Singapore Property Market New Launches – Boutique Condo Developers’ Gimmicks

I noticed a slew of new Singapore property launches recently – the Central Suites @ geylang lor 25 and Centra Studios @lor 25a, Belle Calista, Loft@Rangoon, Viva Vista@ Pasir Panjang (launching soon)and the list goes on.

I dug in more and noticed a few trends.

FIRST, the developers are pushing out smaller units in the range of 360 sq feet to 460 sq ft to entice property investors. Why? Because the quantum are all much lower – from 500k onwards and hence more affordable for those of us without the deep pockets.

That is both good news and bad news of course.

The good news is it opens up more opportunities for people like me to invest in a unit that would likely have good rental potential, and the capital outlay is “affordable”. For example, a 500k studio would require 5% deposit ($25,000 by cheque) and the other 15% would be required in 8 weeks’ time ($75,000). You still have to leave some buffer for stamp duty and other administrative charges. For the first time property investor, this is a less risky proposition.

The bad news? Well that really depends. I will list a few here.

1. The per square feet cost of small units are much higher (so far, I have been quoted $1200 -1400 psf for the small units. Just because the quantum is lower, but in fact you are paying MORE for each square feet.
2. The rental potential is another issue, in my opinion such smaller units only appeal to the single expats/couple who are working in Singapore on a lower housing budget or out of their own pocket. This means they are not likely to stay on a long term basis compared to those with families. This translates to less stability and higher turnover of leases.
3. But I could be wrong, if the rental market keeps trending upwards, many expats would have no choice but to rent a tiny studio even on a long term basis.

Is the trend of smaller units here to stay? Your comments are welcome.

SECONDLY, the developers are adopting a sneaky marketing gimmick which I termed “illusion of scarcity”.

So how do they do that?

They announce a VVIP preview launch – where they will only reveal the pricing level on that day. So buyers like us have only a vague idea of the price level for eg. it will be $1000 above and so on. Then they tell the property agents to ask their clients for blank cheques – this is good for the developers to gauge the level of interest but not good for buyers. Why? If developers see such overwhelming interest, they may up the launch price.

I think this is tarnishing the industry’s reputation – there is a lack of transparency ! Even if the developer is not as sneaky as that, my misconception persists due to this lack of transparency.

Here’s how it goes on preview day itself. An example:

11:00: Half an hour to look at the showflat.
1130: Price details are announced.
1230: One hour for you to consider and hand in your cheque

BALLOTING for “hot” units; if you dont get the units you wanted, then you have to decide on another unit before it’s grabbed by someone else. The pressure is on! The usual scene is chaos, you look around and you see many rivals competing for the same unit you are eyeing. You think – “wow, this property launch is hot, so many people are trying to grab the few units available.”

RESULT : Illusion of scarcity!

NEXT DAY: headlines screaming xx Project SOLD OUT !!!

Reinforces the idea that the property market is red hot; if you dont give the cheque now you are going to miss the boat.

DISCLAIMER: This is what I observe occuring for boutique developments with smaller units; I cant say the same for the higher-end condominiums.

Am I a patriotic Singaporean?

National Day is drawing near.

The local radio stations saw it fit to start a ritual of broadcasting the “famous” National Day songs, like a countdown to the actual day. This morning, over the radio, I found out that the most popular National Day song, in a recent vote, is Stand up for Singapore.

My God! I hate that song.

As the song started to play over the radio, I saw myself in my school uniform, standing in line with the rest of the school singing this song in the school auditorium. Not out of patriotism or of my own accord, but forced to do it because it is a compulsory school assembly.

Since then, I find all the National Day celebratory activities a chore. I can see (rationally) why it is important for nation-building but somehow all these expressions of patriotism just make me cringe. I don’t think I have ever attended the National Day Parade live or sit through the telecast. I dutifully hang the Singapore flag from my windows and corridor only because I didn’t want to be a difficult case for my Residents’ Committee volunteers.

Does that mean I am not patriotic? Does that mean I am not a good Singaporean?

Sometimes I think so…

…until someone badmouth Singapore.

An overseas friend once complained to me that he thinks the malls and food places closes too early in Singapore, comparing Singapore to a certain place where food can be found everywhere, round the clock.

