Butoot

Hi I am currently the sole owner of a condo unit which is under mortgage. I had also taken an equity loan because of the increase in value of my house the last time I refinance it. I do not have any other property. I am planning to sell the unit to my partner as she wants to take over the whole unit. How best can we do it quickly and smoothly? We intend it to be an actual sale, ie she will need to use her CPF and probably take up a loan to buy it from me. It will not be merely a transfer of ownership. She does not own any other property. I would appreciate any kind advice here. Thanks very much!

Hi My parents are thinking of laying new electrical wires and switches in their 4-room HDB flat in Clementi. It was built in 1980. Would appreciate any reliable contact and an approximate of how much this would cost. The reason is that the wires are old and cannot handle much load. Whenever the air-con is switched on, a short circuit would occur. Thanks very much.

Hi Acetone is one of the most powerful solvents and I have been trying hard to get some. Could someone advise me where I could buy some? Thanks.

Hi Recently I used a new green wool and GIF detergent to clean the surface of my dining table which is white marble. I was horrified later to see many many fine scratches that now refuse to go away no matter what I do. Really heart pain to see the blur surface of my table everytime my family sit down to eat. Is there a solution for this, besides buying a new table? The table cost us more than a thousand 4 years ago. I have tried various marble polishers from DIY shops etc but to no avail. I am thinking of getting one of those grinding machines used by professional marble polishers who do marble floors. But I am lookinhg for a small portable one that I can use on my dining table and some spots of my marble floor. Is such a machine availabe in Singapore? Thanks a zillion for your kind advice!

Agree. But if you have ready cash or assets that can be liquidated quickly, there is nothing to be afraid of.

I don't think you can do much with $36,000. Probably neater to use refinance your property and wait perhaps for the value to rise. :-)

If you refinance and take an equity loan from your current bank, they shouldn't charge legal fees (but they will charge an Admin fee which is $500). In fact, they call it a conversion and it would be even faster than if you were to find a new bank. If it is a new bank, it would subsidize part of your legal fees. I think it is best you consult a Mortgage Broker who is in a much better position to advise you on this. Better still, consult two Mortgage Brokers. I did. Both were extremely helpful. In the end, I went with one because she was able to get a bank that gave me a much higher valuation for my house. If you want, I could pass you their contact numbers. There's no obligation as far as they are concerned. PM me if you need.

Hi Newie-X I have just refinanced my property and gotten an equity loan. I shall try to answer some of your questions based on my recent personal experience. I hope my answers could be helpful to you. 1. Is equity loan a new loan on top of my mortgage loan, or is it a replacement loan for my mortgage loan? Yes, the equity loan is a new loan. You get two loans with the same interest rate. You can use your CPF to pay off the monthly housing loan but you have to use cash to pay off the monthly equity loan installment. 2. What criteria does the bank look at in granting the equity loan to me? Because I already have a mortgage loan outstanding. The most important criterion is the value of your house. Has your house increased in value? The equity loan is given based on the increased value of your house. I have illustrated the formula for the loan in an earlier post in this thread. Different banks will offer different LTV. 3. Are there still SOR-rate equity loan? This I am not sure. It depends on the bank. 4. Can I ask for the same rates of my mortgage loan from my mortgage loan bank? I am sure you can ask. The rates are very competitve now. 5. Should I source for other banks' equity loans other than my present mortgage loan bank? Of course! In fact, the best thing you can do is to engage the service of a Mortgage Broker (MB). That saves you a lot of time calling up banks and checking on their various loan packages. The MB is in a position to compare all the loan packages and advise you on which is the best for you. You don't need to pay the MB a single cent. He/she gets the commission from the bank depending on the size of your loan. I used an MB for my loan and she was most helpful and very professional. If you are interested, I can pass you her contact number. 6. Is the period of the loan similar to property loans, ie 20-year or 30-year loan? Is there a lock-in period? I believe they have a formula for the tenure for the property loan which is 75 years minus your age. Usually there is a lock-in period of either one or two years, depending on the loan package. 7. Does it carry redemption penalties if the equity loan is redeemed within the lock-in period? Yes, definitely. It is a certain percentage of the loan amount. 8. If the equity loan is approved, I can start to use it within 6 mths and interest will start when I start to use it? And if I did not use the loan after 6 mths, the loan will lapse and I will not be charged any interest? I believe so but I cannot answer this question because I wanted the equity loan as early as possible. I got mine in two months after signing the letter of offer from the bank. Thanks in advance! You are most welcome! :-) The equity loan will come in useful when investment opportunities arise. But you are not allowed to buy another property using it. It is a guideline issued by MAS. The bank will probably ask you for a statement on what you intend to do with the equity loan. If you say you want to buy another property, it won't grant the loan. Just say that it is for investment or other purposes, eg stocks and shares, paying off other higher interest loans like car loans, children education etc.

