zirhk3355

Paiseh paiseh, me just came back from overseas...how was the meetup??

Start with the first question that comes to mind. Usually that's the most impt one...

I think at the end of the day, we must face up to the fact that a HDB block's common areas are still public spaces, ie anyone can walk in/out. Thus we cannot compare ourselves to a condominium where there are security and dedicated management to take care of the facilities. Well, at least this is what I usually tell myself to feel better!!

What the ...?? Hey, have they forgotten that this should have been a MUTUAL AGREEMENT? Since the buyer did not agree, then no payment. Period. Under any contract laws ALL OVER THE WORLD, payee of any commission would owe a fiduciary duty to the payer. So if both seller and buyer pay you, how do you act in the interest of BOTH?? Have anyone ever seen a lawyer standing in court and acting for both the defendent and the plaintiff? It would be the greatest joke, isn't it?? but this joke seemed to be a norm for our property agents' industry...haiz...

April 29, 2008 PropNex takes home buyers to court over fee dispute Case hangs on whether flat buyers who deal without agents should pay a commission, too By Tan Hui Yee A COUPLE who bought a home and refused to pay the seller's agent the 1 per cent commission are being taken to court by a property company. PropNex associate director Ricky Low Yong Sern is seeking about $4,000 in commission or a service fee in a case that is likely to turn the spotlight on the issue of whether home buyers should pay a fee to sellers' agents. He was the exclusive agent handling the sale of a terrace house in Whampoa built over 30 years ago and classified as a Housing Board flat. Marketing specialist Loh Yi Min, 29, and his wife, polytechnic lecturer Ariel Wee, 33, bought it for $400,000 in April last year. They had acted on their own without engaging an agent. In documents submitted to court, Mr Low claimed that he had a right to collect a commission as he had exclusive rights to market the property. He also claimed that he had provided services to the buyers. However, the couple refused to sign the commission agreement when they inked the sale last year. They claim they had made no deal to pay him a fee in the first place. Both sides will attempt to reach an agreement when they attend a court dispute resolution session next month. This is the first lawsuit of its kind started by eight-year-old PropNex. The issue of commissions payable by independent buyers, or buyers who deal without agents, has been hotly debated in recent years. While there is no law fixing the fees payable, property sellers typically pay their agents a 2 per cent fee, while buyers pay their agents a 1 per cent fee. Many agents marketing HDB flats also charge independent buyers a 1 per cent fee, but this is not practised in private property deals. Property veterans said this disparity was due to the lower prices of HDB flats, which amount to a lower commission for agents. Some independent buyers have complained that sellers' agents inform them that they have to pay a commission just before the purchase documents are signed, leaving them with little time to find out about their rights. Once the buyers sign the commission agreements, they are bound to pay the fee. However, agents have countered that independent buyers often leave the paperwork to the sellers' agents but refuse to pay a service fee. Major real estate agencies contacted by The Straits Times have varied responses to such situations, although all maintain that independent buyers of HDB flats should pay a fee. HSR property group chief executive Patrick Liew said his company takes three to four independent buyers to the Small Claims Tribunal each year for similar claims and has won payment each time. ERA Singapore's assistant vice-president Eugene Lim said his company does not take independent buyers to court when no commission agreements are signed. Meanwhile, the Consumers Association of Singapore has, in recent years, questioned the practice of agents taking commissions from both buyer and seller in the same transaction, citing a possible conflict of interest. tanhy@sph.com.sg Copyright © 2007 Singapore Press Holdings. All rights reserved. Privacy Statement & Condition of Access

I think forummer want to make sure dun choose the same level...

Are you and your friend using the same ID/contractor? If not you would have nothing to say because they can just claim that they charge differently. Try asking your friend's ID/contractor and compare the quotation in detail.

I remembered the Indian guy is staying in Ghim Moh, not sure which level he jump lah, the police won't reveal such details. However I last heard is that he landed at the open area near the playground, but turborama said airwell, so I am not sure liao...

