forgotten

The seller is asking for 300K+ COV! He/She must be just testing the market and probably not a serious seller. Who knows? Sekali Spore goverment announces to reclaim land in front of that house next month haha.

This month, I'm surprised to see that two ground floor units in Sembawang are demanding COV of 33K and 35K! I never expect ground floor units in wulu estates to command high COVs leh. And one high-floor unit is demanding 70K COV.

Property agencies earn part of the agent commissions. The property agency will probably send you a lawyer letter if you fail to settle the amount billed in their invoice. Hope your agent is willing to accept a lower commission.

We saw the seller when we viewed the house but we never talk to them LOL. For OTP, I just passed the cheque & form to my agent. Then she went to negotiate with him and passed them to him. 2 days later, she passed the signed form to me. For exercising of OTP, the seller's agent was 1.5 hours late for the appointment. By the time she closed her deal at another place and met us at the void deck, the seller and family had already gone to bed. Hehe I haven't gone to check the corridoor for o$p$ signs cos I think they usually only appear after the sellers hand over the keys and move out.

It's not recommended to commit "financial suicide" by taking up a loan that you cannot afford. If you buy Condo/DBSS and default on your loan instalments for more than 3 months, your house can be repossessed by HDB/Bank. No matter what type of house you buy, you still need to pay for agent commission, legal fees, stamp fees, renovation cost etc. I am assuming that the COV from your house sale is enough to pay for the COV of the new house. How about getting a school bus service to send your kids to and from school? The school bus fare is still much much cheaper than the above total cost of moving house.

True. Sellers can damage the fixtures purposely to get back at buyers. Your seller earned at least 100K from the house sales liao, yet he still chased u for the $40 I'm sure they got used the gas tank thsemseves lor.

OIC

True, it's possible. HDB good hor? It earns 15K every month from the "4D" exercise.

Somemore, that 2 bedroom unit is smaller than your 5 room unit.

That's so sweet of your seller. Up till now, I never talk to my seller before. My agent liased with him on behalf of us, and he sent his agent to liase with us on the day we exercised of OTP. The HDB first appointment will be the first time we get to talk to our seller LOL.

Even the recent BTO exercise for Choa Chu Kang 4-room units was 14 times over-subscribed though one needs to wait 4 years for its completion. The housing shortage problem in Spore seems to be getting worse. Related news: http://www.asiaone.com/Business/My%2BMoney...119-192833.html

You can also post your pics and ID name on STOMP website.

Congrats.

Berry surprise, Well the agents do such 'illegal' things and will promise sellers the MOON & STARS because they want to coax sellers to use them as agents. So many agents are earning >20K every month lor. I hope our sellers won't smash things in the house and create a dirty mess etc. before handing the units over to us. That will be a nightmare. Good luck to both of us at our first appointments next week! Hope things don't turn ugly at our appointments.

Some sellers are asking for 100K COV. See this news: http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/sin...1031506/1/.html This seller refused to sell their house although a buyer offered them 95K COV. Forking out 100K Cash is definitely impossible for first-timer singaporean buyer like me.

Your house is at an excellent location and has amenties around it!

After reading the stories from this forum, I realise that it's better to buy a house from a owner who has already bought his new house if you are unwilling to wait beyond the 2nd appointment. If owner sells the house before buying one, he will bound to need some extension of stay to renovate new house and move over to it unless he is willing to rent a house to stay temporily in between.

There's nothing else the buyer agent can do if he has tried bargaining with seller but the seller still die die don't want to lower the COV.

It's hard to compare only by the figures. We have to look at the exact location (eg. near mrt, famous school), state of condition (eg. well-renovated), facing (eg. any killing west sun?) etc. of the houses. There are people who're willing to pay high COV for a well-renovated house becos they get to save on their renovations. Don't be sad. You are not alone. My 2nd floor unit's valuation price is ridiculously higher (20K & 30K higher) than recent neighbour units of 2nd floor and 1st floor, & my unit's condition looks worse than the first floor one LOL. My unit's valuation price is actually similar to recent neighbour units of 9th and 14th floor's valuation prices lor. You can say that I paid extra 20K for our unit. I think my seller was lucky to get a happy-mood valuator haha! Let's try to be happy with our purchases. At least we have a home. The number of homeless is increasing in spore due to the lack of rental flats. There was a news about a homeless pregnant lady sleeping at Sembawang Park every night with her 2 small children. It's so sad ...

I also waited for 16weeks for my 1st appt, plus 2 weeks entension of stay for seller. It'll be 5.5 months of wait for me. You are considered lucky that your seller didn't demand 2 - 3 months extension of stay after 2nd appt. This happened to some in the forum, so they have to wait 7 - 9 months before they get their keys! You can make use of the few months wait to look for a reliable ID/Contractor and think of designs for your home

Flat owners to register subletting of rooms with HDB Tue, Jan 12, 2010 AsiaOne From February 1 this year, flat owners who sub-let rooms in their HDB flats will have to register with the Housing & Development Board (HBD) within seven days. They will also be required to notify HDB when they renew or terminate the sub-letting of rooms, as well as of any changes to their sub-tenants' particulars. However, there is no need to seek prior approval for sub-letting of rooms. HDB said that the new rule will support the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA)'s on-going efforts to eradicate loan-sharking activities, and will better protect HDB residents. Through this, HDB will be able to capture the particulars of those who rent rooms in HDB flats. The requirement will apply to both new and existing cases of room sublets. For tenancies that commenced before February 1, owners will be given a six-month grace period from that date to register. Meanwhile, for sublets from February 1, owners will have to register with HDB within 7 days from the start date of subletting. According to a statement from the HDB, the following information must be provided: Sub-letting commencement date Sub-letting expiry date No. of rooms sublet Rental per month Name of sub-tenants Household structure of sub-tenant UIN/FIN of sub-tenant Nationality of sub-tenant Citizenship of sub-tenant Ethnicity of sub-tenant Work pass of sub-tenant (e.g. work permit, employment pass) Sector which sub-tenant works in (e.g. service, construction, manufacturing, etc) Reasons for subletting Registration may be done either online, or at the branch office, where staff will be able to guide them on the registration process. Flat owners who flout the rule will face a penalty of up to $3,000. Those who repeatedly fail to comply with the requirement may find their flat compulsorily acquired by HDB. Apart from this new rule, the other terms and conditions for sub-letting of rooms are unchanged.

Thanks.

Question in my mind... Do we issue the cheque for COV at 1st appt or 2nd appt? I think it's 1st appt since the COV is less than 10% of the valuation price?

We're not eligible for them cos exceed the incoming ceiling by a little little bit Heart pain, we got to pay extra 5% downpayment in cash.

Same. It will be my first house for me too. I didn't take up the first-timer grant and hdb loan. What your aunt said makes sense. Moreover, you bought your house before the COV goes crazy in July, get to save 10K COV hehe.