zirhk3355

Homo tiles IS ceramic tiles, except that the colour is homo throughout lor, that's why call homo mah...

Ceramic is white. If this is a ceramic tile and the surface is black, then it must be just a coating on top and the bottom should still be white. But the whole tile is black, then its probably a homo. There is no black ceramic tiles.

It will be above the toilet bowl. There's a shower screen mah, so will block the water from splashing onto the towels. I am using those rack+ bar type, akin hotels where you can put new folded towels on top. For vanity, besides the obvious locations for mirror and vanity light, I placed the extendable mirror (for shaving and squeezing pimples one) on one side of the walls and the towel ring on the other.

Check out the stamp duty calculator here: http://www.mediafire.com/?97dzngs9ibb Click on "Sale and Purchase of Immovable Property" and enter the selling price of the property. Also can calculate the stamp duty for lease/tenancy.

Oh new one then can ask the parquet floor worker to come back and polish it? Usually scratch on wood can be polish mah, unless it very deep. Home tiles...erm not my expertise, gotta to wait for others to reply you...hehe...

Good to hear this!! Have you been shopping around for ideas as well? Go buy some home decor magazines, maybe not even restricted to Singapore versions, but as long as its for small spaces. And while shopping these days, try not to just focus on the sale signboards and items, but on their decor. You will be surprised how innovative some designs are, especially in small shops with low ceilings! Always prepare your handphone's camera (if its a good one) or slip a small digicam into your bag to snap those good ideas!!

What is your worry on changing the skirting? Afraid they will scratch the floor? I think definitely will one lor, unless they are very very careful. The skirting is mounted with glue and small nails, so they have to ply it out and possibly damage a little paintwork also. But the worst of all, which is quite unavoidable, is that the colour of the new skirting will definitely not match the rest because of normal wear.

Nowadays I don't think contractor would ever commit to a handover deadline unless its a fully-detailed project. The reason is simple: There are just too many "unforeseen circumstances" when details are not properly finalised. In commercial cases where the deadline is determined, there are also leeways for unforeseen circumstances, but they define clearly how long certain works are to be completed. Thus, its actually very very difficult to get the contractor to agree to pay you any compensation unless you can prove that they had GROSSLY and UNNECESSARILY delayed the works. Eg the contractor took two weeks to lay the floor tiles. Things like 'unacceptable workmanship' and 'improper installation' resulting in delays are very subjective, because everyone's quality standards is different. They can always say to them this is good enough liao, but since you want to change it then of course will be delay lor.

By IEA's guidelines, yes. Its 1% for buyer, 2% for seller, same for both HDB and pte ppty. By market practice, no. But it also varies from case to case, from rich people investing in several properties to relatives or close friends of the agent to straightforward cases where comm can be negotiated. Sometimes the comm could also be higher, if the agent had gone extra mile to do more, although that's rare lah. General market practice: For HDB flat its still 1% for buyer and 2% for seller, while for pte ppty, its nothing for buyer and 1% for seller.

Your ID here is the joker of the day. He is like saying, he always go toilet, come up with wet hands and switch off the lights but nothing happened. But we all know its dangerous to touch electrical appliances with wet hands. So now SOMETHING happened liao, can he say that its the problem with the switch because he "never encountered it before"?? Laminates and parquet should never come in prolonged contact with water. Period. The verdict is clear.

Worrying about dropped contractors causing trouble to your flat is like worrying about whether you will kana loansharks' harassment - its totally unnecessary and you can't do anything about it anyway. Why not spend the energy on how you can do up your flat, decor ideas, visit some friends' flats, visit some nicely done-up commercial outlets (eg bars, hotels, restaurants, etc) and doing your research on the shortlisted IDs? In reno, there are so much more important things to worry about!! Don't get bogged down by such insignificant people lah... cheers...

Alot of possibilities, eg took a bank loan for that 5%, sold previous unit at a profit so contra, etc. Whatever it is, you are right, 5% deposit is definitely a must in cash, plus all the stamp fees, convenyancing charges, agents' comm (if any) etc are all in cash as well.

I agree. But even so, we are already having truckloads of people joining the housing agents' industry everyday. Imagine what will happen IF being a housing agent is an easy job... No job is easy, especially when we are talking about thousands of dollars remuneration for one SINGLE transaction that can be completed within a short period of time.

Whatever it is, the flat must SELL before the agent get any comm. All commission-based employees (eg insurance agents, sales, etc) are the same; you work and work and work, in the end still never close because the customer not happy with the price. Can you go back to your boss and tell him that you worked very hard liao, too bad cannot get the price, so can get a bit of commission or not??

