zirhk3355

Hey thanks alot! Anywhere else I can shop around?

Toa Payoh Lor 6 Blk 190 #03-510

Anyone....?? !!

For that you have to rely on the brand name of the sliding mechanism. If I am not wrong Besglass and Aust-Screen have good mechanism.

For me its always about the design, so R81 win hands-down. Used to be very concerned about the technical specs, made-in-where, etc but after knowing more about the industry, found that all these are quite insignificant. Recently an independent report found that a 'branded Japanese' TV contrast ratio of 8000:1 is actually only 2200:1. Sidetrack abit: Did anyone know that the polo-shirts for both Lee Jeans and the 'famous' American brand with a man riding a polo horse, are made by the same manufacturer? Same material, just slapped with different design and label. My Japanese car, technical specs on paper put 160bhp, but when I went for dyno test recently, it was only 103bhp. And I am sure I don't need to elaborate if anyone of us here can actually achieve the fuel consumption level as per stated in the brochure when we first bought the car. Ok back to topic: Thus, I gave up on comparing all these specs, or should I say gave up on believing them; I had became an aesthetic man, just go by my feel and how attractive the design is.

Not sure how to describe this, but I am keen to get those strings of crystal beads or glass pieces and hang them together like string curtains of crystals. FashionBar at Clarke Quay has a great example of what I want: Erm, please try to ignore the people in the photos - I am referring to the crystal beads behind them!!

Erm, if you think there is anything wrong with the current ID that our forummer has or that maybe you can do better, please state so. Such a statement like 'change id pls' is quite useless and does not help anyone at all...

Only big retail stores want to earn more of your money by offering extended warranty. The neighbourhood stores usually makes a decent living by just offering you the manufacturer's warranty, which is usually 1 yr. If you are still keen to take up extended warranty from retail stores, do check out exactly what do they cover. I had a several examples where my friends/relatives take up extended warranty and when the thing really spoilt, the repair guy will come saying this one not covered that one not covered, gotta pay. BTW the retail stores do not do the servicing themselves; they will outsource to a third-party.

Basically the reason why the standard terms of payment is 10-40-40-10 is because: 10% - Downpayment to start design process 40% - Payment for all works other than carpentry works 40% - Payment for carpentry works 10% - Retention fee for handover IMO, since the market practice such percentage breakdown, you can hardly change it. However, you may be able to negotiate on when the payment should be made. My suggestion as follows: 10% - Downpayment to start design process 40% - First payment prior to commencement of works 40% - Second payment upon completion of HALF of carpentry works 10% - Retention fee for handover Reason with the ID that since the bulk of works is in carpentry, the payment terms should also reflect as such. You should also sit down with the ID to decide what is the DEFINITION of half of carpentry works, and put that in black and white. Good luck!

Yes this is very impt - I used to be quite uncomfortable when my wife told me that she wants to go cheong-ing with her gal friends, or even meet up for kopi chats until like 10pm or 11pm. However, I realised that I should not be selfish, and more imptly, she must have a life of her own so that she will not keep asking what time I come back! Anyway, karen77sg, I am not trying to imply anything, but I guess you do not have a big social circle? Perhaps its time to start calling up your old classmates for drinks, joining those colleagues for dinners and start to widen your social circle. Of course, your husband and your family remains the most impt, but you also need to have a life that is secondary to your family.

I thought we learn algebra at some point in primary school? Think is pri 3 or 4 right? I know for me I only learn algebra very late during my time, but I thought I just saw some primary school assessment books got algebra leh...

