aegis0129

Depending on how much one needs the item, I usually maintain a lot of discipline in buying things off ebay for the wants. Sometimes if its just a small amount more, I may go ahead and use buy it now to secure the item so that my things will reach vpost in a timely fashion. If one exceeds the 2 weeks timeframe for holding of items using vpost, you end up paying more base charge. I collect books have have amassed quite a collection off ebay by simply having tons of saved searches in my ebay, things will often show up from time to time for a good price.

I do a lot of my shopping online and have found the following forums useful for tracking US sale items. Slickdeals (click on icons on left to zoom in on items of interest, such as photo, audio, etc) http://slickdeals.net/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=9 Fatwallet http://www.fatwallet.com/forums/hot-deals/ One of the common issue that folks may face is that US merchants require the use of a US based CC and a US billing address. I do have a US based CC which was obtained when I lived there and I use my company's US address as the billing address. This is probably not feasible for most folks but I have read that some people have used Amex cards with some degree of success so it may be worth checking that out. Generally there may also be coupons lying around on the internet for free shipping or further discounts. Simply type the merchant name + coupons and there will be plenty of results on google. I use priceline alot for bidding on hotels if I'm in the states or even UK. Probably not so much under internet shopping but if people find that useful I will be happy to post some guides as well. In Singapore, internet shopping has not caught on as much as in larger western countries probably due to the proximity of amenities on this island. The amount of deals one can get in the US is incredible, very easy to get into a buying frenzy.

rickoveron, do you have any pictures of your roller shutter to share? Thanks!

The original tiles have already been there for a decade, if the workmanship is bad should it have popped already?

My place has tiles at the bottom layer and previous owner overlaid his laminate boards over it. I'n planning to use homo tiles now, the contractor has removed the laminates and told me its fine to overlay the tiles over the old ones. Should I request for the bottom layer of tiles to be hacked away as well before laying the homo tiles or would it be fine to overlay tiles on tiles? I'm worried that if the bottom layer is no go it will cause my tiles to pop. Thanks!

Hi all, any recommendations for a sleek looking black glossy fan? Thanks!

What is more scary is a larger loan (500k) when stretched to the max 30 yrs. 1% $1608 2% $1848 14.93% +$240 3% $2108 31.09% +$500 4% $2387 48.45% +$779 5% $2684 66.92% +$1079 Make sure you can tahan the hikes when it comes.

What to do, mkt let people fry until nothing left.

When you buy a house for own use make sure you can take interest hikes, the current rates are obviously not going to be here forever. At the very least make sure you can take it when it's 3-3.5% which is nearer to historical norms.

as long as people are paying COV, prices will not come down as valuations are going up. i did manage to negotiate for lower cov from 45k-35k when the last offer was 38k made one mth+ ago. now if you havent bought its a waiting game. bottomline is live within your means...

not supposed to talk about it but i'll give you a hint, it was reported in cna yesterday.

Haha if GE dates out sure big news, got many hypotheses out there on when it's gonna be. I think unlikely to be this year considering still got a lot of hot issues like immigration and housing plus we got chance of technical recession. No we're both referring to the downpayment of 15% by CPF. The monthly installments is of course another consideration, one cannot possibly go out and buy a house now thinking interest rates are low because eventually they will go up and you must make sure you can handle it when it gets there.... Either you have a huge stash of spare cash or make sure you're buying something that a single income can handle comfortably. Deep now inside I think it is a blessing in disguise that something happened to us before we committed to buying a house, initially she said I was overly pessimistic in my financial planning but now I guess she is more receptive to what I'm telling her in not overstretching ourselves.

My shortfall for CPF is not massive, less than 5k and I was prepared to make up the diff in cash already. Life is funny sometimes, the fiancee is low maintainence never splurge on branded bags, ask me buy car, etc. But come to house.... to me its still not that bad cos I think you really gotta find a place you like, save some money get something you don't really fancy and going to be unhappy for 5 years straight its no joke.

My priority is the wedding, for me things like house can wait. Currently we make a decent living, I don't own a car and have to intention to until I start a family. I'm actually prepared to wait out the bubble, the wifey is not happy about that. If money can solve these problems the way I see it then do it, no point disagreeing all the time. At least I convinced her not to get a condo as it will be tough on a single income when interest rates go up.

Things are slightly more complex than that, I will be overseas for Q1 2011, previously she was supposed to be still working but with the change forced upon us now we thought she might as well come along and then try shoot for the grant plus we dun have to be apart. Anyways, our plans are not firm still trying to figure out what we wanna do, she already sent out a bunch of resumes. If a good offer comes along we'd probably just take it. Housing for the last few years has been severely mismanaged, they have all the numbers and know exactly what is the demand and supply. This growth at all costs policy really screwed alot of ppl over, Swiss standard of living? Bah. I was a kid when they came up with all that BS, now? I'll get out the instance I can. Its every man for himself.

GE no annoucement la, its a joke.

Election time everyone got vested interest, if they can bring down prices good for me, vote wise.... they got no new tricks liao, goodies, votes, then one up urs after GE. Wats new. Too bad last one I overseas can't vote, haha.

What sort of impact do you think this new rule will entain? Sales will most likely be down in Q4 whether there is this rule or not. What I'm more interested in is whether the cooling measures have helped in stabilising (I don't think prices will come down) the mkt. If not, with GE coming up I'm not surprised that more measures will come in at the end of Q1 2011.

I do not disagree with that, I might be sitting on the fence for a while more before deciding to rent or buy. Wedding is next year June so still have a little time to play around. The good thing is the job market is not looking too bad for both of us so hopefully she can find another job quickly. We just want to take advantage of everything we can get hold of now. Anyways, I have budgeted such that the monthly payments is less than 1/3 of one of our take home incomes so it should be pretty comfortable.

ok thanks, think she won't mind doing her tai tai life for a while more before first appointment. Once she gets another job we will definitely cross the 8k mark so appeal is out of the question for us. i'm most probably going for a bank loan instead of hdb, they are unlikely to give me a large enough loan for an EM which we're hoping to get. Yup, I'm aware of that, the issue is we haven't been working that long so still have a little shortfall in the cpf and while we already planned to plug the shortfall with cash. We though since now we have a chance to get the grant we might as well do so and free up the cash. Beside, MOP now is 5 yrs regardless of whether it is subsidised or not.

Thanks for clarifying. The other thing on our mind is how long of a buffer we need before she tries for another job? If say she gets another job by the 1st appt, will it reduce the chances of getting the grant?

Hi, we're first timers but prob not staying near parents. I read the hdb website and it looks like I should be eligible for the 30k cpf top up if I'm not wrong. Not eligible for the AHG though. The money will come in handy as we have a little shortfall for the 15% and stamp duty. Initially we had to top up the shortfall in cash but due to the unforseen circumstances (we wouldn't quit to get the money) we thought we might as well go for it. Especially with the blanket 5 year MOP new rule.

No we're thinking of resale actually. The wait for BTO is too long for us.

My fiancee was recently made redundant and my income is less than 8k. That makes us eligible for the CPF grant right? Do they look at how long one is unemployed before giving the grant if we go ahead and buy a resale flat?

What is the market rate for COV at the EMs along Toh Guan Road? Had a seller asking 70k for high floor original unit and 45k for a low floor done up one. Seems pretty steep to me.