waileong

You can do anything if you are willing to pay for it. The contractor prob means that his standard pricing is based on 2.4m height, more than that is extra $$$.

Those are town houses?

It's not about the price.

A few weeks. They come, take measurements, go back to factory, make, then install and touch up. How "few" depends on the design you have chosen, how fast you can finalise all your selections of laminates and drawers and stuff, and whether they have your specific items in stock (esp. the countertop material).

Did you think about the quality, reliability and ability of the contractors to do the job?

It's the cubic volume of the room which matters. Not the area. Perhaps the formulas assume standard HDB ceiling height of 2.3 m or so. However, if you live in the top floor of HDB flat, the ceiling is 2.7m, and the formula may not work. If you live in a bungalow, the ceiling could be 3m, 4m even 5 m if you are really rich. So you should really understand these better.

While you have made some astute observations, I disagree that the value of a property depends on the location and land. In your examples, you have cited potential appreciation when developers obtain permission for increased plot ratio or alternative uses for the land. However, plot ratios cannot increase indefinitely, and zoning basically depends on the whims of the govt of the day, ie if the govt wants to create a financial hub in Jurong, and you happen to own land in Jurong, then lucky you. The current batch of enbloc millionaires are lucky because they bought properties at a time when land was cheap and plentiful, so they had big apartments in low-rise condos which developers find economic to redevelop into apartments half the size that sell for twice the price. But if you buy into one of the teeny weeny 1,000 sf condos today at $1000 psf, what makes you think that in 20 years time someone will want to pay double what you paid to live in a 500 sf condo? There's a limit to how small a condo can go for people to buy. In other words, I think that holding out for potential appreciation based on some developer possibly acquiring your teeny weeny condo in future is not a good bet. Yes, I know that condos easily top 60 stories in Hong Kong, so there is still the possibility that someone may acquire your 30-storey condo to rebuild a 60-storey one, without making the individual condos smaller. But I think the appreciation from that is much lesser than what our parents' generation are getting from their old condos. On the other hand, a conservation property, esp. ones in good condition like Emerald Hill peranakan houses, will always be in high demand. You know how much GCB's go for, how much they've appreciated over the years. I believe good quality conservation properties will appreciate faster, in percentage terms, taking location and size into account of course. The reason is simply their rarity and authenticity. Anyone with money can buy land in Nassim area and build a bungalow. But one cannot build another authentic antique Peranakan house. And antiques, as one knows, appreciate in value as they increase in rarity. So over time, the value of a well-preserved Peranakan house is going to be higher and higher as their numbers get less and less.

According to one aircon dealer I enquired, the price of aircons changes continually, because the principals (Mitsubishi, Toshiba, etc) keep changing the price. Almost gave me the impression that the price of aircon changes like share market.

In general, the govt prefers to let the free market decide how things pan out rather than intervene wherever possible. Just because there are complaints or some black sheep in an industry does not in and of itself mean the govt will step in. I think it's the right attitude, people should learn a sense of caveat emptor rather than run to a nanny govt.

Your unpleasant experience has blinded you to the following: 1. The commission is negotiated with the agent directly, not the agency. Frankly, agents are like remisiers in stockbroking firms, they are not salaried employees of the firm, and they get to use the agency's name and its facilities in return for a standard fee eg 0.1%. Thus as independent contractors, it is the agent who decides how much commission he is willing to give up in a negotiation. The agency does not and will not negotiate with you. 2. The agent is a salesman for you, if you don't like the offers he has brought you, you don't have to accept and he will not earn a single cent from you. On the contrary, he will in fact lose money if you never accept in the end, because he has to advertise and he has to do all the legwork. 3. As this is basically a sales job, it is and will always be commission based. That is and always will be the compensation model in a sales job. Who wants to be a salesman unless he can get more by selling more? Who wants to hire a salesman if you have to pay him a flat fee regardless of his sales performance? As far as the buy side is concerned, same story-- you can see 100 properties and you don't have to buy until you like, but the agent still got to do all the work for you (arrange appts, meet you, etc). In fact, on the private property buy side, you pay nothing-- it's co-broke. The model may be flawed, but most people are not prepared to pay on a per viewing basis, so that's how this model came about. Do you buy or sell shares? Same story right-- your broker also charges you a % commission, though the work of buying shares is no different whether the shares is $1 per counter of $100 per counter. It's a service industry, thus it's commission-based. Perhaps the time may come where the buy-side model may change-- like in the share market where online brokers offer a flat fee per trade. But because you can't automate property viewing like you can automate share trading, I doubt the model will change any time soon. 4. Lawyers in a property transaction are not in a sales job, that's the diff and that's why I don't see why they should earn a % fee. Esp for hdb where everything is so std. I believe the % model was adopted basically for affordability, ie three-roomers are poorer and thus pay less for the same work compared to ea buyers/sellers. In other words, the EA buyers/sellers subsidise the 3-roomers. While that may be a socially acceptable reason, I still don't like it.

