A new eight-lane road connecting south Delhi commuters to Gurgaon and Faridabad is expected to come up soon, with the lieutenant governor on Friday giving approval. The 9.05 kilometre long corridor is expected to help commuters from Mehrauli, Greater Kailash, Chhattarpur, Saket etc to avoid jams at NH-8 and NH-2. The decision to undertake the Rs 597-crore project was taken by the urban development ministry, which will also provide the funds for the project, said officials.

“The state public works department (PWD) is undertaking the construction of the double carriageway road from Mehrauli-Gurgaon road to Gurgaon-Faridabad road. The road, called Mandi Road, presently exists as a two-lane road riddled with potholes and is without a central verge. Widening this road will help commuters bypass the congested routes currently available,” said a senior PWD official.

The road will start at Mehrauli-Gurgaon road, go via Gwala Pahari, and terminate at Gurgaon-Faridabad road, proving to be the shortest connect to Faridabad from south Delhi, said officials.”There were some problems with the initial alignment, it has been decided now that the road will bypass Jaunpur village completely, ensuring minimal disturbance to the village. The road will start with 45 metres right of way (ROW), and widen to 60 metres ROW,” added the official.

Consultants, RITES, are conducting the topographic survey, along with soil and material testing and traffic survey.The decision to upgrade this road was taken in a meeting held on August 16 last year by the urban development ministry.”An estimate amounting to Rs 597 crore was forwarded by PWD to Delhi Development Authority on August 29. Of this, land acquisition alone is expected to require Rs 400 crore, while the rest will include civil, electric, horticulture, consultancy work etc,” added the official.

The width of the carriageway on each side is proposed to be 7.5 metres, with an additional service lane of 4.5 metres on each side.

Source: Times of India

In a new milestone for the Bay Area’s recovering housing market, the median price paid for all types of dwellings in April crossed $500,000 for the first time in nearly five years, according to a report released Wednesday.

The $510,000 median is helping to trim the number of underwater homes in the nine-county Bay Area, giving homeowners who were underwater just months ago the chance to sell their house at a profit. Jon Carlson recently decided to try selling the Pleasant Hill home he bought in 2007 for $651,000 “with a monthly mortgage payment that could choke a donkey.” A few years ago, the house was appraised at $400,000, he said. Listed recently for $649,000, it sold for $678,000, turning a short sale into an equity deal. ”The market’s got a huge trajectory,” said his agent, Kevin Kieffer of Keller Williams Realty.

In the market for existing single-family homes alone, prices were up double digits over the year, with Contra Costa County’s median sales price leaping to $412,000, a 38.8 percent gain from April 2012. San Diego-based real estate information company DataQuick said that is the highest annual percentage gain for the county since the company began keeping records in 1988.
Santa Clara County’s median sales price for existing single-family homes was $720,000 in April, DataQuick reported, a 21 percent increase from April 2012; Alameda County’s was $510,000, a 36 percent increase; and San Mateo County’s median Advertisement sales price of $805,000 was up nearly 27 percent from the previous April.

The $510,000 median for all homes also includes condos and townhouses.
The price increases have some underwater homeowners thinking of possibly breaking even or making money on a sale in the near future. And some short sales — where homes are sold for less than what is owed — already have turned into equity sales.
San Jose engineer Roy Ng recently decided to sell his townhome for less than was owed on the mortgage, and was pleasantly surprised by the way it turned out.

“When I first thought of selling the house a year ago, the price was really depressed,” Ng said. “I was like $100,000 below what I owed the bank and I didn’t think I could even qualify for a short sale.” But with prices rising and demand hot, his agent, Tony Sayad found a buyer for $450,000.”I don’t have to pay a cent. I’m scot-free now,” Ng said.

Four to five months ago, similar townhomes were selling for $380,000, Sayad said.
A sale pending sign stands in front of a home for sale on February 21, 2013 in Larkspur, California. I’m only $50,000 away and prices are going up. Let’s put it on the market.”

Still, buyers outnumber sellers across the Bay Area in every price range and are competing with one another for what’s available, agents say. ”I’ve been in real estate for 32 years and this is the lowest inventory we have ever had,” said Carolyn Miller, president of the Silicon Valley Association of Realtors. “We’ve had multiple-offer markets before, but it’s just incredible. There are anywhere from three offers up to 20 or 30 offers. It’s just been crazy.”

Reflecting that tight inventory, sales of single-family homes dropped in many places. San Mateo County saw the biggest drop, 17.6 percent from a year ago. Elsewhere, the dips were slight, ranging from 3.1 percent in Santa Clara County to 4.1 percent in Alameda County.

