blue_skies

Whether you are renting out the whole house or 1 room, you can collect a deposit. Make sure it is indicated in the TA that the deposit cannot be used to offset the rental (e.g. of the last month) before their lease expires. In that way, you can use the deposit to offset any damages to the furniture. I am not familiar with room rentals and how much deposit is collected. But for whole (private) apt rentals, it is typically 1 month deposit for 1 yr lease, and 2 months deposit for a 2 yr lease. You only return the deposit on the last day when they vacate the place, and you can check the place before you refund it to them. When I rented out my apt, I took photos of the furniture and included it as part of the inventory of the TA. With photos, it's harder to dispute when something is badly damaged. Otherwise, (if the tenant is nasty) they can say that the furniture was not in a good condition to begin with. Good luck!

ngunadi I have an example of a TA in Word format, do PM me if you'd like to have it. It's a copy that I got from my housing agent when I rented out my apt. Stamping of TA It is true that stamping of TA is necessary to validate the tenancy. If you don't stamp the TA, it is useless and cannot be used in court or to claim for damages from the tenant. If I'm not mistaken, housing agents & lawyers are able to obtain the facility to do e-stamping on IRAS website. If you are renting out the room and doing all the paperwork yourself, you may need to go down personally to IRAS to do the stamping http://www.iras.gov.sg/irasHome/page.aspx?id=8994 Do take note that there is a penalty for late stamping too.

Read this on wiki - it's interesting. Apparently the citronella plant (geranium plant marketed as "Pelargonium citrosum) is not really able to repel mosquitoes. Citronella oil is also not obtained from this plant. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pelargonium_citrosum Instead, what we should be using to repel mosquitoes is the lemon grass plant (also known as serai in Malay)! It seems that this is the actual plant that citronella oil is derived from. I think this should grow quite readily in our climate. The oil is inside the leaves itself, and the leaves have a waxy surface which prevents the oil from evaporating, so no one really knows how effective this plant is in keeping away the mozzies.... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cymbopogon

I think what you are looking at might be a home equity loan, meaning that you re-mortgage your current house to the bank and get a sum of cash in return. How much you get will depend on the current value of your home and how much of the loan you have left outstanding. Interest rates for this type of loan are sometimes pegged to SIBOR rates. What you will get is a sum of money that can be used for whatever you intend it for. You can even use it as downpayment for another condo etc. You need to speak to a Home Equity Loan specialist who will help you with the figures. Most of the banks should have such a facility. You can check out some of them here http://www.uob.com.sg/personal/loans/property/home_hef.html http://www.ocbc.com.cn/html_english/html/p...gageEquity.shtm

2.8k - 3.3k for a fully furnished 3 bedder at Carissa Park

This is the lizard trap I used. It's $3 per pack for 4 sticky mats. http://img40.imageshack.us/img40/5396/image061small.jpg

You can try calling the neighbourhood police post. I did that previously when people from upstairs were dragging chairs across the floor at 11pm / drilling walls on public holidays etc. They actually came by to ask the neighbours to quieten down. You can also tell the police that the neighbours challenged you when you requested for them to not create a nuisance. If the flat upstairs is fully rented out as a whole flat, there should also not be more than 9 persons living in it (if it's a 4rm and above). Plus the owner must also have fulfilled Minimum Occupation period for subletting of whole flats. http://www.hdb.gov.sg/fi10/fi10323p.nsf/w/...at?OpenDocument If you think there's anything fishy, can call 1800-5556370 (HDB Hotline) to report.

There's only two ways I've tried catching lizards 1) Using a disposable kitchen tissue towel and grabbing the lizard 2) Using the sticky mat The sticky mat is the least messy coz you don't have to worry about the lizard tail breaking off or the lizard escaping from the tissue if you don't hold it tight enough. Look at it this way - it's either eeky lizard on sticky mat or s*** on your walls Personally, it's more cost and time effective to use a sticky mat to trap the lizard. I hate it especially when they sneak into the kitchen cupboards and live among the plates! I'm out of the sticky mats, will be going to the hardware shop this weekend. Will post a pic when I get it.

You can get this sticky mat (about half the size of an A4 paper) to trap the lizards. The sticky mat has got some smell that attracts them so they walk onto it, then get stuck. No mess. Just fold up the sticky mat and chuck it in the bin. It's quite cheap, I think $2 only for about 3 pcs in a pack. Can buy from those neighbourhood hardware shops.

