pepamint_L

alot of experienced people here, thankfully...I've started searching online for available resale flats again, but see see look look only, coz HLE expiring..unfortunately, read in yesterday's papers that the valuation of resale flats has risen apparently, COV will drop meaning less cash upfront, but with higher valuation, i'll be saddled with a larger debt in the long run...there are also less resale flats for sale now, due to all the property measures....really very demoralised....

actually Chang doesn't seem as bad as what you guys have said la. I came really close to engaging him last week, trying to make appointment with him to view the flat i was going to buy, until i got played out by seller's agent and didn't manage to buy the flat. story here: http://www.renotalk.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=36758 Anyway, mr chang was quite responsive to my email and sms-es and even though i made several changes in the proposed time and then finally cancelled the whole thing, he seemed quite nice about it...

just wondering, what would you have done differently if you were in my agent's shoes?

She's a part-timer, in this line for about 1 year only. Yeah, I hope she can learn and improve also, but will need more time. Ultimately, we're still friends.. Even if someone asks me for agent recommendation, I'll still recommend her, because she is really an honest girl...but I would just tell the person asking for recommendation to be a bit smarter/shrewder, to deal with seller, and not rely entirely on my friend for all the negotiation then...

hey guys, thank you to all for your kind words and advice! You're right, we were very inexperienced and naive. As for my agent, well, she's actually my friend, I engaged her because she's really a nice and honest girl, plays by the rules, very ethical. This is usually a good thing, but in this case, bad because, she wasn't shrewd enough to deal with the other agent, nor negotiate a better deal for us. As for the seller's agent, I understand that seller's agent should act in the seller's best interest, and they should try to get the highest price, but I prefer it if he did it all above board, not by lying and all.... Seriously, I will read through all your inputs again (like exam revision ) before I go view another flat, so as not to commit more mistakes and put myself up for disappointment again... But first, I'll need to find another agent, coz my fiance was rather pissed off with my agent-friend, he felt that she is too inexperienced and in that particular episode, wasn't able to help much at all...and i do agree with him...

I have to get this off my chest... My fiance and I have been viewing flats almost every weekend for the past 3 months, finally saw what we liked, a 5 room flat in AMK Ave 3 2 weekends ago. First time we met the seller's agent, a middle aged man by the name of Lawrence S*** from Pro***x, he wasn't even wearing his agent's badge, seemed to not know alot of the procedures. He was very nice and friendly to my agent, acting like he's really glad to meet my agent who verbally advised him on all the procedures. He also claimed that he wanted to close the case as quickly as possible since he was going overseas for a week. Anyhow, he told my agent he's very keen to sell to us, said someone already offered him 30K but if we offered 35K COV he would try his very best to close the case. when we finally did 3 days later, he said someone else offered the same but had yet to get HLE. He claimed he did not want to start a bidding war, won't consider our bid anymore, even if we increased our bid! ....Then after a while, he suddenly changed his tune and said, if we offered 38K, he claims 'owner will close deal'. Then he 'went overseas' for 1 week..We should have smelt a rat by his sudden turn-around, but we were so keen on the flat that we ignored the warning signs...On hindsight, he was actually just waiting for the other party to get the HLE, to start the bidding war! Finally, just before he returned from his 'overseas trip' we offered 38K, and he smsed my agent, to say it was a 'done deal'. The buyer had agreed, so even if someone else called him now, he would said the deal is closed. After his return, we were in fact arranging with him for the time to sign the option to purchase (on saturday) when he suddenly changed his tune again, claiming the other party offered 40K and we have to offer the same or higher! In the end, we had to give up totally, firstly because the COV was really out of our budget and secondly, we finally saw what he was trying to do...In this whole process, we were led by the nose, the Lawrence **au was manipulating us and using us as a pawn to raise the COV... Very angry, sad, disappointed, was so looking forward to it and now left feeling played out and used....

Ah....let me check whether my understanding is correct. Assuming HDB continues with this 2.6%, my loan period is 30 years (360 months), and loan amount is M. So my monthly payment is more or less the same at (1.026 x M)/360. Is this fixed mortgage also referring to flat rate method? As for the normal loans from banks (unless explicitly stating its fixed mortgage), my monthly payments would vary. according to that month's interest rate (if under floating rates), and outstanding loan amount (which should reduce as the months go by). Is this correct?

What you said does sound logical...Thanks for the advice! We had thought that with this change, we may need to update HDB. Haha, we're just the simple minded, straight forward kind of persons.... Anyway, I wrote a question to HDB, informing about the change in employment (but not the 8K ceiling), someone called back today! I was pleasantly surprised at the speed of response, kudos to HDB for that! He told me that HDB will honour the HLE as long as I exercise option to purchase Before the HLE expiry. When I asked him to give me a confirmation in black and white, he refused to though....is this normal?

I need to apologise first for my ignorance.. I tried reading up on home loans and found this website: http://www.smartloans.sg/pages/types-of-mo...es-and-features Is HDB home loan considered "Capital and Interest Mortgage"? For other types of loans, the interest rate is then based on the principal amount which is decreasing every month as I repay the loan? Could someone enlighten me? I am confused?

While searching for a suitable resale flat to purchase, I have already applied and got my HLE letter. However, it was based on my income only as my fiance was then unemployed. Now my fiance just got a job and our combined income will be more than 8K, do we need to re-apply for HLE even though it has not expired yet? Ultimately, I think we may need to appeal to get the HLE since the income ceiling is 8K, has anyone done this before and was it sucessful? What was the procedure like?

Last week I went to view a 5 room flat in AMK, valuation 480K, seller still asking for 50K COV leh....I offered 32K,but was turned down..is COV really dropping? Not so much in 'hot' areas i think...