But that varied by price range, reflecting increasing sales in the mid- to high-price ranges.
Sales of all types of homes under $500,000 in Contra Costa County were down 22 percent, but sales above that price rose 48 percent from a year earlier. In Santa Clara County, sales of all types of homes under $500,000 were down 40 percent from a year earlier, but up 21 percent above that price. And sales for over $800,000 were up 17.3 percent. ”If we had normal inventory we’d be OK,” said Michele Manzone, president of the West Contra Costa Association of Realtors, “but there’s less than a month’s worth of inventory. This will change, but in two months, six months, a year? Who knows?”

The median sales price for all types of homes — condos, townhomes and single family detached — was up sharply across the nine-county Bay Area in April.
Alameda $448,250, up 33.8 percent
Contra Costa $397,500, up 37.7 percent
Marin $799,000, up 29.3 percent
Napa $385,000, up 21.3 percent
Santa Clara $645,000, up 25.6 percent
San Francisco $815,000, up 16.4 percent
San Mateo $726,000, up 32 percent
Solano $238,000, up 36 percent
Sonoma $376,000, up 23.5 percent
Bay Area $510,000, up 30.8 percent

Aukeva helps Indian and Foreign buyers buy homes in the USA. Please visit our website at www.aukeva.com for more information or call us at India: 91.9871223021 or 91.8130677471 or USA: 925.415.9151.

Source: Mercury News

Beautiful 400 yard Villa for sale in Vasant Vihar. This Villa is an old property ideally located on a quiet and broad street in Vasant Vihar and just minutes away from NH8.

The great advantage of this plot is that it is facing a beautiful landscaped park.  There is ample street parking and prestigious Embassies have housing close to the villa. The Villa is old and can be refurbished if the new owners have a liking for older properties.

Vasant Vihar is a favourite destination for embassies and expatriates visiting or living in New Delhi. The accessibility to quality healthcare, modern superstores and malls, education, transportation, and security protection makes it a preferred locale for stay for both businessmen and expats. The three main streets in Vasant-Vihar are “Munirka Marg”, Poorvi Marg and Paschimi Marg, literally Eastern and Western Street, that along Palam Marg form a rough triangle that encloses much of the neighborhood  The neighborhood is primarily residential and when first planned consisted of six blocks named A to F, with each block having its own local market. Houses located on Palam Marg consist of some of the most expensive real estate in the NCR region. Vasant vihar is the 16th most expensive residential area in the world.

Contact Aukeva at USA: 925.415.9151 or India: 91.9871223021 or 91.8130677471 for more information on investing in Delhi or email us at sales@aukeva.com.

About Aukeva

Founded by San Francisco, USA based NRIs, Aukeva is a boutique property development, investment and brokerage firm catering primarily to NRIs and expats. Aukeva leverages its prior experience developing and managing properties in the San Francisco Bay Area of California, to bring US levels of quality and personalization to the Indian Real Estate market. Our mission is to build top class, ultra-luxurious homes in the Delhi/NCR area without compromising on quality and specifications, something that is rarely seen in independent floor developments in the area.

JERSEY CITY, N.J.—On a recent Tuesday morning, Alan Dixon, an investment manager originally from Canberra, Australia, stood in front of a four-story townhouse here, one of the latest assets he purchased for his company’s shareholders.

Mr. Dixon’s company, US Masters Residential Property Fund, bought the home on Erie Street in this city on the Hudson River waterfront for $830,000 in September. Inside, workmen installed subway tile in the bathrooms, preparing the three-bedroom home to be leased for $3,295 a month, “like something the people from ‘Friends’ would rent,” said Mr. Dixon, referring to the TV sitcom.

US Masters, a real-estate investment trust that has raised $276 million, primarily from Australian retirees, is one of a handful of foreign firms that are betting on the U.S. housing recovery by buying houses at discount prices.

The business of buying-and-renting houses, long dominated by local mom-and-pop investors, has morphed over the past two years into one of the hottest investments on Wall Street. Dozens of pension investors and private-equity firms, such as Blackstone Group and Colony Capital LLC, are clamoring to buy homes in beaten-up markets, sometimes using money from foreign co-investors.

But only recently have foreign firms jumped into the pool. Similar to U.S. firms, they are seeking high returns by renting out the houses initially and eventually selling them into what they are betting will be an improving housing market.