As a guy who is doing sales as well, my wife and I had gone through this before. Think we are worse than you and your hubby lor; I need to entertain and sometimes I can come home at 11pm or 12mn. And that's not all; by that time my wife would be in bed snoring away, because she needs to be in office by 6:30am - she wakes up, I would still be snoring. So sometimes on weekdays, we practically only see each other snoring in bed and can only talk over the phone. But the thing is, we are still happy lor! How? Not sure if you can accept our arrangements, because it takes abit of mindset-changing, but hopefully you can try lor. First you have to face the reality; it is a FACT you both is going to continue having lesser time with each other, and that is not going to change. But you do not have to resign to fate; you cannot change the fact, but you can change yourself mah! Next, bear in mind you don't need to physically SEE each other to have a healthy relationship lor; some couples work together, go disco together and even all the friends are common friends, both end up can still divorce de. Its all about quality time when you are with each other, and the efforts you take to maintain the relationship. For my wife and me, precisely because we do not have alot of time with each other, we make sure that any amount of time spent together is quality time. We will go out, watch a movie, go to nearby parks, eat at restaurants, etc. The point is not to waste time like just laze around at home together! Other little efforts you can make is send short messages of sweet-nothings to each other, reminding each other that you are still warm in my heart. Sometimes she will take an afternoon nap, just to stay up abit later to wait for me to come back, while sometimes I will set the alarm clock to wake myself up at 6am, just to watch her dress up and give her a morning kiss. The list goes on... In brief, its precisely because we spend lesser time with each other, we appreciate every moment together. Everytime we see other, we will smile and that brings happiness into the relationship constantly.

As long as you did not sign anything, you do not have to pay. The agent will probably try his/her luck and inform you that you have to pay 1% comm, just agree and get along the way, so that you can see the unit and close the deal if you like it. Keep pushing him/her away if asked to sign the commission agreement, say that you will sign after the deal is made. And after the deal is made, don't sign and don't pay. Yes at this point I sound very unethical; but wait, let's go back to the beginning. Who was being unethical in the first place by asking for comm from you?? Just letting the agent taste their own medicine. And BTW, you are not asking the agent to do his/her job for free, mind you. S/He will still get the 2% comm from the seller - you are just PREVENTING the agent from getting what s/he DO NOT DESERVE. Good luck!!

Of course not. So you must act blur blur and quickly get the OTP signed, first appt made and don't sign any commission agreement that the agent asks you to sign. Look before you sign anything.

Can solve using algebra, but not sure if relevant? Assume the amount that C receives is $X. So the following: C = $X B = $X + $10 A = $X + $10 + $10 Total $120 = 3X + $30, 3X = $120 - $30 = $90, Thus X = $90 / 3 = $30. A = $X + $10 + $10 = $30 + $10 + $10 = $50.

You are right - however, its not exactly a chicken-and-egg situation. Put it this way, which one has higher percentage: Owners who are out to play dirty even though the agents are fair, or agents who are out to play dirty even though the owners did not do anything? IMO, owners only play dirty in order to counter the tricks from the agents, not the other way around. After all, owner's main objective is to sell the house mah, there are still alot of things to do other than selling leh. Where got time to think up of scheming plans to cheat agents? Whereas agents are different; comm is their ricebowl and thus there is no guessing as to why they want to play dirty and try to earn more money.

HDB licence is just another formality enforced by the govt. When a company does not have the licence, it may mean that they might have violated some regulations or maybe they are new and the licence application is still pending. But there IS a small category who DO NOT WANT to get a licence, simply because they are concentrating on private residences or commercial/hospitality developments. Since they don't do HDB flats, why spend money to get a licence? In short when a ID/contractor does not have a licence, it does not mean they are no good. Do find out more about why they do not have licence; you maybe facing a **** good designer lor...

Actually audio house, being quite big in terms of local electrical appliances co, can be quite competitive. Just go straight and ask the staff, if take away all the freebies and benefits, how much can they sell? They could be quite competitive one lor...

Erm, just passed by earlier again - not true.

There can only be so many agents grouping together; I don't believe all the agents in the whole Singapore are friends with each other. Surely got some buay gum with certain agents, some desperate ones, etc - even if in the group, you must know how to manipulate them lor. Remember you are the customer, they are the service provider. You GOT the money, they WANT the money. Always remember your status and don't ever let them group together and abuse you. And that's why I said from the beginning, exclusive agency only benefits the agents, not the seller/buyer. Its those marketing tactics from the top mgmt that teaches them how to tell the seller/buyer that it is good for them. The agents do not just take for granted, but they abuse it lor. I known of alot of agents out there whose FIRST PRIORITY is to go all out to sign exclusive, especially when they do not have many properties. They will be super nice, act like super responsible etc but after you signed, wait long long, I no time to sell your house, I need to go sign somemore other exclusive lah! The agents are using the exclusive agency like putting one leg into your transaction; whether if he sells it for you or some other agents come along with a buyer, or maybe if you wait too long and go find your own buyer, he is still involved lor. In brief, exclusive agency now do not just serve to protect the agents, but used to control you, although you are supposed to be the customer! In chinese, this is really "gao zhao" lor...

