blue_skies

I think it was between $300-$400 for everything including the searches etc coz they will also submit a writ to the court or something like that. If you engage a lawyer, it holds more weight because this can also be used in court. I'm not sure if you need a lawyer to do the credit search. I understand it can be done on Questnet, but you need to register or pay a fee for the search results. You don't need to go to court to evict them. The lawyer's letter and Tenancy Agreement (if you have done it up properly) will give you enough rights to repossess the place if they do not pay up. If the tenants play hardball and don't want to leave the house, or if they get violent, then you should call the police in. A civil law suit sounds like a long drawn out process which means the tenants would still have the liberty of "camping" in the place for free.

They would have received a letter from the lawyers telling them to vacate the place with their belongings by a certain date & time, failing which the landlord will enter the premises and repossess the place. Whatever furniture they have left behind - if you think it's worth keeping, keep it. If you think it's awful and not worth keeping, dump it or ask karung guni / second hand furnitute shop people to come and collect. But get them out of the house first. The tenants had the cheek to tell me that they needed time to pack up and move out. I gave them 2 hours. Went into the rooms and told them to empty all the wardrobes of their stuff. They said got no bags. I took out black garbage bags for them. After that I stood there and make sure they pack their stuff. Once cupboards emptied, I took back all the keys from them and asked them to leave the condo. It was really ugly but they are cheats and owed so many people money that I didn't even sympathise with them. They were actually running from place to place to avoid the banks / creditors catching up with them. I recall (from my lawyer's search of Writ of Summons), that they actually owed a total of about $95K to 20 different people / companies since 1997! Btw in case anyone has the unfortunate event of having them as tenants, this was a local Malay family of husband, wife and teenage daughter.

I'm also thinking of installing 2 compressors for my resale EA. It's not just the electrical loading but also whether there is any space that you can safely hang the 2nd compressor. You can check with HDB on that because I believe it differs from flat to flat. Call the HDB hotline at 1800 2255432 and speak to the officer, and they will advise you if they can, otherwise they will ask the HDB Branch Office maintenance officer to call you.

Does anyone know of reliable cleaners / companies that can do a good job with cleaning persian floor rugs? Thanks!

I believe you are referring to those small roundish looking insects - those are weevils. You can keep them away by using lime leaves. These can be bought from the market. Just put a handful of the leaves inside the rice and it will prevent the weevils from multiplying. If you cannot find lime leaves, you can try pandan leaves too. You'll need about 3 or 4 long leaves. Tie them up together and stuff it inside the rice. For both the leaves, wash them first and dab dry with kitchen towel before you put it in the rice.

It's not a lost cause you know. You can really take this up with Small Claims. I did that when I had a bad encounter with ERA agents. But you must really take action, don't just say only. Agents also don't want to waste time going to court, plus if they are in the wrong and they really lose the case, it will also look bad on official records. For my case, I spoke to ERA (customer service), IEA, SAEA and no one could do anything for me. Talk until mouth dry also no use. Since talking was of no use, I wrote to them explaining the whole episode in detail, saying why I wanted my $ back and my last paragraph was this - I hope that ERA will be able to resolve this matter professionally within the next 14 days, failing which I will lodge this case with the Institute of Estate Agents (IEA), Consumers Association of Singapore (CASE) and Singapore Accredited Estate Agencies (SAEA) Accreditation Board. (Btw, I wanted to get back 5K in commission paid) And still they did not do anything. So I filled in the Small Claims form and submitted it. Small Claims will contact both parties involved to appear in court (they will send each party a letter). Shortly after receiving the letter on when to appear in court, ERA contacted me to say that they are settling all this in private and ask me to withdraw my letter to Small Claims. I think you have nothing to lose. Give it a shot. Don't let them get away with your hard earned money. In case you want to get the form for Small Claims, you can find it here http://app.subcourts.gov.sg/sct/page.aspx?pageid=4515

I'm not a valuer so wouldn't be able to give a fair comment on that, but I think that condition of the house won't + / - the price by 5-8K. I remember when I was flat hunting. Those with expensive reno or designer style homes also got market price valuation, but they will ask higher COV lah.

Yup I should think so. The condition of the house also plays a part.

Hahaha! Very rarely see people using 555 notebook (among adults) these days. My husband is loyal supporter of 555 notebook (even until now). I remember him scribbling notes into his 555 notebook when we were house hunting. So funny coz the notebook is sooooo small.

You got a good deal for your valuation! I was in a similar situation 2 yrs ago when I bought my flat. The difference in valuation price (expired report vs. new valuation) was 30K and I basically bought at valuation price so it saved me the COV. Will let you know location once I sell the place. Currently waiting for offer from prospective buyer.

Yes you can contact HDB using the online valuation request http://services2.hdb.gov.sg/webapp/BB31ERE...B31SEresaleMain They will then arrange for a property valuer to contact you. It's quite fast. I got a call within 2 days after submitting the online request from HDB.

That's true lah and everyone has different levels of risk tolerance. Some will set aside buffer for 6 mths no rental income while others will set aside 1-2 yrs no rental income. Guess it's all relative...

Just to share - a comparison in valuation prices between my neighbour's flat and mine. Both are 5 room. My direct neighbour did a valuation of their 5 rm flat about 4-5 mths ago. Valuation was 405K. They managed to get 32K COV, total sale price 437K. I just a valuation for my 5 rm and it was 415K. I think valuers are keeping a tab on HDB prices by not overly increasing the valuation prices. Just wondering how much COV I can get now based on current market conditions. Keeping fingers crossed.

