Emaar MGF Boulder hills is not really what it is being marketed as.

I heard about Emaar MGF Boulder Hills project through a friend. I was shocked at the prices they are quoting. Rs. 6000/sft on the ground floor that is facing away from the golf course!!! Why would anyone pay such a high amount for the privilege of staying next to the golf course. The rates increase steeply the higher you go and go much higher if you want a golf course view.

What was really shocking is the super built-up area allocation that they quote. For a carpet area of 1570+ sq ft, the super built up area is 2600+ sq ft. So you have to pay a steep rate of say Rs. 8000/- for a 6th floor golf course view apt for the entire 2600 sq. ft when you actually use only 1570 sft.!!!! Most apartments the super builtup area is only 20% of the total area. Here it is about 40%!!! . The fact that they scaled down their project development plans from 10 towers to 4 towers tells you that the demand for their apartments is not what they expected it to be. Only people who are either flush with money and don't know how to burn it or people who really love looking at a golf course all their life and can afford to sink in their life savings might buy a property at this place!!!

They have some villas on the golf course, but all of them were sold. When I did some research, I found out that they were sold/given away to politicians and their henchmen at throw away prices. No one at the Boulder Hills office talks about the villas and what their status is. They are quite hush hush about it. These villas are right smack in the middle of the golf course. I saw some massive 3 story villas being built. If any paranoid politician gets hit by a golf ball or has a window pane broken by one, you can imagine the fuss they would create. Goodbye golf course! Upon doing further research, I found out that Emaar MGF does not own the golf course. They just have a lease on it and the government can change the lease at any time in the future. Emaar MGF only owns 120+ acres of the land which is where they are building the apartments, villas, shopping mall, hotel etc.

I was able to find some really useful information, about the Boulder Hills project, in Emaar MGF's Draft Red Herring Prospectus here -> http://www.db.com/india/download/Emaar_MGF_Land_Limited_DRHP_FINAL.pdf. I suggest that anyone who is interested in buying a property in Emaar MGF read this document.

Did you know that Emaar MGF owns a massive amount of land bank and a lot of it is agricultural!!! According to India's FEMA rules, no foreign company may own/procure agricultural land!!! Now, how the heck did Emaar manage that??? Infact the Enforcement Directorate took notice of this fact and conducted raids on Emaar. Here is a statement from an ED official -> "The company has about 12,800 acres of land bank, out of which 8,700 acres of land is agriculture land. Most of this farmland has been acquired out of FDI, which is a violation,” the statement said. The ED claimed that the MD of the group “admitted that the FDI funds were used for purchasing agricultural land.” About the search operation, the group said it was “routine.” An Emaar MGF statement on Thursday said, “There was a routine search operation. We have fully cooperated with the investigation.”

Here is a link to the article on the Enforcement Directorate raid on Emaar MGF -> http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/ed-claims-evidencefdi-law-vi....

There is a pending litigation on this project -> " In respect of our Boulder Hills project, a writ petition has been filed before the Andhra Pradesh High Court for a declaration that the action of the respondents, including the State of Andhra Pradesh and the Andhra Pradesh Industrial Infrastructure Corporation Limited, in allotting certain land in Manikonda village in Andhra Pradesh to certain private parties, including certain land in favor of Emaar, our Promoter, was illegal and arbitrary. The petitioner has claimed that this land had been notified as “wakf land” under the Andhra Pradesh Wakf Act, 1955, and is reserved for specified religious purposes. A portion of this land forms part of our Boulder Hills project, which we propose to develop over an area of approximately 510 acres. As of the date of this Draft Red Herring Prospectus, there is no court order restraining Emaar from developing the Boulder Hills project."

Another interesting piece of information in the Red Herring Prospectus is the price that was paid for the villas. On page 89, the average price/sft for Excelsior [the apartments] is stated as Rs. 7,080/-. The villas on the other hand were sold for Rs. 556/- per sqft!!!! WHOA!!! Can you smell a rat??? According to the information there are 77 villas and all of them are booked. There are plenty of apartments available as of 31/8/2009 -> 149 out of 266. More than 50% are available!!!

Watch out before buying an apartment in Emaar MGF Boulder Hills!!! Do your research. Don't get blown away by their sales pitch and the model apartment. Ask them questions about what the actual carpet area is, if the golf course will be maintained by them for the foreseeable future, if they own it, etc.

Please read my blogpost about this ->
http://hyderabadrealtyradar.blogspot.com/2010/03/whats-deal-with-emaar-m...