zirhk3355

Wow, kogsw88 bro, I guess your 'order list' for this irobot is getting longer! You sure your friend don't mind ah?? Sekali he kana checked by customs and make him pay GST...hehe...

I don't think this is legal - you must check with HDB and IEA on it. The agreed purchase price will be used as a basis for housing loan, so it cannot be tampered with or containing any other items. Otherwise, why not you go sign up for ID package, mark up the purchase price accordingly and get the seller to pay your ID?? This is similiar to the cases where the buyer gets the seller and agent to mark up the purchase price, so that s/he can get a "personal loan" at lower interest rates - HDB and banks are clamping down on this and offenders are dealt with severely.

Hehe, nobody can answer to my question below? Does anyone remember the time when we were teenagers or even pre-teens, and some parents/teachers start to impose curfews, telling you cannot eat certain foods, cannot do certain things, cannot go out with certain people, etc? And what was our reactions? Good for those who can say "I obeyed my parents' and teachers' instructions fully!", but I am sure you have friends who became even more rebellious when being restricted by their parents/teachers. Some would think, "I want to go out with that ah-beng because its fun, but I know how to protect myself de lor!" and go against your parents' wishes. Or worse, some would PURPOSELY do all the bad stuff, because never do also they don't trust me, so might as well do lah! Of course, when the parents/teachers are restrictive does not mean the child has authority to rebel - two wrongs does not make one right. But then again, WHAT IS RIGHT AND WHAT IS WRONG?? WHO IS TO JUDGE? For eg, would you blame a child for running away from home when his parents always restrict him to come back immediately after school and forces him to take up tuition, piano, horse-riding (and what-have-you's) everyday? This is a true story: When my married buddy (whose wife always question his actions/whereabouts) fell in love with another girl in office, I also cannot really point my finger at him. Yes, I must emphasise that he is WRONG to have an affair when he is married, but I also emphasise that I cannot blame him TOTALLY because his wife had somehow contributed to it too. Put it this way lah: If you are a good wife who is most caring and understanding, show your love in the RIGHT WAY, you leave your husband with absolutely NO REASON to go astray.

Speaking of vhive, I have a very embarassing incident to share, which happened today at Vhive's great world city branch. I sat on one of those single seater, which is like a day bed that can let you relax and stretch out in a semi-lying-down position (sorry not sure what to call such chairs). As I was getting up and sat at the side of the chair, one of the legs gave way and I fell on the ground together with it. Okok, I am abit on the plump side lah, but not Moses Lim type one ok, I am 82kg. Checked on the chair's leg and found that it was only secured with four small screws, about 2cm long only!! I swear never to buy anything from Vhive at all...

Yoongf, I thought Queen is double of Single beds, while King is double of S/Super beds?

I supposed you mean whether there is a cap on the glass/cup of water? The answer is no, for easy drinking by the Buddha/Gods. But to prevent dirt (or some even say breeding of mosquitoes), you should change the water regularly.

If I am not wrong, for optimal suction, the hood is to be between 70cm to 1m above the hob. Anything lower will be dangerous (don't know why), and anything higher will not have good suction. Thus, to make the hood at a comfortable height without affecting the suction, you have to customised the height of the entire kitchen cabinet holding the hob lor. I think at this point its almost impossible to dismantle the whole cabinet and redo again... My dad also have problem with the hood, but the rest of the family is ok. Apparently, like you, the hood came up his forehead and he kept knocking into it because he can't see it. For me, its just below my eyes so I can see it, while for my wife, my mother and other siblings, the hood is above their heads, so its also ok.

To pay the seller's comm, I think that is a request made by the seller as part of the deal, so its up to you whether to accept or not. But to pay the 1% comm, you CAN go around it. Had you signed any agreement that says you agree to pay the buyer's comm? If not, then I would suggest that you just keep playing along with the agent, use delay tactics eg tell her that you will sign her agreement during the 1st appt, tell her you need to let your husband/lawyer friend/etc see the agreement first, and so on. In brief, do not reject to pay her comm (which will cut you off the deal immediately) and also do not sign any agreement with her. Meanwhile, to safeguard yourself, get in touch with the seller and let him/her know that you ARE willing to agree to her terms. Why? Because this will get the seller on your side and work together against the agent. If the seller is in the dark, the agent can tell him/her that you are not agreeable to the terms lah, got better deal lah, etc even though its not true.

