Topspin

Although I am not currently staying on a top floor unit, I have seen many HDB units during my hunt for an apartment before my marriage in the mid 90's. My conclusion and from my personal experience, top most units will tend to be warmer due to the conduction of solar heat from the roof into the unit's ceiling...it is simple science! the heat has to dissipate somewhere. How much of it depends on whether the ceiling has good insulation, sheltered by water tanks, nearby tall buildings etc. All else being equal, the top most unit has an extra surface area (the ceiling) for heat conduction compared to one unit exactly below it. Obviously this does not bother a lot of people as people still pay high premiums for top most floors.

I presume you have paid about $1000 for your OTP only and it is usually valid for 2 weeks? If you think that the sale is absolutely not favourable, you may just forgo your $ and let it lapse 2 weeks later. The next issue is whether you can find a better substitute.

Agree but I think it must be the fact that they have stayed there in that area previously for many years before moving elsewhere. Thanks for your view.

I read it the paper that there is a way to test out if it is really a bluff. The author suggested that you offer a COV lower than 32K. If the agent haggle and try to negotiate a value higher than your offer but still lower than 32K, it means there was never any earlier offer at 32K. If there was, the agent need not bother about any lower offer.

Thanks for the comments. I felt 50K COV is too much as well. There is one good point for that unit though...it is very near to a wet market/hawker centre and about 10 minutes walk from MRT

Asking on behalf of a family member, she is thinking of buying a 25+ years old walk-up 3room HDB near Bt Merah for 50K COV. Very basic renovation and the renovation is more than 10 years old. Directly facing a road and can be quite noisy as well. Not yet upgraded but rumour is that there may be a lift addition, just don't know when. Is this a good buy? I thought 35-40K COV is about the maximum she should pay. The average COV in 4Q '07 for Bt Merah 3 room is 27K only.

I did quite a bit of research on heat transmission from ceiling 2 years back because I was eyeing a unit (maisonette condo) on the top floor. The top floor do feel warmer during my viewing. Lots of info on the Internet about ceiling insulation but mostly from the cold countries. They insulate the ceiling to prevent heat loss in winter. It is equally applicable for heat transmission from outside as well. An easy solution which I was contemplating then was to place rock wool in between the cavitiy of the roof and ceiling. For those with just concrete ceiling, can just construct a 4"-6" false ceiling and get the contractor to fill it with rock wool. You can still install your down lights as per normal. Rock wool is cheap, very poor heat conductor, non flammable and is waterproof. It is routinely placed inside the roofs of landed properties anyway. I have not got to the point of approaching a contractor for the cost but I am keeping this option open for my future purchase. If a certain wall is too warm from the afternoon sun, I reckon, I can also place a thin false gypsum board wall with rock wool inside it. Right now, no issue with my current unit as is not on the top floor and no direct afternoon sun.

If it is any consolation to the thread starter, the unit has appreciated a lot since the purchase date.

Profit (capital appreciation) is not taxable. House is considered an asset not a business

The effect of the new Govt housing policy introduced in 1996 was underestimated by the minister in charge. It triggered the 10 years price slump. The annoucement of the IR was one means to undo the mistake.

As I have mentioned in another thread, buy one that is suited for your floor type. Be careful if you have new polished marble or timber floors. A badly designed vacuum cleaner head and the wheels will undo the shine in no time. This is coming from experience!

Some useful tip that I use all the time: 1) get someone to hold the nozzle of a vacuum cleaner near your drilling hole to prevent dusting your house with fine white plaster/cement. 2) Don't drill behind a wall where you think there is a electric wire/water pipe running underneath the plaster (especially private homes). Common sense will tell you not to drill anywhere in the wall above a wall plug or electric socket. 3) Don't drill at night otherwise your neighbours will be up in arms.

For Corning ware, use a diluted solution of bleach to remove burnt or food stains. If you are not comfortable using the stronger clothes bleach, drop a baby bottle disinfecting tablet into the pot with water and let it sit for a few hours.

My previous place was extremely quiet as the road is some distance from my unit and it is has only light traffic. My new place has a major road in front of my unit. Although another block blocks 90% of the sound from the major road, I am surprised to know that that residual 10% sound is still bothering me so much! The sound came from a “gap” that has no other building blocking it. Feel like moving out and I have just moved in 3 weeks ago!! I suppose the quiet environment in my previous place has made me non tolerant to any road noise today. Currently, I try to keep windows open to a minimum (if not warm), close the curtain to help suppress the echo of traffic noise inside my unit, switch on radio 24 hrs at low volume to mask the traffic noise. I don’t want to switch on the aircon 24 hours. What do you fellas do about the sound if it is a problem at your place? I suppose many of us can't do much about it but probably just try to get use to the noise eventually. Some western country have very strict control about noise and will install road noise barriers if it exceed certain dBA or even force slow traffic speed at night. Too bad, the legislative control of road noise in Singapore is nearly non existent.

One more advice…if you have small toddlers, do try to reduce the number of days the house is in a “Packing” state, i.e boxes all over, things all over the place, dust and noise. It affects their health I think, from the dust and also psychologically. They see the house so messy, it disrupts their normal routine and they tend to be very moody and clingy to you. Fortunately my little one is recovering from the moving and I try to maintain normality with her daily routine as much as possible in my new place.

I have just moved. Still in the unpacking mode. I firm up on the movers very late therefore I only got their free-loan boxes late. I instead started collecting big PC boxes from my office many months earlier to begin packing. I was afraid of not having enough boxes and I ended up spending too much time optimising my packing, i.e every box filled to its last air space. Guess what! the movers send two lorries on that day but all my stuff went into only one lorry. I actualy have paid for two lorries. I believe this reduction is caused by my over efficient packing of boxes. If I do move again, I won't repeat my mistake. The mover estimated the number of lorries by peeping into what is left in my cupboard, drawers, etc. Firstly, I suggest fix on a mover and get as many boxes they can give or loan as early as possible. Once you clean your items (very critical for me, I don't mind spending time cleaning each and every item I want to move), just throw them into the box until quite full. Do it cupboard wise or by room wise to avoid mixing things up. No need to waste time filling every air space in the box. Seal it up, then label it. Then move on to the next box. For fragile items, wrap them with protective stuff first then dump into box. This will make your packing less time consuming. Spend that time saved doing cleaning instead. If you have paid for the lorry space and number of movers, use it, no need to make convenient for them at your own expense. Label all the boxes with a code, say 1, 2, 3, etc then list them down on paper. On arrival at new place, direct the boxes to their appropriate room from the prepared list. Don't try to remember from your head, you won't remember on that day!

I use to have a Black and Decker rechargable vacuum. Powerful but the battery is not durable. One year after I bought it, I had to replace the battery (under warranty). The replaced battery failed a few months later again. The battery did not last even though I made sure I recharge them only after they are completely flat as required by all NiCd batteries. Maybe you should consider one with removable batteries for easy replacemenent.

Thanks all for your comments and advice.