Category Archives: Lifestyle

Make your home the bestseller in this market

While waiting for that Circuit Breaker (in Singapore) or Lockdown to be over, what can you do to make your property a quick sell in today’s market? The following  steps will prepare your home for a quicker sale and possibly a better price. The same applies to the Landlord who is looking to rent out his home quickly in the subdued market.

1. Overhaul your Home

If you have been dragging your feet to make all those repairs, now is the time to fix all of those nagging things that you just lived with. Inside the house, look for things like stained ceilings, missing tile, broken windows and doors, heavily scratched floors and other signs of neglect. If you have a wooden deck or parquet flooring, check for cracks in floor boards and loose railings. Make a list of everything you see and then decide which things you’re going to tackle. A competent Realtor can be very helpful in determining what needs to be done and what doesn’t.

2. Declutter

Resist the urge to roll your eyes at this one. It is imperative that your home looks livable. Potential buyers may not be able to see past your clutter. Think of it this way—don’t move things you no longer want or need. Make decisions now and your house will sell faster and your move will be easier.It’s no secret that getting started is the hardest part of decluttering. Take one room, or even part of one room, at a time and dive in. Recycle or shred paper. Donate books, toys, clothing and duplicate household items. If you’re getting frustrated and you can’t deal with one more stack of papers or shoebox of old photos, put them in a plastic tub, label the box and stack it somewhere out of the way. A stack of boxes doesn’t look like clutter.

3. Increase Home Appeal

It’s important that your home makes a good first impression. To make sure buyers want to see the inside of your home, make sure the outside is well-kept, tidy and inviting. It’s important to touch-up or completely repaint trim, keep the grass cut, edge along sidewalks and paths, maintain flowers and shrubs and keep the yard tidy. You never know when curious buyers will pass by. This is especially important as most impressions are first made online via images and videos. Getting your home to be Instagramable will be key to beat your competition.

4. A Paint job

A paint job can cover the unsightly cracks on the walls due to age and weather. If you decide to do some interior painting, stick to neutral colors. Neutrals don’t distract and they allow potential buyers to imagine their things in your home.

5. Clean up the place.

This may be the most important step you take toward getting your home ready to sell. For a home to live up to the “move-in condition” description, it has to be clean.If you already keep a clean house, simply keep up the good work, checking to make sure you don’t overlook little-used closets and other nooks and crannies that aren’t part of your weekly routine. This needs to be a deep cleaning.

6. Rearrange Your Furniture

Your furniture is arranged the way it best suits you and your family. When you’re staging your home to sell, you’ll need to use your furniture as marketing tools to help create that enhanced appeal. Avoid having furniture lined up along the walls. Pull the sofa away from the wall and pull chairs close to create a conversation area. Also, you may need to remove some furniture so it’s easy for people to walk around in the rooms.

7. Fresh Flowers and Plants

Greens are the cheapest makeover one can find to enhance the interior look. If the weather allows, plant flowers in pots, window boxes or right in the ground to add color and pump up the curb appeal. Pay close attention to the plants, keeping them watered and trimmed.Inside the house, fresh flowers in vases add color, life and the feeling that you, as the home seller, are putting your best foot forward. It may not matter to some buyers but others will appreciate this detail and take it as a sign that your home has been well cared for. The current trend of urban gardening and farming can help push that hesitant millenial buyer make that purchasing decision.

8. Upgrade Lighting

If your lamps and other light fixtures are outdated, consider replacing them with modern ones. Buyers don’t want to feel like they’re taking a step back in time with outdated fixtures. This is an easy fix that will help sell your home.

9. Engage a Professional

At the end of the day, you will need a professional to advise you on the current market in terms of price, stock turnover and trends. There are many DIY avenues to teach you sell your own home but most of the time, they are not as effective and efficient as engaging a competent Realtor to assist you in your home selling. In terms of price, effectiveness and efficiency, it is better to leave it to the professional. He can save you the time and efforts involved in what could be the greatest deal one may deal with in that year or years.

These are simple stuff that won’t cost you a bomb but will definitely increase the appeal of your home and get it sold in double quick time.

