zirhk3355

You called? Best to get black and white - those customer service officers always talk loosely one, I kana alot of times liao. But anyway, I could have been wrong... Then again, why do you need to get HDB approval to sublet your flat? IMO, they want to know is only to collect money from you lor. Do you know that even if you got HDB's approval to sublet out, if the tenants are noisy and neighbours complain, HDB will still step in, maybe even revoking their approval for you to sublet. On the other hand, if your tenant is not noisy, neighbours won't complain, HDB won't come, so who will know that you had sublet out without approval? So IMO the key is not to get approval; but to get good tenants!! Muahaha...me and my crooked theories...

Did he prepare the docs for you? Or you did it yourself? If you did everything yourself (and have proof), then you might have a case to get a discount off the comm, but cannot totally don't pay comm at all because he did bring you a buyer mah. When I bought my current flat, my agent was also slacking like yours; I so pissed off that I discharged her, informing her agency and HDB that she will have no authority to represent me in anything. She quietly monitor the transaction and once its over, she appeared again and still have to cheek to ask for comm, but I told her to go small claim lor. Till now, 4 yrs liao, no sound no picture. Think your agent is a tough one mann...

I love it! Esp the blue light at the bottom. Last check at best denki is about $2688 with "free gifts" (do note the other thread with the free gifts gotta wait long long, so dun bank too much on it). The price should be lower if you go to neighbourhood shops, but I haven't check yet. However I am also considering pioneer's 42" plasma one. Best price I found as of now is $3300.

Valuation report gotta pay, so if the agent do it for you then it means that he is hoping you will let him be your exclusive agent. But then again, on paper, he is not your exclusive agent as long as you did not sign anything with him. You certainly can have other agents to sell the flat for you, but from 'ethical' point of view, do be upfront and tell them clearly that you have other agents also, and that the fastest and highest price will get the flat. Its up to the agents if they are game for it. So its really up to you. If you want to keep the valuation report, then you should pay for it yourself to prevent the agents from saying anything in future.

Why in the world did the buyer go and pay for your commission??? Then how did the buyer get it back from you?? Frankly, with the money in their hands, it had totally turned the tables around on you. Instead of the agent bringing you to the tribunal to claim their comm, you now have to bring them to tribunal to get it back. You are made the plaintiff when instead you should have been the defendant. And since the transaction is successfully done (ie you managed to sell the flat to the buyer), and with all the information given by you here, IMO your chances are very slim. Usually comm can only be refunded if the transaction is not successful, otherwise you must have very strong, solid reasons as to why you do not want to pay comm even though the flat was sold. The services of the agent is to intro buyer to seller, do the paperwork and make sure the flat is sold. Things like allowing the seller to stay beyond the 2nd appt date are additional services, which the agent may or may not provide to you. And there is nothing wrong for him to not provide additional services; on paper, he still deserves his comm as long as he had provided the bare basic services. Do note that HDB does not encourage such practice of seller 'overstaying'; strictly once the 2nd appt is over, the buyer must takeover possession of the flat, because he is supposed to occupy it, not other people. In fact, its against HDB's policy, but they usually close one eye lah. So if you claimed that the agent had failed his services just because he did not managed to secure the 'overstaying' period for you, it does not quite hold water to the magistrate at the tribunal. This is because on paper, you are asking him to do things that are against HDB's policy! Just my 2 cents' worth - but anyhow, still wish you all the best, ya!

Maybe they meant that they had gotten the letter to collect their keys... I drive past the site to go home everyday, but till now no sign that the hoarding are to be taken down...

I thought there was a policy clause that says if the flat was fully paid for, it can be rented out even though not occupied for the MOP? Applies for both bank loan HDB loan, whether fully paid in cash or by CPF...

The compressor at my office broke down and the technican said to repair it is $600, somemore no guarantee that it won't spoil again, cuz its a very old set. His advice also to change the whole thing, cuz a system 2 is only $1k+.

Yup, I was there just now at 7pm too, the fencing is still up...

Just saw a few like that in Barang Barang. Do check them out...

Unless u can find a owner who willing to let u into their unit to view. From what I saw in my Blk 89, u can't see much from the corridors...

This is the problem of all people who's ricebowl is dependent on intellectual property, eg music, arts, designs, etc. See how hard is the music industry fighting against piracy, but at least they are able to get some headway. For furniture-makers, they can also sue for copyrights. But ID...?? Can they sue a contractor for copying their design out of the magazine, eg the way the LCD TV is placed, the shape of the feature wall, etc? No way, at least not now - who will want to pay to register a patent for a 'design' of, say, a custom-made headboard? However, the counter argument would be, if you are so good, nobody will be able to copy you and/or jeopardise your image. And that's the dilemma of a professional designer lor...

Hey, who want to join me to go up to rooftop and see the view before the door is being locked again??

