pepamint_L

Hi hi! Wondering how your retractable clothes functioning, 3 years after installation? I went to furniture planner exhibition last weekend and found 2 exhibitors (one of them is TAME) selling at $888 as special promotion price....

I've been watching some shows on TV (but mostly US shows) where a team of people re-decorate a drab house/room and make it look really nice. All they do is source for and buy suitable furnishings, lighting, painting of walls, probably some carpentry work. But no real renovation. Are there any companies offering such services in Singapore? Have you engaged such service before? How much does it cost approximately (not including purchase of furnishing and stuff)?

Uh, will there give you poorer service if only ask for creative design leh? Coz it obviously means, i cannot afford their full package... Have anyone tried just to pay for design? Wonder how much that would cost...

see some of their prices here: http://home. icompare.sg /interior-design/details/6 even tells you how long the renovation took...

Thanks! Wow, you know which unit I'm talking about huh? Oh yeah, you're also from DWG.... Anyways, to anyone reading this post, during this whole resale saga, after dealing with 3 ERA agents and 3 DWG agents (including Mark, if you don't mind, I'm basing this on your posts so far), i seriously think agents from DWG are better then ERA..more straightforward, forthcoming and sincere....

Hi to all, Thanks to all in forum for advice so far. Just to update, we got disappointed again last week. The seller agreed accept our offer of $30k COV last Tues and that very evening, we gave our cheque for the EA at Yishun St 81. Then the seller postponed putting his signature on the OTP, claiming he needs to wait till his wife comes home on Monday (tomorrow). They are apparently going to divorce, so now he's not sure whether she will agree to the price. Throughout our viewings or to the selling agent, he never revealed the part about them getting a divorce and that they may have different opinions anytime before we 'closed the deal'. Although we never saw the wife during both viewings, and asked about it, he had claimed that his wife was staying with his children to help take care of grandchildren. Since it sounded logical, we believed him.... yes, we're gullible people...We even agreed to allow him to extend the 2nd appointment to middle of Aug to give him time to find another flat... In the end, the agent found out that the seller did another open house on Thursday, without informing his own selling agent. He did it through another agent! He was trying to use our offer to bait for higher offers! This is the second time we came close to getting a unit and were let down by the agent/seller. But at least this time I found both the agents (one represent buyer, the other seller) from DWG very conscientious. We didn't engage the agent, we found the ad on the net and called, so the selling agent got his colleague to be our agent. Both of them never pressed us to close the deal, and actually reminded us to not make hasty decisions because, to quote the agent 'ultimately, you will be the one staying in there for a long time'. And even when they returned us our cheque today, they were very nice about it, although we told them we were no longer looking for a resale. Then they told us about the seller story, which they only just found out as well. They now advised us better not to take the unit, even if the seller decides to turn back to us, to prevent future issues as they found the seller lacking in honesty... But the good news is, we both got so sick and tired of all this COV, cunning agents and sellers, that we decided to pop into The Canopy at Yishun (EC) showroom for a look..Lo and behold! It was more affordable than we had imagined it to be! We found that if we bought direct from developer, we actually paid less cash upfront and could even get a $30k CPF grant for first timers! (we were not eligible for the grant for resale or DBSS) If we had bought the resale, we would have to come up with more than $60k of cash, not including renovation (for the state of the yishun EA, reno would be extensive!). But with this EC, we need to pay <$40k in cash, and will get new flat with all the finishings done! Plus, we will have full condo facilities to use After doing the sums, we finally put our deposit down for The Canopy Anyways, if you guys are interested in getting a unit at The Canopy, do PM me ok? Apparently if we refer new buyers, both the buyer AND the seller each get $2888 (for 2 room units), $3888 for 3 bedroom units..

In secondary school, in literature, we learnt this story (ancient times) where this lady felt that she was sinned and wanted to atone her sins, so she donated money to make this protrusion at the doorway (can't remember to temple or what), and its called 门坎 (men2 kan3). The idea is to let people step on it everyday... Maybe no relation to Fengshui la, anyways, that is called 门坎 FYI...

@_@ ! Oops, thank you!! wow thankfully you pointed that out, I initially calculated $7.5K+ only..big difference *sweat*

Thank you May_dream! Congratulations on you finding your dream home too!! By the way, when i checked the stamp duty on HDB website: http://www.hdb.gov.sg/fi10/fi10321p.nsf/w/...al?OpenDocument I referred to Fees Payable to HDB part : For Mortgage (Based on Loan Amount) since I'm taking loan from bank. I shouldn't be looking at the Fees Payable to Commissioner of Stamp Duties or Registry of Land Titles and Deeds right? I didn't scroll down the page earlier, didn't see soo many things below...

