I didn’t set out to build a website about real estate in India. For a long time, this project was simply my way of sharing the country I’d rediscovered after a decade abroad. I wrote about train routes through Rajasthan, monsoon treks in the Western Ghats, and the best street food corners in Old Delhi that tourists usually miss. It was, by all accounts, a travel blog — and a fairly obsessive one at that.
But something shifted along the way, quietly and persistently. My inbox started filling up with a different kind of message. People weren’t just asking which guesthouse to book in Goa. They were asking how to find a landlord who’d rent to a foreigner without demanding six months in advance. They wanted to know which Bangalore neighborhoods had reliable internet for remote work, how to negotiate a lease when you don’t speak the local language, or whether an NRI could actually buy an apartment in Mumbai without losing their mind navigating the paperwork.
It became clear that the real gap wasn’t travel advice. The real gap was practical, honest, boots-on-the-ground guidance for people trying to build a life here, not just pass through.
So I started paying attention to different things. I walked through neighborhoods not to find the best cafe, but to understand what it feels like to live there — what the noise levels are really like at night, whether the building has backup water supply, how far you actually have to go to find a decent grocery store. I sat down with expat families who’d been in India for years and asked them what they wish someone had told them before they signed their first rental agreement. I talked to brokers, lawyers, and local residents, trying to piece together the unspoken rules that govern housing markets across Indian cities.
What you see on Alaverdi Guides today is the result of that shift. The site has grown from a collection of travel notes into something more grounded — a resource for people who are serious about staying in India for a while, or permanently. We cover the things that matter when you’re making a home:
- Rental guides that go beyond listing sites — how to find apartments before you arrive, how lease terms actually work in practice, and what red flags to watch for when dealing with landlords and agents.
- Neighborhood profiles built from firsthand observation, not marketing brochures. We tell you what the commute is really like, whether the area floods during monsoon, and if there’s a community of people you can connect with.
- Buying property guidance for expats and NRIs — the legal framework explained in plain English, walkthroughs of the purchase process, and honest discussions about what makes sense as an investment and what doesn’t.
- Cost of living breakdowns based on actual expenses, not hypothetical averages, so you can plan realistically whether you’re moving to a tier-1 city or a quieter coastal town.
I write everything on this site myself, and everything is informed by direct experience or detailed conversations with people who’ve lived it. I don’t publish anything I haven’t personally verified or don’t feel confident standing behind. If a guide becomes outdated, I update it — not because an algorithm demands freshness, but because giving someone bad information about where to live or how much to budget is, frankly, a disservice I’m not willing to be responsible for.
There are plenty of websites that will tell you India is magical. And it is. But it’s also complex, bureaucratic, and occasionally bewildering if you’re trying to navigate housing, utilities, or residency without a local support network. Alaverdi Guides exists to be that support — or at least a reliable starting point — for anyone who’s decided to make this country their base, whether for a year, a decade, or a lifetime.
We’re small, deliberately unflashy, and focused entirely on substance. If that sounds like what you’ve been looking for, I’m glad you found us.
— Arjun Mehta
Founder, Alaverdi Guides