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District 9 Luxury Home for sale (Luma)

Are you looking to buy a prime District 9 freehold condo before it becomes less affordable? Here is your chance at the Luma.
Breathtaking view of the Prime Districts of 9 and 10 (Orchard Road, Paterson and Grange). Minutes to prime shopping belt of Ion Orchard, Ngee Ann City, Takashimaya, Wisma Atria and Paragon, this is the best ideal choice for expats. Selling with Tenancy. Upcoming MRT station coming soon.
Accessibility (Location) : Luma @ 6 River Valley Grove
Budget: S$ 1,818,000   (S$ 2000+ psf)   | 
Capacity/Size: 904 sqft (83.98 sqm)    |  2 Beds   |  2 baths
Dateline: Selling with Tenancy till 2019

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Call 94772121 for details or you can fill up the form for future correspondence.

 

Freehold Orchard Condo 5th attempt at Enbloc Windfall

Home owners at freehold condominium Cairnhill Mansions are looking to ride the wave of collective sales as they gear up for their fifth attempt at selling their estate, according to local news media.

The estate in Cairnhill Road consists of a 61-apartment complex with a maximum gross floor area of about 172,240 sq ft, yielding potentially 140 new units in the redevelopment.

At a guide price of $362 million the owners are seeking a higher rate than their last bid in 2011 — translating to $5.7 million each, or about $2,800 per sq ft (psf). Similar projects nearby have sold at between $1,700 psf and $4,000 psf for the past few months.

The estate’s prime address is expected to carry a premium. Not too far away at the former Zouk club address in River Valley area, a developer committed to bid at least $689.4 million for the government reserve site, triggering an URA land sale tender. https://www.ura.gov.sg/uol/media-room/news/2017/Sep/pr17-62

Jiak Kim Street.png

The Jiak Kim Street site can accommodate 525 apartments in a development up to 36 storeys, with ground floor commercial use.

 

En Bloc fever catches on (updated: Normanton Park sold at $830.1M on 5 Nov)

The collective sale fever in Singapore is gathering steam as the news of record enbloc deals and potential sites looms. Among the latest that are joining the fever are:

1. Pine Grove ($1.65B)
Owners of the 660-unit former HUDC estate are aiming to achieve the largest collective sale deal in Singapore. The price tag of $1.65B is much higher than the last record of $1.34B deal made in Farrer Court in 2007.

An extraordinary general meeting will be held on Oct 29 to get at least 80 per cent of owners to back the en-bloc sale. Based on the minimum reserve price, each owner is looking at receiving $2.08 million to $2.64 million per unit.

It will be the estate’s 3rd attempt for a collective sale after a no-bid attempt in 2011 following the owners raising the reserve price from $1.33 billion to $1.7 billion. Its first try was in 2008. The 99-year leasehold project has 66 years left on its tenure

2. Braddell View ($2B)
Braddell View, the largest of Singapore’s 18 HUDC estates and the last to be privatised in March this year, is planning to jump on the en bloc bandwagon.

The 918-unit estate is holding an extraordinary general meeting on Oct 10 to form a collective sales committee to kick-start the process.

The reserve price for the 1.124 million sq ft development is S$2 billion. If successful, this would easily eclipse Pine Grove’s S$1.65 billion en bloc attempt. The 99-year lease Braddell View development has 63years left on its lease.

3. Spring Grove ($1B)
Owners in the 325-unit estate are targeting at least $1 billion sales price. They had asked for $1.39 billion in 2014. A $1 billion price works out to about $1,807 per sq ft (psf), based on a maximum gross floor area of 553,377 sq ft. This is above the $1,285 psf to $1,438 psf that units in the estate have fetched so far this year.

There are quite a lot of sales en bloc going on now, but not that many are in the prime district, so that’s something going for this development.

4. Normanton Park ($0.8B) — updated: sold at $830.1M
It will be second-time lucky in its collective-sale bid at an $800 million reserve price for the hopeful owners at Normanton Park.

The Normanton Park owners are among those capitalising on the collective-sale fever. It failed in its previous bid in 2015. The tender will close today on Oct 5 at 3pm.

