The following steps were followed in building a resort in Kerala. With a house you may not need some of the things mentioned below

1. Know what you want
Do you want to build your own house or do you want a built house? How many people, what purpose (investment, holiday, retirement etc), your special needs, facilities you require, yes you want views but is it worth the extra money etc

2. Budget
What is your budget? Is it realistic to meet all your needs specified above? How is it divided? Cash, Bank Loan, Personal Loan, Investor, Friends/Family. Will these funds be available when you are ready to sign the deal? Make a rough budget that includes every single line item possibly in a special software or at least an excel spreadsheet. This has to be completely revised. Keep in mind that most projects in India will go 200% - 500% over time and budget

A lot of brokers will take you to places they want to sell you, not places you want.  It is best if brokers have photographs of the place, but in case they dont, discuss with them specific details of what you want and what you dont want. Wasted site visits will cost you time and affect your motivation. 

When visiting sites ensure exactly which sites you are going to see and that the broker has made all the relevant arrangements (they have house keys, the owners have been informed, 3rd party brokers come earlier than you, jeeps/taxis if required, drivers etc)

4. Document Check
If you plan to involve a bank, they will require a lot of documentation. For a hotel we check:
a) Title Deeds (in original). Please check names of owners (is the property under dispute, bank loan, have they given power of attorney over it to someone else etc), area and survey numbers. Some people have bribed municipal people into changing stuff written on the forms especially the 7/12. The only way to be sure is to check the original computerised versions from the head office
b) Approved architect plans Vs Actual construction
c) Pollution Control Clearances
d) Electricity Board approvals including for generators
e) No objection certificates for any relevant agency with an interest in that area (ie forest office, environment, health etc etc)
f) Tax receipts - Village,  Municipal and other taxes
g) Utility bills - Electricity, Water etc
h) Registeration especially for taxes: Sales, TDS etc

5) Further checks
a) Municipal zoning of the land and ensure that there are no  government restrictions or plans for take-over in the future for roads, dams, IT parks etc
b) Is CRZ Applicable?
c) What is the amount of built up area allowable? Will this fit your needs? Are there any ways to overcome these?
d) Electricity may be great 1km down the road, but is it the same circuit? Best to get a paid consultant from the Electricity department
e) Water - Borwell may be possible but will it be too hard for drinking? How deep do you have to go and at what cost? Ask neighbours
f) Land and Mobile telephone. Broadband?
g) Site survey may be required to ascertain area of land
h) Can an architect go with you to give an opinion? Are the buildings in good condition? Is soil test required if there is water/clay etc? Is the ground appropriate for construction? If a retaining wall is required it would greatly add to expense 
i) Is it easy to reach the site? transport costs for material will be expensive and labour & consultants will reduce trips to remote sites
j) Who are your neighbours? What do they say about the present owner?
k) Is the seller known to you? In most cases it will be inappropriate to check id, but if the person is not known directly to you or to your trusted broker/lawyer, please check their id
l) Make a list of all possible risks, even the ones that dont seem probable. Include political, labour union, community etc. What can you do to reduce these risks? 
m) You are probably in love with this place and bullish that you can make everything ok. Please look at it from a point of view that you were being forced to buy this by someone else, what argruments would you make against this purchase?

6) Property Selection
Golden rule for price negotiation - Dont fall in love with one property, fall in love with at least 3!
When an agreement on price is not possible, see if you can expand the negotiation - bring in items that you may value but it may not cost the other party much to include or some things you can give away that the other person will value a lot.

7) Professional Consultants
Make a list of people you need in this project. Brokers, Lawyers, Architects, Project Managers, Builders, Surveyors, Middle-men for government approvals etc etc. It is a good time to start selecting them. The main one is probably your architect

Good time to revise the budget and the plan. Dont be too optimistic

8) Paying the deposit
Dont trust the lawyer alone. Use your common sense, include another ten clauses you think appropriate to protect yourself. Specify monetary penalties for mis-represenation. In recent deals we have included clauses stating that they havent given a power of agreement to someone else or the property is under dispute or their are loans against the property. Pay the deposit in instalments with the minimum amount upfront especially if a lot of investigation needs to be done. Under what cases is the deposit refundable? non-refundable? Pay full deposit only by cheque so that you are protected. In the final deal the seller will generally demand a cash payment, so ensure the logistics of how much and how and where this will be done.

Do not pay any token amount before a Memorandum Or Agreement to Sell is signed and all the terms are list.

Put an advertisement in the newspaper and keep a copy of the advertisement so that no one can ever put claims on the property

9) Consultants

Use all your consultants to ensure that the property is a safe purchase. In a recent deal, the only way to affirm CRZ was to submit a detailed plan under existing owner to the Municipality for approval and pay all the 'related expenses' and then transfer the plans along with the property documents.