I'm in my 30s and at the moment, my idea of retiring is running a beach resort I still haven't figured out at what age I would retire - as soon as possible would be nice! One thing for sure - I don't wish to retire when I can hardly walk / see and have to depend on hearing aid / walking aid. Good health is important if you want to enjoy your wealth. So now when we are still working, must look after our health and don't eat oily foods, watch cholesterol etc. Hubby and I would like to own a few properties in order to finance our lifestyle and provide for our children. In the meantime, stay in one property and rent out the rest so that they are self-financing. It's ok if there's not a huge rental yield, important is capital gain in 5-10yrs. We do not invest in stocks / shares, money is in property. Any cash earned is put back into property, and we only buy freehold or 999-yr leasehold properties (with the exception of HDB). We also do not believe in expensive renovations. No interior designer etc. Simple stuff is good enough. If tiles can be reused, no need to hack and replace because this all adds up. We max out our CPF to finance property as we don't believe in old age pension. We bought one car, do not intend to change, use until COE finish. I think it's a waste to sink all that money into a car that will only last 10 yrs. At least if I sink money into a freehold property, I'm quite certain there will be profitable returns from it in 10 ys time. However I know that some people do not believe in property investment because they are unsure of it, or they think they will lose money from it if there's a property slump. End of the day, it's all a matter of choice and what risk you are willing to take. One of my friends moved in to stay with in-laws so that she could rent out her HDB. After 3 yrs she accumulated enough + both her & hb salary to buy a freehold private condo for rental & investment.

When we talk about retiring, are we talking about not working and pursuing what we like? In my opinion, this means we need to have sufficient funds to support our lifestyle for whatever number of years we expect to continue living. Or do we expect that our children will support us when we retire? Of course we can choose to have a $500 a mth lifestyle or $5000 a mth lifestyle - all depends on how we choose to live (retire). Do we want our children to be provided for comfortably by the time we retire? What if our children cannot make it to local uni? Can we afford to give them an overseas education? Or do we leave them to fend for themselves? If we don't have a lot of expectations, I think we can retire by 50. But if we have many (high) expectations, then we might have to work beyond 50. Just my thoughts.

Yup a false ceiling would be able to hide most of the casing running along the top of the ceiling. The second picture with the huge casing that extends to the vertical wall might be a challenge to hide - maybe with a cabinet?

I've been using this guy for several years - his name is Ah Hong (hp: 98182864). Prices are reasonable and he does a good job of cleaning.

Do you have the option of dismantling and re-doing it at this stage? I agree that the way the pipes and wiring are run isn't the best option. For the master room (and other rooms), one option to hide the huge trunking behind your built-in wardrobe, but don't conceal it dead so that in case there are any problems with leakage etc, you can still remove the wardrobe panel and check the piping. Your carpenter should know what to do. I did that for my master room. But this means that you need to run all the trunking before installing your wardrobes. It also looks nicer if the huge trunking was run on the walls inside the bedroom rather than outside along the corridor. Guess it also depends on the location of the air-con units - you'll need to see what choices you have for placement if you want to avoid running the trunking along the corridor. For the electrical trunking (and air con trunking), get them to run it as close as they can to the top of the ceiling so that there are no gaps. If there are gaps, the trunking will be more obvious. Is the electrical trunking run by the same guys doing your air-con? If there are areas where you really have no choice but to run the huge trunking along the corridor, perhaps you can conceal them with small sections of false ceiling or L boxes?

I used to stay in a unit that faces afternoon sun (I get it from 2pm until 5pm) totally unblocked. I used those thick heavy curtains with a reflective layer that is meant to keep out the heat, and it works. It's a much more affordable and practical option, I feel. I keep the curtains drawn during the daytime when I am at work, and it helps to reduce the heat building up in the room. Another way to help reduce the heat is also to keep the door open, or if the toilet is connected to the room, to keep one of the windows in the toilet open so that at least there is some ventilation. Oh and I got my curtains from Kim Textiles & Garmets at Joo Chiat Complex. It's on the first floor.

Not sure if Magiclean will keep it clean longer. I think it depends a lot on how many dirty hands touch that surface My son's fingerprints are constantly on the TV screen so we wipe once every week!

What about Scanteak? Thought that their sofa sets are quite nice.

Can try advertising in Straits Times classified newspaper, websites such as St701.com or mocca.com Looking for tenants is time consuming coz you have to handle all the phone calls and enquiries and arrange viewings etc. It's ok if you aren't working or if you work flexi hours, but if you are in an office job, may not be very nice to be on the phone all the time Having an agent to handle tenancy for you is also good coz they will sort out all the paperwork and help with the transfer of utilities etc - at least that's what my agent does for me.

