Dombivli East, honestly

Dombivli East is sold on two things that do not exist yet and one that does. It is worth knowing which is which before you commit to a twenty-year loan.

What works today

The stations. Thakurli and Dombivli are each about fifteen minutes from this part of the node, and Kalyan is about five kilometres. If you take the local into town, that is your commute and it is already there.

The everyday things are also in place: K.V. Pendharkar and G.R. Patil colleges, a cluster of schools within two or three kilometres, AIMS, Kamat and Neptune hospitals at about two and a half.

What is coming

The Kalyan-Taloja metro line is the larger of the two. It changes how this node connects to Navi Mumbai rather than to town, and it is the reason land here has moved.

The Airoli-Katai freeway is the other. It shortens the drive to the Thane-Belapur office belt.

Both are under construction. Price them as upside, not as commute.

What to check before you buy here

• Water. Supply hours vary street by street on this side. Ask the neighbours, not the sales office.
• The approach road. Some of the newer pockets sit off roads that have not been widened yet. Drive it once at 9am on a weekday.
• The registration. Search the MahaRERA number and read the completion date and the approved plans yourself. It takes two minutes.
• Which floor and which facing. On a tower with an internal court, the court-side and road-side flats are genuinely different homes at a similar price.

And the flip side

Dombivli East is dense, and it is getting denser. The pockets that will hold their value are the ones with an open aspect that will not be built out in five years. Ask what is planned on the plots next door before you decide the view is a feature.