But there is an added bonus: Investors from countries whose currencies are strong can outbid U.S. investors because they also are hoping to make money from foreign-exchange rate fluctuations. “It’s really all about the strength of the Australian dollar,” said Stuart Morton, finance director for Cashel USA Property Partners, an Australian fund that is buying single-family U.S. houses. “It makes the houses really cheap.”

In January, investment bank Keefe, Bruyette & Woods estimated that institutional investors had raised between $6 billion and $9 billion to buy U.S. houses and convert them into rentals. While no one keeps track of how much of that money is coming from offshore, experts in the business say the figure is rising.

Foreign interest in single-family houses was evident in December, when Silver Bay Realty Trust Corp. SBY -0.98% became the first U.S.-based single-family rental company to go public as a REIT. Five of the company’s top 20 institutional shareholders at year-end were from Europe or Canada and controlled a combined 5.4% of the REIT’s shares outstanding.

“If I’m a foreign investor and I’m not entirely confident in my own economy, of all the places that I could put my money, U.S. housing looks like a really attractive place,” said Lisa Marquis Jackson, senior vice president with John Burns Estate Consulting LLC, a housing-industry consultancy in Irvine, Calif.

But by getting into the business, foreign funds are subjecting themselves to the same criticism that is being hurled at the big U.S. investors who are getting into the act.

Some community groups complain that the owners are slacking on home maintenance and squeezing out local home buyers and investors in certain communities.

“They’re pushing tenant occupancy over homeownership,” said John Taylor, chief executive of the National Community Reinvestment Coalition, a Washington-based consumer-advocacy group. “Having someone guarantee that renters will be there for a long time depresses values and makes it much harder for people to recoup lost equity and stabilize neighborhoods.”

Defenders of outside investment groups say they help markets get healthy. “Investors are a huge benefit to the market in that they help work off that excess inventory through transferring them to rentals while owner-occupant demand rebuilds,” said Doug Duncan, chief economist for Fannie Mae.

As with some foreign investors, US Masters is avoiding properties embroiled in thorny distress and foreclosure situations. Rather, it is focused mostly on buying short sales—in which a buyer sells for less than the value of the property’s mortgage debt—and discounted homes. Prices in Hudson County, which includes Jersey City, are down 29% since their 2006 peak, according to property research company Zillow Inc.Z -4.14%

“We are buying the houses up, and I’d say unashamedly at very, very cheap prices, but I don’t see much of us crowding out other home buyers,” said Mr. Dixon of US Masters, who now lives in Manhattan and peppers his conversation with references to the 1990s American TV shows he watched in his youth, like “The Simpsons” and “Seinfeld.”

Mr. Dixon’s firm is structured as a publicly traded REIT to take advantage of a treaty that allows such entities to avoid being taxed twice, by both the U.S. and Australian governments.

Currency is another big factor for US Masters. Right now, Mr. Dixon says his fund is earning a yield of 7% on his rental portfolio after accounting for operating expenses. But if the Australian dollar falls to levels more in line with historical norms, of around 80 U.S. cents per Australian dollar, US Masters’ investors will earn 30% more in profits when the fund sells its homes.

Mr. Morton, of Cashel, a former land investor in Australia, paid $8,000 in 2009, along with 200 others, to attend a seminar and workshop in Sydney on how to buy a home in the U.S. Afterward, he and his business partner, a former car-rental executive, took a six-week bus and airplane tour of the U.S., looking at potential markets.

Then, 18 months ago, they became partners with an Australian investment bank and started buying homes in Dallas, Houston, Atlanta, Cleveland and Tucson, Ariz. So far, Cashel has bought 200 homes, at an average price of around $65,000 each, spending an additional $10,000, on average, to renovate each one. Mr. Morton said his company is earning between 8% and 9% on the portfolio, which he hopes to expand to 2,000 homes in the next 2½ years.

The U.S. rental market also has seen increasing interest from Canada, which saw its currency strengthen significantly against the U.S. dollar starting about four years ago, before softening over the past year.

Tricon Capital Group Inc., TCN.T -0.72% a Toronto-based asset manager, launched a single-family rental investment platform in early 2012 and has since spent $160 million acquiring nearly 2,000 homes in California, Arizona, Florida and North Carolina. A Tricon spokesman said the company’s net yields are in the 8% to 9% range and it hopes to own between 3,000 and 4,000 homes by the end of 2013.

