How to get a house on rent

I have learned all this with my experience of shifting and some bad experiences of dealing with owners :(.....

1) If you have a small family and you do not expect many guests, do not go for big house then. 5 to 7M single story house with two bed + drawing is enough.

2) Better get a house where owners live in other portion. In this case you can tell them about problems any time and they will take care of things as they themselves will be living there

3) If its a portion then meet second family and get their feedback. Also meet neighbors and ask them about any security or other problems in that area. 

4) If its a portion then better go for one where other portion family is not big too or does not have many children. Otherwise you'll keep on getting noise.

5) Most important thing is write every contract on paper never ever leave any verbal commitment.

6) Electricity meter should be separate.

7) It will be good if motor pump and water tank is separate too otherwise.......you will often be shouting on the other family to switch on the Motor.

8) Check all water taps, electricity buttons, kitchen cupboards, bathroom flush tank. If anything is not working.......tell them.....otherwise you'll have to do this your self.

9) Entrance of your portion should be separate otherwise it will disturb your privacy a lot as you often have to go out late or come home late.

10) If you are planning to install UPS.......tell them in advance.

11) Females are more concerned about kitchen so check kitchen carefully.

12) Gas Geaser should be installed and working. Check it by igniting it. 

13) Ask owner one thing clearly......if something common gets out of order.......who will be responsible for its maintenance and how much you'll have to pay in percentage?

Enjoy......

Vim + ctags

I am on my Ubuntu Linux box. I have started using vim and ctags to traverse my source code.

Installation:

• Installed vim and ctags. "sudo apt-get install vim" and "sudo apt-get install ctags".

Source Tagging:

• In source directory "ctags -R *" and edit source file with "vim sourcefile.c"
• If it throws error messages like "ctags: skipping asm: it is not a regular file." , it means  you're not running Exuberant Ctags, you're running GNU Emacs etags, which also provides a ctags executable. Run ctags --version and you'll see something like this:   

• ctags (GNU Emacs 23.1)
  Copyright (C) 2009 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
  This program is distributed under the terms in ETAGS.README

   In this case, install ctags with this command "sudo apt-get install ctags" command

Important Commands:

1. Find some symbol: use "/symbolname" e.g. I wanted to search disassembly I gave command "/disassembly".
2. Go to definition:  Ctrl + ]
3. Go Forward: Ctrl + i
4. Go Backward: ctrl + o
5. 
   

Working on GDB

GNU Coding Standards (Recap):

A short recap of the GNU formatting and naming conventions, partly borrowed from XEmacs:

• Put a space after every comma.
• Put a space before the parenthesis that begins a function call, macro call, function declaration or definition, or control statement (if,while, switch, for). (do not do this for macro definitions; this is invalid preprocessor syntax.)
• The brace that begins a control statement (if, while, switch, for) or a function definition should go on a line by itself.
• In function definitions, put the return type and all other qualifiers on a line before the function name. Thus, the function name is always at the beginning of a line.
• Indentation level is two spaces. (However, the first and following statements of a while/for/if/etc. block are indented four spaces from thewhile/for/if keyword. The opening and closing braces are indented two spaces.)
• Variable and function names should be all lowercase, with underscores separating words, except for a prefixing tag, which may be in uppercase. Do not use the mixed-case convention (e.g. SetVariableToValue ()) and especially do not use Microsoft Hungarian notation (char **rgszRedundantTag).
• Preprocessor constants and enumerations should be all uppercase, and should be prefixed with a tag that groups related constants together.

GNU Coding Standards Compatibility test:

• Use "check_GNU_style.sh" from http://gcc.gnu.org/viewcvs/trunk/contrib/check_GNU_style.sh

Basic Vim Commands

Vim Command	Example	Description
/[pattern]	/gdb_disassembly	It will find gdb_disassembly in the file and you can move to next instance using n
n	n	Move next instance of matched pattern
yy	yy	Copy the current line
[n]yy	3yy	Copy 3 lines including current one
p	p	Paste copied line
dd	dd	Cut the current line
:w	:w	Write/save the current file
:wq	:wq	Write/save and quit
:q	:q	Quit
:q!	:q!	Quit without saving
u	u	Undo last action
U	U	Undo all latest changes to current line
Ctrl+r	Ctrl+r	Redo
:n	:42	Go to line number 42

Lahore property survey

Zero level Diagram:

Lahore can be divided in to 4 major areas:

1. Central Lahore 
• This includes central city ( Ravi side, UET side, Chauburji side) as well as extended city areas( from Kalma chowk to Johar town)
2. Future Extension of city on Airport side
• This includes all DHA phases, Green city, Paragon and other societies.
3. Future extension of city on Ferozpur road
• This includes everything towards Ibrahim masjid Pak Arab society,  EDEN dream homes, Central Park and many others
4. Future extension of city on Thokar Niaz baig side
• This includes all socieities on Raiwind road and Canal road after thokar.

