Househunting

It's been a while since I last posted. I have been busy with my clients and team members. I have a team of about 15 agents. Some of them are experienced agents and some brand new. The brand new ones normally require quite a bit of hand-holding. I enjoy the challenge of taking in brand new agents and seeing them progress to experienced agents.

There is still a lot of activity in the property market. I spent Tuesday and Wednesday serving a German family who were looking at a home which would be close to his office (Jurong) as well as being close to an MRT station (for the wife) and not too far away from town. They had come on a look-see trip in February and during that time, we had covered areas like Bukit Timah (The Tessarina), Balmoral (Belmond Green), Newton/Novena (Amaryllis Ville and Newton Suites) and their favourite - Caribbean @ Keppel Bay (close to Harbourfront MRT and Vivo City).

This trip was a short trip but they had to decide on an apartment before Thursday. I showed them Residences @ Evelyn (Newton), Park Infinia (Novena), 8@ Mt Sophia (Dhoby Ghuat) and two units at the Caribbean (Harbourfront).

These were the findings :

Residences @ Evelyn - very good size (1600sqft), nice layout, fantastic facilities, a household shelter (can be used as a utility area) and a utility area near the kitchen but too much construction going on in that area. One building is being pulled down and another one looks like it's going to come down soon.

Park Infinia - nice finishing, living and dining area a little small, even more fantastic facilities, a lot of greenery and areas for children to play, small utility area. My client thought that the living and dining area a little too small and there is also construction going on in that area.

8@ Mt Sophia (picture above) - very good size living and dining area (the best in terms of size), nice facilities even though they did not have a tennis court. It's walking distance from the back gate to Plaza Singapura but there's two flights of steps to manipulate before reaching Plaza Singapura. That was a minus point because my client had a 2 yr old and is expecting another baby. With a baby pram, the two flights of steps would be very difficult to handle.

Caribbean - 2 units - both similar layouts but one with a small balcony and the other without. The one with the balcony had great views of the water canal, a little bit of the Marina view , a little bit of Harboufront view where the big cruise ships dock and you can see the cable cars swinging. The minus point was there was only one utility area in the kitchen which my client felt was too small to put a maid in. The saving grace was the study area near the bedrooms with a proper door which could be used as a maid's room.

My client eventually chose the Caribbean apartment with a balcony which we rented at $8000 for a 3+study (1356sqft). The facilities are great at the Caribbean, my client commented that the place always looks so vibrant even on a weekday morning. There's always kids playing at the pool area and it would be great place to make friends. The Caribbean is also very convenient as there is a shuttle service that brings you to Harbourfront MRT station, close to Jurong as well as town.