loli

I dun agree leh... Fixed sum can work to our advantage if we know how. Firstly we, being the sellers, can tell the agent what is the price point that we will sell the house and we can avoid being shortchanged by engaging more than one agent. If I were to be a seller now, what I will do is to fix different commission rate for different price points. Eg, $3000 for $300k and $8000 for $400k. In this way, the agent will be motivated to push for higher price. With the waiver of the 1%2% rule, the ball is in our court. Given that the industry is fiercely competitive, we can make it work to our advantage. it is a dog eat dog world in this industry. They may agree on the suface but still undercut each other. All it takes is theirs or other agents, whom they do not have complete control over, to start undercutting each other, in order to stay afloat in this competitve industry.

haha... i like your graciousness... i dun think it is true cos I have bot mine at 127 sq m. It all boils down to location and price. 10-15 sq m difference does not really matter much unless you have a big family.

You can only expect them to be nice when you are giving them money. You call the agency is like shouting in the valley, all you hear is your own echo. They dun give a heck.

We have come across similar experience when we were selling our house. The buyer's agent actually told us that their agency has this policy of taking 50% cut from the forfeited fees should the buyer decided not to exercise option and this is for their "leg work". We told them that we know there is NO such policy from HDB, unless they can show us that in black and white. I mean who cares about what their agency's policy are? They can have all kinds of policies but so long as they are not enforceable by law, we have absolutley no obligation to follow their house rules. Furthermore,we argued that their so called "leg work" should be compensated by their buyer, not us the seller, since the agent is working for them. Also, compared to their "legwork" , we as seller have much higher opportunity cost, as we have to stop marketing the house for 2 weeks until the option is exercised. With all these arguments, the agent became wordless, and said "it's ok if you all dun agree." I can tell you these agents will always try their luck to screw money from you. So one must be aware of the HDB rules, so as not to be taken for a ride by these blood-suckers.

have checked it out... must say that I am very impressed with your interior design. Who is your interior designer? He has a good sense of using the space efficiently, yet beautiful at the same time. good job!

thanks for the info. will pop by to find out more. do you know of any other companies that sell and install wallpapers?

I can tell you that most agents are only interested in getting commission. To get you the house of your desire is of secondary concern to them. Once deal is closed, see if they would bother to entertain you when you have any problem? Once we have kids, our decision will evolve around them. The usual reasons for parents to consider moving are almost the same: to be closer to their caregivers and to be near to the schools we want to enrol them in. My new home is located in a town which I would never consider, if we are married without kids. Having so used to living in a mature town that has almost everything, now I can't imagine staying in the new place where I couldn't find nice food or even a kopitiam in close proximity. The only consolation I have is that at least it is near to another mature estate where there's good food and more amenities, but that would mean we would always need to drive out... sigh...

i agree with you. it is better to move on and look for better agents if your realised they can't even get the basics right. There are so many agents out there who can be rather incompetent. Take the case of our seller's agent, he doesn't seems to know how to fill in the OTP form, and we actually have to guide him along! We, and the HDB officer, have to also remind him to sign his portion on the form not once but twice! Yet he has the cheek to ask us for commission the day before our 1st appt! We of cos rejected it. Thinking back again, I think we should be the ones asking for commssion from him, since we helped him to fill up the OTP form properly! If I am the seller, and knowing how incompetent he is, I wouldn't be happy to pay him 2%, but maybe 1% on the account he has helped to arrange for viewings, nego and so on...

oh they do installation? then how come my id say they dun?! how long is the warranty?

sorry what's replumbing? Is it the same as re-piping? If yes, we are. according to the id, the reason he gave is that once he dimantle it from the wall, it cannot be put back. Can you pls tell me how it is possible to put it back when we do repiping?

Anyone engaged this co to do up the wardrobe? we have just paid some deposit over last weekend at the exhibition held at the expo. seems like they are quite well known, but would like to find out more from forumers here. does anyone has any feedback on the product and service?

i am in somewhat a dilemma.. we have just bot a 6 yr old flat which was immaculately maintained, including the WCs. Still we decided to engage an ID to do overhaul on kitchen and living/dining, and these already cost us a bomb. Thus, we were thinking of trying to reduce costs to see if we could keep some of the items left behind by the ex-owner. All other appliances are easy to decide, except for WCs. Personlly I prefer to change all WCs as I dun really like the idea of using the same toilet bowls that have been used for 6 years by other people. however, when we checked the WCs, they are actually in good condition. Furthermore, it is Caroma. Incidentally, we checked the price of the model from Sim Siang Choon, it costs at least $500 each. Wouldn't it be a waste to hack them away? I dun think we can afford to buy such expensive WCs as there are so many items we need to take care of. the other thing that rather confused me is that my ID told me that the WCs cannot be put back once it is taken out (we are going to hack everyting in the toilets for reno). But someone else told me it can be done. So which is true? Confused...

can you pls share which shop was that can offer you lower price? Was checking out Grohe over the weekend... and was told by a very helpful guy in a shop that not all Grohe are manufactured in Europe. Some of them are from Thailand but quality dun differ much as Grohe has a strict quality control. we were contemplating to get FreeHander, the latest shower gadget... but was told by the guy that it may not work if the water pressure is lower as HDB flats share one common water source unlike the private houses. has anyone from HDB flats here install FreeHander?

