There are essentially no 1-bed condos in the country (except at the v. upper/palatial end)cavemaner wrote:Hi everyone,
I'm a healthcare professional moving to Singapore in early June and am quite eager to secure a condo pretty much as soon as I arrive in the country. I'm looking at the Geylang, Eunos and Marine Parade areas for 1 bedroom condo, max $1900 month, fully furnished.
I have looked far and wide for answers on the net and on this forum to the following questions, but I have not been able to find answers. I'm hoping a few of you can help me.
1. How much movement is there at the moment in negotiating rental prices? eg. Condo listed as $2000 month negotiable, could I realistically get it down to something like $1850 per month without paying a few month's rent upfront?
2. How long is the whole view condos, write LoI, sign the TA and get government approval? Ideally I am hoping that this process takes less than 3 days, so I don't have to spend more money staying in a hotel, and can move in quickly.
Thanks everyone for your help!
Thanks for the detailed reply. I do see quite a few one-bedroom condos are available in these areas. You wouldn't happen to know any details about movement in condo rent prices that are listed as 'Negotiable'? Really, how negotiable are places with this listed?thismyvoice wrote:1 bedroom condos used to be rare, but are mushrooming up all over Singapore the past few years. There should be some in Geylang, Balestier, Potong Pasir, etc. A quick search in the internet shows me that Gek Lim Mansions, Treasures @ G19 are places that may fit your requirements. I have not seen the units thus please don't take the above as recommendations. If you are willing to consider studio units, there will be more options.
Lastly, for your budget, you are probably looking at 500 square feet Mickey Mouse apartments, with minimal cooking facilities, and a 50 square feet balcony.
How negotiable will depend on the landlord. My thoughts as follows. If the landlord is already putting a unit up for rent 1 month before previous tenant leave, he may want a quick deal so slight discount may be given. If unit is just vacant, some landlords may want to wait for better deal so discount may not be given. If unit empty for 3 months, landlord may give good discount.cavemaner wrote:Thanks for the detailed reply. I do see quite a few one-bedroom condos are available in these areas. You wouldn't happen to know any details about movement in condo rent prices that are listed as 'Negotiable'? Really, how negotiable are places with this listed?thismyvoice wrote:1 bedroom condos used to be rare, but are mushrooming up all over Singapore the past few years. There should be some in Geylang, Balestier, Potong Pasir, etc. A quick search in the internet shows me that Gek Lim Mansions, Treasures @ G19 are places that may fit your requirements. I have not seen the units thus please don't take the above as recommendations. If you are willing to consider studio units, there will be more options.
Lastly, for your budget, you are probably looking at 500 square feet Mickey Mouse apartments, with minimal cooking facilities, and a 50 square feet balcony.
Thanks Renetk for your reply. Being a renters market currently, how much could I realistically negotiate a monthly rent down to?
That was probably something I wrote. Yes it is realistic - I've done it many times. At the very least it should get negotiations started in the right way.cavemaner wrote:I read in another thread when applying to offer 20% under the advertised/listed rental price. Is this realistic? and secondly, do offers like this regularly get accepted?
I think you can do that if the market is weakening, and the listed prices (of flats) have been on the market a while without reducing their prices. BUT keep in mind that there is a SGn landlord gene which comes over as stubborn pride. This can translate - perverse as it is - into a landlord preferring to maintain their pipe-dream asking price and have an empty unit, than 'be defeated' and negotiate a lower price. That ties with the perceived LL<>Tenant status, i.e. they're owners, you're merely tenants, so the tenant 'winning' against the LL can leave the LL with a grudge, one he might try and recoup later, and hence 'win'. [There's a parallel in car-owner vs cyclist!].Addadude wrote:That was probably something I wrote. Yes it is realistic - I've done it many times. At the very least it should get negotiations started in the right way.cavemaner wrote:I read in another thread when applying to offer 20% under the advertised/listed rental price. Is this realistic? and secondly, do offers like this regularly get accepted?
And, like it or not, you will have to put down a few months rent upfront. There's no getting around that. The best you can hope for is a one year rental with 1 month's rent paid in advance and a 1 month security deposit.
I'm afraid that my RE friend focuses exclusively on sales and large corporate rentals. He was doing me a favour with my housing quest at the time.cavemaner wrote:
Addadude, if you don't mind, could you PM the details for your real estate friend.
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