June IREF: On Retirement Homes:

oorg is great. A little remote for airport access and small roads.

Mysore is fantastic

Ranikhet is also great. Close to Corbett. A place along the Kosi river, a little away from Ramnagar and before the Ranikhet road would be great. Amazing scenery in the Kosi valley.

Chail is also great but a little far to drive from plains. Kasauli is closer but I dont like it so much. Chandigarh plus Kasauli is a good option - also Chandigarh plus Chail/Barog - or a farm near Sadupul.

Mussoorie is easy to drive to but very crowded and horrible. Very rough crowd. I always prefer the Kumaon hills with nicer people. Perhaps one of the smaller valleys near Mussoorie would be good.

Simla is too crowded. Mashobra is great but too far from Kalka.




I visited Dehradun just 2 weeks ago. Not that bad. Maybe something on the outskirts near airport. Much cooler than Delhi by some 3-4 degrees at least.

Pondicherry is quite hot.

Coimbatore, Ooty, most places in Karnataka including Bangalore, Mysore, Goa, Pune and the Himalayan foothills are the best places.

Go where the British went - they went to the best places - even if they had to build a road to reach there !!!!


I agree with Sanjana on this - price stagnation for 2 years in small cities is inevitable.

Frankly, I would never buy except in a metro or outskirts of a metro city - prices appreciate most there only.

In small towns, it is really cheap to rent. If you buy in Delhi and rent it out, this rental income will suffice to rent out a really big bangalow in any small town.

In TVM, a 1000 yards plot with big house was renting for 3L per annum - capital value was 3 crore - i.e rental yield of 1%.

Its crazy to buy any such thing.

In any case, retirement should be in the city with the best hospitals.

Re: DDN, I saw a really nice group of villas for about 75L each on the haridwar DDN road - with the naturoville spa hotel inside it. Really good, on 1000 yard plots, excellent maintenance and amenities. Once the road is finally widened beyond Muzaffarnagar, will be very well connected.

I would always go with apartment in Delhi plus villa in the DDN/Rishikesh plus small cottage in one or two hill stations nearby based on choice. Never put all your eggs in one basket. And never start with the hill station - progression should be city - town in foothills - hill station (from most to least appreciation and rent).

Wiseman, RE for personal consumption is always the best bet - think of it as expenditure, forget all investment related thought process and just buy what you want!

And yes, the pleasure of living in own cottage is always so much greater than a rented room. Pottering around in one's garden is also definitely worth it. And yes, spending time with relatives and friends is always what life is all about - the mad rat race is a most unpleasant thing, to be avoided if possible.

Sharp, agree with the point that nobody rents a house to live in 15-20 days in a year. Most tier 2 and 3 cities have seen price rises, but this is nothing compared to the rises possible in times of very high inflation. Also, as rural/small town people's incomes rise, it will sustain a multiyear bull market in tier 2 and 3 cities. So buying property there is definitely justified. 

Only caveat - you will make good absolute gains in small towns much above FD rates but in terms of percentage gain, big metros will always outpace small towns. But then the ticket size in metros will also be big - whereas you can get someting decent sized for even 20-30 Lakhs.

In a few more years, 20-30 Lakhs will seem like small change, the way inflation has been working its black magic.

Re: Solar panels, I believe there is a finite life for these panels and you have to replace every few years - and the lead accumulators also need replacement every 4 years or so. A petrol/diesel generator is a much cheaper, more practical and portable option - just load it into the back of your 4WD and you can carry your power source with you if the grid fails. One gen set will serve for all your houses.

Except for the pollution (noise and smoke).

If you are based in Bangalore, then thats the obvious choice, no matter how degraded the city might have become - it is still better than most others in India. Chennai is clearly a investment property - so Bangalore would probably be the choice for a good apartment - any day 1000 times better for living in than Chennai. Airport will also develop along much better lines in Bangalore in future.

So apartment in Bangalore, big villa in mysore and a couple of cottages in Ooty/Coorg would be about all the RE any normal human would be able to consume on his own - unless your kids can use it (unlikely - kids will go their own way).

Another option is a farmhouse in Karnataka hinterland - nix one of the cottages (it is always better to rent a hotel room when and where you need it - get a club mahindra membership)

Hyderabad, Kodaikanal and Chennai are all too far for easy and frequent driving from the core area of Bangalore/Mysore/Ooty. Drivability is very important.

And do it as an expenditure - forget about the investment aspect of RE - it will never ever make any sense !

Have fun!