If the approved architect plans have additional construction possible, they have to be used by a certain date.

a. Architect
Remember they are very busy people with multiple projects. They are more like salespeople who will meet you often before you sign the deal and very rarely once the project is underway. Better to go with a less busy architect who can give you time, than someone who is "the best" and then wont show up at critical times and will send his/her rooky.  And everything they do for you, they will make it sound like a favour. Most common mistake is to think, but my architect is so nice to me, I can handle them. They have the right incentive/money/common friends/professionalism. Dont worry, they will still let you down! 
Debate the plan well. Do not let anything you know will cause misery later go unchanged just to be nice at the initial stage. Once it gets municipal approval, it stays there!

b. Builder
If you go with the lowest cost one, they will make more money on the site. The architect - builder relationship must be managed very carefully 

c. Project Manager
If you are not planning to do all the work yourself get a project manager who can do all the running around. Honesty is the most important criteria. They must also keep the architect and builder honest. They will have a lot of opportunity to take commission from all vendors sand, stones, tiling, bathroom etc so pay them a high salary and get a honest one. Next is time & task management. It is amazing that some builders/architects will still insist on doing things one at the time and dont understand task dependencies. ie Masons have finished the brick-laying but cannot work any more till carpenters finish the woodwork. But the carpenters were not scheduled in advance so work is going at a very slow pace since if you let the masons go, they wont come back when needed

d. Accountant
The earlier the better especially for  larger projects. Keep an additional consultant in case its a large project that requires incorporating a company, foreign funds, maintaining share-holdings, TDS registerations etc.

e. Lawyer
Get a good lawyer that others will be a bit afraid of. Keep in mind that a lot of money is being exchanging hands and made by the seller, so lawyers will often get greedy. 

Insist on a lawyer who is computer literate and can at least send and receive emails. This way you can have a written record that will save you a lot of time and money. 

f. Government Consultant
Somebody has to sit in the municipal offices for days on end. Not a job for the light-hearted. But they want bribes or they will simply just lose your files or tell you to come back tomorrow.
Choose carefully, because if you choose someone with all the contacts they cannot be fired easily. There is a very high probability they will cheat you. Against all your principles, you just have to bear it with a grin!

10) Sale Deed
Again, include as many clauses as required to ensure that you are not cheated. Include financial penalties over for any mis-statements or mis-representations. Some Lawyers like to stick to their formats, dont accept this. DO NOT TAKE ANYONE'S WORD OR PERSONAL GUARANTEE. EVERYTHING HAS TO BE WRITTEN DOWN NO MATTER WHAT IS SAID 

Newspaper ad may be required before you transact to ensure there are no claims on the property

11) Name Transfers
At time of sale deed you should not only have a general clause that will require them to help you in the future for getting any name transfers etc but also get separate letters addressed to each and every place the property is or will be registered. This could include:
- Electricity, Water, Postal, Gas etc
- Farming community, Society etc
- Relevant government departments

Be extra careful if seller will leave the state/country.

12) Getting Government approvals
 The biggest mistake we did was believe the government when they said its a single window system. And this was the biggest let-down by the architect and a source of many miseries. The architect  only gave us an architectural plan.  They have given us 3 plans. An Electrical and a sewage plan as well. These have to be discussed with the relevant authorities BEFORE START OF CONSTRUCTION. Otherwise they will create all kinds of problems and penalties.

13) Site Preparation
You will need a security guard to prevent theft of material from site Do not save money on this and get someone smart and educated who can actually keep check of material deliveries. Theft can be quick, damaging and very costly.

A lockable shed must be built first especially in areas of high sun, wind or rain exposure. If labourers are to be kept on site plan their accomodation, toilets, cooking and food deliveries. Include these costs in your budget

Do you need a gardener? Good to plant fruit bearing plants so that by the time construction is over you get home grown stuff!

13) Start Construction
The project planner is your man. Make sure you extract guarantees from your architect and builder about the life of structures. Never assume anyone's intelligence. Simple things like order the construction as per your preference. For the hotel, we could not open without a restaurant because there was no food available on the island. We could open without the second accomodation block because it was exactly the same as the first accomodation block. At least we could start getting government permissions. But no, the architect built the restaurant last and focused on their pet project... bridges which were only aesthetic and not essential to project opening

14) Keep the approving authorities entertained!

Most common mistakes people make

Invariably, a few months after the deal, you will need some signatures from the previous owner... for transfer of 3phase power line, no objection to transfer the ownership of a goat (you get the idea) so dont spoil your relationship with the seller even after the deal

Some people have lost their deposit because they relied on other people's verbal promises that didnt come through

A common broker trick is to show you two really bad places first, so when they take you to the place they really want to show you, you are more likely to like it more!

Given the booming state of the economy there is a shortage of professionals and labour of all types. Despite what your builder says to get the project, will the labour be available when you need it? A recent project Manu was working on was delayed by over 2 months just because there were no carpenters, so the bricklayers would finish some work then they couldnt work till the carpenters came to finish something else.  But the head-carpenter would not allocate them from other more lucrative projects with the same builder/architect.