We've exercised our option & have received word that our 1st appointment date will be on 28th Jun!
Excited!
Time to start with the next phase: ID & Contractor reviewing!
Sunday, May 18, 2008
Sunday, May 11, 2008
commission to agents
Hmmm. The bf and I filled in more forms today regarding the resale checklist which they told us should be backdated as they were not able to obtain it till now. Apparantly it's something that they told us we need to do in order to buy a flat. Somehow there are suddenly 2 agents now as well, the first lady which was showing us the flat originally, and now a guy, who's going through the details of the sale with us & telling us that we will need to pay 1% commission to the lady. Fishy. Fishy. I thought she was helping the sellers sell the flat coz she said they were relatives. How come we need to pay her commission too?
We didn't want to make things difficult, so we signed... but when I got home & started searching online again... :p I think we got chopped off 1%. I mean, that lady wasn't our agent at all. She NEVER arranged viewings with us other than when we wanted to see her relative's flat, and apparantly we were supposed to go through the checklist & sign it even before we signed the option to purchase!
Geez... "$(*&%£!!!!
Told the bf about it. I was peeved. He was philosophical. Said that since they were handling it, and getting so much money out of it, they should handle it well. :p Ah well. Lesson learnt for sure.
Anyways, FYI, you CAN buy a flat on your own WITHOUT an agent. You just need to do more paperwork on your own. Click here to find out more
Sigh. Hope you guys don't get 'chopped' like me.
Anyways, here is some info on the commission for real estate agents for your reference.
Wah. My heart is still aching at the loss of money :p
We didn't want to make things difficult, so we signed... but when I got home & started searching online again... :p I think we got chopped off 1%. I mean, that lady wasn't our agent at all. She NEVER arranged viewings with us other than when we wanted to see her relative's flat, and apparantly we were supposed to go through the checklist & sign it even before we signed the option to purchase!
Geez... "$(*&%£!!!!
Told the bf about it. I was peeved. He was philosophical. Said that since they were handling it, and getting so much money out of it, they should handle it well. :p Ah well. Lesson learnt for sure.
Anyways, FYI, you CAN buy a flat on your own WITHOUT an agent. You just need to do more paperwork on your own. Click here to find out more
Sigh. Hope you guys don't get 'chopped' like me.
Anyways, here is some info on the commission for real estate agents for your reference.
Wah. My heart is still aching at the loss of money :p
Friday, May 9, 2008
Offering!
We saw a place we liked on our 2nd week of viewing. However, we were hesitating from putting up an offer as we thought that we probably had not seen enough units out in the market yet, and so should wait.
Thing is, even though we've seen many more units since then, we still kept going back to thinking about this one. So the bf & I finally decided to make a move on the property, & put in an offer.
It was accepted by the buyer!
So we just wrote the check for the option fee & deposit & filled in the forms.
Wow. It seems like such a short time, but it seems that we're now on our way to getting our new home!
I am excitable now. lol.
Thing is, even though we've seen many more units since then, we still kept going back to thinking about this one. So the bf & I finally decided to make a move on the property, & put in an offer.
It was accepted by the buyer!
So we just wrote the check for the option fee & deposit & filled in the forms.
Wow. It seems like such a short time, but it seems that we're now on our way to getting our new home!
I am excitable now. lol.
Thursday, May 1, 2008
the search so far
The weekends, and even some weekday nights have been spent searching for that perfect location now, and it has been an interesting experience so far. In almost every instance, the viewing of each flat involves invading into the seller's privacy. It's somewhat surreal, especially when the agent happily brings you around, then whispers quite loudly that 'owner's son/daughter sleeping, so can see this room but must be quiet hor'. Of course, not forgetting the time when we walked into the study to find a shirt-less middle aged man perched coolie style on a chair in his study. Oops.
Some useful tips to share though:
1) I've done up an excel sheet (which I recommend for forgetful people like me) of the units that I've visited. Keeps things in perspective, reminds me of which units I've already seen & also helps as a gauge on what the average COV is around the areas I'm looking for.
2) Another useful thing to do is to go through a street directory & mark out the specific estates & block numbers of the flats you don't mind looking at. Keep it with you at all times so that when an agent calls you with a potential viewing, you will be able to easily know whether or not the block fits into your criterion & whether or not to pass on the viewing.
3) My last tip would be to pencil out your budget with various loan amounts and bring that along when you're viewing flats. You can do this budgeting via HDB's financial plan site. Look at my 'affordability post' for more info on this.
Our budget write up takes only about 10-15 mins to fill, depending on how many 'scenerios' you want to consider, but it really helped us know right off whether a unit was good to consider. Looks like this.
Some useful tips to share though:
1) I've done up an excel sheet (which I recommend for forgetful people like me) of the units that I've visited. Keeps things in perspective, reminds me of which units I've already seen & also helps as a gauge on what the average COV is around the areas I'm looking for.
2) Another useful thing to do is to go through a street directory & mark out the specific estates & block numbers of the flats you don't mind looking at. Keep it with you at all times so that when an agent calls you with a potential viewing, you will be able to easily know whether or not the block fits into your criterion & whether or not to pass on the viewing.
3) My last tip would be to pencil out your budget with various loan amounts and bring that along when you're viewing flats. You can do this budgeting via HDB's financial plan site. Look at my 'affordability post' for more info on this.
Our budget write up takes only about 10-15 mins to fill, depending on how many 'scenerios' you want to consider, but it really helped us know right off whether a unit was good to consider. Looks like this.
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