Taby

Hi Folks, I have a question regarding electrical installation. My contractor ripped off my electrical casing/ duct to make way for the floor tile skirting. Previously it sat nicely atop my wooden skirting. He did the same to my bathroom light, I supposed to lay wall tiles. I learnt from his sub-con eletrician that he will be billing my contractor for restoring these casings. My question is do I need to pay for these which is never mentioned nor quoted to me?

Hi Folks, Any idea where I can get nice traditional upholstered armchair locally? There are nice ones on armchairfurniture.com but I doubt it's a Singapore website.

Ok, then my 4-rm should be lesser. Thanks folks. Did your agents help you all transfer names for utilities, tv licence, phone bills etc? I want to pay my agent fee only after he has performed all his tasks. My agent is not proactive and I have to remind him on alot of things, so I better not miss out anything. Will there be any documentation to proof that he has done it? I was also told to go to the town council 1 week after my 2nd appointment to pay for conservancy charges etc. Is this right? Appreciate if you could share your experience. Thanks.

Good info. I shall ask seller to produce the statement. Thanks.

Hello Folks, I'm asked to prepare a cheque of $200 for my seller for property tax he has paid for the entire year of 2010 at our 2nd appointment on 12th October. My question is, for barely 2 1/2 months from when I'm to take over the flat, could the tax be at $200? How do I verify that? Would I be given a receipt? Taby

Hello Folks, I just got a quotation from a contractor. Please share with me what are the market going rates 'cos I feel my given rates are exorbitant, esp on tiles. Thanks. 1. 600x600mm homogenous tiles in LR - $5.50psf 2. normal casement window - $15psf 3. lattice casement window - $19psf 4. non-fire-rated front door - $650 5. F/H wardrobe - $220pfr 6. toilet wall tile - $6psf 7. kitchen wall tile - $8psf 8. kitchen solid surface - $75pfr 9. hacking of 270sqf LR floor - $800

Hi Eva, Spot on! In fact my bathroom would receive the most extensive makeover from my whole reno :-)

Hi Folks, I need some reliable contacts too. Please PM me. Thanks.

Hello Folks, I'm in the process of sourcing for contractors to do up my resale flat. I'm working on a small budget and hence is not looking at a total facelift but rather to make good with some enhancement here and there. The main thing I'm looking for is reliability, cost & workmanship. If you have experience with reliable contractors, please send me your recommendations. Would be great if you could upload their work for my reference. Thanks.

Hello Folks, I was told ceramic tiles are outdated and not practical (traps dirt between gaps) as compared to homogeneous for LR's floor. Can anyone attest to this? What are the different types of homogeneous tiles used in LR? Can someone pls upload some pictures to recommend to me? Would be nice if you could share with me their costs too. For toilet, I'm thinking to have both wall & floor tiles ceramics. Is there anything to take note of? Is it common to go tile sourcing before asking contractors to quote? Are there tile showrooms that I can visit? Looking forward to your replies. Thanks.

Bo bian huh, Dr. A.? At least your wife saved you the headache

Actually I just bought this unit in the east. If you were me, would you go with your heart (laminate) or your mind (tiles)?

I have laminated strips in my LR. A small area of the strips are bulging/ scratched. I can't decide if I should just replace the affected strips or change the LR flooring to homogeneous tiles. For economic reasons and also for my personal preference, I should replace only the affected strips. However, I'm concerned if the new strips would blend in nicely with the old. And will the contractor give me a warranty if it's just a touch-up job. I would also have to be extra careful with spills and I might be adopting a dog some time later... For practical reason, I should just replace them with tiles. However, this would cost me add'l hacking cost of $800, not to mention cost of tiles. It would take away the "feel" of cosiness and if I'm being honest, I don't really like the cold touch of tiles. What do you think I should do?

Thanks folks for sharing your valuable experiences. I'll be more armed for my future liaison with housing agents & their ploys. @owentch, I'm gonna take your advice to put the past behind me and move on with the things ahead. Looking forward to reap the end harvest! :-)

Hi, I would like to share my experience with my housing agent and would like to invite you for feedback. I got to know my agent thru ST ad. He was very diligent in arranging for viewing initially, even offering to pick me up everytime. But I started to have 2nd thought about him after I expressed my interest in the flat I'm currently in process of acquiring. On 1st viewing, I like the unit immediately. My agent also brought an old couple and they were expressing so much interest to the seller. Trusting my agent to protect my interest, I pulled him aside & asked what's the market COV for a unit of this condition. He said it's between 30k-50k (owner is asking for 50k). My budget was 25k but I liked the unit, so I shared with him my concern. When I got home, he text me that the seller received an offer of 30k. Trusting this is true although it appeared strange that within a span of 4 hours (after I left) and on the 1st day of viewing, there's already an offer. Next day, I arranged for noon 2nd viewing with my family. Prior to that, I asked if the offer was made by the couple, he said no, in fact the couple wanted to offer 35k when they get their cheque from the buyer of their current unit 4 days later. I asked if he could help close the deal for me. He was non-committal & said his partner will meet me for the viewing. When we reached, the seller was entertaining another group of buyer who left shortly. After viewing with my family, we proceeded downstairs to discuss while agent's partner was held back by the seller. Then I learnt from the partner that the group before me has also offered 30k but was asked to hang around the block as the seller would like to see my offer. Not wanting to lose the unit, my bottomline became 30k. I offered to issue a cheque immediately matching the same offer. Partner discussed with seller & returned saying the seller was unhappy & said even if I offered 35k now, he would not accept. He wanted 40k. That's way ridiculous so I left. Few hours later, my agent called & said if I could offer slightly more than 30k, he could help talk to seller. I was angry with the seller's bad bahaviour & insisted my ceiling is 30k. Few minutes later, my agent called & asked if I could bring the cheque down to the seller that same evening 'cos he said yes deal. I feel that my agent has not done much in negotiating on my behalf. Even when I have difficult questions for the seller on the first viewing, he brushed them off with subtle comeback. I had to do my own talking & asking questions. In fact, I suspect he is also the seller's agent as when I asked the seller if he had no agent, he said yes he has & left it at that. I suspect they are in cahoots and lied about the last offerred COV after I expressed my interest to him. His partner signed on the OTP as the seller's agent. My agent told me the seller advertise the unit himself & wanted him to just do the paperwork, tehrefore he brought his partner instead. I was diligently checking the classified every week & don't remember seeing the ad for this unit. Could my guess be right and those buyers were just actors? After making the deposit & initialing on the OTP, my agent is not as responsive in picking my call & also lapses in the things I asked him to do. He even asked me to use his banker & lawyer (I supposed for a referral fee) when his lawyer charges me more. Eventually, I used my own. He asked if I could put his name as the person who referred me. I get turned off by his money-driven acts. Please let me have your view on the incident and whether I should report this case, who can I report it to & whether it's okay to report it when the purchase process is ongoing. Thanks folks.