manutd1972

i'm keeping quiet for now. my corner unit neighbour seems like a nice old lady staying just wif her husband. and her plants and stuff are in a much better condition than my opposite neighbour. the opposite one....i hv to hold my breath when i walk past his unit if his corridor window is open. and i hv to walk past his unit everytime i go out or come home. his unit has those poorly-ventilated, very very old flats, seldom-cleaned smell typical of those occupied by lone elderly. a bit sour kind of smell. like a very old, damp mattress, u knw? no offence to the elderly, just illustrating the typical smell. in fact, i try my best to be extra patient wif the elderly. tt's why i'm not intending to feedback to TC unless it gets really too much of a safety hazard. he places his plants on those wooden benches typically used by contractors and painters, and they really look like they would fall apart anytime. anyway, both of them seem friendly enough, cos they smiled and waved back when i smiled and waved at them. even the corner unit one chatted wif me quite a bit on 1 of my site visits.

u shld see my corridor. can't believe the condition of the plants and their supports that my neighbours have. if Bro Dex allows me to post a pic here, u'll see what i mean. it doesn't even look as if the plants are maintained at all, other than watering. all sorts of junk. but lucky me, my corridor is not those 3ft type. even so, it does seem a bit of an eyesore and perhaps, evacuation route hazard.

dun think TS will need a bridging loan since it's his 1st time buying a flat. he's not waiting for any CPF monies to be returned before he pays the seller so no need for bridging loan. TS, u haven't sign any documents with your own agent? And seller has his own agent? Are the 2 agents colleagues or friends? Or they only know each other when your agent brought you to view the house? If u haven't sign any documents with your agent, you still can change agents, but it is a bit unethical to do so at this last minute, just before signing OTP. can PM me if you wanna find out more.

den u can't call him again? isn't it possible tt he got caught up in work, or with other clients and by the time he's available, he might have forgotten the missed call? how many times have we ourselves, in our busy-ness, forgot to get back to someone when we promised them we would, or forgot to return a call? if we're always expecting people to "serve" us or accede to our needs, den we will always run the risk of being disappointed, let down by those providing service to us because there will always be a mis-match of expectations. how much time do these service staff spend wif us? how much of us and our expectations do we think they will understand abt us in such a short span of time? even our spouses who spend so much time wif us have problems fully understanding us and our expectations. how much more can we reasonably expect frm strangers? like i said, i'm not supporting any one side here, cos i've been the recipient of poor service before, as well as the giver of good service before. all i'm saying is life is hard and stressful enough, why get ourselves frustrated or upset over something tt might jolly well have a valid explanation to? more often than not, most times, it's our own assumption of the situation tt causes us emotional angst, anger, hurt, disappointment etc.