That's why its depends on the agreement. Most sellers ask to stay longer in their flat is because they want to do contra and do not want to pay for two flats at one time. But in this case, since only 1 week, likelihood is because the seller's new flat got hiccups and not ready to move (reno, FS, 7th month, etc??). But whatever it is, the buyers always have the upper hand; strictly, ONLY the owners of the flat is allowed to stay there, regardless of whatever agreement you have. The seller want to sue you for breach of agreement, such agreement cannot be enforced since by abiding to it would result in HDB confiscating the flat or a fine. The buyers can just say he was coerced into signing without knowing the regulations, and since now they realised it is against HDB regulations, they do not want to abide by it. Eg You signed an agreement with me to help me take some items from a place, which I told you is my shop. But on the day you go to the shop and realised that its not mine, the shopowner stopped you from taking the items. Do you still take them and risk being jailed for theft??

Deepavali: Haha, yeah just came back from chilling out, now time to wack again... This had been happening in the whole of Singapore for donkey year now; who to blame if you kana?? Blame your fate lor! Believe it or not, nowadays a few cautious loansharks will ask to verify your address before giving you the money, because they also know this problem! Hey, so tomorrow meet or Sunday?

No I am not...

NO.

Oh no, I find myself complaining about the MIB again...hehe...anyway here goes: Pasting sticker is not a problem at all. The real issue with address-changing is that you can change to my address and I can change to your address; in fact, you want to put that you stay in sixth ave also can. So many letters had been written, so many victims of loansharks, etc - yet till-date they are not implementing anything. What is so difficult?? To verify our address, some banks/insitutions would ask for our PUB or phone bills. Why can't the police also do that?? Yes not 100% accurate also, still got loophole, but at least better than letting everyone change address at their whims and fancy, right? But noooo...they rather stick to what they do (or don't do) best, and wait until they catch up with the loanshark, find the real debtor and charged him for faking address. Isn't that more work?? Maybe they are taking their chances; how many debtors are actually brought in even though the loansharks are caught?

Buangkok you really don't know?? Hehe...maybe you should ask around where is Buangkok chalets and they will give you the directions... Okok kidding ahh...

Are you talking about big bosses, CEOs and MDs that kind? Ya I agree usually such top mgmt are very nice people, but as the message passes down the middle mgmt are the jokers who screw up everything. But when I talk about the best doesn't really mean the top brass; it could be your manager, your superior and especially your peers.

Wow, totally agreed with you! Being the best of the worst will make you in the envy of others and definitely will have some people who are green-eyed and want to bring you down. Its not just people looking down on you, but that they shun you and you end up alone. On contrary, if you are too far below, say a cleaner or kopi-auntie, ie no threat to these ambitious high-flyers, you would be fine. The problem for being the worst of the best is that you are here with them yet they felt that you do not deserved to be here, they felt their education/skills are unappreciated, they may also harm you like the way a best of the worst would be harmed... Aiyo...dilemma lehh...

Wow, thanks for all the replies! I was worried that everyone will ignore this post...hehe... I am going to play devil's advocate, cuz I gave this topic a long, long thought before. This is because now contemplating to change jobs, but I won't tell you if its from best to worst or vice versa...hehe... But to be the worst of the best, you also have to consider that not everyone is willing to teach you. You may have to look-see and learn on your own. Conversations, small talk, all not same topic. Another very possible disadvantage is that they may look down on you, do not want to be associated with you. Of course, to be associated with all these high-flyers is a prestigious thing lor, but only on the surface... So its almost like being the best of the worst also; you can end up alone also. I agree with you on the best of the worst though... If you are surrounded by everyone that are worse than you, how do you improve yourself? What do you benchmark against? That's why they say winner are always lonely...in fact I felt that being the best of the worst for a long time will actually make one slack and become complacent. And the last line is the dangerous one: Soon, being the best of the worst may make you feel that you want blend in with the rest and lower yourself, then voila, you are one of them now. Wah lau, very tam sim leh...everything also want...

Just an update on the fire hose issue that everyone is catching up on: When I took the photos, I checked and its confirmed that the fire hose had not been installed yet. ICA regulations say you are supposed to change your place of residence, not the place that you own. So that means only when you move then you change lor. I am quite sure HDB does not update the government bodies, but perhaps you can get the NPP officer to check on his/her system; its all linked up. Usually you are supposed to go change it yourself. Wah 20 floors each, I think that will take up their whole shift liao...after patrol finish can knock off...

I am not an elitist or self-bashing, but I am sure some of us at work found ourselves to be surrounded by people who are either far worse than ourselves, or far better than ourselves. This can be in terms of anything, like education, work experience, attitude, etc. So just wondering aloud: Best of the worst - we can stand out to be the high-flyer, but getting bored by the kind of conversations or pissed-off by the conservative or narrow-mindset, eg a experienced degree-holder amongst blue-collared workers, uneducated old folks and/or new employees, or Worst of the best - we can learn alot from all these experienced or highly-intelligent people, but getting demoralised as it seemed like we will never be able to be as good as them, eg an 'O' level holder amongst all the tip-top schools' PhDs, masters and/or high-flyers. Which would you like to be??