Pay >$100K Cov Or Rent & Wait Out?

[jammo89 0]

Good buy, jammo89. A quiet neighborhood with good schools around there. Although my place is 5 mins walk to AMK hub. I still prefer your area.

322k is a reasonable price, including COV.

Can bring your girl to Melben eat sri lanka crabs, haha.

Is your blk selected for the MUP?

Don't think my block is selected for MUP.. Even if it is, my toilet is done up already.. what else will they be upgrading other than toilet?

Whats good at melben? its the first time i've heard of it.. Did a search up on yahoo, its really near my house! Butter crab?

[jammo89 0]

er.. incubator.. I think its your luck.. Good side of it..

Seems like a double dip recession started last friday.. My 322k 3 room might be in for a roller coaster ride..

Brace ourselves?

[godloveyou 0]

Seems like a double dip recession started last friday.. My 322k 3 room might be in for a roller coaster ride..

Confirmed the "rain" started, before was only "dark clouds" over the west.

Rain has come to the east. Trillions of $$$$ evporated over 2 days in financial mkts.

Everyone wants their cash back into pockets.

Foresee s'pore property mkt will do the "regression" soon since this ghost month and what a great national day celebration!

Wait & see the actions of the G7 next. Germany has declared to buy greece & italys' IOU.

USA will auction debts to raise billions of $$$ in the next few days, wondering WHO will buy??? Credit rating down from AAA to AA+ by S&P, likely will down further.

Gold price at abt SGD66/g, wondering WHO will buy it as "safe heaven"???

Look very much like everyone will keep cash first, wait & see,for the coming months.

Residential developers now headace, will come out with all the "patterns" to let go the units on hand.

LHL & Tharman Motek Shanmugaratnam should be in closed door meeting discussing how to stimulate domestic mkt, while keeping the CPI down. Look like rebate and "training & re-training" packages will be out pretty soon.

1% public tpt increase at wrong time, COE increase at wrong time........

[godloveyou 0]

Speak of devil, devil comes.

Visitors are invited to Seatrand pasir Ris Dr3, showrm on 14/8 for:

kite flying & BBQ dinner. 4pm to 8pm.

[jammo89 0]

er.. recession might not have hit us? US market up 4%.. so volatile..

[jammo89 0]

and.. the market dips 4% again.. lol

[Roflmaoxz 0]

Gold price at abt SGD66/g, wondering WHO will buy it as "safe heaven"???

1% public tpt increase at wrong time, COE increase at wrong time........

Now 22k abt $68/g.... will hit the $70/g mark anytime.

Consider myself lucky... bought 3x 20g 999.99 gold bullion bars @ $65/g w/o GST in Jan 2011. Hope 24k gold can continue to increase...

I dun mind public tpt increase, but the lousy service doesn't commensurate with the increase. This lui tuck yew should get the sack.

[incubator 0]

Hi incubator, we were also hunting for resale EM/EA/5RM since Feb until we got one in May. This is my 2nd time buying resale hdb & the current purchase experience is so much different with our first time when there was no COV exist.

It is true that nowadays resale flat sold on the same day of the open house except those at low floor. You just can't have enough time to go home to think whether you shld or not to buy it. It is so much like an auction to me. What made us really frustrated was the unrealistic COV. The figure (average $20k/25k) published officially on web and newspaper is never reflecting the true appetite of sellers. EM/EA that we viewed for the past few months requested COV of $50k/60k or even $80k!! I feel myself like a carrot with thin pocket. We ever stop viewing for more than one mth bcos we felt really disappointed by the market fever.

We then decided to stick on buying 5RM only. Save our $$ for future, either for kids or second property.

But we still fail to find one so we thought something must be wrong with our strategy. We then decided to try our luck at other areas. I understand the reason why you want to stick to that particular area. We had strong reason to choose our preference too. But the resale market may not cater the right place just to our desire. Perhaps you want to try make a change. Maybe you will find something different. Good luck!

Thanks whisper for your encouragement We have also slowed down in our search until we sold our apartment. Am considering a 5 room as well. My dear husband hor, is even thinking of moving us to Punggol which is a beautiful area to be honest except that I take public transport to fetch my kids and I will need to sort out that part. I suspect very soon he will suggest JB already.

[incubator 0]

Gold prices are really

[Renmapiao 1]

Finding an ideal home is very stressful - especially if the type of house you are looking for is rare - like EM. When I decided to look for one - I wasn't prepared for the high COVs especially for areas near MRTs, good schools etc. and the anxiety (of not able to find what I was looking for - because of the rarity).