I asled if the bank or applicant can back out after the applicant has signed the Letter of Offer for any housing loan. I have since found the answer. There is a penalty clause. Thanks.

Hi Pufferfish Thanks for your reply. I learnt it from two different mortgage brokers who should know what they are talking about. I also read from Dennis Ng's website and he mentioned the same thing. As long as you have one or more outstanding loan, you only get 60%. If you have totally no housing loan, then it is 80%. Please see this: http://www.masteryourfinance.com/forum/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=2093

Dear Kalimantan I am actually also quite new to this but let me try to give a very simple example using, as you suggested, a $1M property. Here goes: Your current property is valued at $1 million. So 60% is $600,000 Let's say you still owe the bank $200,000 and you have used up $300,000 of your CPF plus accrued interest. With the new policy now, if you want to get a Term Loan, the bank will give you only $600,000 minus $200,000 you still owe and minus the $300,000. You get to borrow only $100,000. Under the old policy where the bank could lend up to 80% LTV, you will be able to borrow $800,000 minus $200,000 minus $300,000 which is $300,000. A difference of $200,000!!! We can do a lot of things with $200,000!

What I heard is true. It is now official. From 27 July 11, banks will only grant you a 60% LTV if you want to get a term or equity loan (also known as cash out). This 20% makes a big difference to the final amount you can get after deducting the existing loan balance and the cpf plus accrued interest used in purchasing your property.

Hi I was told by the bank that it would be sending someone to my condo to appraise its value. How should I prepare for this? Thanks.

I think the government is tightening the property market basically by making it more difficult for people to freely take loans to buy more properties. I was told by a friend who works in the bank that the MAS does not allow the use of equity loans to buy property now. You are lucky. I heard that MAS has issued an instruction to the banks that all equity loans are limited to only 60% of the valuation of the property. I wonder what other measures will be imposed to dampen the property market!

Hi Is it true that an Equity Loan cannot be used to buy a property? I learnt from my colleague that this is a ruling from the Monetary Authority of Singapore. Is this something new or it has been so for a long time? I have heard of people who used their Equity Loan to invest in properties and land. Thanks.

Thanks again Pufferfish for your clarification and advice. This Term Loan thingy is new to me and I think it is good because it allows property owners whose property has appreciated in value to realise that value without having to sell the house. I was told that this is one of the secrets taught in seminars that claimed to teach people how to make more money/buy more properties using their one property. Not sure whether I should get a term loan now and wait for the coming property crash in 2013 to make a killing then! Haha.

Thank you very very much Pufferfish and Kliee11 for your kind advice. Much appreciated. I have learnt quite a lot from your replies. I have just contacted two banks with regard to this. One is my current bank and the other is a foreign bank. I was told that foreign banks can give better interest rates but they are also usually the first to ask you to top up if the value of the house drops! Today's news reported that Minister Khaw say prices of properties will fall in 2013 and interest rates will go up. This is very scary and is giving me second thoughts on whether to take the equity loan. Will banks still give out Term Loans if the lender's credit situation is lousy as reported by the CBS? I wonder if the bank will give weightage to this or to the value of the house itself, or to both? Been talking to a few friends about Term Loans and I learnt of this one guy whose credit is real bad - all the Lines of Credits and credit cards that he could get he got and all maxed out and always late payments. His CBS statement was real bad and he was turned down now whenever he tried to apply for any new card or Line of Credit. However, because he stays in a condo and its value had gone up, he was able to get a Term Loan of about $200K and he paid off all his debts and now only services the Term Loan only, which is one fifth of what he had to pay every month. So now people see this Term Loan thing as a good way out of debts. I learnt some people use such loans to invest in stocks and shares, properties and other things. Any comments? Thanks.