Talk to a lawyer.

1. No one is forced to use an agent. Just because you had an unpleasant experience with an agent doesn't mean others should not use them. 2. Agents are useful for doing all the dirty work people don't like to do, esp. on the selling side. Placing ads, answering calls (incl. bo liao callers), showing and explaining to potential buyers, negotiating, doing the paperwork, etc. They are most useful if you can trust them and give them your keys-- that way you don't have to be home every weekend when buyers want to come. And don't forget that they are results-based-- if you don't sell, they don't get a single cent, but they have to foot all the costs up front. 3. Although the market has a standard 2%/1% commission rate, in business everything is negotiable. 4. I would agree most agents are not innovative-- most just rely on classified ads and phone calls, haven't seen an agent do Youtube videos to market properties yet, for instance. But the service is there-- advertising for you is a service, handling all the calls is a service, showing them around is a service, helping you with the paperwork is a service, etc. You can't deny they do service, although there is of course a difference between good and bad service. 5. I would say the real leeches, esp. for HDB properties, are the conveyancing lawyers. What's the value add in this? Every time a flat changes owners must check if the title deed is good, etc. The original title deed came from HDB, and the bloody flat is clearly from HDB-- so how many times must you check that? And even if the service is necessary, why is it a percentage of the transaction price? Do the checks for title deeds, bankcruptcy, etc. differ for a 3-room flat and an exec apartment? Obviously not-- so why is it not a flat fee per transaction, why is it a percentage? For all the paper shuffling these lawyers earn a percentage fee.

Check my blog.

In truth, the agent doesn't care that much about the price, as long as it's not too difficult to close the deal. Whether the selling price is $10k more than what the buyer wanted or $10k less than what the seller wanted, what diff does it make? 0.5% of $10k is what? $50? 1% is $100? If an agent has to wait an extra week or three to earn $100, he'd rather be out selling yet another property. All they care about is closing the deal asap, so they can claim the commission asap. Most agents are always persuading their sellers to lower their expectations, or persuading their buyers to offer more, not because they want to earn less (in the case of the seller agent) or to earn more (in the case of the buyer agent), but simply to close the deal asap. You have been warned.

Cost of everything has gone up, it's hard to compare reno quotes from even 2 months ago. Not to mention that price is the last thing to worry about in a reno. Competence, time-definite completion, quality and reliability are far more important.

He's claiming both seller side and buyer side, which is 2 + 1% standard rate. He's claiming all from you since you aborted the sale.

They've been around a long time. Did my Bishan Flat in 2000. OK lah. Nothing special, nothing bad.

Obviously it depends on what you signed with the agent. He is claiming for damages, which should be equal to what would have been paid to him if the sale had gone through.

Ceilings should be at least 3m high. Add yourself.

A better question to ask is whether the guy can do a quality job.

Could they be useful in expansion and contraction under S'pore heat?

You expect people to confess their sins in public?

In general, I think the problem is not in the couple, but in the people around them, ie the pressure, real or perceived from the families, friends, etc. Religion can also be a barrier, esp if one or both sides are uncompromising.

Magazines are not the answer.

If you don't know what you want, getting an ID is not the issue.