I’d like to sincerely wish Singapore, my country a happy 44th birthday.

Despite the hectic and stressful life that we lead in this little country, credits must be given back to the well managed, independent land that has given us peace and stability since the day I was born in KK hospital.

Happy birthday Singapore (:

Happy Birthday Singapore is a post from: Benson Koh, a Singapore Realtor

No related posts.

Silversea launches next week

Here’s the promised scan version of Far East Organisation’s Silversea which is about to be launched next week. Tower 4 will be the first tower to be released for booking.

You can download a copy of Silversea’s Tower 4 floor plan reference from here (2.0mb).

Silversea Tower 4 Reference Layout is a post from: Benson Koh, a Singapore Realtor

No related posts.

Grand Duchess Club House with Stack 18 behind - Artiste Impression

Recently I have just sold a lovely ground floor 3 bedroom unit in Grand Duchess at St Patrick’s.

As we understand, developer’s will not continue to grant you Deferred Payment Scheme (DPS) and you’ll automatically be switched to Progressive Payment (PPS). Many of my buyers have asked me on the progress of the building and payment phase.

More Detailed Information About Grand Duchess at St Patrick’s, Tierra Vue, One Amber and other projects in District 15

I will have a landing page for Grand Duchess, Tierra Vue, One Amber with the most updated information including potential rentals and the progress stage of the construction for the project, along with other construction projects along District 15 for your perusal.

Should you have any questions with regards to Grand Duchess at St Patrick’s, I can be always easily reached here.

Comprehensive Project Details of Grand Duchess, Tierra Vue, One Amber and More is a post from: Benson Koh, a Singapore Realtor

No related posts.

If you happen to see part or most of Singapore’s lights turned off when you’re roaming around on the 28th of March (Saturday) between 8.30pm to 9.30pm, don’t be alarmed as it’s all part of WWF’s Earth Hour campaign.

Time to go green and support for a cause for the Earth.

THIS IS THE WORLD’S FIRST GLOBAL ELECTION, BETWEEN EARTH AND GLOBAL WARMING.

On March 28 you can VOTE EARTH by switching off your lights for one hour.
Or you can vote global warming by leaving your lights on.

The results of the election are being presented at the Global Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen 2009. We want one billion votes for Earth, to tell world leaders that we have to take action against global warming.
the earth!

And if this is not enough, you’d be happy to know that Capitaland Malls will be joining us in the darkness too with high profile malls including Raffles City, Bugis Junction, Junction 8 and many more as Capitaland pledges their participation in saving the Earth.

CAPITALAND, one of Asia’s leading real estate companies, will participate in Earth Hour on Saturday, March 28. CapitaLand properties will mark the occasion by turning off their facade lights for an hour. These properties include 13 CapitaLand retail malls including Raffles City, Plaza Singapura, Bugis Junction and Junction 8. Aside from their malls, other properties will also go dark during Earth Hour.

The company’s office buildings like Capital Tower, One George Street and Robinson Point, as well as the Ascott’s serviced residence properties including Ascott Singapore Raffles Place and Citadines Mount Sophia will also join the event…

The Business Times on 18th March 2009

This is a global event that calls for global participation. I’ve asked G4 Station‘s staff to turn off all the lights in the inn, told my family to turn off the house lights as well.

Are you playing a part for the Earth too?

*Updates on 21st March 2009 : Hong Leong Group, CDL’s buildings will be joining in the Earth Hour spree as well according to the Straits Times as Hong Leong’s chief executive, Kwek Leng Beng pledges in.  A total of 25 buildings will be turning off their lights.

Go Green on 28th March. Support Earth Hour is a post from: Benson Koh, a Singapore Realtor

No related posts.

Not that I’m particularly concerned, but you get articles on the news that damns our trade.

Malaysian couple shell out $4,300

Japanese expat coughs up $6,000

Conman duped would-be tenants and agents by posing as property’s manager

A MALAYSIAN couple and a Japanese expatriate have fallen prey to a rental scam run by a conman who  took $10,300 from them – then went into hiding.

Neither party realised they had paid him to lease the same terrace house in Serangoon Gardens. But in a  twist of fate, they ran into each another there – and discovered his scam.

The man who allegedly made off with their money – his full name is Axley Alexander Ryan Shah and he  calls himself Ryan – had no legal link to the property. He pretended to be the property’s manager. It is  not clear how he obtained the house keys.

…

The Straits Times, 16th January 2009

Apart from us as Realtors/ agents handling properties for rental or sale, we have to make sure we check our background of our clients and do the necessary ownership check from Inlis before starting to market for them; even if it means they might be close acquaintances to avoid any possible trouble.

Due Diligence Check-list

The best thing to do would be doing a due diligence check-list of what you should do if you are serving the owner/ or the tenant. Verifications of credentials could be done right before the marketing phase starts, which could potentially save you alot of trouble.

In such above mentioned rental scam case, the tenants were the victims and our fellow agents from ERA might have accidentally misplaced the keys, letting some anonymous guy in unintentionally.

Owners/ Landlords, Due Diligence As Well

I understand owners/ landlords usually leave their listings open for any agents to give the best possible deal of a tenancy or even a sale, and as such opens up the vulnerability of such above mentioned frauds.

One simple solution would be working with agents whom you are familiar with and have them undersign a letter of undertaking whilst they have the keys to the apartment/ house.

Another would be awarding exclusives to agents whom you’re familiar with that you know will be responsible towards the marketing of your premises. The agent could update you on the times that your premise would be viewed with other co-broking agents and you could solely hold the exclusive agent responsible should such scams happen.

Again, a check-list might be troublesome, but I suppose it could be something to protect you in case anything happens, in the long run.

