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We live in a mix of gated and non gated communities in our visits. I like the gated villas with decent size lots compared to individual houses in crowded areas, but one needs to have the staff to maintain it. Few of our relatives have given their plots and got apartments from builder, sometimes just one owner per floor which seems to be the trend with the next gen. Apartments standalone vs gated have their pros/cons. Individual apartments get better land share and control and are more cost effective, but the gated communities give better amenities, walking tracks, community hall, and kids can ride bikes and play freely.
I do feel safer in gated communities without stray dogs, and no traffic from outside.

There is absolutely no argument of living in favor of non-gated housing except for money. For gated societies you need more money to buy psft and you pay for monthly maintenance. But facilities, safety, community you get is unparalleled. There is a reason why psft rate of gated society is much higher than non-gated ones. Otherwise it's not easy to get money out of Indian pockets.
Security is biggest safety net. Continuous water and electricity, generator backup, 24hrs facility services for plumbing, electricity.

Another big one is fire safety. We had two fires recently in our society and both were handled very well by facility. Looking at the videos is when you realise how quickly fire can go from spark to burning the whole building down. It takes long time for fire brigade to get to society. By that time the entire tower would be engulfed, if not for trained facility members and guards. While they could not save few rooms but they saved rest of the flat and building. I am also impressed by work ethics of Indian guards.if this was a western country, guards would have stayed away and let the building burn rather than risking their lives. But guards here were super helpful. In case of city wide monsoon floods, facility office keeps the complex dry. In non-gated society your cars would turn into boat. There is daily fumigation. Stray animals are kept out.
Maids are well behaved as they risk losing access to all customers in society. Rate cards for different type is set society wide.
Then there are other facilities like big walking pathway, swimming pools, tennis courts, badminton, football, cricket, table tennis, temple, shops, medical clinic, clubhouse, well maintained parks.
Basically all third world problems are taken care of. Plus you get to deal mostly with educated/corporate crowd. There is a reason why people are paying 200cr for a flat in gated society rather than independent housing.

Most fun of it all is Indian gossip channel i.e whatsapp group. Solid popcorn time. Useless and brainless arguments and fights. Audacity of Indians is just amazing. The way they blame and talk to each other on WhatsApp is a revelation to me.maybe they have become much bolder/outspoken now. Plus it's best to stay out of conversation with women in Gurgaon. They can humiliate you and gang up in name of feminism. If nothing works there are always threats of police action.

nodegree wrote: ↑Wed Apr 16, 2025 10:24 am

SAPPORO wrote: ↑Wed Apr 16, 2025 7:58 am

wd40 wrote: ↑Wed Apr 16, 2025 7:38 am
In Bangalore now things are improving. There is regular police patrolling in our layout, also there are CCTV cameras setup. The risk of burglary is always there and it happened in my parents house, when they went out of station. Some 8Lakh worth gold was stolen. My parents were really devastated. But eventually the police managed to nab the burglar and my parents got back the gold. Not the exact same jewelry but replacement. I was really surprised when I heard that they got it back.

Ironically, the price one pays to live in a gated community in India far exceeds whatever one can possibly lose in a burglary. Apartment similar to the one I stay in Bangalore is at least 3 times more expensive in a gated community 100 meters away.
Moreover, I have a feeling that the 'guards' outside can keep out only stray dogs and not armed robbers!

Also, it's so easy to fool those guards and make your way in. One just needs "street smarts" as they say in India. It's just security theater.

not sure how they would get in. There is an app where resident needs to approve their entry in complex or else they cannot enter. Plus facility always keeps rotating guards. Cctv also acts as a deterrent. Nothing can stop determined but that's the case everywhere. Also there is safety in numbers. They don't know which flat to target. It's hard to figure out who is at home and who is not. I can never even tell about my neighbour flat. Plus there is a guard sitting at tower entrance who monitors every entry and verified via intercom call with resident before letting them in. Sometimes it's even irritating.

Returning_Indian wrote: ↑Sat May 03, 2025 8:45 am There is absolutely no argument of living in favor of non-gated housing except for money. For gated societies you need more money to buy psft and you pay for monthly maintenance. But facilities, safety, community you get is unparalleled. There is a reason why psft rate of gates society is much higher than non-gated ones. Otherwise it's not easy to get money out of Indian pockets.
Security is biggest safety net. Continuous water and electricity, generator backup, 24hrs facility services for plumbing, electricity.

