Thoughts on Khan Boon Wan – Soft Landing for Housing Market

MND Minister Khaw Boon Wan has mentioned on Tuesday that the government wants to see ‘soft landing’ for Singapore’s real estate housing. You can read the report from CNA here.

Looking at what was being discussed, especially some key highlights here

“”We want a soft landing for our housing market because a market crash benefits no one,” Mr Khaw said.

“Ms Foo and Er Lee Bee Wah suggested that we adjust the Additional Buyer’s Stamp Duty, especially for Singaporean buyers, when we are ready to unwind the cooling measures. I have also heard Dr Lily Neo’s very thoughtful words of caution.

“Indeed, we should not overkill. The property market is in transition and it is a time that calls for vigilance and nimbleness. We will be careful.”

I would think that the Government would probably do some calls to ease some of the measures already in placed soon, as prices have really eased off quite extensively on the public and private housing sector.

As we know the depressed housing prices was caused mainly by the government policies and measure, natural market forces are changing the scene as mortgage interest rate crepes up steadily for the past quarter as the US dollar continue to strengthen, which stresses Singaporeans and foreign real estate investors as a whole.

A heavily corrected local real estate market prices will not benefit everyone as it defies the initial key goal of HDB by creating wealth for Singaporeans through their homes. As long as homes become more affordable, the measures would have served its purpose. If there’s in-between lines that I am reading or even if not, we should be ready for some measure lifts.

An Open Letter to Marina One

Dear Marina One,

I wish you would have been launched at the time when the loans are easier, at least I know I could leverage myself better to get at least a yummy 1-bedroom unit which you have meticulously designed for any future tenants which I could host. Generous Miele suite for all kitchen appliances, V+S sanitary ware, good size white volaka marble slabs, and even a cute walk-in wardrobe for the 1-bedrooms. Not to mention you have balconies! *sigh* Wish your 1-bedrooms would have a more undesirable facing but almost all of them would be facing a well taken care landscaped HUGE indoor garden of almost 65,000sqft!

1-bedroom showflat at actual site in Marina One
1-bedroom showflat at actual site in Marina One

I feel jealous when most of the units are snapped up so quickly when you’ve decided to price yourself so fairly especially for the low floor units. I wouldn’t mind snapping up at least one if you would have allowed me to take my loan from the banks. The TDSR is killing almost all of us who fell in love with you. You have disappointed not only me, but many whom have tried talking to the bank and failed to get an in-principal approval. I’ve seen even foreigners wouldn’t mind paying the extra 15% and many of my fellow countrymen who already has more than 2 properties paying 10% on top of their stamp duties just to own at least one of you. Continue reading “An Open Letter to Marina One” →

5 Crucial Reasons why New Realtors Fail

ps. this is a rerun from 2011, but I suppose it deserves some love since its the time when Realtors decide to join the industry or make the switch.

There are many reasons the joining and dropping rate for joining the Real Estate family as a full-time professional Realtor is high.

Correct me if I am wrong team leaders, but the true and the hard facts of helping every team mates to the best of your extent does not always help and sometimes it might even backfire on you.

Before any individuals who decided to join the industry, these are thoughts which should be useful to form some opinions of our industry before you plough your money and time into joining us (yes, before you even take your RES course please),

Continue reading “5 Crucial Reasons why New Realtors Fail” →

How do you decide which Real Estate Company to Join?

Many new Property Agents especially before taking their exams are wondering what are the best prerequisites of which property agencies to join after clearing their RES papers. Here’s a few of what is important in my take on which ones to go for after consulting a couple of friends running the Real Estate agency business.

Branding

A way to identify whether a particular Real Estate Agency has its brand close to everyone’s heart would be how much a reach an Agency has over its audience. They typically would command a decent number of realtors in terms of market size for this to happen. It also holds true that the longer a brand is in the market, the reach is more mature.

Only practicing Realtors would be able to identify and see the growth of different Agencies since they are in touch with the market, else new Realtors would have to seek help from practicing friends on their feedback.

Some do have their different strength in different segments on the market. Niche franchise brands where numbers are smaller might have a certain reputation for being in segments such as private, commercial or even luxury residential. If you are looking for a certain niche to start with, you could start by exploring on the reputation of the agency as with how much you can leverage.

Generally you would hear of groups or divisions of Realtors carving their own branding, which are much more prominent and active in the market as well. Their choice would usually be a brand that sticks and is more prevalent, as they would rather much concentrate on their sales instead of worrying about the Agency they are in.

Continue reading “How do you decide which Real Estate Company to Join?” →

New Master Plan 2014 is Gazetted

After a long time wait, the Chief Planner has finally gazetted the new plans which will determine the land laws for the next 5 years.