Based on the reserve price, each Normanton Park unit owner could get between $1.6 million and $1.8 million. This translates to a land rate of about $898 per sq ft per plot ratio (psf ppr), which includes a differential premium for intensification of the site of about $225.3 million, and a top-up premium of $220.6 million for a fresh 99-year lease.

Update: Normanton Park has been sold to Kingsford Huray Development for S$830.1 million — translating to a land price of approximately S$969 per square foot per plot ratio (psf ppr), is the highest land rate for a 99-year leasehold collective sale site this year.

Each home owner will stand to receive about S$1.68 million to S$1.86 million. Kingsford will have to fork out a premium of about S$231.1 million top up the lease to another 99 years, and top up about S$283.4 million to redevelop the site to a gross plot ratio of 2.1.

5. ICB Shopping Centre ($65m)
This is the first en bloc attempt by ICB Shopping Centre, a mixed-use development in Yio Chu Kang Roadwhich is more than 30 years old. It comprises six apartment units (of between 1,324 sq ft and 1,550 sq ft) and 13 retail units. The site about 1 km from Nex shopping mall and Serangoon MRT station, and is also near eateries and other small retail shopping areas.

The development’s residential and commercial owners are looking for a price of S$65 million to S$70 million. Based on its maximum potential gross floor area (GFA), the asking price range translates to a unit price of about S$1,390 per sq ft (psf) to S$1,500 psf.

The development sits on a freehold plot with a land area of 15,548 sq ft. It has a current GFA of 25,123 sq ft, but with a plot ratio of 3.0, it can be built to a maximum permissible GFA of 46,643 sq ft.
Concerns about current enbloc fever
Though the enbloc fever looks to getting even hotter, the concerns among the industry players are about the sustainability of the momentum over the long run. The market can only absorb one or two big sites. Some of the record-aiming enbloc sites have such huge sizes that the interested developers will need to factor in expected costs if they cannot finish selling the completed units.

Selling all the units within five years of buying the land to avoid additional buyer’s stamp duty (ABSD) will pose a challenge. This could affect the price developers are prepared to pay for the site.

Projects such as The Interlace and d’Leedon, which were built on large sites sold during the 2007 en-bloc boom, are still left with unsold units, together with the existing launches which have unsold inventory. New launches will face some fierce competition among the existing unsold units as well as among themselves.

To top it off, the property rental market has yet shown signs of shaking off its lull as well amidst the economic/employment uncertainty. Unless the authorities loose up the policy of workforce, and new jobs emerge from the current lacklustre market, it remains to be seen if new launches can provide good returns to prospective buyers.

Raffles Place commercial building seeking new owner

Chevron House, a commercial building located near the entrances to the Raffles Place MRT station, is reportedly available for sale. The building owner, Deka Immobilien GmbH — a unit of DekaBank Group of Germany — bought the premises in 2010 for around S$420M. The previous owner was a Goldman SachGroup-managed property fund.

The market price was understood to be S$700M based on anonymous sources. Recent prominent completed commercial deals includes:
– S$2.6B bid led by Malaysian IOI on a Marina Bay white site
Sale of Sime Darby Centre in Bt Timah area by Blackstone to Tuan Sing
Purchase of Wilkie Edge from Capitaland by Lian Beng Group

Chevron House is a skyscraper building in CBD housing Chevron Corp. The 262,650 sqft building consists of a 4-storey retail podium with a basement as well as a 29-storey office block.

Golden Shoe Carpark’s billion-dollar redevelopment plan finally unveiled

A highly anticipated redevelopment project in Raffles Place, touted for years, was finally unveiled over the week by the press. A 51-storey mixed-use development – slated for completion in the first half of 2021 – will be built on the site. It will comprise office space, serviced residences, a multi-storey carpark, a food centre and shops.

The redevelopment will be led by CapitaLand in a joint venture (JV) for an estimated cost of $1.82 billion. The JV partners are: CapitaLand, CapitaLand Commercial Trust (CCT) and Mitsubishi Estate Co (MEC).