very interesting read. as what some have mentioned, some agents go the extra mile. so because these few agents go the extra mile, should we as home-owners, home-buyers, and home-sellers expect all agents to do so? shld we expect our own-appointed agents to do so? in fairness, i think we'd be a little unreasonable to expect extra mile service frm any agent, especially when most of us are paying only 1% commission when the guideline is 2%. Yes, it's still 2%, are all of us aware of this? 1% has become the expected norm cos a few agents started under-cutting in order to secure deals and in the end, the other agents were all "pressured" to follow suit, in order to be able to make a living. for those of you who did experience the extra mile frm ur agent, did u eventually gave ur agent an "angpao" on top of his 1%? i would think a lot of us didn't. of cos, we're not obligated to. but in the same voice, agents are also not obligated to reduce their comm frm the recommended 2% to 1%, or go the extra mile for us. we're the stake-holders here. if we don't take care of our own interests, and safeguard ourselves, who would? to lay all blame on our agents when things go wrong is to point an accusing finger at someone, while having 3 other fingers pointing back at ourselves. dun get me wrong. i'm in nobody's corner. there are good and bad agents, just as there are good and bad customers. we protect ourselves, take responsibility for our own stuff, and let others do the same for themselves. if they carry out the minimum requirements of their job properly, give them their due. if they fall short, feedback and seek compensation if possible. if they exceed, reward them. if we want people to be fair to us, let's first be fair to them. just to share, i paid my agent a lot more than the 1% he charged me when i sold my place. his 1% only came up to 2K+ but he had gone the extra mile in selling my place, and finding a new plc for me to buy. so i rewarded him with 50% share of the extra profits from the sale of my place. i had a target selling price and he managed to sell my unit at 15K above my price. and my price had oredi included the average COV. some of u are probably saying i'm mad, giving so much of my money away, but i believe in rewarding good service so as to encourage continued good service to all others. I've been in sales for over 10yrs, and i can tell u, it makes a huge psychological boost to the salesman when a customer shows tt they appreciated his extra efforts and service. i tip good taxi-drivers, i tip the shampoo girl at the salon whr i cut my hair, i also tip the waiter/waitress who gives me good service and displays good service attitude. always tell ourselves, wat we feel and wat we see are only on our side. wat the other party sees, feel, experience, is not known to us unless they share wif us. there may possibly be valid reasons for things that happen in which we're the recipient. eg. not answering phonecalls, no return of calls, not driving off when car ahead had already gone far far etc etc. The other party could have his hands full, so he can't answer. or he might be in an important mtg. or his hp might be at the guard post if he's inside a shipyard or an army camp etc. The batt may be flat thus he didn return calls? Driver might hv fainted tt's why he didn't move off when car ahead had oredi drove off. The possibilities are numerous. We dun hv to get all upset and judgmental and accusatory. It's always good for us to stay calm, and give others the benefit of the doubt until proven otherwise.

may be so, but at least if both agents are present, there are witnesses to those items such as the door locks, window grilles etc, and even the electrical tripping if it happens. So u can "force" the seller to pay u the equivalent charges tt it'll cost u to take care of these items, with both agents acting as witnesses. and make the seller's agent partially responsible too by making him agree to pay if seller dun pay.

CCM = Choo Chiang Marketing. They sell lots of stuff, including several brands of switches. Legrand, Clipsal, Hager. Google them and check their website.

hi dex, i've been looking at digital locks for a couple of months already. and from what i've gathered, yes, the YDR4110 is the same stuff as the Gateman F10. apparently this situation came about cos Yale bought over Gateman and started using Gateman's digital lock technology. at least, tt's wat i read in the earlier part of my search. can't remember the details liao. didn't really bother cos after all my reno stuff, the digital locks became out of my budget....haha...

there's nothing u can do now already. before completion, u shld hv done an inspection in the presence of the seller and both your agents (if your agents are the type who give very good service), and pointed out these issues to the seller. but once completion is done, seller don't have any obligation to do any rectification works. since u're renovating, i suggest u address those issues properly. especially the electrical part. whole house re-wiring shld be done every 10yrs anyway, to be on the safe side.

haha....tt's why i say, so long as ur system is a matching one, dun bother too much abt it. wat u shld take note of are the frequency response and signal-to-noise ratio.

ehh...not those simple design, though a lot of electricians r nw using the term designer on such switches. the real designer switches are those like Legrand's Arteor series etc. Some of them not cheap, though i would caution realmplanet to confirm the switches supplied and double-check their prices with CCM.

no, no....not expert. just an amateur. thr r so many others ard who're more knowledgeable than i am. 40Hz is good enough. most of our human ears can't pick up the really really low frequencies anyway. so u dun need a sub oredi. ur system is gd enuf for our typical home theatre and music CD use. impedance....hmm...very long explanation. better to just refer to the following: http://www.prestonelectronics.com/audio/Impedance.htm http://www.deltamedia.com/resource/impedance.html http://www.hometoys.com/htinews/feb04/arti...k/impedence.htm good luck reading. but so long as it's a matching system, i wldn't worry too much abt it.

wif those floor-standing speakers, no need sub oredi. generally, most branded speaker makers make such big, floor-standing speakers to be able to produce noticeably more bass than those small satellite speakers. if u wanna be sure, den check the frequency range of your floor-standings. look at the low frequency number. if it's anywhere between 20Hz to 180Hz, u're good enough. dun nd a sub liao.