Heard a lot of rave about Goodrich's great wallpapers. has anyone bought from it before? How do we go know how much we need for wallpapering? Does Goodrich provide labour to help us put it up? If not, where can we get help? hope some kind souls can advise.. thanks.

i only remember his name is Ken. Dun remember his surname. And I dun have his card anymore...we discard it the moment we realise the no is no longer in use. You looking for an agent?

Hi MeToo, Just to share... I have just bot my ceiling fans today from Brigtht House Lighting located at AMK Blk 712 ( I found out about this shop thru a flyer in my mailbox). The items are: 1 x 42" KDK (comes with remote control and w/o lighting) @ $248 2 x 52" Elmark (lastest model with acrylic blades, and without lighting kit) @ $288 Total I have paid after disc is $800, with Free Installation, and GST waived! I supposed I am getting an ok deal here, although it is not as good as yours.

I am not sure if the installation fee was included in the price. We paid $258 for a Elmark fan. Chances are I dun think it includes the installation fee since the price is considered low. But then again, we could have gotten the electrician who did our wiring to do the installaion. Can't be clear about this as it is 5 years ago liao...

i see, thanks for the info.

thanks for sharing. do you mean $80 for all wiring charges and new points?

during house hunting, some seller's agents asked us for commission. We refused, and the agents called off the deals. We ever wrote to IEA, asking about why buyers should pay seller's agents commission, given we are independent buyers and conflict of interests. Guess what they wrote back? They said something like "Take it or leave it, that's the usual practice of the industry". We were so turned off! This shows that the association will only act in the interest of the agents, not us as consumers. The only association we probably can go to is CASE just to lodge complaints, since it is not vested with authority to do anything about it. Govt needs to do something, be it HDB or any other authorities. As long as there are loop holes and grey areas in the system, we the consumers suffer.

what is double point? do you mean 2-gang switch? will talk to my id again when we meet. thanks for the info.

you know, the sad part is, eventhough you have stated in your ad "No agents pls", there are still some who will still want to try their luck. They will call you, and even if you stated clearly right from the start during phone conversation, that you are not paying any commission, they still will try, while some got the message clear and decided not to proceed with arranging the viewing appt. Those who still want to try their luck, the common answers they give are " it is ok cos i am getting comm from buyers's side". This is eventhough later you found out later that these buyers already have their representing agent. Some would also say "never mind, it's ok, let my buyers view the house first". Then, once you opened the door to these agents, you let in a flood of troubles to deal with. The moment these agents have interested parties making an offer, all the true colors come out. Threats,blackmailing, harrassment begin and will not end until you either give in or your threatened to call the police. I really feel that HDB should regulate this industry. So long as it is willing to put a clear line about how much commission buyers and sellers should pay, and that buyers should pay buyer's agents only and sellers pay seller's agents only, it would stop a lot of nonsense for house owners and buyers.

yeah.. they look very basic. how are fanco and crestar? have you used these brands before? are these made in Taiwan too?

dunno what my ID said true or not lah.. better check with Clipsal if you want.

thanks for sharing. the price seems ok to me. will check out palace of lights. me personally prefer Elmark cos the motor seems better compared to Amasco based on my experiene with the existing fans I have in my current house. Amasco's motor seems to weakened after some time. Just to let you know, my Amasco fan's speed 1 is creeping slow and speed 2 is too fast, whereas the difference in Elmark's speed 1,2 and 3 are more consistent. Maybe not all Amasco is like that, but becos of my personal experience, i prefer not to buy Amasco again. while i know regulators are chargeable, i tot ceiling fans come with free installation? i dun remember paying any installation fees previously leh... that's what i think my ID thinks lah. But I think I have to agree with him somewhat, as I also noticed most of the nice ID pictures I saw in ID mags usually do not have ceiling fans. Anyway, since we are going to pay so much for ID, guess we will pass the ceiling fans for the sake of beauty. We like Kdk too for its quiet and reliable motor. Really pity about the limited designs...