Of the $1.82 billion development cost, about 52.6 %, or $957.8 million, was attributed to charges for the intensification of land use and other land-related costs.

At 280m high, it will be among the tallest buildings in the heart of the Central Business District. The other highlights of the plan include:

– 635,000 sq ft of net lettable area
– 29 floors of Grade A office space
– 299 serviced residences over eight storeys managed by CapitaLand’s The Ascott – five floors of carpark space
– 12,000 sq ft of retail space at ground level
– a shared four-storey-high “Green Oasis”, where tenants can hold meetings or other activities amid lush greenery
– a new food centre owned by the government, which will house former stallholders of Market Street Food Centre in Golden Shoe Car Park on the second and third levels of the new building’s podium. In the meantime, starting from 1 Aug, the stallholders will be at an interim centre next to Telok Ayer MRT station
– flexible offices and co-working spaces.

Robertson Quay’s newest “garden in the city”

Robertson Quay is having its the first large-scale launch in eight years: Martin Modern. The new condo project will comprise 450 residential units set within a botanic garden. It will offer a range of two, two plus study, three and four-bedroom apartments with sizes spanning 764 sq ft to 1,798 sq ft. Prices start from S$1.8 million.

Residents will be able to enjoy lush greenery in this development, more than 80% of the land area set aside for a beautiful botanic garden with over 200 species of plants and more than 50 species of trees and palms.

The project highlights includes:

– 2 Towers of 450 units (up to 30 storeys)
– Low site-coverage with Extensive Botanical Landscape
– Bespoke concierge services
– Panoramic Views of gardens / city / the Singapore River
– 2 to 4 Bedrooms (2BR, 2+S sizes from 800-880sqft / 3BR, 3+S sizes from 1,000-1,300sqft/ 4BR with private lift 1,800sqft ) on average price of $2300psf  (prices and sizes subject to change)

This next masterpiece by renowned Guocoland Singapore in District 9 Orchard/River Valley is slated for launch on 22 July 2017. There is a preview period prior to the official launch. Due to overwhelming response for the past 2 days, Martin Modern show suite operating hour is extended to this coming weekend 10 – 14 July (10am – 1pm)

Call +65-94772121 or email davidking.property@hotmail.com for preview and launch details.

Wilkie Edge sold to Lian Beng and Apricot Capital

Located at the junction of Wilkie Road and Selegie Road, Wilkie Edge is a leasehold 12-storey development comprising office and retail units as well as a serviced residence, Citadines Mount Sophia Singapore. It has 88 years left on the lease. The mixed-use commercial and residential building located near Little India, is being sold for S$280 million — works out to a price of S$1,812 per square foot (psf) based on the building’s net lettable area, and a price of S$1,299 psf based on gross floor area.

Lian Beng Group and Apricot Capital, the private investment firm of Super Group’s Teo family, have agreed to acquire Wilkie Edge from CapitaLand Commercial Trust (CCT).

The sale is expected to be completed in September. The sale consideration is 39.3 % above Wilkie Edge’s valuation of S$201 million or S$1,301 psf as at Dec 31, and 53.3 % higher than its original purchase price of S$182.7 million in 2008.

Woodleigh site to build 600 private homes plus mall

Singapore Press Holdings (SPH) and Kajima Development are planning to develop more than 600 residential units and a retail/commercial component with a gross floor area of about 310,000 square feet on a 99-year leasehold site in the new Bidadari Estate that they have won the tender. The two teamed up to form an equal partnership that placed the top bid for the site at a tender conducted by the Housing & Development Board.

The winning bid of S$1.132 billion translates to S$1,181 per square foot plot ratio based on the maximum gross floor area of 958,450 sq ft allowed for the commercial and residential site next to Woodleigh MRT Station.

The site’s proximity to popular primary schools and other educational institutions and the green environment in the Bidadari Estate including a park and a lake are the key attractions.

As part of the tender conditions, the successful bidder will also have to build a 6,000 square metre community club, a 2,190 sq m neighbourhood police centre, a commercial bridge towards Bidadari Park and an underpass to connect to the bus interchange as part of the development.