Yes, usually I will walk under the shelter. Not just to prevent being hit by a sucidal person, but also to avoid being a killer litter victim. Given the height of our building and so many hidden corners, there is absolutely no way to prevent such cases. We just have to be more alert to strangers loitering and protect ourselves accordingly.

No lah, real thing looks nicer lah!! !!

Oh sorry forgot to mention this but after one ballot, those who are unsuccessful will not be snowballed to the next ballot; its a fresh ballot all over again. And yes, there ARE that many people who backed out. Actual case in point: Total about 200+ units, one of our friends here got queue no.330+, and he got an unit! SOMEMORE still got untaken units left behind after him! This literally means that for that particular ballot, easily about 200+ gave up. !!

Its not guaranteed. For eg if there are, say, 200 available units, HDB will queue up to, say, 500 balloters and reject the rest. So if you are at queue no 250, you got to pray that at least 50 people in front of you to give up then you got chance. But accordingly to the learned balloters that I met last night, if there are 200 units and your queue number is the first 200, you will be considered to have a successful ballot even if you end up do not choose an unit. Only those who are queue no 201 and beyond would be considered 'unsuccessful' if they cannot get an unit. I also heard that there is a penalty for those are within the first 200 if they declined to choose an unit. Why differentiate successful and unsuccessful is because those who were unsuccessful for four times in a row would be entitled to a double chance for their fifth time. This is why some people just 'tikam' and try to clock that four times of unsuccessful ballot, so that fifth time they can go for the estate that they REALLY want and stand a double chance.

I think you had been misrepresented in the negotiation process. I believe your OTP does not state "XXXpsf multiply by XXXsqft", right? Thus legally speaking, you do not agree to "$XXXpsf multiply by XXXsqft"; you agree to the actual price as stated in the OTP. When people speak of psf, its only the negotiation process, not actual agreement. The agent/seller could argue that you had explicitly agreed to the final price, ie you signed on the OTP (black and white) with the price stated big big there. Legally speaking, you did not incur any "loss" because you had agreed to the final price. Somemore you are also aware that 3% is within reasonable difference. Sorry to say this but the court would probably think you are trying to extort further discount out of this "reasonable difference" in gross floor area (GFA), in which case you suddenly becomes the aggressor and the seller/agent become the victims instead. If PSF is so important to you, next time you should not have signed on the OTP and asked for verification of the GFA, ie getting the property's details from SLA. Take it as a small lesson learnt lor...

Pertaining to sakae-sushi's post as well as yours, I felt surprised that people could actually submit for ballot and want to give up after getting a number. Shouldn't research and legwork be done before the submission? It also does not seemed to be the fault of HDB for not releasing to balloters what are the units available, because our friend here does not seem to like ANY units at all! This is also very sad because there are so many potential buyers who really love our estate but could not get it. Their chances would have been improved if all those 'put-in-and-see-how-first' tikam-buyers are not around to vie with them. The fact that so many ballot exercises need to be conducted for merely three blocks speak volumes of its efficency! Perhaps HDB should not allow easy submission online for a mere $10; maybe can increase the ballot amount to like $1000 but make it refundable if not successful? Or, abolish the 'privilege' of doubling chances for those who failed to get a successful ballot four times, so that no one will 'tikam' (to increase their 'failed' ballot count) and take away the chances of sincere buyers? Or if the situation is serious (ie alot of MIA in the successful ballot queue, wasting everyone's time), suspend these absconders from balloting again for another estate, eg first time MIA, suspend one month. Second time MIA, suspend three months, etc. Or less seriously, perhaps can conduct a pre-qualifying questionaire for balloters, asking them what they like about their lovenest and if their preferences match what the estate has to offer, then allow them to submit for balloting. Something like pre-marriage preparation course, which can be online survey style... Haha, I think this is more than a grouchy Monday morning post, mann...

Ya where are all the guys who said wanna come to THUM on sat? Haiz...only the old birds around... Anyway, we are trying to organise another THUM this coming Monday, 8pm. Let's just try out first, see how. Anyone who is available, pls come down ok?