Another Toronto-based company, Delavaco Properties Inc., founded by Andy DeFrancesco, private-equity investor with a background in oil-and-gas exploration ventures, began buying foreclosed homes in the U.S. in 2010, and renting them out to tenants, 68% of whom use Section 8 vouchers, a federal rent-subsidy program for people with low income. So far, Delavaco has bought 557 single-family homes in South Florida, and according to the firm’s website, plans to own 1,500 by the end of 2013. Mr. DeFrancesco couldn’t be reached for comment.

Aukeva helps Indian and Foreign buyers invest in the USA. Please visit our website at www.aukeva.com for more information or call us at India: 91.9871223021 or 91.8130677471 or USA: 925.415.9151.

Source: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323764804578314380251939580.html?mod=WSJ_myyahoo_module

Yes we are very proud of our city – Dublin California. Dublin California is the 2nd fastest growing city in California! Needless to say that this will have a very positive impact on housing and returns in this ideally located town in the San Francisco Bay area. East Dublin has the fastest growth rate attributed to excellent school district, high end homes and BART. Below is the article that came in the press.

Dublin’s population grew more quickly last year than any other city in California except for one Southern California community.

Figures released by the state Department of Finance show Dublin gained more than 3,000 residents, increasing its population to 49,890 as of Jan. 1.

That was a growth rate of 6.8 percent. behind only Santa Clarita’s 15.4 percent rate.

Linda Smith, Dublin’s economic development director, said one of the prime reasons for the growth was that housing developments approved several years during the economic downturn were finally built as the economy recovered.

Smith said the city is planning for residential development and has taken steps to ensure the city’s infrastructure can meet the demand.

Dublin is still the fifth smallest of Alameda County’s 14 cities.

Oakland remains the largest city in the county with more than 399,000 residents. The smallest city is Emeryville with 10,269, just behind Piedmont’s 10,889.

The only city in Alameda County that experienced a decrease in population in 2012 was Albany, which dropped by 0.2 percent.

Alameda County’s population grew by 1.2 percent to 1,548,681.

California’s population increased by 0.8 percent to 37,966,471.

Source: Dublin-Patch

If you are a foreigner living outside the United States and/or a non-US citizen and are seeking a new home or investment property in the USA, we have come up with a FAQ to answer the most common questions about buying real estate in the USA by non-citizens, immigrants or foreign investors.

Can people from outside of the US or non-US citizens buy and own real estate in the US?

Yes.  The United States does not place restrictions on foreigners/non-US citizens buying and owning real estate in the United States. There are several real estate investments coming in from all over the world considering that the USA real estate is on the road to recovery and is showing buoyancy and growth. A lot of people buy real estate in college towns like Stanford, Berkley, Austin, Santa Clara, Los Angeles, San Diego etc as investments with a view that their kids will be studying in the Universities close by and they will save money on the rental. Similarly a lot of investments are getting routed to vacation towns like Florida, San Francisco and New York where rental returns are very high.  Another driving factor these days is the favorable exchange rate between the US dollar and other currencies such as the Yen and the Euro.   A lot of buyers are comforted with the fact that the USA real estate buying process is very safe and secure, there are several due-diligence milestones within the buying process and the funds are handled by a neutral third party escrow company which oversees all aspects of the transaction between the buyer and seller.

Which countries and citizens do you work with in helping to buy real estate in the USA?

Aukeva works with clients from all over the world- India, China, Japan, Europe, South Africa, Chile and Brazil.  No matter what country or part of the world you are from, we are happy to assist you in finding a suitable property in the USA.

What are the best areas of the USA to buy property or to relocate and live?

Four states come to mind – California, New York, Florida and Texas. California leads the pack as it is home to the leading cities in the world like San Francisco Bay area, Los Angeles and San Diego. San Francisco Bay area ranks highest on the list due to its double-digit investment and rental returns largely due to its proximity to high-tech Silicon Valley, and top universities.  Some of the more popular communities in the Los Angeles area for relocating or buying investment property include Beverly Hills and Bel Air on the West Side of Los Angeles, the Hollywood Hills and in the San Fernando Valley from Studio City to Calabasas. New York is a good investment and suburbs offer affordable housing as compared to Manhattan.

What are typical expenses for owning a home or condo?

Property taxes is probably the biggest expense and you are billed at the rate can range from 1% to 1.25% of the assessed value of the home/ condo per annum.  Condominiums, Townhomes  and even some single family homes also come with an added expense of a homeowners association should they be a part of the community and not standalone.  Home owners Insurance is another expense that the buyer should account for.

How can I buy real estate in the USA?