You can try Mr Chai from Propnex. He just helped me to rent out my apt last week. His contact no is 97800456

Ibellbuttons, Is your king size divan a one piece or two piece divan? (i.e. is there a joint?) If it is a two piece divan, you can dismantle it and fit the two pieces into the lift easily. If the supplier can deliver to your place, you will be able to get it out the same way Remember to get the transporter to shrink wrap your mattress so that it doesn't get dirty during tranportation. Since the stuff is heavy, it's best to get movers to help you with the carrying. You can try the tranporter Mr Tan that I mention below. I have used two movers, depending on the type of stuff I need to shift. Mr Ishak 98582741 He's got his own van but you got to carry the things yourself. Cost me $50 to transport a 3+2 sofa set, coffee table, 2 side tables plus 1 TV console from Bedok to Pasir Ris. He's very punctual and drives very carefully. But you gotta do the hard labour!! Mr Tan 97557226 / 95118203 He's got a fully covered lorry with movers to help you carry your boxes, furniture, mattresses etc. Very professional and very fast! They even cleaned out my fridge for me and transported all the food to the new place He's very careful and will shrunk wrap / put padding on your furniture which may be fragile etc. Cost me $300 for one lorry load from Eunos to Sembawang. Good luck with the moving!

The best way to do this is to remove the door handle and bring it to a shop to get an exact fit. There are two shops which sell a good variety of door handles / locks: Thye Seng Hardware Enterprise. 122 Sims Avenue Geylang (near Lorong 15), 387445, Shanghai Tong Lee, Jln Sultan, Textile Centre (on the ground floor) Thye Seng is open only until 12pm or 1pm on Sat. Not sure abt Shanghai Tong Lee as I've not bought stuff from there before. If you are unable to remove the door handle yourself, then it would probably be best to get a locksmith to do the job. Your contractor is right about the lock - you need to get an exact fit. You might be able to get a slightly different design, but you'll need to know the exact dimensions so best is to bring your old lock down to check. Good luck!

I got my built-in wardrobes & shoe cabinet (huge one) built by Chin Jun Furniture. It's a carpentry shop - actually went down there to take a look myself. Workmanship is decent, no complaints. And it's been almost 2 yrs already since my reno. You can speak to Andrew Chin tel. 96937283 The address for the shop is: Amk Tech II 5 Ang Mo Kio Industrial Park 2a #06-03, Singapore 567760 (Ang Mo Kio) I don't know how to post photos here so pls PM me if you'd like to see them.

Magiclean glass cleaner (the blue one) and newspaper works well. Must buy Magiclean brand. Other brands don't work so well. I used it to clean my glass windows, mirrors as well as laminate on cupboards in the kitchen that were caked with oil. Just spray and wipe off with newspaper - repeat it about 4-5 times if it's really dirty. Be generous with the newspaper and spray. p.s. If you've got fingerprints on your plasma / LCD TV, use a little bit of Magiclean and wipe it off with some tissue paper. Works nicely too

I use a water filter system for the water in my kitchen. The system I use is a small canister with a replaceable filter (which I change every 3-6 mths once it turns brown). I have used this in both my previous home (condo) and current home (HDB) and trust me, the filter turns brown in both places!!! The reason for using the filter is to reduce the sediments, especially when you are going to drink the water direct from the tap. I usually drink water direct from my tap, but I also boil it. You may find that the kettle is cleaner when using filtered water - there is less sediment in the water and less stains in the kettle too. The system I use is this one - look only at the small plastic canister, not the big huge container http://www.equinox-products.com/FluorideMaster.htm The filter costs $10-$12 a piece to replace.

When the ants get too smart and don't eat the ant bait, I will normally mix it with some sugar and then scatter it. It usually works after that and they will bring it back to the nest. Talcum powder works well for spaces in the house, especially if you have kids. I only use the ant bait outside the house. I would put some on the balcony (where I can see trails of them) and outside the main door (where they enter thru the main gate). It is also important to keep the tables and dustbins clean - i.e. clear all rubbish from the bins everyday, no sweets lying around on the table and make sure no food drops on the floor. To keep ants from going into the water (in the jug / kettle), you can buy a plastic cover to cover the spout of the kettle, or use a cover to cover the jug so that ants don't fall in.