My wife is thinking of refinancing our house and taking an Equity loan to build an attic. Could anyone advise on the pros and cons of an Equity Loan? My colleague says if the value of my property were to plunge because of any bubble breaking, the bank can demand the return of the equity loan suddenly. Also, how long would such a loan take, ie from the day I apply to the day I receive the cheque, how long is this period? A week, a fortnight, a month or more? Thanks!

Hi I stay in a penthouse of a relatively new condo. The upper level is a roof terrace. From the roof terrace, I can walk out to the roof maintenance area where there is a FIRE EXIT door. Previously this door was locked on the staircase side but could be open by us on the roof. This is logical - to prevent trespassers who have no access to the roof from getting on to the roof common area, and to allow the residents in the penthouses to escape in the case of an emergency. However, someone in the management council decided to change the lock of the FIRE EXIT door and now it is locked on BOTH sides, ie the residents cannot use the door to escape. The reason given was flimsy - to prevent unauthorised access to the roof!!! How asinine! The fact that the previous lock was locked on the staircase side was for that precise purpose, wasn't it? The residents SHOULD be able to open the door from their side to escape! The estate manager even had the cheek to say that the lock could be opened upon request as and when needed by the security guards! How stupid can people get? I would humbly appreciate any view here and any advice on what I could do about this. I do not wish to have to resort to contacting the SCDF and asking them to come down to check. Thanks a lot for your time. Really appreciate it.

Hi Ngunadi I am grateful for your kind and prompt assistance. Thank you very much!

Hi I would appreciate it very much if you could tell me where can I get Megaman lightbulbs (my model is BR0407T-GU10-27K). It is 2700K Warmwhite, 7W 61mA 06W50 SGC02. I have been running around to a lot of shops selling lightings but they just don't seem to carry Megaman. Or if they did, they didn't have the model I want. Is there any particular agent here in Singapore? THANK YOU very much!

Hi I engaged the services of a company to polish the marble floor of my house early this year. It was quite cheap - about $1000. However, they don't polish the side skirting and also the staircase. The job was done by an old couple. They polished using a grinder and returned a week later to polish and so-called water-proof and seal the polished floor. The result looks good immediately (but I still noticed some areas were not as shiny) but in less than two weeks, I find the smudges coming back again. This is despite the fact that I followed their advice to mop the floor everyday with plain water. I guess the floor was not properly sealed? I don't know. When I first engaged the company, I was told that the polished marble would be good for quite a few years. But I found it odd that after the polishing and sealing, the couple advised me that it would be good to have the floor polished again a year later for a longer-lasting shine. Why the need? Anyway, I have decided to get the floor polished again. But I am looking for a different company. One that is good, reliable and can keep my marble shiny for years. If you have any good recommendation, please let me know. I want to get the job done this December holiday. Thanks!

Thanks a lot for your reply and advice. Any other comments by other Fengshui Sifu?

Hi I have a bin of composting worms that I keep in my house. I feed the worms all my stale bread, uneaten and over-riped fruits like banana, starfruits, papaya, old and used tissue paper (those used to wipe the table), vegetables etc etc. There is no smell because I don't feed meat. Still there are a lot of fungi, micro-organisms etc that help to break down the food waste for the composting worms. My question is - is this bad for Fengshui? To keep decaying materials in the house? Ever since I started keeping this composting worms, I have not had any windfall. I used to strike 4D once in a short while. Now it has been months! Thanks for any expert advice on this! Should I get rid of the worms?

Hi I have a very high staircase between the lower and upper level of my penthouse. The space is big enough to be partitioned to create a sort of small room above. Three of my neighbours had done it long ago. I am beginning to feel like doing it as the space is wasted and I couldn't reach the top two windows because they are so high. Do you have any contractor to recommend? I am looking for one who can do the job well and who is responsible. Thanks!