Everyone should Practice Due Diligence is a post from: Benson Koh, a Singapore Realtor

No related posts.

My good friend Mark Herpel has released the January 2009 issue of DGC Magazine.

Digital Gold Currency Magazine - January 2009 Issue

What is DGC Magazine?

As the name suggests, it’s a flash-media player magazine. The circulation is done monthly with rich contents of what’s happening around in the Digital Currency World. Also, Mark Herpel was the previous blogger that brought up Digital Money World.

What is a Digital Gold Currency?

Now real physical gold are being traded and transacted almost everyday in parts of the world. Digital Gold Currency simply means that there’s a service provider providing a physical storage somewhere and allowing you to trade or buy gold electronically. It’s best explained with Wikipedia. (I’m somewhat sure Mark has got to do with this wiki as well)

This simply means that you can also invest in gold by buying it online and having it stored in strong vaults in different parts of the world such as London, Zurich and more. For businesses, you can also accept DGCs as an alternative form of payment apart from your conventional bank wires.

Why DGC Magazine?

Try flipping through the contents and you’ll get what I mean. It’s content rich, and if you are interested in the types of money/ gold that is being offered in all parts of the world, this is the magazine for you. You’ll learn more about banking regulations, the difference between fiat money and gold (often being looked just as a commodity), government policies on Anti Money Laundering (AML) and much more.

Visit DGC Magazine and flip through today!

Digital Gold Currency Magazine – January 2009 Issue is Out is a post from: Benson Koh, a Singapore Realtor

No related posts.

It’s here again. The official 2009 Adidas Sundown Marathon‘s registration is on!

Sundown is Here Again! For the 2nd Time

I’ve registered, and this time round I’m making sure I drag my fat feets down to shuffle from the finishing to the end. Are you game enough for it? (At least it isn’t boring same old route that Singapore Marathon is always using)

Join me. Fellow Realtors who’re training, buzz me! We can meet at Pierce for coffee after training on Saturday mornings! *Prior to no viewings in the morning of course, we need a wink after training.

** Oh and if you’ve joined last year, regardless of whether you went for it *TSK, you’re entitled to a 15% discount.

2009 – Sundown Marathon is a post from: Benson Koh, a Singapore Realtor

No related posts.

I was so proud of my desktop at home a year ago. 4 SATA hard disks running at raid0, with two undisputed speed demons, namely my new pair of Western Digital’s Raptor (74GB). It’s my habit to leave the computer on since I’m almost on it 24/7.

Until the best thing that had ever happen to me when I least expected it. One of the Raptor crashed. Almost most of my Real Estate files, photos and details went pfft in a matter of a day’s time. Though I could try to do a data recovery with WD’s approved data recovery company, it’s too expensive to do so.

photo credit: lost.modern

Sending my hard disk for RMA means there’s at least 2 weeks down time with it. The best thing I could depend on is my laptop to work. That means not much multi-tasking is allowed (with the limitation of ram as compared to my monster 4gb). I was thinking of doing a new raid 0+1 (with 8 hard disks), but ditched the idea after thinking of the cost.

This is the first and its going to be the last time that I ever leave important data unmanaged on my desktop folder.

Ever.

ps. The most simple solution would be getting a good sized external hard drive which would simply cost you less than $500 for a 1TB to store periodical back ups of your hard disk with programs like Acronis.

pps. Strikes Western Digital off my list alongside with Hitachi, the former IBM.

When One of Your Raptors Die – The Raid0 Problem is a post from: Benson Koh, a Singapore Realtor

No related posts.

Well well, short and sweet. Su.sg has added a customise URL function.

How it works

Say you love this Aliph Jawbone 2 Bluetooth (i’ve got mine and it works GREAT) listing from Ebay and wanna share with your friend through newsgroup,

http://cgi.ebay.com/JAWBONE-2-NOISE-ASSASSIN-BLUETOOTH-
EARWEAR-JAW-BONE-NEW_W0QQitemZ170225943740QQihZ007Q
QcategoryZ80077QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Woohoo. Pretty long. After snipping it with Su.sg, you’ll get http://su.sg/0e0e

Short and sweet isn’t it? Except people doesn’t know what’s 0e0e. They can also turn on the preview function to avoid being brought to somewhere that they don’t like.

Now wouldn’t it be nice if you can rename your 0e0e into something else like.. jawbone2? Click on ‘Customise URL’, type in the link name that you like.

http://su.sg/jawbone2

Now it makes sense what sort of URL you’re going to isn’t it? Take note the minimum characters that you can use to customise your link is 4, and the maximum is 15. Happy SUing!

Su.sg has Added Customise URL Function is a post from: Benson Koh, a Singapore Realtor

Related posts:

1. su.sg – A Shortcut Tool for Fellow Realtors

I’ve just added the URL Preview function to su.sg, the cool way to shorten your URL.

Why Preview Function?

You’ve seen a su.sg/something domain loitering around. It directs you to somewhere instantly. You don’t like it. Some reasons are:

• Another crappy affiliate ad link hidden behind su.sg.
• A virus/ trojan link which makes you vulnerable
• Some indecent site that you wouldn’t or maybe someone behind you whom you don’t want them to look at.

How It Works

You’ll have to allow cookies to be stored on your browser. It’ll basically give you a preview of the address that http://su.sg/xxxx is masking behind. Something like this:

Having that enabled, you can feel alot safer when you navigate with su.sg links!

Try it for Free!

Try it now for free! And if you have any indecent URL masking behind su.sg, please feel free to report to me.

Su.sg the URL Shortener Adds In Preview Function is a post from: Benson Koh, a Singapore Realtor

No related posts.