If you are looking to buy real estate then the best way to get started is to provide us with all the details on the type of home or real estate you would like to purchase, along with your budget. Once we receive your requirements, we will map the database of properties to your requirements, and present you some solid options.  Next step would be to plan a trip to the US so you can actually tour the area and view properties.  It’s recommended to plan on spending about 5 to 10 days on your visit, especially if you would like to purchase property while you are here.

Disclaimer: The information below is intended as a general overview of the process for non-US citizens in the state of California only, and it should NOT be used as a substitute for legal advice. 

Property in Delhi is a great investment and above all status value. The property in Delhi grew by 15% last year and similar trend is predicted for 2013. Why is Property in Delhi growing at an alarming rate?  Property in Delhi doesn’t easily come by as the city doesn’t have any land left for construction so the buyers are limited to buying resale properties and hence the demand for owning an apartment or a house in Delhi is very high. Delhi being the capital of a growing country like India has made property in Delhi a premium proposition.

You have arrived if you own a property in Delhi especially in Central Delhi or South Delhi as it is one of the poshest and most expensive areas in Delhi. You can buy Property in Delhi within its well divided 5 regions – North, South, East, West and Central. Central and South Delhi property is very expensive so people have started constructing apartments / builder floors in standalone villas to accommodate the demand and also make it less formidable to own a property in these areas. Property in Central Delhi which is called Lutyens Delhi has old English architecture and beautiful tree lined communities. The premier areas to buy property in Delhi within Central Delhi are Jor Bagh, Malcha Marg, Golf Links, Shanti Niketan, Aurangzeb Road and Prithvi Raj Road.

Properties in Delhiwithin South Delhi district have blossomed into beautiful high-end communities. Like Central Delhi, old houses have been broken down and apartments have been built on it making way for multiple families to live at the same address. Some of the premier areas to buy property in Delhi within the district of South Delhi are Vasant Vihar, Defence Colony, Panchsheel Park, Hauz Khas, Green Park and Greater Kailash.

Choosing the right property at the right location and proximity to hospitals, malls, metro station and restaurants plays a key factor in appreciation of a property in Delhi.

Contact Aukeva at USA: 925.415.9151 or India: 91.9871223021 or 91.8130677471 for more information on investing in Delhi or email us at sales@aukeva.com.

About Aukeva

Founded by San Francisco, USA based NRIs, Aukeva is a boutique property development, investment and brokerage firm catering primarily to NRIs and expats. Aukeva leverages its prior experience developing and managing properties in the San Francisco Bay Area of California, to bring US levels of quality and personalization to the Indian Real Estate market. Our mission is to build top class, ultra-luxurious homes in the Delhi/NCR area without compromising on quality and specifications, something that is rarely seen in independent floor developments in the area.

The fading bungalow at 38 Amrita Shergil Marg does not immediately shout real estate bling.

There is no tennis court, no infinity pool, no Sub-Zero refrigerator or walk-in closet. The paint is chipped, the bathrooms are musty and the ceilings have water stains. The house may ultimately be torn down.

Yet when it went up for public auction, the winning bid was almost $29 million. And many neighbors consider that a bargain. One block away, a gracious if not quite Rockefeller-ready residence once leased by the Mexican ambassador is now reportedly on the market for more than $100 million. Other nearby houses are going for $40 million to $70 million.

“The price of the Mexican residence is $110 million,” said Jorge Roza de Oliveira, Portugal’s ambassador to India. “You can buy a home in New York and Miami and Lisbon and London and keep a lot of change for that much.”

Real estate prices in the heart of New Delhi, especially for the bungalows built nearly a century ago during the British Raj, are among the highest in the world.

Though India’s economy has cooled, the demand for property in elite areas remains so strong that even finding a house for sale is tricky: formal listings do not exist; prices usually circulate by word of mouth. Transactions often require some “black” money, or stacks of cash paid under the table to avoid taxes.

The buyers are often Indian industrialists looking for a trophy property, a real estate Rolex. Or, real estate agents and sellers say, they can be politicians or their proxies, who often pay with trunks of cash.

For their money, buyers get a lovely piece of land and a piece of history, if not much in the way of amenities. Many houses require a major overhaul. Services, if far better in these elite areas, are still inadequate: drinking the tap water is not advised, and power failures remain an irritant.

The obvious question about the prices, in a country where hundreds of millions of people still live on less than $2 a day, is: Why?

To a large degree, India is experiencing the sort of real estate boom common to big, emerging economies. When Japan’s economy was soaring in the 1980s, prices in Tokyo were so frothy that the 845-acre compound of the Imperial Palace was valued at more than all the real estate in California. More recently, China has seen a boom, with real estate values rising in some cities by 500 percent.

