Do you know why ‘home’ is often referred as ‘dream home’? It’s because we do not just wish to buy a house of our imagination but also because we live the dream until it’s fulfilled. Buying a home is a significant achievement but what matters is whether or not we maintain it.
You would find people who live in old houses which are on the brink of collapse. They are often compelled to affordability issue.
Nonetheless, if you pay close attention to the maintenance of your home, you can improve its life as well as its value.
When did you paint your home last or when did you change the platform in your kitchen?
If you thought for more than a second to respond to this question, be sure it’s been pretty long. If you delay maintenance work thinking you will save some money, you are probably making a big mistake. Saving today may cost you in future when it will the time to get the value for your home.
So, what to do? How should you deal with this situation then?
You should start maintaining a reserve for house renovation to avoid the last-minute rush. For example, if you think you will have to do some refurbishment in your kitchen and paint the entire house over next 2-3 years, plan for it well in advance.
Suppose, Mr Rajesh Shetty was to renovate his house today, he would have required Rs. 2 lakh. Therefore, assuming 6% inflation, he would need Rs 2,24,720 after 2 years.
| Cost of house renovation (today’s terms) | Rs. 200,000 |
| Time left (years) | 2 |
| Inflation | 6% |
| Estimated cost | Rs. 224,720 |
To build the sufficient corpus, Mr Shetty will have to invest Rs. 8,836 every month in a recurring deposit for 2 years which will fetch him 6% post-tax returns.
| Estimated cost of house renovation | Rs. 224,720 |
| Time left (years) | 2 |
| Post-tax expected rate of return p.a. | 6% |
| The money you need to invest p.m. | Rs. 8,836 |
However, high monthly household expenses, EMI commitments and children related expenses leave a little surplus in his hands. As a reason, if he invests only Rs 5,000 per month for next 24 months, there will be a shortfall of Rs 97,560.
| Actual investments p.m. | Rs. 5,000 |
| Value of investments (2 years from now) | Rs. 127,160 |
| Shortfall | Rs. 97,560 |
Now the question is, shall he postpone the renovation work?
Ideally, No.
Lack of funds can’t be a constraint to something that can protect the value of your precious asset for years. However, some of us are likely to face a problem here.
Getting loans from the banks for house renovation is not easy. And if you want an unsecured loan, your task is even tougher. Banks may only selectively offer housing improvement loans to people who have higher credit scores and high net cash flows.
Here, Peer-To-Peer (P2P) Lending platforms may come to your rescue.
Heard About P2P Lending Before?
P2P Lending platforms help borrowers and lenders connect with one another directly and uninterruptedly allowing them to strike a win-win deal. P2P Platforms list loan projects after doing a careful assessment of each of them. Once the lending project is listed on the platform, registered investors on the platform, at their discretion, decide the amount they want to commit to the project. For example, your loan proposal of Rs. 1 lakh may be funded by 5 investors. This drastically reduces the default risk for investors and expedites the process of fundraising for the borrower.
P2P Platforms Vs. Banks
The list of P2P Lending platforms has been growing like never before, but, it is important for you to approach the right one. You should ideally go with a platform that follows transparent credit evaluation processes and offers an attractive deal to a borrower. A P2P platform shouldn’t let investors pressurise borrowers for the higher interest rate. The borrowing rates shall be proportionate to the level of risk involved in lending.
i2iFunding fits the bill…
If you are ready to disclose correct information and confident of being able to honour your EMI commitments, your search for the right P2P Lending platform may end at i2iFunding.
Unlike banks, i2iFunding cares more about the ‘willingness of the borrower to repay the loan’. Lower credit score doesn’t automatically make anyone dishonest. Creditworthiness has got more to do with the intent to repay.
As a result, you would find many loans, which banks usually reject on preset 3-4 parameters get sanctioned at i2iFunding.
But make no mistake…
At i2iFunding two things are never compromised—transparency and credit evaluation. i2iFunding lists loans purely on the merits of the proposal and that too after obtaining all the requisite information.
Based on the credit assessment report, each loan is classified into any of the 6 risk categories—From ‘A’ to ‘F’ where ‘A’ denotes the highest safety.
Being one of the most technologically advanced P2P Lending platforms, i2iFunding offers immensely helpful assessment tools to investors. It ensures that your proposal gets optimum viewership on the platforms. Investors at i2iFunding are better informed since the platform also sends mailers to circulate information about the newly listed loans.
Unlike other platforms, which allow investors to bargain for the interest rate, i2iFunding fixes a rate for every category. For everyone falling in the same risk grade, the borrowing rate remains the same.
i2iFunding understands the value of your emotions and thus, doesn’t lazily reject your loan proposal like banks do. If you didn’t refurbish your home so long just for want of money, you don’t have to wait any longer.