Another big one is fire safety. We had two fires recently in our society and both were handled very well by facility. Looking at the videos is when you realise on quickly fire can go from spark to burning the whole building down. It takes long time for fire brigade to get to society. By that time the entire tower would be engulfed, if not for trained facility members and guards. While they could not save few rooms but they saved rest of the flat and building. I am also impressed by work ethics of Indian guards.if this was a western country, guards would have stayed away and let the building burn rather than risking their lives. But guards here were super helpful. In case of city wide monsoon floods, facility office keeps the complex dry. In non-gated society your cars would turn into boat. There is daily fumigation. Stray animals are kept out.
Maids are well behaved as they risk losing access to all customers in society. Rate cards for different type is set society wide.
Then there are other facilities like big walking pathway, swimming pools, tennis courts, badminton, football, cricket, table tennis, temple, shops, medical clinic, clubhouse, well maintained parks.
Basically all third world problems are taken care of. Plus you get to deal mostly with educated/corporate crowd. There is a reason why people are paying 200cr for a flat in gated society rather than independent housing.

Welcome back RI- We needed someone to articulate the other side of the story!
Maybe gated communities costing twice as much as the non-gated communities makes sense similar to what I have seen here in Florida.

Returning_Indian wrote: ↑Sat May 03, 2025 8:53 am Also, it's so easy to fool those guards and make your way in. One just needs "street smarts" as they say in India. It's just security theater.
not sure how they would get in. There is an app where resident needs to approve their entry in complex or else they cannot enter. Plus facility always keeps rotating guards. Cctv also acts as a deterrent. Nothing can stop determined but that's the case everywhere. Also there is safety in numbers. They don't know which flat to target. It's hard to figure out who is at home and who is not. I can never even tell about my neighbour flat. Plus there is a guard sitting at tower entrance who monitors every entry and verified via intercom call with resident before letting them in. Sometimes it's even irritating.

Gated communities are required even in America. As I mentioned earlier my home on open street was broken into twice. Luckily did not lose much as we kept all gold in bank locker. There was routine stealing of car parts and couple of times have seen windshield of car broken on my morning walks. Probably a burglar tried to get something. Apartments/homes with automatic gates are useless as bad guys can tailgate. You cannot afford manned gates in America due to high cost of salary to the guards. But rich dudes in Beverly Hills and others do keep manned guards at the entrance of their mansions. Most of Desi folks in US cannot afford it, so they make fun of gated communities in India.

old-spice2 wrote: ↑Sat May 03, 2025 2:11 pm

Returning_Indian wrote: ↑Sat May 03, 2025 8:53 am Also, it's so easy to fool those guards and make your way in. One just needs "street smarts" as they say in India. It's just security theater.
not sure how they would get in. There is an app where resident needs to approve their entry in complex or else they cannot enter. Plus facility always keeps rotating guards. Cctv also acts as a deterrent. Nothing can stop determined but that's the case everywhere. Also there is safety in numbers. They don't know which flat to target. It's hard to figure out who is at home and who is not. I can never even tell about my neighbour flat. Plus there is a guard sitting at tower entrance who monitors every entry and verified via intercom call with resident before letting them in. Sometimes it's even irritating.

Gated communities are required even in America. As I mentioned earlier my home on open street was broken into twice. Luckily did not lose much as we kept all gold in bank locker. There was routine stealing of car parts and couple of times have seen windshield of car broken on my morning walks. Probably a burglar tried to get something. Apartments/homes with automatic gates are useless as bad guys can tailgate. You cannot afford manned gates in America due to high cost of salary to the guards. But rich dudes in Beverly Hills and others do keep manned guards at the entrance of their mansions. Most of Desi folks in US cannot afford it, so they make fun of gated communities in India.

I have owned at least a dozen SFH in decent east coast suburbs and never heard of any issues of breaking in or vandalism from any of my tenants or have experienced myself. Bay area is an exception due to its severe underemployment, unaffordability and homelessness. The flip side of the gated community is that it gives the impression that the neighborhood is not safe - one such is a condo I own in Tampa in a gated community with 'guards' (glorified term, they are all in fact watchmen) and some units even have iron grills on their doors, India style.

Lastly, it's not expensive to live in the manned gated communities in the US. Desis in the US can definitely afford it by buying a house for as low as $229K! https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/247- ... 7541_zpid/

I have been to this community, and they won't let the visitors in without reviewing their license and it has 6 manned gates.