But the spike in New Delhi is also being fueled by ego, status and some unique distortions in India’s economy. Few properties come available in the leafiest, most prestigious section of the capital, known as Lutyens’ Delhi, because the area is mostly dedicated to government housing. Powerful government ministers live in British-era bungalows with stately lawns of several acres, while lesser officials are eligible for different categories of government housing in an oasis largely separated from the rest of the chaotic capital, where many people live crowded into slums or shanties.

“This is the best part of Delhi, the core of Delhi,” said Munish Kumar Garg, who oversees the allocation of government housing. “If these properties in Lutyens’ Delhi were put on sale, there would be a queue two kilometers long.”

Mr. Garg, the director of the government’s Directorate of Estates, controls one of the more valuable residential real estate portfolios in the world. Asked how many New Delhi properties fell under his agency, he shrugged. “It would be difficult to know,” he said. “Maybe 10,000.”

It was a British architect, Edwin Lutyens, who in the early 1900s designed what is now the governmental heart of the capital. Beyond the grand buildings erected as the seat of British imperial power, Mr. Lutyens and other architects also built a residential bungalow zone of whitewashed single-story homes surrounded by verdant gardens. When India won its independence in 1947, the British moved out of many of the houses and the Indians moved in.

Today, power in Delhi can be measured by where a politician lives. The Directorate of Estates divides properties into eight categories, with Category 8 bungalows, the most exclusive, reserved for ministers and other top leaders. Former prime ministers and presidents, and their spouses, are allowed to remain in Category 8 housing until death.

Given the shortage of such housing, the recent death of former Prime Minister Inder Kumar Gujral has spurred jockeying over who will get the bungalow.

Navin Chawla, who was India’s chief election commissioner from 2005 to 2010, lived with his wife in a Category 8 bungalow on six acres, with accommodation for 17 servants, including a separate house most likely worth many millions of dollars. When his term ended, so did his tenancy.

“I have to tell you, these homes are very timeless,” he said, sounding wistful. “It’s a bonus of the job to get a six-acre property for five years, one of the few bonuses of being election commissioner, I can tell you.”

Not surprisingly, as Indian industrialists have amassed great fortunes in recent years, the temptation to buy into a zone where status is so nakedly demarcated and only a few hundred private properties exist has proved irresistible. Property values in the Lutyens’ bungalow zone, as well as in nearby neighborhoods, have appreciated steadily for many years but skyrocketed in the past decade.

In some cases, families have held these private houses for generations. Many were refugees from Pakistan after partition in 1947, when streets like Amrita Shergil Marg were hardly exclusive. Veena Kumar’s parents arrived almost penniless in 1947 and rented a bungalow on the street for about $5.50 a month, before buying it eight years later. In those days, the house was at the southern rim of the city, beside what is now Lodi Garden, which is known as the city’s most beautiful park but seemed like jungle back then. Longtime neighbors recall hearing the cry of hyenas at night.

Now the house lies in the heart of the city and Ms. Kumar and her sister are looking to sell. Ms. Kumar declined to discuss her asking price, but local media reported it as about $55 million.

“One cannot afford these taxes,” she said, explaining that the upkeep and property taxes had pushed her to sell. “It is very expensive.”

The wild prices have also affected the rental market. For decades, owners happily rented to ambassadors or diplomatic missions. Now, rents have jumped so sharply that some ambassadors are moving. Mr. Oliveira, the Portuguese ambassador, recently relocated after his rent soared. Mexican ambassadors had lived at 13 Prithviraj Road — the house priced at $110 million — for a half-century, with the original lease signed by Octavio Paz, the Nobel Prize-winning writer and poet who was Mexico’s ambassador in the 1960s.

(The United States Embassy is a beneficiary of the rising real estate values, because for several decades it has owned several residential properties in elite areas.)

Rahul Rewal, a local real estate agent, said that demand was pushing up prices all over the capital region and that the Lutyens’ zone actually was a safe investment, since values keep going up, partly because so few places come onto the market. Fifteen years ago, the telecommunications magnate Sunil Mittal paid about $6.6 million for a property on Amrita Shergil Marg that he razed and rebuilt. At the time, the price was astonishing; today, it would be a bargain.

Mr. Mittal’s brother, Rajan, was the winner of the auction for 38 Amrita Shergil Marg. The property had been entangled in a family legal feud for three decades until a judge ordered that the property be sold at auction, with the proceeds divided among family members. Had it been sold privately, many neighbors and brokers say, the final price would have been higher. To avoid taxes, many sellers demand huge, secret cash payments to supplement the publicly recorded selling price.