My reaction was a surprise even to me. I can’t remember my heated retort exactly but it was something like Singaporeans don’t loiter out too late because they have very comfortable homes to go back to…unlike some places.

I mean, I have my own pet peeves about Singapore and Singaporeans. But somehow, I’m still protective. This is the place I was born in, a place I grew up in. So many of my cherished childhood memories are tied to places here. There are good reasons for certain things being the way they are in Singapore.

So here I am, still cringing at National Day Celebrations but yet still celebrating Singapore as a distinctive, unique and independent nation-state.

Happy Birthday Singapore!

Eventful evening at Choa Chu Kang Park Connector – collision between cyclist and rollerblader

It’s started off as a leisure evening stroll along pangsua park connector (in Choa Chu Kang vicinity) on a Sat evening. I was making my way back home when the accident occurred. Actually I didnt notice the accident as I was too preoccupied with listening to the music on my iPhone.

An elderly man on a bicycle gestured to me that something has happened behind me. I turned back and saw a guy lying in the middle of the pathway amidst a pile of fallen bicycles. It must have been a collision and a man was down, so I ran back towards him. He was lying quite still but seemed relatively unscathed, and 2 of his friends were there to help him. As I looked up and further ahead, I realized someone else was lying face down on the grass patch. There was another casualty in this collision, a rollerblader who was definitely in worse shape than the cyclist. I went up to check on him. He was bleeding badly, with the grass around him all covered in blood. Blood was oozing out from his nose and left side of his face; left eye was swollen and he was drifting in and out of consicousness. I tried calling to him, asking if he was okay, but he didnt respond.

I quickly dialed 995 and called for an ambulance – I think he was badly banged up, and could be suffering from a concussion.

Some kind passers by stopped and offered him some water, but I wasnt sure if it was safe to feed him any liquid as I didnt want him to choke or block his airway (at least based on my limited first aid knowledge culled from TV shows).

Then the guy suddenly sat up – just sprung up which gave me a shock – he appeared to be unaware of his situation, asking me if I saw his glasses. I asked him to lie back down again, telling him the ambulance should be arriving soon. That’s when I saw he was badly bruised, and his nose was probably broken.

While waiting, he appeared to be better, and stood up, saying he wanted to go home. I tried to persuade him to sit down, explaining that he was still bleeding and it looked serious. I think it finally sank in for him and he sat down, and asked me to call his mum. I did, and explained to her in as calm a voice as possible, that her son was injured in a collision. She sounded anxious, and wanted to come down but was not sure where the park connector was. It was not accessible by car as we were quite far from the nearest road which was Stagmont road.

But thank goodness, the ambulance arrived just then, and the paramedics took over. They checked him and realized he has cuts on the back of the head, face and a broken nose. He needed to be transported to the hospital immediately. I told them he was unconscious for a short while after the accident, which could point to something more serious.

Anyway, he was finally in good hands and I can be on my way home. Phew!

A few observations I made from this accident that may help others avoid serious injuries:

1. He was not wearing a helmet, neither him nor the cyclist wore safety gear. So head and neck injuries are very likely when you get thrown off track like in this case.

2. He was wearing these huge ear phones with loud music blaring – you ain’t going to hear anything around you, unaware of who or what else could be whizzing past you or coming at you.

3. I heard from the 2 friends of the cyclist that they were going at high speed, again speeding can kill is applicable at the park connector as on the road, people.
But it’s almost impossible to prevent cyclist, people, rollerbladers knocking into you from behind… which I believe is the case in this accident.

I sure hope he is okay … and now I would always carry my mobile phone with me – it’s one of the rare times that I did (usually I only carry my ipod) and it sure came in handy!

Picture of Butterfly

This picture of butterfly was taken by me.

Close up photo of a little butterfly

This little butterfly was perched gracefully on a little yellow flower going about its own business when a group of “mad people”, with all types of cameras, snapped away at it.

I was at the Singapore Botanical Garden with a group of friends. We went there to learn about taking macro pictures of flowers and insects.

It must have been amusing to the other visitors at the Gardens when they saw this bunch of people, cameras in hands, crouching in front of bushes aiming here and there.

