Real Estate with grace

serving with a spirit of excellence

your concerns, addressed

Frequently Asked Questions

SELLING
PURCHASING
CPF and Loans
INVESTING
DECOUPLING
LEASING
GENERAL
GraceCheong-23

SELLING

In our experience, it could be as fast as within a day or up to six months. The average is between one to three months. With our marketing strategy, we strive to help you showcase your home in the best possible light so as to attract the right buyers in the shortest possible time.

For private properties, you may get the value from bankers and valuers. They get their references from the most recent past transactions.

You may also refer to the Urban Redevelopment Authority website (or the Housing Development Board website if applicable) for a record of previous transactions and get an estimated value of your property from there.

For our clients, we conduct detailed research into similar properties for sale within the development and around the area, so as to help you determine a realistic value for your property.

Factors to consider are:

  • Whether the property is a good size
  • Having a good layout
  • Direction the property faces and if it's ideal
  • If the property is rarely available or no longer in production
  • If the property is within 1km of highly sought after primary school(s)
  • If all or most of these elements are found in a property, it will sell well regardless of the condition or economy of the property market

As part of our services, we'll also bring in professional photography and videography services to help you showcase your property to its best potential. We'll also conduct in-depth price point research into the area's competing properties to help you determine a suitable selling price.

We'll take care of this for you, but the general rule of thumb is to ensure your property is clean and tidy, and in the best condition possible.

As part of our services, we'll bring in professionals to declutter, repaint, and make repairs where needed. We'll also stage your home with furniture, so it looks its best for the camera.

Before viewings, we will guide you on how to present your home well. The little touches matter - whether it's gentle music or the scent of a candle wafting through the air.

These are the costs to look out for:

  • Seller stamp duty (if any)
  • Realtor's commission
  • Legal fees
  • Bank loan penalty (if any)
  • Administration fee (for HDB flats)

We will outline all the financial expenses at the start of our process so you can make an informed decision.

It starts from your Option To Purchase (OTP) exercised date. You may verify the exercised date by referring to the Inlis title search and by confirming the information with your conveyancing lawyer.

If your property has been fully paid up, and if the buyer is purchasing fully in cash, the soonest possible completion period would be 4 weeks.

However, in most instances, where both sellers and purchasers have loans & CPF usage, the soonest possible completion period would be 2 months if sellers do not want to pay interest in lieu of short notice.

On the day of completion, you will receive a cheque for cash proceeds. For CPF funds, it will take up to fourteen days to return into your CPF accounts.

Rest assured that it doesn't end there for us - we will follow up to ensure everything is in order and all loose ends are tied up properly.

PURCHASING

Both Permanent Residents (PRs) and foreigners may purchase condominium apartments and some cluster houses that you are eligible for.

Married PRs have the added option of purchasing resale Housing Development Board (HDB) flats after 3 years of obtaining your PR status.

It is not often that Singapore Land Authority (SLA) approves of PRs and foreigners buying landed properties. There are exceptions, of course, but chances are low.

If you are buying together with a Singaporean spouse, you might stand a better chance with your Land Dealings Approval Unit (LDAU) application.

Condominiums usually have a minimum site area of 4,000 sqm, making it a larger site that also offers communal and recreational facilities.

Apartments are a broader category, which includes flats as well. These have a smaller minimum site area of 1,000 sqm. There are usually few (if any) recreational facilities within the development, with the exception of fully integrated properties such as Duo Residences and Marina One Residences, which fall under the apartments category due to site area qualifications.

It's difficult to determine en bloc potential as it depends on several factors, including the profile of the seller and the land use.

However, what you should look out for are:

  • A good location
  • Number of units in the development. As an en bloc sale involves the decisions of homeowners in the development, it would be ideal to have fewer units to ease the decision-making as opposed to developments of over 800 to 1000 units.
  • The land area. Developers usually look for a land area valued at $200-$300m.
  • Current utilisation of land. If the land area includes developments under conservation, the en bloc potential would be much lower.

Freehold properties are good for wealth preservation and leaving a legacy for future generations. The prices often have a premium of 20 to 25% compared to 99-year leasehold properties.

99-year leasehold properties are commonly found in more convenient locations such as next to MRT stations (or sometimes even integrated with them). Due to the convenience and affordability, these are generally quite popular. However, the prices tend to plateau or slow down in appreciation after 15 - 20 years.

This depends on your family and lifestyle needs. Personally, we prefer a larger area of land (with smaller built-up area) for flexibility. If a larger built-up area is required down the road, reconstruction is always possible.

However, if you need a larger built-up area for a big family to move into, then the former option is preferable.

During our initial consultation, we will take the time to understand your lifestyle and needs before recommending suitable properties for you.

For private properties, buyers usually do not have to pay commission. The buyer's agent gets a cut of the commission from the seller's agent.

However there are instances where the buyer pays the commission to their own agent. An example of this is when the buyer sees value in the agent's services and would not otherwise be able to get the desired deal or savings if not for the agent.

For HDB flats, the buyer does pay his or her agent a commission as part of proceedings.

