leechaorui

For very old houses, BCA will not have the floor plan. If the house is 20 years old, there is a good chance that you can get it from BCA. When I requested for my floor plan, it cost me $20 + GST. Rgds.

May I know how do suppliers charged for chengai wood? My contractor is charging me about $12K to $13K for decking and fencing.

Agree with yoongf. If you want your 1% back, go quickly to discuss with the seller. Maybe he will just say okay. Cheers.

I have met with several contractors and 2 architects too. I believe construction cost will only go up because raw materials are getting more pricey and the demand from China, India and other places will push up the prices of these finite building materials. As usual, we can expect labour cost to go up. Gov has announced more levy for foreign workers and are trying to put in place better living conditions. I am not against giving foreign labour better benefits. It is just that this will cost more and owners have to ultimately pay for it. I hesitated building my place about 3 years ago. My neighbour built his place into a 3 storey inter-terrace for $300K. Now it cost more than $600K to do something similar for another unit. Hence, the wait to save up more before rebuilding may not be the best option given the rising cost of construction. I was told that in future, rebuilding a 3 storey house will probably be in the region of $800K to $1 million in the not too distant future. If you are really keen to rebuild your house, do up your finances and if the figures allow, go for it now. I simply can't afford to rebuild the house for $1 million because it is a lot of money and I really don't earn so much to afford it. Give the re-construction some thought.

Canceled post

It depends on a number of factors such as price, proximity to MRT, rental returns, etc... What is the unit that you are selling, how big is the size and how much? I think what you pointed as good points may not be quite accurate. There is a good point for this condo. It is very near the stadium and public pool. So it is convenient to jog and swim nearby 1) Near Serangoon MRT (Must take a bus, not sure if you need to change bus. If walk, I think easily will take 20 minutes or more depending on speed) 2) there is a potential of value increase (Well, it is potential depending on market conditions) 3) accessible to expressway (Agree, not too far from CTE, probably can hit CTE within 10 minutes if one is driving) 4) high chance of collective sale (Disagree, the place was bought over from collective sale of a row of terrace houses & build into high rise. Very tough to go for another round of collective sale when it is so new. The place may also have height restrictions to build taller.) 5) LOW maintainence fees (subjective but it should be low as there are little amenities in the condo.)

Get an architect to help you review your plans and he would be able to offer you some advice. If it is A&A, you can budget for about $300,000.

I thought this development is quite new and pple have not even moved in yet. How come suddently high chance of collective sale?

I think you can still do quite a decent renovation for $60,000 such as re-roofing, floor re-tiling and change of windows. If you have a second floor area, you can also renovate your existing toilet. Why is there a need to do A&A? Cheers.

Just put in the contract that you will supply the tiles and the contractor is in charged of supplying the labour, sand, cement and all other materials to install for you.

Try Lee & Lee

What did your neighbour say when you mentioned that she went ballastic? What did you say when you offered to resolve the matter amicably? If your neighbour is not staying there, she would not be turning on the tap. If that doesn't happen, then the leak could be the problem of a leaking pipe. This is quite probable as the place is old. You can do two things. One is to go hardball and engage a lawyer to force your case. Another is to offer her a reno to her flooring and do a water proofing free of charge for her. If you want to offer her the latter, it is better you get someone else to communicate with her as she is already pissed off with you.

That's why it is important to choose an honest agent to act for you. If you do not know of a good agent, then it may be better to sell the property on your own. It is worse to have sleepless nights worrying about agent playing punk behind your back. Cheers.

No need to complain first. You can check with CASE on this issue and ask for advice. In the meantime, talk to "your agent" and see how you could resolve this. She may just say that I am not your agent because you have not signed any agreement with me. Hence, no need to be aggresive and start a complain against her. Afterall, she has not done anything wrong or rude. Treat her fairly and discuss.

I do not have a lap pool but I know someone who installed a lap pool. (1) The maintenance cost can be covered by a maintenance contract and the amount varies, starting from about $200 per month for some fairly decent work. (2) The actual water + electricity cost monthly is not known because the utitlities bill lump everything together and the water can really be re-cycled. Hence, water bill not too high and this is the same for electrical bill. (3) So far, the pump and the filtration system that he had works fine. No major problem. If you really want a lap pool, go get it. The only thing that my friend had a problem with is the size of the pool. It is too small for real swimming but good for children to play. After a while, nobody use the pool and it became a white elephant. If you think you will use the pool very regularly and the size meets your needs, than go ahead and install one. I think it cost between $25K to $35K for a small one with some landscaping thrown in.

Why do you want to wait till you receive the invoice? I feel that you did not raise any objection when she ask you for 1% comm and she proceeded to serve you, I think it is difficult to now turn back and say, "I didn't engage you." or "Do this only and you want to claim 1% comm, thats too much" because you have implicitly said yes to using her service and to pay her the comm. SInce you are reluctant to pay the agent the comm now, I think it is only right that you be upfront with her and tell her that so that she doesn't do more work for you and cause this "misunderstanding" to escalate. At least, you can have a conversation with her about how to resolve this. In the meantime, you are free to contact CASE to seek advice. Just my view.

Since she told you that she charges 1% for helping you and you didn't object, I think you should pay her. I am not an agent. Just my view.

I know of someone who installed the bamboo flooring. Excellent feel and results. You probably have to check with pple who have installed it for a long time to know if the bamboo flooring is really as good as it claim. Cheers.

There are hidden cost in situations where the rebuild cost is very low. If you are looking at reconstruction, which allows you to retain some of the walls, you can actually waive the setback requirements. Your architect will be able to advise you. The psf is only an estimate, there are some cost which are quite fixed such as piling work, professional fees, submission fees, etc... which do not really relate directly to the size of your house. There are some other cost which relate to the size of the house such as cement required, etc... If you are planning a simple construction of a 3 storey house with a GFA of about 2500 sq ft, you can expect to budget about $600,000, excluding furnishing. This works to about $240 psf. Doing a home shelter is a requirement for erection of a new house, for reconstruction, your architect can probably help you to explore how to do away with it. If you wish to find out more, you can pm me directly with your email and mobile number and we can chat offline. I am in the process of rebuilding my house and negotiating with URA on seeking some waiver from their guidelines. Cheers!

The problem is we do not know whether paying high comm equates to getting good agents. All agents, good and lousy claim to be good and I do not know how to differentiate them. I have used agents that ask for high comm but deliver lousy service. I have used agents that ask for little comm but deliver excellent service, so in the end, I pay the agent extra a bit to compensate him. Very hard to tell.

There are some basic information on landed that you can get from URA website. Eg. For erection of new house, the front setback is 7.5 m and the back setback is 2 m. You can do some measurements on your own and think about whether the space available for use is sufficient for your needs. There are other information in there too. However, you will still need professional advice from architect if you are serious about rebuilding the house.

Remove all food source for the ants. Some people plant some "sweet plants" which attracts ants or ants are attracted to your neigbours' leftover food and found your house to be pleasant to be made into their permanent home. Try to locate the ant nest but don't disturb it. Invite the pest control company in to help you with slow acting poison which will help you get to the root and destroy the whole colony. Hope this helps.

I guess you are trying to rebuild your house. You can visit the owners directly and asked them what they thought about the service provided by Facade Holdings, etc... Cheers.

One thing I don't understand is bamboo is in such huge abundance in China. The price should be fairly low, yet the finished products of bamboo cost so almost or even more expensive than parquet.

Tell the agent politely that you did not engage her service and you are a direct buyer. Tell the agent that you will do the paper work on your own.