I dowan to advertise for the shop, plus I also not sure about its reputation. Anyway, just scout around the neighbourhood shops at Alexandra village - you should be able to get a good price, especially if you are confirmed to buy and can commit on the spot.

Must have hit her quota for the month already - got business also dowan to do?? Or maybe she thinks you are from her competitors lah, trying to get her quotation to check market rates!

Very simple - most of them just call the ads and make an appt as though they are going to pay. Use delay tactics when the agent asks to sign the agreement, until seen the unit, met the owner and try to get in touch with him/her personally. Talking to the owner does not mean to bypass the agent (you are not paying comm, so it won't benefit you to bypass), but you will reduce the possibility of the agent cooking up stories in-between, especially if the agent realised that you are not paying comm. Another lot of them actually advertised personally on the papers themselves for "Properties Wanted". They indicated clearly on the ad that "agents are welcome but no commission given". This might reduce the numbers of calls they received, but at least they are fair and clear. You will be surprised still got agent call them one lor, especially those who do not have exclusive and want to close the unit quickly. Last but not least are those who call up the ads and tell the agents frankly that they do not pay commission. 9.9 out of 10 cases the agent will slam down the phone, but its true, one of my friends did successfully get entertained by the agent and eventually bought the unit. Think the reason was that the agent initially had exclusive with the seller, but took too long to sell and the seller decided to terminate the exclusive agency. So the agent was rushing to sell the flat as she felt that got potential and does not want to let go.

Definitely worth it. How big is Singapore? All the so-called romantic places, hide-outs, etc are already overturned and over-utilised by the photographers so many times. Its really very very very common to see wedding photos with the backdrop of Sentosa, fort canning, marina south, or the rustic buildings at tg pagar, museum, old fire stations, etc. During my time there is no such thing as cost-sharing yet, maybe cuz not popular. So the cost is very high, because you have to pay for the travel expenses of the photographer, assistant and make-up artist. Got a friend who did this, went to PARIS for their photoshoot! Soooo romantic lor!! What they did was that they booked a tour for honeymoon but go over two days in advance, and join the tour after the shoot, while the crew came back to Singapore. With a fantastic backdrop like Paris, your photographer average one also can do a good job lor!

Huh if the deal is already closed then u still sign exclusive for what? Or you mean you sign the form that says you agree to pay commission?

No, I am talking about those 'real' office-system people who supply those cubicles, partitions, cabinets, etc for commercial offices. They also accustomed to small spaces and I am sure can work out something for you. But like I said, will make your home/room look like an office lor...

Oops, my mistake. Well, but still...?? Hehe... This is subjective already lor, very personal. Like I said I am confident in samsung because it had served me well too. I would only apply the Jap/Kor preference on cars, not electronics because Kor is really up and coming. BTW Sony is really going down in today's fight in plasma/LCD TVs - their Wega simply drops to the bottom of the turnovers.

Ok lah, don't torture you, since you sincerely searched for your stuff instead of waiting to be spoonfed. Whether you are using HDB loan or not is not a criteria for HDB flat owners to buy private property. The key is the HDB grant. http://www.hdb.gov.sg/fi10/fi10206p.nsf/WP...es?OpenDocument

Just a curious question for those who agree with the 80-20 trust thingy: Does it makes a difference? I mean, does it mean that if you trust 80-20, then he won't go astray and if you trust 100%, he might go astray?? Surely not, right? Or it is just the "I KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER" kinda feeling that makes you more secure as a woman? Scenerios: 1. Husband go astray, I don't know - Aiya, nbz, so lu-gi!! *insecure* 2. Husband go astray, I KNOW - ok, shiok! Can run road (zao lor) first... *secure* Hehe...just food for thought...