Even now, the owners are still bickering. G. K. Gupta lives in the front half of the house, while his nephew Shivraj Gupta lives with his family in the back half. The uncle is in favor of the sale, but the nephew says he is still challenging it in court. And though both would be wildly rich when the sale is completed, the elder Mr. Gupta said that kind of money only goes so far in New Delhi.

“I’ll have to invest it in property,” he said. “And property is very expensive in New Delhi.”

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/03/world/asia/new-delhi-bungalows-even-in-disrepair-command-millions.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

Ireo Skyon Gurgaon is a beautiful technology oriented project located in Sector 60 Gurgaon. Ireo Skyon Gurgaon screams location location location. Ireo Skyon is strategically located in sector 60, Gurgaon, close to the intersection of Golf Course and Golf Course Extension – perfection location to commute to work with an upcoming Metro station a stone throw away. IREO Skyon location can access the sector roads connecting Golf Course Extension Road, Sohna Road as well as NH-8, which makes it a commuters delight.

IREO Skyon is spread over almost 18 acres and will be exquisitely landscaped. With its prime location and, its uniquely eye-catching “sweeping balconies” architecture enables Ireo Skyon to have a feeling of openness and calm while being in the poshest area of town. Ireo Skyon viewing corridors attached with each apartment overlook a central Golf Park and its world class 30000 sq.ft clubhouse – and you can see why a home at Ireo Skyon is a great investment

Ireo Skyon is situated within the 600 acre Ireo City. This means that Ireo Skyon will enjoy access to hi-end shopping complexes, recreational clubs, 5-star hotels, renowned hospitals, top schools and much more.

Harnessing the latest technology, Ireo Skyon located in sector 60, Gurgaon, offers you luxury and enables you respond to all your needs with just a single touch of a button. Ireo Skyon just doesn’t only focus on technology but also luxury specifications which we think is a great combination and promotes space age modern living.

Ireo Skyon apartments – 2/ 3 and 4 Bedrooms come fitted with a hi-tech portable home console. Ireo Skyon smart home console provides you with amenities at a touch of a button and ensures your security. For instance, you are tired after a long day at work and want soothing lighting, all you need to do is change the lighting of the apartment to mood setting and use the console to pull the curtains. With just a touch of button Ireo Skyon enables you to have a robot on call!

Complicated functions like pre-schedule the AC/geyser according to your convenience, controlling safety measures, locks, fire alarms etc can be programmed into the IREO Skyon Console. Ireo Skyon has a 9 hole Golf Course Putting greens located within the community. Besides that Ireo Skyon Gurgaon offers world-class amenities such as an exclusive club with a multi-purpose room, swimming pool, gym, changing room with steam and shower, massage rooms, dance and yoga rooms, coffee bar, snooker room, table tennis, squash court, badminton court as well as provision for 100% power back-up, treated water supply, adequate basement parking and CCTV surveillance in main entrance lobby and basement. Moreover, Ireo Skyon offers state-of-the-art home furnishings such as a modular kitchen with hob and chimney, stone cutter top stainless steel sink and CP fittings, a living room with natural stone/ high quality porcelain tiles and graceful balconies with weather proof paint and anti skid tiles.

The size of Ireo Skyon Apartments are 2 BHK -1374 sq ft, 2 BHK+ Study -1524 sq ft, 3 BHK + SQ -2045 sq ft, and 4 BHK+SQ -2791 sq ft. Its time to take a pick at the most envied residence in town which will see a huge investment growth in the future. This project definitely comes recommended!

About Aukeva

Founded by San Francisco, USA based NRIs, Aukeva is a boutique property development, investment and brokerage firm catering primarily to NRIs and expats. Aukeva leverages its prior experience developing and managing properties in the San Francisco Bay Area of California, to bring US levels of quality and personalization to the Indian Real Estate market. Our mission is to build top class, ultra-luxurious homes in the Delhi/NCR area without compromising on quality and specifications, something that is rarely seen in independent floor developments in the area.

My family and I have recently moved from the USA to Gurgaon in India. This move was big one for us as I had lived in the USA for more than 15 years and my husband  lived in the USA for close to 25 years before moving to Gurgaon. Moving  to Gurgaon was not an easy decision – we both thought long and hard about it and procrastinated on it for over an year before actually taking the plunge. Boy was it a task to moving household from USA to Gurgaon – the 2 do list seemed endless. Actually that part of the move seems a lot less chaotic and controlled as compared to the logistics involved in getting household setup in India.