These are other costs you should take into consideration:

  • Fire insurance
  • Mortgage insurance
  • Maintenance fee
  • Property tax
  • Bank interest on loan
  • CPF accrued interest

As with all our clients, we will outline all financial transactions at the beginning of the process to ensure clarity and transparency.

If the valuation turns out to be lower than the purchase price, you'll have to top up the difference in cash. Which is also known as cash over valuation (COV).

Not if you are intending to buy a resale HDB flat. This 36-month waiting period is only applicable if you are intending to buy a flat directly from HDB.

CPF AND LOANS

There may be a gap between the time you have to pay the down payment for your new property and the time you receive the proceeds from the sale of your previous property.

A bridging loan is a short-term loan (up to 6 months) that you can get from the bank to "bridge" this gap. The amount is limited by the net proceeds and CPF balances from the approved sale of your old property.

The Interest rate is 6% per annum, chargeable on a pro-rata basis. For instance, for every $100k bridging loan, the interest chargeable is $500.

To be eligible for this loan, you will have to have already sold your existing property.

Unfortunately not - stamp duty has to be paid in cash or CPF.

Renovation loans are available for a maximum of $30,000 or 6x of your combined salary, with a cap of $30,000, whichever is lower. This has a maximum loan tenure of 5 years.

It's basically the same as what we should look for in terms of a new loan: interest rates, lock-in period, package features (such as partial payment, waiver due to sale, free conversion), and so on.

We recommend choosing a package with the terms that are most suitable for you in the next 2-3 years. If you intend to sell the property soon, it is not advisable to refinance or reprice if the package does not contain the "waiver due to sale" feature.

The accrued interest is the amount you would have earned if your CPF savings had been in your ordinary account instead of being withdrawn for housing. This interest is based on the CPF principal amount that was withdrawn on a monthly basis, at the prevailing CPF Ordinary Account interest rate and compounded yearly.

This is important because the accrued interest affects your property value. Even if your property has been fully paid, the compounding of CPF interest continues until you have either replaced the CPF monies used for your property or sold it.

If your property has stagnated in appreciation, the compounding of CPF interest will eat away the cash proceeds from the property until you sell it.

If you have a 1st housing loan on hand, your 2nd loan would be 45% or 25% loan-to-value (LTV) with a minimum cash down payment of 25%.

  • 45% to borrow up to 65yrs old
  • 25% to borrow up to 75yrs old

INVESTING

This depends on your priorities and holding horizon. In general, a good investment property is one that has a safe entry price, which means that the price can be supported even in a down market.

We advise looking out for properties that have a potential for good capital appreciation and rental demand. Usually, the holding period in order for a property to begin accumulating good returns on investment would be a period of 5 to 7years on average.

For our clients, we take care of this for you when we do in-depth research into suitable properties and put together a shortlist of options for you to consider.

A holding period for a mid-term of 5 to 7years is relatively healthy, while long-term would be more than 10 years.

We will go through your investment goals at the start. We'd also recommend setting a target price for selling, and monitoring the prices every year on your property. Once it hits your target, it's time to sell the property so that you can upgrade to the next investment.

If the property is for a holding period of more than 10-15 years, then yes, the cost of ABSD should likely be covered by the capital appreciation and rental income by then. If it's less than that, you may wish to consider undergoing the decoupling process. Please refer to our section below on Decoupling for more information.

DECOUPLING

Decoupling is done for joint owners who wish to purchase another property without incurring Additional Buyer's Stamp Duty (ABSD).

This process removes one name from joint ownership of a property, freeing it up so that person can purchase another property as the first property under their name.

Not every case is financially suited for this process, so we'll do a detailed financial calculation to assess the costs and whether it's possible for your situation. If all is clear, we will refer you to a law firm to begin the process, which will take about eight weeks.

You can do so right after signing the S&P documents at your first visit to the law firm.

The decoupling costs start from $5,500, depending on which law firm you engage.

LEASING

The landlord is responsible for paying the property tax and maintenance fee.

The stamp duty is payable by the tenant upon signing the Tenancy Agreement. This is applicable whether the rental is for the whole house or part of the house. The stamp duty also applies when the lease is renewed or extended.

GENERAL

As part of our client-centric approach, we serve you no matter which location you're in.

We'd need a chat on the phone to gather your preliminary information for us to achieve an efficient outcome from our initial consultation. We'll require your financial figures and property details (if it was for sale).

After which, you'll be guided through the presentation of your financial breakdown, property market value and the competitors available in the market (if it was for sale).

Our recommendation is not to hire more than one agent. Contrary to popular belief, the chances of you getting the best possible deal are actually lower if you have two or more agents.

When you have two or more agents competing for the sale of your home, for instance, the chances of them using tactics to close the sale quicker than the other may be very high, rather than getting you the best deal possible.

When choosing an agent, read their reviews first and have an initial consultation with them to decide if they're a good fit for you. The right agent for you will invest time and energy into understanding your needs and planning the best possible strategy to get you the property or price you desire.