In today's context where there are so many agents flooding the market and no basic pay but only commission, you sure all the agents would cooperate to 'punish' the owner? Cannot be money earned too much, keng qian guo yu bu qu, right? Hehe...the power of consumer - as a paying customer, one must know how to manipulate the agents too, cannot just sit there and wait for them to attack right? What I was saying is that the situation is not quite possible, first because the agents never advertise with the unit number, especially not for one that they do not sign exclusive lor. Simply because if Agent A sees Agent C's ad that the unit is going for $180k, Agent A will cheong to approach the seller with a $200k offer, and close! Ya lah, I think we are all just giving advice based on personal experience lor; like I said my experience is totally different from yours - exclusive agents had been giving me **** while non-exclusive ones are really cheong-ing for me. And they are not all young and new lor; I have an agent friend who in this line for 15 yrs liao, never sign exclusive with any of the case that I intro to her, and she managed to close all of them.

Erm, I think we all know if the agents put real addresses to lengthen their advertising column - I had called up a number, which I am sure I did not see it during my search the past few days, and he can tell me some of the units already sold. Indeed. Till date I have NEVER seen an agent who do that. Frankly I still cannot understand why would there be a price war - care to educate me? If I follow what pebsb said as below, I am still confused: Firstly, when agents do advertise, do they put the full address with unit no? So if not, how would the rest of the agents also know they are selling the unit? And would they put the price? Secondly, why do we assume that nobody will call Agent A? If there is no unit number on the advertisement, the buyer may think that this is a different unit and just call lor. So the likelihood is that if the buyer had called Agent A first, then call the other agents, thinking that its other units in the same block. In the end, he would go up to the unit with Agent A first, then later meet the two other agents, realised its the same unit and not go up liao. Even if Agent B or C tries to tell the buyer that he can get better price for that same unit also no use, because Agent A had already brought the buyer up liao. Thirdly, I don't think the agents just advertise, sit and wait for phone to ring lor. They would try to find out from their colleagues and databases if there are potential buyers, so as to match. In brief, the scenerio is always that the agents will come back running with offers; if you tell them their offer is lower than other agents, the likelihood is that they will go back and try to find even higher offer. Erm, please correct me if I am wrong, because this is what I encountered when trying to sell two units belonging to my parents and some of my relatives' units. I always tell them not to sign exclusive and those who listened to me will always end up happy, while those who kana psycho-ed to sign exclusive will come complaining that the agent cannot be contacted lah, take very long to sell lah, etc.

The point is to wait for Gen8 to come out and go buy the Gen7 at low price...hehe... For audio house, don't be cheated. The 50% off is a big fat gimmick; you will first pay for the original price at $4499 (which is overpriced), then you will be given a chance to guess the 1st number of the 4D. If you strike, you will be given a 50% voucher for your *next* purchase.

Wifey just came back from Audio House. Just a marketing gimmick - you have to buy at original price and they will give you a voucher for "next" purchase... And the original price is not cheap; at $3099 for Samsung 37" LCD, the latest R81 model. We saw at Best Denki is $2688, also got free gifts...

Is your new/old flat, and when did you renovate? There is a difference between new and old flats, apparently, where new flats you are forced to take from the appointed (undertable) contractor, while old flats you find anyone you like. My new 5-rm flat is $1200 to the appointed contractor, plus $283.50 to town council for clearing debris. In comparison, I called another contractor and pretend that I want to renovate my mum's 4-rm flat, he quoted $500 for all. And time also a matter; recently with the sand ban from Indon, the contractors are taking the opportunity to raise the prices even though there isn't exactly an acute shortage yet.