benauhc

Hi. I will be willing to buy both chairs at $80 each from you if you can get them both in white. Delivery in Mid March or later is fine for me. Let me know... Thanks.

Hi eekenji, Beautiful home you have there. Love your attention to little details and whimsical photos. Your t-blog is a good read. Btw, I noticed that you installed black and white blinds at your balcony. Do you mind sharing the shop that you bought it from and price you paid? Thanks!

Hi. Can you let me know the price of the aluminum bi-fold lourve door too? We were quoted $750 per door. The PD version was only $399. Puzzled...

Hi spikedoll, Congrats! Your 1st apt and reno timing is about the same as mine. We are also talking to a few IDs at the moment. Your layout is indeed unique. Just like a typical Gen 2 but with the entrance located at one corner of the living room instead of at the dining room right wall. I can think of many possibilities with your layout. Swap the living and dining areas, hack the kitchen wall (open concept), wet kitchen at the balcony, dry kitchen at current location, or turn the balcony into laundry area/backyard garden. Your MBR bathroom entrance is at a good location (hidden from sight). More wall space for wardrobe. Have fun with your plans!

You must be all excited to see your home slowly transformed to one you have been planning carefully in your mind. All the best! BTW, 12.8k COV is a very good price for an EM.

We started out with a few preferred areas, but soon realized that the hot EM market priced us out of many of those. So we slowly expanded our area of search and lowered our expectations considerably. We like the thrill of browsing through propertyguru and doing the filtering ourselves. Some agents offered to serve us but only for a particular unit or area. We also learnt midway that having one agent to bring you around might disadvantage your chances. Our EM is somewhere between Serangoon and Kovan. Still early days. First apt is only due next month.

I think viewing more than twice will mark you as a very keen buyer and the agent might take advantage to get you to offer closer to the seller's expected price. But you can counter that by telling the agent that you are deciding between two units and need to make a decision fast. Be prepared to walk away if the seller's price is unreasonable. An agent's (for buyer or seller) main concern is too close the sale fast so that they can earn their commision with the least effort. May not be true for all but that is what I think applies for most. So the agent pair will work on the seller and buyer as hard as possible to quickly strike a deal. Always ask the buying agent how can he/she help you if you are willing to engage his services.

Hi summersann. How long will your reno take? We have met up a couple of ID/Contractors for our EM reno, and have been told between 8 weeks to 3 months. Not sure if those who need 3 months had factored in some buffer for rectification/delays or are just loaded with many projects.

Viewed almost 30 EMs before we finally got one. From East to West and back. Almost closed 2 earlier units. For the first one in Yew Tee, the owner tried to get loan for their next unit but failed, so could not sell to us. For the 2nd one in Bkt Gombak, we offered very close to the owner's initial price, but they were undecided and suddenly decided to set a new target of $100k COV. We walked away. We were losing hope. EMs were in the news and sellers were setting sky high targets. Then we found this place, between Serangoon and Kovan. One of my preferred locations. Made an offer on the same day. Had to bumped up our offer another $17k before we closed 2 days later. Lessons Learnt Along the way : 1) Don't buy something out of desperation, but do not set unrealistic targets either. 2) Do not give up on finding something within your means, but when you find it, be decisive and act fast. 3) You stand a higher chance of getting a unit if you engage the buying agent 'recommended' by the seller agent.