No, further to what GMC said, I would say that you do have a choice. But of course everything got upside and downside; if you choose not to have an agent, then you must be confident enough to go through the deal yourself. This is really not that difficult, otherwise HDB won't conduct resale seminars as they would enforce you to be represented by an agent. Contrary to homeowner's experience, I have seen MANY people closing deals without agents. However, the key is that we are always worried about this and that, so much so that we always fear the worst; can't be blamed also, after all how many Singaporeans have buy more than one/two properties in their lifetimes?? Thus we get an agent hoping that they would *really* act in our favour. I do not have the stats, but I believe deals being screwed up by agents are no lesser than deals being screwed up by sellers/owners themselves. The difference is after being screwed up, if the deal still goes through (but at your disadvantage), you still have to pay commission if you had appointed an agent. My personal advice: I think you are already mindful that there is no free lunch lah, but I would encourage you to build your confidence on closing the deal without an agent. Go for the HDB resale seminars again, check with friends, call up some lawyers, whatever. It is really not difficult - alternatively, you can appoint some guys who can doing your paperwork at a much lower fee. Think the website is www.diyhdb.com or something (pl google it). My take is that agents are only valuable for their databases, network and efforts in searching for your properties/buyers. Their contributions for running errands, paperwork, legal, etc are really quite worthless, which you can DIY.

These information can be found at HDB website. Just go under "Home Seeker" and select "Buying a Resale Flat".

If you are ok with office furniture, what about trying to call up those office-system furniture people? They are probably the professionals on space planning - many small firms also have small spaces to fill mah. But you might make your home look like office lah, although nowadays office-system all quite nice one. Maybe not be very friendly to you if you just buy like one or two pieces, but got business they sure entertain one mah.

Ya, I know that and some of drinking buddies are from IT too. However while not all IT guys are boring, you must admit that MOST of them actually are boring, although the number of fun IT guys are increasing lah. He is so right!! I also chided my friend, because the guy was like that from the beginning lor, not as though he changed after marriage; in fact the problem is actually because he DID NOT change so my friend is greatly disappointed. But okok, to be fair to my friend sometimes the husband is quite insensitive and I also cannot tahan. Can't reveal too much lah, sekali someone here knows them! Thought of another saying: Women always hope that men will change after marriage - but they never did. Men always hope that women will not change after marriage - but they always do. True???

Not just the aesthetics, but I personally placed both TV side-by-side and still feel that the image for R81 is better. And if numbers mean anything, PX5's contrast ratio is 1200:1 while R81 is 8000:1. The response time for PX5 is 12ms, while R81 is 8ms. Viewing angle is 176 for PX5 and 178 R81. Last but not least, PX5 means this is the 5th generation LCD TV for sharp, which also means R81 is the 8th generation for samsung. But like I said above these numbers don't count for me, I just go with my feel on how the images look. Top up with the three HDMI inputs for SCV, DVD and PS3, these are the reasons why I chose R81.

I know the marketing strategy of samsung really makes it look like a lemon, a very bad move when starhub starts to give it out for free with 2-yr contracts. However, it may seem like a lemon, but its definitely not. I am one of the 'first-mover' who fell in love with R71 and bought the 26" about 2 yrs ago - today I am still very happy with it. I am almost definitely going for the R81 for my living room, but it will be 37" instead of 40", because even when placed side-by-side both looks the same size! The current price for 37" is $2400, still waiting for price to go down, esp in GSS. Anyway, I would need the TV by Jul'07 when my reno is done, so would probably be committing very soon!

The agent can only get commission from the seller provided if there is no seller's agent. If there is an agent on the other side, she will be doing this for you for free, do you know that?? You are in the right not to pay commission if you just called up the number as advertised in the newspaper for a particular unit, because you did the search yourself and she just answered the call. In such cases, the unit probably had also appointed that same agent to sell, so she can get commission from seller. However, the moment that she starts to search for you and bring you to see units that she found suitable, you are in the wrong if you do not pay commission. In today's saturated market, she would mostly co-broke and bring you to see units that have seller's agents. This means that when the transaction is successful, the seller's agent get comm from seller while your agent gets comm from you. Both agents do not exchange/cover each other at all. The moment you tell her what you want she go searching specifically for what you want, she IS your agent and you have to pay her commission. No need 'afraid', no need to 'think' - it is a FACT. Of course if the agent stupid enough to do everything for you without asking you sign any agreement, then you can play punk and don't pay lor, but that would be really unethical. Sorry if I sound like be very harsh, but I think you are not an unethical person lah, just that you do not know the regulations and also have a tight budget. So this is just to let you know lor...

Erm, this may not be a popular choice, but I think Ikea's tables are quite good leh. Can mix and match the shapes and sizes also. I also 'custom-built' my own L-shaped study table from Ikea and had been using for more than 7 years liao.