erm....20 lights at $760 is a good price. assuming installation charge is $10/light, labour is oredi $200. $560 / 20 lighting points = $28/lighting point. tt's the lower end of a typical lighting point cost. $1.5k for 20 lights could be due to other reasons. maybe everything is concealed for yours? concealed wiring does increase the price by quite a lot. also mayb u're using designer switches?

the minimum annual income required to qualify for a reno loan is 24K or 30K, in accordance with MAS regulations. can't remember which amount. as such, whether u wanna loan a lower amount or longer tenure etc, also won't make any difference to any of the banks. Their hands are tied in your case. unless u can find some other acceptable income document tt will increase ur annual income to the MAS stipulated amount.

as i hv mentioned earlier in d thread, d HDB appeals committee sits only once a month to look into all appeal cases. so if u just missed this mth's sitting, ur case may take 1 mth for d result to be known. so urs 1-2 weeks oredi considered very good.

i dunno also. just tell d staff u looking for the rubber seal for typical glass doors.

definitely wif or without aircon will make a difference to the rent. and wif such an accessible location as tt described above, whether near or not near MRT is no longer that critical. the landlord can still ask for a high rental, simply cos the location is very good. everything tt one needs for daily living is only 1 bus-stop away, and thr's so many bus services to choose frm. and if the tenant drives, being near expressway makes it attractive also. my guess, probably asking for at least $500 for this one. possibly more.

ehh....dude, S/S is almost rustproof against moisture, not chemical leh. Bleach contains etching agents that act like diluted acid. So if u put bleach and S/S together, obviously the S/S will tarnish sooner or later and once the outer layer of protection has been etched away, the underlying steel will surely rust. besides, gladyslim is not saying tt S/S will never rust. only saying the quality of S/S frm different makers are different. i can tell u 18/10 S/S frm reputable European and American makers are almost rust-proof, but 18/10 S/S frm a run-of-the-mill China maker will rust within 12 months of usage, if not sooner. my personal experience frm my previous job in the marine industry, China S/S starts to rust in less than 6 mths when exposed to the harsh marine environment. Worse part is it's actually labelled 18/8 S/S, which is the most rust-resistant grade of S/S.

if u just wanna buy it and fix, den go to Home-Fix. 2m length selling at $19.90. but u nd to knw the thickness of ur glass door, cos thr's 2 thickness available - 8mm and 10mm. but for sure, if u do a search, definitely can get it at a cheaper price.

no, not experienced. just sharing frm wat i myself encountered. if it can help a fellow home-owner, den good. thr r a few good IDs/contractors on this forum tt u might wanna consider.

i would advise u to wait for Plush Living to get back to u. who did u speak to at Plush? do a search on this forum for them. u can read the reviews on them here. frm wat i read, they do good work. i needed to rush my reno so i didn't wait for them. my current ID is also quite good in terms of his ID expertise, detailing etc. And he also wasn't really upset when i out-sourced a number of stuff cos i told him i'm on a tight budget. and even after i wrote him a quite nasty email, he still was friendly, helpful and all business as usual.

wat's the effective difference between a RIM lock and a MORTISE lock? is it only the thickness of the bolt?

ID1 included electrical works in his quote of $35k? impossible. i tell u, eventually the total price for ID1 will be closer to $40k after electricals. at this point in time, he doesn't even knw how many lighting points u'll want, how many switches, any 2-way switches, etc etc, there's no way he can work in a price for the electricals. note ID2 didn't even try to include any electrical works in his scope. cos electricals are mainly between the owner and the electrician. the IDs/contractors just act as coordinators and sometimes middlemen if u engage their electrician. of cos, u knw they'll get a comm if u do that. but sometimes might be more worthwhile to do so. mayb u wanna clarify wif ID1 if his quote really also includes ALL electrical works (ie. lighting points, installation of lights, switches, doorbell, etc). nt much comments abt ID2, but i just wonder if he's really an ID or another one of those contractors wif interior design knowledge. cos most IDs i knw, dun like to construct kitchen cabinet base. they prefer to use suspended cabinets to create shadows. if cabinet bases are used, they wld usually be shorter in depth, so that as u stand in the kitchen, it wld seem as if there's no base and the cabinets are suspended.

to me, tt's just a normal tap, with 2 "options" of turning it on and off.