To say that moving to Gurgaon has been challenging would be an understatement. Moving to Gurgaon from the USA is like learning to swim with the sharks – beautiful, scary and overwhelming. There are several key pieces that need to be plugged in perfectly to make a transition to Gurgaon  – visas, housing, schools, and domestic help needs to be sorted out asap.

Despite being an Indian family with advantages of fluency in language and similarity in appearance to the locals, we were still very different and not ‘Indian’ in our ways. Mayhem on the roads, dirt and lack of social and civic ethics can be ignored to an extent but what really really got to me is work culture– pretty much nothing gets done on time! And no one ever seems in a hurry to get the job done.  But once you immune yourself to the realities of moving to Gurgaon, its not a bad place to live in – army of people to do your chores, groceries restaurants and the works are phone throw away,  excellent restaurants/clubs, good shopping and luxurious spas. Really its not bad – I am certainly not missing washing the dishing or doing laundry.

Once you move to Gurgaon, the following will need your immediate attention.

Visas: First things first, you need to sort out is your Visa situation. if you and your family are moving here for work, please make sure that all your visas are obtained in the country from which you are coming. In case anyone of you are travelling on non-Indian passports and you have non-Indian dependents moving with you, make sure you get their dependent visa, called an X-type visa, before you land in India to start your new life here. Trying to get a visa changed from tourist to dependent type once in India is a special kind of misery. Alternatively you can travel out of India every 6 months which I think is not a bad idea at all and get a new tourist visa.

Foreigner Registration: In Delhi all foreign nationals on a visa which is valid for more than 6 months are required to register at the FRRO located in R K Puram. Check out this website for more info http://mha.nic.in/. In Gurgaon, you are required to register with the Depty SP’s office which is in the Mini Secretariat near Vijay Chowk as you come under the jurisdiction of the Haryana State Government.

For your info, the Ministry of Home Affairs offices are at Jaisalmer House, 26 Man Singh Road, New Delhi.

If required, ensure that you are at the office around 10:00 – 10:30 am. We are pleasantly surprised with the efficiency with which the Foreigner Registration was done at Jaisalmer House.

School: One of the positive experience so far as a family has been the ease with which our kids have been integrated into the International school. There are several international schools in Delhi which follow the International Curriculum. The classrooms are diverse and the education/activities make it a very rounded curriculum.

Rental: Let Aukeva help you locate the perfect rental in Gurgaon. We map your needs to the pretty exhaustive database of rental properties that we have in Gurgaon. Our aim is make sure that your rental meets your location, size, amenities and budget criteria. Aukeva also offers service apartments in Gurgaon which are located at key locations and are move-in ready.

Getting phone/gas connection for a foreign national is on par with getting a seat with Jack Nicholson at the Oscars, due to the red tape involved with providing proof of residence (copy of lease agreement), and a photo ID (passport copy) which is recognized by the supplier. The trick to getting a gas connection quickly is to agree to buy a base model 2 burner cooking hob/top (approx. Rs.2500). This miraculously speeds up the connection by a whole 3 weeks so that you get your cylinder the next day. If you are not buying one of those, you will have to have your existing cooktop ‘verified’ by their technician which can take 3 weeks.

Getting part-time domestic help in India pretty easy, but reliable full-time domestic help is difficult.  A few of the well-established and well-run developments/complexes in Gurgaon conduct security checks on all domestic help employed within the complex and issue them with ID cards. Certainly part-time cleaners start showing up while the movers are still unpacking but if you need live-in help, I would recommend going the agency route and getting background checks done.

Driving. If you have not driven in India,  I strongly suggest getting a driver. Driving in India is unlearning what you already know about driving and becoming a rude monster who can’t see but can only hear. Driving in India is more by sound than by sight! Its crazy driving.

Groceries and supermarkets are quite well-stocked and you will find all the items you need for cooking Italian, Mediterranean, American, Mexican and other international cuisine.

If you are looking for a luxurious oasis in the heart of the city, please contact us at 9871223021 or 8130677471 or email us at sales@aukeva.com for more information.

About Aukeva

Founded by San Francisco, USA based NRIs, Aukeva is a boutique property development, investment and brokerage firm catering primarily to NRIs and expats. Aukeva leverages its prior experience developing and managing properties in the San Francisco Bay Area of California, to bring US levels of quality and personalization to the Indian Real Estate market. Our mission is to build top class, ultra-luxurious homes in the Delhi/NCR area without compromising on quality and specifications, something that is rarely seen in independent floor developments in the area.