance to finally make some investments in RE in India and we will have something to look forward to if and when we decide to R2I. Our aunt will get a place to stay and we will get someone to take care of our property.

1. Now, the issue is at this point of time, both my wife and I are unable to go to India. So, can we buy a house in India sitting here in US? Can we complete the whole process of buying and registering the house from US? Both of us are Indian citizens and are on EAD in US. Are there any companies/agencies who can help us with that?
We have already identified a house available for sale. My wife and I have been there multiple times in the past and are very comfortable with the house and the location.

2. Neither my wife nor I have ever worked in India and we don't have the a PAN number/card or a ration card. Can we buy and register a house without a PAN number? If not, can we apply and get PAN number from US? Again, are there any companies (such as yourmaninindia) who can help us get that?

3. What are the tax implications (if any, other than the property tax) on buying a house? We don't have any other asset in India except a savings account with less than Rs. 100k and a NRI Rupee account with less than Rs. 5k.

4. Once everything is settled, what's the easiest and most efficient way of transferring a large sum of money to India (approx $40-$45k)?

We don't want to involve our parents or other relatives in this transaction in fear of unwarranted questions and making it extremely uncomfortable for our aunt.

Thanks,

Dix

Are you planning to buy the house to help your aunt? Didn't quite understand the relationship between your intent to invest in Indian RE, and your aunt having trouble renting out a house back there..

VS007 · Post by **VS007** » Mon Feb 28, 2011 10:12 am

Dixit,

1. You can buy a property provided you have a power of attorney, and it can be attested by the Indian consulates here in US. Make sure it is narrow one to buy a specific property only for your protection, not a broad general POA.
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20091128201026AA83YRO
Just googled and found number of firms who may be able to help:
http://www.nrilegalservices.com/real_estate.aspx
http://nripro.com/dp/power_of_attorney_services_rates

2. The person who you give your POA needs to have PAN. I had given my POA to my father and he gives his PAN,address etc, you can give POA to some who you trust, or check if the lawyers can buy on your behalf.

3. I dont see any other tax implications for buying. Only arises when selling.

4. It is recommended to open a NRE or NRO account to buy properties. I believe its also the law(?), and keep records in case you want to repatriate the sale proceeds in future.

farfromhome · Post by **farfromhome** » Mon Feb 28, 2011 7:36 pm

dixit;372698Hi Folks,

One of my aunt (a single mom with two kids) is going through a rough patch and is finding it real hard to rent a house on her own (in a tier 2/3 city).
My wife and I have decided to buy a house (a small apartment) there. It will give us a chance to finally make some investments in RE in India and we will have something to look forward to if and when we decide to R2I. Our aunt will get a place to stay and we will get someone to take care of our property.

1. Now, the issue is at this point of time, both my wife and I are unable to go to India. So, can we buy a house in India sitting here in US? Can we complete the whole process of buying and registering the house from US? Both of us are Indian citizens and are on EAD in US. Are there any companies/agencies who can help us with that?
We have already identified a house available for sale. My wife and I have been there multiple times in the past and are very comfortable with the house and the location.

I would think so. As VS007 has mentioned you can give Power of Attorney to someone you trust. My sister got a flat in Chennai residing in Tampa. My dad was POA. Don't see any issues there.

2. Neither my wife nor I have ever worked in India and we don't have the a PAN number/card or a ration card. Can we buy and register a house without a PAN number? If not, can we apply and get PAN number from US? Again, are there any companies (such as yourmaninindia) who can help us get that?

You can get a pan card from US. I did. You can use nriinvestindia. See my comments here.

http://www.r2iclubforums.com/forums/showthread.php/11029-MT-All-Indian-PAN-Card-questions-Can-NRI-OCI-USC-apply-How-to-apply?p=335302#post335302

http://www.r2iclubforums.com/forums/showthread.php/11029-MT-All-Indian-PAN-Card-questions-Can-NRI-OCI-USC-apply-How-to-apply?p=340975#post340975

3. What are the tax implications (if any, other than the property tax) on buying a house? We don't have any other asset in India except a savings account with less than Rs. 100k and a NRI Rupee account with less than Rs. 5k.

I don't think there are any tax implications. India needs your investment :). Just to add, I paid a USD check to my builder in 2006 for my flat in Chennai.

4. Once everything is settled, what's the easiest and most efficient way of transferring a large sum of money to India (approx $40-$45k)?

Open an account with SBI. https://remit.onlinesbi.com/. I was able to transfer upto $ 9999 / day.

We don't want to involve our parents or other relatives in this transaction in fear of unwarranted questions and making it extremely uncomfortable for our aunt.

Thanks,

Dix

Best wishes and do invite the TNT folks for the House Warming ceremony :):)

landlordindia · Post by **landlordindia** » Wed Nov 30, 2011 4:49 pm

Hi,

Nice post. Me also want to know how buying a property from us. Plz reply anyone.Thanks,

drV · Post by **drV** » Mon Dec 05, 2011 12:24 am

Hi Dixit.....what happened ?

While reading this thread I could not believe how hard it would be for somebody (whithout much family-support and inability to make trips to India) to pull this one through !

Did you figure out the maze and buy the house for your aunt ?

mandol · Post by **mandol** » Fri Dec 09, 2011 1:37 pm

you could buy a flat from there if the builder is reputed , like shobha, eta , brigade etc. you have to have someone here to whom you could give power of attorney to and get your house registered.