I remembered my contractor told me that if done properly, there should not be cracks. He said something about filling the grooves with silcone first then plaster materials outside. And yes, the groove lines are because of prefab, not for expansion or contraction or demarcation. I think new flats nowadays do not have such lines anymore, maybe they had already plastered for us or improved their prefab technology.

According to IEA's guideline, seller pays 2% and buyer pays 1%. There is no 'law' to govern this at all; the current way of collecting only 2% from seller and none from buyer is a market practice. Just to check again, didn't you already agreed to the buying price? So where did that extra $20K came from?

Unless your OTP stated the price as "total GFA x $????psf" (which is unlikely), you do not really have a case. Anyway, you saw the unit, you liked it and you are okay to pay that price. So why get so upset over this? Move on lor, 3% difference in GFA is totally negligible, you should be transferring your energy to finding a good ID and stress yourself over the renovation now! BTW just to clear it up - Agents are commission-based; ie they are paid by the clients directly to work for them. In law, this means that they owe a fiduciary duty to the client. You do not pay them, they do not owe you any fiduciary duty. Period. Any agents who tell you that they are representing you and standing on your stand though you do not pay them commission is, well, simply b*llsh*tting you. They either want to put your guard down, or they are hoping to get future business from you. So actually this is nothing to do with honesty; he was paid by the owner, he owes fiduciary duty to the owner and so he has to stand on the owner's side and protect him/her AGAINST you. This is the same expectation that you must be having when you engage an agent to sell any property for you in future.

They will know themselves...

THUM!! How about this sat, 3pm again?? Let's try it again and see if we can make it work... People who are staying in their new flats already are highly encouraged to come!! Those who are "must-come" ones...no need me to name hor...

I am no expert, but just my personal experience. My flat is currently at #34, with the MRT track just beside it and three schools surrounding it. According to my FS master, its just the noise lor. The track is not coming towards my flat so its ok. And talking about noise, yes, even at #34 floor also can hear the national anthem and morning speech from the schools.

Change of toilet bowl should not be a problem lah, I saw contractors done it before, all within a day. However if you have nice nice parquet outside the toilet then better cover properly, unless your nice contractor so "goot-luk" go and wipe it dry first before bringing out... I think now it became their rest and relax corner...

Are you referring to HDB flats or condos? Because in condos, the unit is usually fitted with flooring, wardrobes and kitchen cabinets, electrical points, etc so those are considered basic (MUST-HAVE) fittings, whether is it bare, p/furn or f/furn. P/furn - White goods, curtains and lightings. White goods refer to kitchen appliances like fridge, washer/dryer, microwave oven, hob and hood, which are a must. Some will also provide wine chiller, dishwasher and conventional oven. F/furn - Basically ALL furnishings provided to the extent that the tenant can move in with just luggages. And yes, theorically this also means cutlery, plates and glasses/mugs, plus decorative items too. But usually f/furn MUST-HAVE's are sofa set, coffeetable, TV console (with or without TV), dining table + chairs, side tables, and all rooms with beds.

If they don't, someone else will because can take the $1 mah. But let's hope we can be more civil in this lor; SS is closing one eye because they also want to provide good customer service. But if people start to take their trolleys for personal use (ie just take and go ferry other heavy stuff), somemore dun return and just chuck it at the MSCP or high-floor corridors, if end up their customers dun hab enough trolleys to use, they will start enforcing it. I have even seen people pushing the trolleys towards the old hawker centre; I guess they are staying at the old blocks. The best one is I saw an ah-soh actually pushing trolley across the road towards Clementi Town Sec Sch!! Think she staying at Tanglin Halt "16-storeys" one... power...

Dun worry too much about it lah. Even banks can waive off penalties and interests though you know and clearly exceeded their due dates, so what gives for a real estate agency?? Nothing wrong with paying on 2nd appt at all; just argue that the service is not completed yet, why should you pay?? Even hawkers also gotta serve you the food first before getting your money, right? So relax; concentrate on more impt things like finding a good ID and renovate your lovenest!!