That really says it all! If you are fortunate you may never have the need to face the problem of deciding whether you have to sell your real estate or building property. Unless, that is the value grows beyond the elasticity of demand. According to a report in The Hindu, the guideline value, at Rs.2.67 crore, for Usman road in T Nagar is the highest for Chennai city – like wise there are areas in New Delhi, Mumbai , Kolkotta, Bangalore and other locations. For several pensioners who have inherited property in such areas and struggle to maintain the old buildings in living conditions the choice is tough.

The sum (most buildings will be over 2.5 grounds, is something that they have not thought of in their wildest dreams. So the moot question is will they sell or not? Temptation is not only for the poorer strata. A leading tamil film actor had acquired a palatial bungalow in an area ranked only fourth on the posh scale. In the beginning he refused to sell the property – money was not important, or rather not that important as to outweigh his pleasure in staying on. The buyer was of a different mind. A never say no type and having acquired three other properties in a row this fourth asset was very much necessary in his scheme of things. When he offered twice the market value (around two crore rupees instead of the prevailing market price of Rs.1 crore), the scales finally tilted.

Why so? Because the property prices in the most favoured area of the city was what he would receive. At this level he could move to the better location more in keeping with his rising status as a hero. Film personalities are perhaps the most real estate savvy among all professions. They realise that with age their market will bottom out, so in the peak of their career they acquire a lot of properties, commercial, residential, cinema theatres and marriage halls and auditorium, sound and process studios, all of which they lease or rent out. The income will be more than enough to sustain 2-3 generations of their successors.