Saturday morning

I have two advertisements running in the newspaper today. One is for a 3 room HDB flat in Toa Payoh Lorong 1 and the other is for rental units at The Ansley (3bedroom), Park Infinia (2 2bedroom + study and a 3bedroom).

I received a call at 8am for the HDB 3 room flat at Toa Payoh. The call was from a young couple planning to get married. They wanted to clarify whether they would qualify for the CPF Housing Grant as well as when would they be required to produce their ROM certificate. To qualify for a CPF Housing Grant, you have to be a Singapore Citizen, be a first timer applicant (never enjoyed a subsidy from HDB) and your combined income cannot exceed $8000. The CPF Housing Grant for family is $30,000 and $40,000 (living near parents/married children). For couples who are bying under the fiance-fiancee scheme, you need to produce your ROM certificate latest by the date of completion of the resale procedure.

More new launches...

CITY Developments Ltd (CDL) has begun to preview its much-awaited Livia
condo at Pasir Ris at an average price of about $650 psf for the initial
batch of units.

Next to Kovan MRT Station, the 512-unit Kovan Residences was soft
launched yesterday and the average price is said to be $870 psf. Both projects
are 99-year leasehold.

Livia, the 724-unit condo is being developed at Pasir Ris Drive 1 on a plot that is part of the group's historical Pasir Ris landbank acquired decades ago.
CDL is developing Livia jointly with Hong Leong Holdings and Hong Realty.
All three companies are part of Singapore's Hong Leong Group. Livia will
have a total of 10 blocks, either 15 or 16 storeys high with units ranging
from two-bedroom apartments to four bedders. There are also 12 penthouses.

Source : Straits Times

New Project Launches

Sim Lian Group, has sold about 100 units of its Clover By The Park condo at Bishan St 22 since it began previewing the development on Wednesday at an average price of $750 psf. Clover By The Park consists of two 39-storey blocks with a total of 616 units for the Clover By The Park condo. The first phase released earlier this week comprises one tower with 308 units. It is near good schools like Catholic High (within 1 km), Ai Tong Primary School and Raffles Institution. Clover By The Park features three-bedroom and four-bedroom units to luxurious penthouses and suites of six bedrooms.

Next to Kovan MRT Station, an outfit controlled by UOB-Kay Hian star stockbroker pair Han Seng Juan and David Loh Kim Kang is getting ready to release its 512-unit condo, Centurion Kovan. The average price is expected to be in the $850-900 psf range.

Ho Bee has sold 95 units at Dakota Residences since last Friday. The average price is $976 psf. All three projects are 99-year leasehold.

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.