Hi all, I would like to ask whether anyone knows how the CPF reimbursement for Stamp Duty and Legal Fees work. Is it given back to me in cash or? My calculation for initial cash as below, is it correct? Valuation Price $500,000.00 COV $35,000.00 Total Sale Price $535,000.00 OTP $1,000.00 Exercise OTP $4,000.00 Valuation Report $186.55 5% initial payment $20,000.00 [ 5% of Valuation Price - (OTP+Exercise OTP)] CPF Monies available $200,000.00 Loan Amt $300,000.00 Stamp duty $7,506.00 [ Legal Fees $2,500.00 Agent Fees $5,350.00 [1% of Total Sale Price] Total Cash $65,536.55

hi icer, I read in Saturday's newspaper a whole page about warning readers about cases like yours! Good that it has now been brought to the attention of masses!

oh...now I know... thanks for enlightening me!!

i'm seeing some posts on resale websites with 'price as guide'. When i called the agent, they inform me that valuation has not yet been done. So it would be disadvantageous to me as a buyer, discouraging me from viewing. What is the rationale of posting the ad for the unit then? So that they can get high COV if valuation ends up low or? But then again, the seller's agent declined to have us view the unit...don't understand...

Even till now, i have no idea how to call an agent's bluff, especially if they tell me there is 'another buyer' giving higher bids... Anyways, Good luck to you! Jia you!

I just received sms from HDB today, announcing not one, but Three BTO launches! 1 in Bukit Panjang and 2 in Sengkang... Wonder whether people would prefer these over DBSS, since the prices seem more reasonable...I can't qualify due to the stupid income ceiling... Wonder whether those people viewing the AdoraGreen would flock to this BTO instead....

I saw the showflat yesterday liao.....yes, very small. The kitchen basically can only hold 3 adults standing in a single file... Kitchen size and area for 3 room,4 room and 5 room models all the same. you can see the layout here: http://www.adoragreen.com.sg/unitPlan_blk347A.html We may try to ballot, but since the 5 room flats are quite limited, in the meantime, we will still keep looking out for resale...

No choice have to go for bank loan lo.... We don't really like "NG"...maybe because its because we ai-pi- ai-qi (loosely translated: want cheap and good), that's why so difficult to find... our valuation limit is <$550K, at the above mentioned locations/model, >=5 flr, non corridor unit, not ard AMK Ave 10...

Clementi is considered expensive area right? This morning my colleague told me, during his time (almost 10 years ago) Yishun and Woodlands used be the lower priced areas..

yeah, i know, if i could get a resale, i would....sigh... I just saw the layout, you're right, 4 bedrooms...kinda like my friend's condo...all small small rooms...

I just found at the Adora Green in Yishun will be launched very soon. 5 room flat priced between $520-650k for 112 sqm (1200+ sqft), inclusive aircon ledge & balcony, which means it would be smaller than what we usually see in 5 room flats... I've been searching for a 4A to 5 room flat in AMK, bishan area for almost half year, but simply couldn't get one. With this price, wonder whether this is Adora Green is worth buying... Another factor that is making me hesitate is the waiting time for it to be built.... Opinions / discussion on this new project?

still no dream home in sight...i've got myself another agent, with the same criteria, looking for 4A to 5 room in bishan, shunfu, ang mo kio and even to serangoon north, but he keeps bringing us to see 4A in bishan and 1 in sin ming.. Anyway, recently my HLE application plus appeal got rejected, due to the income ceiling thingy....after I smsed him about the first HLE rejection, never heard from him again...sigh....maybe I'll be looking for Plastic3 soon....

By the way, i noticed that less units for resale this 2 weeks. My agent told me low supply, and even when i check on websites like PropertyGuru and iProperty, really see less ads or repeat ads only. Is this a normal CNY trend or was it due to the new property measures?

Even though you got your money back after all the trouble, you should still lodge a complaint against the seller agent. His conduct: lack of knowledge, lack of professionalism to do the proper checks, has to be penalised! Please, do it, for the sake of the buyers' community! This agent cannot go scot free for what he has done!

you guys are right about definition of ulu, depends on person... Personally, I stay at braddell, at one time, i stayed at bishan, so both took less than an half an hour (include walking from home to MRT + MRT ride) to get to orchard. So anything further than yio chu kang for me is considered quite ulu...no offense ah...

true, what i can afford seems to be getting smaller and smaller, more and more ulu... If you read the article on first page of mypaper today <Home prices hit record highs, but at slower pace>, somehow it seems like they are trying really hard to convince us that the property measures are working.... I quote: "Both private and public housing prices in Singapore rose in the fourth quarter but at a slower pace than previously, indicating that government measures to cool the market were working." "But policy measures to cool the market introduced in August last year seem to be working. The resale volume declined by about 21 per cent in Q4."