I didn’t dare to go too close to the little butterfly for fear of scaring it away. It would have been better if I went closer but I thought the photo turned out pretty well for a novice like me.

I also took pictures of a wasp attacking a little caterpillar. A bit too much to pose.

Photos of G Hotel Singapore

Part of my weekend activity is to visit interesting places in Singapore, and the beautiful old architecture littered around China town and older parts of Singapore has always caught my attention.

Some old shop houses are converted into boutique hotels – one of them is G-hotel. A contemporary looking boutique hotel located on one of the streets in the Chinatown area.

It’s reception area is clean and cozy. The receptionist was friendly and kind enough to let me view one of the guest rooms, which is the standard room.

I was surprised at how small the guest rooms are though. But it appeared to be new, with wooden floor, and has almost everything that a guest would need.

The hotel has put in some space-saving tips, such as hanging the TV the wall and installing towel rails on the frosted glass door leading to the shower and toilet.

As you can see, the WC is right next to the shower … and the color don’t exactly match the decor of the room either.

Looking for last minute hotels? Singapore offer some of the Best Deals

Looking for last minute hotels? Singapore offer some of the Best Deals

Some Tips on how to find last minute hotels, Singapore and more

First Stop: Hotel Review Sites
Finding the best deal for a hotel is not that difficult but it does take up a bit of your time to research.

But for those last minute vacations, you might want to go to websites such as TripAdvisor that already has an extensive database of reviews of hotels in Singapore.

You can quickly get a sense of what are the more popular hotels (usually they are the ones with the most reviews or comments). I use TripAdvisor for planning many of my trips and I find most of the reviews accurate and helpful. This is really a site for travelers by travelers.

But do take note that some reviews can be biased or “fake”; so read through some of the reviews (more recent the better) and you can tell if the reviewer’s has reasonable and concrete examples to support their rating. If their reasons are superficial, like the towels were too thin for their liking… then you can decide to ignore that negative review. It is more important to find out the REASONS for the ratings given by reviewers, than the ratings.

Just remember, one man’s meat is another man’s poison. So what one guest disliked may just be what you prefer. 

Not All Rooms Are Created Equally
I have also noticed that good or bad review depends on the rooms you get upon check in. Not all rooms are created equal, so if they don’t have windows and are situated near the staircase or elevators, that could have added to the negative experiences. So armed with these information, you can also make special requests, either online or before check-in to minimize the chances of being assigned the more “undesirable” rooms.

Zoom In On the Hotel of Your Choice
Then you look up the websites of the hotels you have shortlisted, based on personal preferences, locations and of course the reviews.

Not every hotel has websites, so I would usually only go for those with websites. This is because websites offer a wealth of information on the hotel; it should contain general information, room types and amenities. There should be clear and comprehensive photographs of the rooms.

And usually there is an online reservation form. This is useful as most hotels offer hugely discounted Internet rates. You will be surprised how much discount it can be just to book online instead of a phone reservation which is based on published rack rates or tariffs.

Enter the dates you like and check the daily rate. Be mindful of extra service charges and commissions that may be added to the daily rate. This is especially so for countries where the VAT can be as high as 17%. Most rates should include all taxes and fees. The Goods and Services Tax in Singapore is 7%.

Play around with the dates, there may be promotional rates for certain time periods, for eg, weekend getaways or cheaper rates if you arrive on a weekday.
Not all Promotions Are Cheaper

Another tip is to check if the promotional packages are really cheaper. These usually come with the bells and whistles included such as breakfast, spas or free fruits and welcome drinks. The good ones are the free night stays.

My personal tip for visitors to Singapore is to skip the breakfast if the daily rates without breakfast are cheaper. It is so easy to find food in Singapore and the quintessential breakfast of toast and eggs are so affordable, you really would not want to waste that meal on eating hotel food. Really, trust me.

But most hotels do include breakfast so it may not make much of a difference.
You can also do without the fruits or welcome drinks unless the promotional rates are so compelling.

So click away for last minute hotel deals, and you are on your way to a blissful vacation 

Want more tips on how to find more deals of cheap hotel in Singapore? Read on…