However, in the end, I did get a good unit [near MRT and reasonable COV (55K), mid-floor, corner unit]. Persistence paid off - after 33 days of hunting. Each of us when buying a house will have different experiences but one thing for sure - to get the unit you really want - need to be more pro-active and not to depend solely on the agent. Prior to getting the unit, I will look through newspapers everyday and check online property portals. If there's a potential unit, I will highlight to my agent, who will then do the calling and negotiating.

I sold my existing flat on 24 April 2011, and signed the new one on 23 May. Just went for my 2nd appointment yesterday - and now waiting for the current owners to vacate - so I can start with my renovation.

Wishing you all the best in finding your ideal home. I guess it's all about persistence, timing and loads of luck.

Edited August 19, 2011 by Renmapiao

[frostyapple 0]

I have been searching for a resale EA in Jurong West area for a few months now. I intend to do all the paperwork myself, so that I do not have to pay a few thousand dollars of agent fee. I have helped to sell my mother's old flat last year, so I know that the paperwork is not difficult at all.

Previously there are agents who offer to look for units for me, and I realize that the units they offer are all on newspapers and online, which I can easily find on my own, so why bother paying more than $6K agent fees for a $600K flat ?

Now there is a new rule that one agent cannot earn commission from both agent and seller. I approach the agents representing the seller, and they all tell me that I do not need to pay any agent fee.

Edited August 25, 2011 by frostyapple

[knownothing 0]

Just wanna add on that although there might b a chance that COV might dip in the future, the valuation price of the flat might still go up. End up net net, the price of the unit you are looking at might increase even though COV drops. So waiting out for COV to drop and renting a place in the meantime might not be a very good idea.

One of the factors determining the valuation of a unit is the last transacted prices of similar units around the area. When a unit is sold at valuation + COV, the current total price (valuation + COV) will soon become the valuation price of the unit several months down the road. Therefore in a mkt environment where there is positive COV, there is little chance that valuation price will drop.

[HappyHouse88 0]

Just wanna add on that although there might b a chance that COV might dip in the future, the valuation price of the flat might still go up. End up net net, the price of the unit you are looking at might increase even though COV drops. So waiting out for COV to drop and renting a place in the meantime might not be a very good idea.

One of the factors determining the valuation of a unit is the last transacted prices of similar units around the area. When a unit is sold at valuation + COV, the current total price (valuation + COV) will soon become the valuation price of the unit several months down the road. Therefore in a mkt environment where there is positive COV, there is little chance that valuation price will drop.

Yes and.. no..

Now the market just need retrenchment announcements and ppl start to default their loan.. then everything will be "corrected"

[incubator 0]

Finding an ideal home is very stressful - especially if the type of house you are looking for is rare - like EM. When I decided to look for one - I wasn't prepared for the high COVs especially for areas near MRTs, good schools etc. and the anxiety (of not able to find what I was looking for - because of the rarity).

However, in the end, I did get a good unit [near MRT and reasonable COV (55K), mid-floor, corner unit]. Persistence paid off - after 33 days of hunting. Each of us when buying a house will have different experiences but one thing for sure - to get the unit you really want - need to be more pro-active and not to depend solely on the agent. Prior to getting the unit, I will look through newspapers everyday and check online property portals. If there's a potential unit, I will highlight to my agent, who will then do the calling and negotiating.

I sold my existing flat on 24 April 2011, and signed the new one on 23 May. Just went for my 2nd appointment yesterday - and now waiting for the current owners to vacate - so I can start with my renovation.

Wishing you all the best in finding your ideal home. I guess it's all about persistence, timing and loads of luck.

Thanks so much, Renmapiao. I guess we are lacking in the luck part. It's quite stressful going into a "price war" with other buyers who have equal, if not more financial power. I really feel that the COV scheme is very unfair to genuine home seekers, especially when there is already a valuation. All the flat hunting has left a bad taste in my mouth because I kept thinking that the cash can be better used on the children education or for rainy days.

Anyway, congrats on getting a suitable unit! I hope your renovation will go smoothly as well.

In the meantime, I am going to hunt for a 4-men tent to pitch at Changing beach soon liao.

[Renmapiao 1]

Thank you for the well-wish and good luck on your house hunting.

Anyway, congrats on getting a suitable unit! I hope your renovation will go smoothly as well.

In the meantime, I am going to hunt for a 4-men tent to pitch at Changing beach soon liao.