Pufferfish

Hi there, Under the MxS guidelines, the purpose of equity loan can be used for anything except for the purchase of another property. That is the "By right" rule. However, "by left", you can state that the purpose of your equity loan is to buy car / stock investments during the application. Once the loan is approved and disbursed, no one really cares how you are going to use the money. Those not so financially savvy one would use it on cars, holidays, MBS/RWS etc.. As for the new ruling on the 60% LTV for equity loan, you can still get up to 80% LTV for equity loan if you only have one outstanding housing loan at the point of application. If I am now staying in a condo and i only have such a loan, the bank is still able to grant a 80% LTV.

Hi, Like what Kliee11 mentioned, getting a term loan from your existing bank is the fastest route to get the funds but do bear in mind the following that your bank might not be the one offering: a) the most competitive rates b) the highest indicative valuation (depending on how much you want to cash out). Valuation is a very subjective exercise and the amount can differ quite a bit from bank to bank. c) the highest loan-to-value (LTV) ratio, as such ratio will affect how much you can cash out. Also, legal subsidy is not provided for should you apply for a cash out from your existing bank. Back to your questions, its not true that foreign banks will always offer the lowest rates. Conversely, the logic should be that local banks should be the one being able to do so in view of their relatively large deposit base. Having said that, I feel that no bank can afford to be a "price leader" all year round, always offering loan packages with the thinnest profit margins. Its all seasonal. There might be times when the management wants to boost their loan figures and if their budget allows them to do so, they will come up with those "cut throat" packages for a short period of time. So it pays to ask around a few banks before starting the loan application. For someone with bad credit history, it is still possible for him to get the term loan/ cash out from the bank. Assuming A and B are both the owners (aka mortgagors) of the property, under normal cirumstances, both A and B will have to be the borrower. However, for some banks, B can apply to be the sole borrower (provided his income is sufficient) if A is the one with bad credit history. In assessing the application, the bank will only check the credit bureau records of A and B will not appear under the radar. Unfortunately, there are very few banks in Singapore which are willing to process the loans on such basis (but there still are)... Hope the above clarifies.

Hi Butoot, Equity loan is also commonly known as "cash out" and "term loan" etc. It is only granted against the backdrop of appreciating property value. Assuming if you have bought your property few years ago at $1m with a $800k loan (80% LTV. Now assuming that the pty has appreciated to $1.4mil, you can apply for an equity loan and the estimated amount will be: 70% to 80% of $1.4mil (depending on banks) less outstanding loan less CPF usage with accrued interest. No big disadvantage for equity loan, as it can still be subject to same terms and rates as your housing loan. However, you should note that you cant use CPF to pay for monthly installment for equity loan. What your colleague mentioned is known as "margin call" in lending context. From my experience, banks normally dont come after you should your pty plummet in value if you are a good pay master and your loan size is not extremely big ($7 to 8mil that kind) that warrants special attention from the bank. The banks dont have so much time to scrutinize all their loans lah.. Once you have signed on the Letter of Offer from the new bank, your lawyer will serve a redemption notice to your existing financer and usually the new bank will take over the loan 3 months later. Thereafter, you have to wait for another 2 weeks before the new bank disburses the equity loan into your designated account, as your lawyer needs to to do the necessary "stamping" on the legal mortgage docs. So it is normally about 12+2 weeks before you see the cash in your account. However, the process cant be shorten to 6+2 weeks if you pay interest-in-lieu to your existing bank.

I suppose it all really depends on the supply and demand of the unit (eg not many units available for sale in mature estate, esp where a lot of old folks are staying), the level which the unit is at, reno, view, proximity to parent's house etc and how much value the buyer is willing to attach to these factors..Value is in the eye of the beholder... $80k is not unreasonable if the above factors are met. In fact, I just sold my 25-year old EM in Serangoon area with a $105k COV in December last year. No bulls..

Hi all, New joiner to the forum.. Just wanna share with you guys about this curtain uncle whom I addressed him as Ah Siang. He was recommended by my sister in law. He quoted me $1,200/- for black out curtains in my living room, master bedroom (very long), two kid's room and one roller blind for my study room. Much cheaper as compared to the usual Mxx, Jxxxy Txxxxx etc. Nice uncle who has a small shop in Jurong West but he will send the curtain samples to your place upon request. I even got him to do the bay window cushions for my MBR and two kids room and they are about $300/- cheaper as quoted by the rest. No bulls. You guys can call him at 9109 2178. No obligations one, no harm getting one more quote right? One point to note though, he cant really speak English... PS: I am not his son / godson eh...Just wanna share a good lobang only..

Hi all, I am a new joiner to the forum.. Just completed my house renovation about a month ago and now that most things have been settled after moving into my new place two weeks ago, its high time for me to contribute something to the forum, especially when I had learnt so much from here. First of all, I felt that i should share my experience with Ho Bee (referring to Patrick and his team of workers / carpenters / electricians) after seeing the kind of undeserving comments about the company. I started using Ho Bee as my contractor to "overhaul" my EM when I first got married in 2005 and my experience with Patrick had been a very positive one and I can vouch for his efficieny, responsibility, workmanship and after-sales service (Patrick really scored a big thumb up in the last aspect). I shall not elaborate too much on the details or else you guys would think that I am his relative / employee. Along the way, I also did recommend some of my friends and colleagues to him and so far, I had not received any negative feedback from them. Now 5 years had gone by and I again engaged Ho Bee to do up the reno for my place, and nothing much had changed, the same old Patrick and his team (except his main carpentary guy is now one plump guy whom I named as LONG GE) with his sense of responsibilty and efficiency. From day one since I know Patrick, he is not someone who appeared to be an eloquent and smooth talking salesman. In fact, he is the type who would give you one answer (at most 2 or 3) at best when you ask him one question. To be fair to him, he is a contractor, not an ID folk. So you more or less need to know what you want before engaging him. In short, tell him or his team what you want and they will deliver it to you within their possible means. They are the type, can say can, cannot say cannot. Listen to your suggestion and give you some practical advice. Wont promise you sky high... During the renovation period, I just leave the work schedule to him and he would plan out nicely for me. At most, I would visit the site at night, call him if i spotted something amiss and he will send his guys to rectify the next day. I remember there was an incident when I got them to erect a "false" wall and when the wallpaper guys (whom I engaged seperately) finished their work, they commented that the wall plastering wasnt smooth, resulting in the uneven appearance of the wallpaper under the spotlight. When I called Patrick, he didnt try to push responsibilty by saying things like "aiya, wall plastering / building new wall is like that one" but immediately sent his workers down on the same day to re-plaster the wall. Of course, I wouldnt say that his work is 100% perfect, no contractor / builder can claim to be so. But when you tell him, he will not defend himself / his workers and will rectify to up to your requirements without questions. For those who are looking for contractors and would like to see a sample of Ho Bee's renovation kung fu, do PM me and you are more than welcomed to drop by my humble residence for a preview of their work.