Published Date: 06 Jun 2014

The Chief Planner has gazetted the Master Plan 2014 on 6 June 2014. The Master Plan 2014 is the statutory land use plan that guides the physical development of Singapore for the medium term.

As part of the Master Plan, all 75 heritage buildings proposed for conservation under the Draft Master Plan 2013 were also gazetted today. See Annex A for the list of buildings.

The gazetting of the Master Plan concludes the year-long review of the Draft Master Plan 2013, which was exhibited in November 2013 for a month at The URA Centre Atrium and URA website. During this period, the exhibition attracted some 61,000 visitors, and the website had more than 513,000 page views. The review also involved consultations with Members of Parliament, grassroots leaders, professional institutions and other stakeholders. We thank members of the public for their positive and constructive feedback.

Read the full release here. To view the gazetted Master Plan 2014, you can browse it here.

Ritz at Farrer Attractive Guaranteed Rental Returns

It’s something too good not to miss. Seriously!

Ritz at Farrer is offering 5% guaranteed rental returns to your purchase of selected apartments for not one, but two years. Sitting in a great freehold location, this mixed development is already a great project to begin with. And this offer is only for a limited time.

Ritz at Farrer Night View (artiste impression)
Ritz at Farrer Night View (artiste impression)

Ritz at Farrer Project Information

Address – 142 Race Course Road
Tenure – Freehold
Development Type – 18 Apartments with 2 Commercial Units on Ground Floor
Developer – One42 Development
Architect – Ronny Chin Architects (RCA)
Unit Types – 1+1-bedroom, 2-bedrooms, 2+1-bedrooms, 3-bedrooms, 3+1-bedrooms, 2 shops
Ready by – 2016 Q2
Facilities – 2 Rooftop Outdoor Pool, BBQ, Outdoor Gym, Cascading Waterfall features Continue reading “Ritz at Farrer Attractive Guaranteed Rental Returns” →

Goodwood Residence has TOP

Goodwood Residence by Guocoland has just received its Temporary Occupation Permit (TOP) status a week back. Situating at the beginning of Bukit Timah Road, this freehold development is conveniently located right next to Balmoral Plaza. Within reach of many international and prime schools, the location is a boon to familes who have kids studying around the vicinity and has business in the CBD area.

Quick Project Information about Goodwood Residence

Project Name – Goodwood Residence
Developer – Guocoland
Architect – WOHA Architects
Address – 261, 263 & 265 Bukit Timah Road (D10)
Tenure – Freehold (Estate in Fee Simple)
Type – Condominium development with two blocks of 12-storey residential flats
Number of Apartments -210
Carparks – 394
Facilities – Full Facilities including 2 Tennis Courts

Photos of Facilities

Lush landscaping was done, facilities were very well thought. The club-house and concierge service provided is a luxury for residents. Each resident also have a golf club locker provided at the basement lobby which is well designed to receive guest too. Continue reading “Goodwood Residence has TOP” →

Difference between Cloud Storages & Evernote

A Happy New Year to everyone :-)

SRI5000 SLP Realty, Benson Koh training on Evernote 101 - The Basics.
SRI5000 SLP Realty, Benson Koh training on Evernote 101 – The Basics.

After a training for my agency SLP Realty earlier in the morning and I think these snippets are pretty useful to share as they are common questions to which Dropbox, Google Drive users would normally ask in terms of how they manage their cases and productivity. There are also several other pointers which I brought out which is important in order for Evernote to be useful to you.

Evernote vs Dropbox, Sugarsync, Google Drive, SkyDrive (Whatever you can think of)

Dropbox, Sugarsync, Google Drive, Sky Drive are cloud services which offers online backups. Although they are useful and many swears by organizing their database cleanly so that it becomes effective, it was never meant to be a planning tool. Continue reading “Difference between Cloud Storages & Evernote” →

A Friend’s Take on Singapore Property Cooling Measures

I thought this is too true and unforgivable if I don’t share this. This is an opinion by a good friend who prefers to be anonymous. And like how he ends it, you do your numbers.

Good Morning,

If you have the time, here’s something to think about over the weekend. This was first written in 2010. I have updated some details and numbers. Nevertheless, the principles are still relevant. Here’s my take on the these measures.

These new measure are targeted at the Speculators & Speculative Investors (“Specuinvestor”) i.e. those who are in the game for the short term, generally not very financially savvy and most of all, not very cash-rich but wants to make a quick buck. What happens is that they tend to over-leverage and have a “punting’ mentality. It will not really affect those with deeper pockets. Another 10% to 20% cash downpayment……… so what? These people will be thinking “Hey, it is just like paying down my loan resulting in lower monthly payments, lower interest payments and higher principle payments ………….…….. no skin off my nose”. Continue reading “A Friend’s Take on Singapore Property Cooling Measures” →