Actually most professional designers I know does not do anything for you at all until you signed up with them. This is very difficult for most Singaporeans to accept, given that we can easily get some visualisations, graphics and 3D from any of the shops in IMM or those neighbourhood ID shops. Another thing is also, Singaporeans always like to get very involved and sometimes stubborn in sticking to their own 'designs' and preferences. I had a friend who engaged a designer for his terrace house, but end up he don't like the designs that the ID gave him and formulated/amend all by himself. The designer just draw out accordingly. So problems when construction is about to begin and the designer start to ask for payment, my friend dun feel good in paying because he was the one who did came up with all the designs! In brief, most of us, like myself too, are sometimes abit too focused on material gains lor. We are willing to pay few thousands extra for marble flooring, but to pay few thousands just for an 'idea', we will run far far away. Its hard for us to pay for intellectural property and unfortunately design services is one of such. When we realised that we have to pay like a 5-digit figure and nothing is done at all, its very difficult for us. We rather take the money and spend it on having better materials, finishes, etc. And that is why contractors-cum-ID are getting more and more popular - we are only willing to pay for something that can 'touch', can 'see' and 'feel' one. Perhaps these are the reasons why professional designers are getting fewer and fewer, most of them venture overseas because their work are less appreciated here.

You must differentiate between friends and business lah. Somemore its not your friend, right? Just another agent intro by your friend... Put it this way, if you had waited for the Agt2 to come back with better deal, it means you will lose the potential buyer that Agt1 is showing you. Then if Agt2 didn't manage to come back with better deal after all, what will he do? Will he compensate you?? Or is he just going to tell you sorry? And will you then forgive him just because he is intro by your friend? Same here; you are only protecting yourself going by first-come-first-serve basis. This is business - in every industry, people DO lose business just because they are slow and they have no one else to blame. Agt2 cannot expect you to compensate him for his own incompetence and slow work.

There is no hard and fast rule, or 'standard process'. Different ID works differently. But for me, I will be focused on every aspect of the works to be done and be able to visualise how it will look like. Don't allow anything to go ahead without understanding how the end result will look like. What materials? What finishes? How tall/short? How wide? etc... This is where the 3D drawings, layout plans, perspectives, etc will help you achieve. Alot of times, you and the ID may seemed like talking in-line, but actually what is being visualised in both your heads may be very different. So, a picture speaks a thousand words...

Usually people will bring gifts. For those who brings angbaos, it will not be a large sum, but just a token. So just accept it lor...

Its the reflection of the light and sometimes the water is moving, so the light will look even stronger, and attracts the insects more. Further, when some insects are drowned in the water, it will appear to the others that they are staying at the lights for a long time. Thinking that maybe this light is better, they will be curious and come down to join them too.

Huh I duno where to find photos for you..hehe... Actually this is very common mah, long time ago have liao. In the past where we do not have bomb shelters, they always use tic tac mechanism for glass displays. You know like shopping centres with wall-mount glass displays and there is a glass cover, there will be a chrome piece at one corner of the cover, sometimes engraved with the word, "PUSH". You just push that part and the cover will pop out abit, then you can open liao...

Usually designs are done in either sketches or 3D visualisations right? Just talking only very hard to understand leh. If via email maybe he means he will email the drawings to you lor... BTW u have signed up with this ID right? if not signed up yet most ID will not do any design, just layout only. Of course there are some hard-up ones who will give you designs, but you cannot take home...

If budget is not a constraint, you would try REAL interior design consultancy services, who charges for designing alone. These are the people who are specialised in design works and they do not contracting services; you can either appoint their panel of approved contractors, or you look for a contractor yourself and have them do project management for a fee. One that I really like (but can't afford) is Y2:Space, http://www.y2space.com. Their botak principal designer, David Tay, was a top designer during the 80's.

Tic tac mechanism is a magnetic device that protruding/reclining when being pressed upon. There is small metal plate on the door that is held on by the magnet at the end of tic tac device. This is very much like your Pilot ballpoint pen, when you press once, the button becomes short (and the pen tip comes out) and you press it again the button become longer (and the pen tip goes in). Just listen to the sound when you press and you will know where the name "tic tac' came from. By 'flush', it means in-line. So I believe when someone said "flushed door", it means that the door is in-line with the walls beside it, so if the door and the walls are made with the same material, when the door is closed, you would not know that is a door.

Woah, better be careful there; sometimes the verbal words of the officer is bo pa kay one. Better get him to write in black and white. I would think that it should be target delivery date or 3 months after collections of keys, whichever is EARLIER. Aiya, but this should be the least of you guys' worries lah. We all know that the dates can be extended if you have "valid" reasons mah. Maybe we can start another thread to share with each other on all available "valid" reasons that we can use...

Wow, I think you must have a soft heart. Not that I am siding with your husband, but market practice is such lor. No transaction, no payment. There is no such thing as compensation one lor... Is it because Agt2 comes from your friend then you feel guility? Just explain to your friend lor...

is it?? Actually only after seeing this thread then I realised its 3 months...hehe...