I bought a custom made to measure piece of dark tinted glass for my coffee table (to cover the top of the table that had stains on it). I don't think it's tempered but it's 5mm thick. Size was 1180 x 610mm and rounded at the edges. Very well cut. Cost me $30 but self-collection Maybe you can check if they do tempered glass. Tong San Bros. Glass Merchant 492 Upp Serangoon Rd Tel. 62885183

I have been once bitten, twice shy. Lost money because of such a tenant and they killed my plants in the process coz they didn't bother to look after them! My previous tenant was a local family of 3 (husband, wife & daughter) , said that they ran businesses in Brunei blah blah blah and travel a lot, hardly at home. The guy can sign cheque but cheque never cleared! Keep saying that it's a problem with the bank. BS. Just curious - how long have your tenants been staying there? And is this the first time that they cannot pay the rent? If they just moved in and cannot pay rent, I would be very suspicious. 1) I would call my lawyers to send them a registered letter (Notice of eviction) if they do not pay by a certain date. I would give them another 2 weeks max if I were you. You still have the 1mth or 1/2 mth deposit money? 2) If you have the name of the company that they own, get your lawyer to do a search to see if the tenants are running a bogus company and if the individuals / company they own also owes money to other people. (Happened in my case!) 3) If the tenants still do not pay up by the stated date, you have the right to enter the house and kick them out (I had to literally do that!) Would help if you have some rusty faced people with you Hope that you don't have to resort to that though. If they have been staying at your place for over a year and now this happens, I would give them chance, but still send them lawyers letter to inform them of interest owed and that they would be evicted if they do not pay up (with interest) by a certain date.

It's ok, don't panic Call the bank officer that handled your loan and inform him asap.

Hi I recently engaged this company for plants maintenance for a private apt. All the other companies that I called did not entertain plant maintenance for private apt - I think it's because it's "small business" for them. One of the guys from the company who came over to check on the plants (Razawul) was very helpful. Maybe you can try and see if they offer landscaping services? Ban Nee Chen Tel. 6345 5515 http://www.banneechen.com.sg/index.html Btw if you are planning to put plants in your apartment (I'm guessing you have an outdoor patio / rooftop area), you might also want to take into consideration: - How big the plants are going to get in a couple of years (fast / slow growing) - Whether the plants will catch the wind and topple over (especially if they are in pots) - How much water they need (and whether you are going to spend the energy watering them) - How hot it gets in the afternoon especially if the area for landscaping is a tiled surface and whether the plants are heat tolerant - What type of leaves the plants have (will affect the amount of dead leaves sweeping that you need to do on weekends) Good luck and enjoy!

Wow I think I cannot fulfil your above criteria! Especially the OA part and 10% cash grow per month. If my cash can grow like grass it would be perfect Anyway now it's also more difficult to buy the 2nd or 3rd ppty coz of 70% bank loan. Need more cash upfront - Cash is King!

And should try to use cash to buy the HDB so that you can use your CPF to pay for the private coz private will need more cash upfront plus also the monthly repayment.

Penalty is usually about 1-1.5% of remaining loan tenure. You can check the bank letter of offer for the details. When you buy a property (HDB / private), there are lawyers involved in drawing up the documents etc. The bank will normally subsidise this portion when you take the loan from them. The subsidy is normally in the range of 2k - 2.5k but I think it also depends on the price of the property. You can call the bank to check with them.

The seller's stamp duty won't apply for your case. It's only applicable to those who buy on or after 30th Aug. But costs that you might want to take into consideration if you are planning to sell the property: - Lock-in period for your housing loan (if it's not over, you need to pay penalty) - Clawback (for lawyer's fees subsidy) from bank if you redeem the loan in full

I think some of these rules are very selfish. We depend on PRs and foreigners to boost our economy and then now we pass all sorts of rules. First we tell them if they want to buy a resale HDB here, they need to sell off their house in their home country. Then we tell them that at some point, they may be asked to take up citizenship - if they take up S'pore citizenship, by right, they cannot hold another country's passport - basically we are also asking them to "cut off" ties with their home country. I have 2 Singapore PR colleagues who think these rules are absurd. They said they would never give up citizenship in their home country. In other countries, you can live for a long long time as a PR and then when you think you are ready, you can apply for citizenship yourself. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think Singapore is the only country that actively approaches the PRs to take up citizenship "otherwise they will review the PR status". I hope the govt has not indirectly stab itself in the toes by passing all these statements. I think it could have been done more nicely and over a period of time. If they are trying to make the local citizens happy by showing that they are "putting pressure" on the PRs, I don't think it's worked (well, at least not for me).

Just to share, here's a photo of the curtains done by Kim Textiles & Garments. I have used their services twice already, got them to do curtains each time I moved house. The guy that measured my windows and fitted the curtains was Mr Lim. This is the living room curtain. Full length, ceiling to floor. Hook type. http://img843.imageshack.us/img843/2029/cimg0224m.jpg I also had full length curtains, day & night, for the 3 bedrooms (using the same cloth as the living room) - this is because the windows are all full length windows so the curtains (ceiling to floor) is almost 2.5m or 3m if I'm not mistaken. They couldn't use the width of the cloth to make the curtains, so they had to use the length of the roll instead. Total cost for whole house was approx $2k. He also sewed the curtain holders for free. This is the contact details for Kim Textiles & Garments 1 Joo Chiat Road 01-1023 Joo Chiat Complex, 420001, Singapore p: 67488655

Oh ok, get the idea

If it's not meant to be a permanent seal, did you consider putting a small clock / painting over that hole?