First Level:

After abit evaluation I have decided to rule out option 2 and 3 because:

• Ferozpur road side traffic is horrible .......
• Ferozpur road side is far from Lahore exit points i.e. Motorway and Ravi side.
• Airport side is occupied by DHA and even empty DHA phases where there is no possession for next 5 years are very expensive.
• Airport road side is also far from Lahore exit points.

But if any of you or your friend like to purchase on these sides I'll recommend Pak Arab on Ferozpur road and Green City on airport side. Green city is just awesome but it has become quite expensive now.

Second Level:

So we are left with two options 1 and 4.

Regarding 1:
                   First of all

why I choose Option 1?

It is because

• It is already developed with all facilities are available normally at walking distance.
• With increasing fuel prices, you can not afford to travel 50km daily.
• With increasing traffic in Lahore travel time is increasing day by day, especially on car but this issue might get resolved after ring road construction.
• All other facilities like schools, hospitals, markets(anarkali and Liberty) are not very far away.
• I am a S/W development engineer and most of the software houses are not outside main city.

Now second question is where in City?
                  
The heart of main city is where I am currently living, cavalry ground . It is in the mid of All four sides which I have discussed above and is also quite peaceful. But as you guys know this area is very expensive like in Cavalry extension where I am living, its 6 lac/marla for plot.
There is one area which is in Cantt which is still a bit cheap i.e.Ali park. Its on baidiyan road towards Bhatta chowk. I measured its distance and it is exactly 4km from Cavalry. Plot prices are abit high but not too high.......one can get a good 5M plot in 14-16lac. I know some of you must be thinking about construction problem.......just hold on......I'll also discuss it  :)

why I choose Option 4?

It is because

• These are abit cheaper than main city.
• New societies are quite well developed.
• Nearer to Lahore exit point.

Now where in Option4?

I have visited almost all societies nearly 25 or 30 during last one year on this side. I don't know if I have left any. Most of the societies on Raiwind road and on Canal road (after thokar) are not populated. Few good and populated are Eden, EME, Muhafiz town, Izmir(not fully). I am ruling out EME and EDEN as EME with DHA tag has become 4lac/marla and Eden has homes built by Eden developers. Prices in other societies are 2 to 2.5 for 10 marla and 2.5lac/marla for 5M plot. There is one more socieity on this side THE FAMOUS BAHRIA TOWN. Good things about Bahria are that it is abit cheaper, well developed and well maintained societies..........BUTTTTTT it has some big issues

1) Distance
               It is 30km from Cavalry ground........means 60km drive daily ............It took me 40mins to reach cavalry ground from Bahria at around 7PM.
2) Hidden charges
               One time charges: Map approval charges 60k, Drawing charges 30k, Utilities  60K, TMA fee approx. 20k.
               Monthly charges: 2k
 Also no alteration is allowed and you can not just keep your plot after possession.....you have to build house within 3years after possession otherwise you'll have to bear non construction charges on monthly basis.

3) Bad repute of its owner

Possible House building plans:

There are 3 possible plans

1) Get plot in any area and the construct depending upon the budget. e.g. if I am left with some savings after plot purchase then construct single story house and start living there and then construct as per requirement and budget.
2) Get an already build 5 or 4M house using Meezan bank's house financing option.
3) Get some relatively old (10+) single story small house in main city and shift there. Like a dealer showed me a 6marla single story house in Ali park. He was demanding 25lac for it and I think can be negotiated to 20 to 22lac.

Now all these 3 also have there pros and cons....... I hope you know about them......but to summarise

For 1: Pros: Construct as you like and according to your requirement. House will be new.
          Cons: its not easy to construct house.......hassle.....and also I'll not get rid of monthly rent which is increasing....

For 2. Pros: I'll be able to get rid of rent. Choose any house I like and come in my budget + financing limit.
         Cons: Have to pay some Heavy amount to bank.

For 3. Pros:  I'll be able to get rid of rent. No bank financing means no extra charges. I can resale it later or can demolish and rebuild new one.
         Cons: This option is only available inside city.