Are the apartment rent prices on this website not accurate?

[audiojunky]

Hi,

I was checking the apartment rental prices on this website and forwarded some of the prices to the agent whom I contacted through this website. She said that the prices have risen and the prices I saw were not valid.

For example, I saw 2 bedroom apartments at Waterplace and Cote D'Azur for $2500 on this site and the agent said that they're $3000.

How can I verify the actual price of the condos or is the agent taking me for a ride?

Also, what is the typical commision for these agents?

Thanks!

[lost_canuck]

Hi,

I was checking the apartment rental prices on this website and forwarded some of the prices to the agent whom I contacted through this website. She said that the prices have risen and the prices I saw were not valid.

For example, I saw 2 bedroom apartments at Waterplace and Cote D'Azur for $2500 on this site and the agent said that they're $3000.

How can I verify the actual price of the condos or is the agent taking me for a ride?

Also, what is the typical commision for these agents?

Thanks!

They will always say that the web is not to go by, but when I came over in Dec, flats were going for 1800 - 2000 on the web and yet the agent we went through (not here) showed us things between 1800 and 2500, saying the prices have risen by that much.

Another person asked about this and I think it is a false economy thing, they see how much you are willing to spend, But tell them your budget and remember you can make offers under the asking price. I cannot believe they can jup 500 dollars in a matter of one month!!

Plus I think it is like those tv offers, Buy a tv for $100, you show up, but there was only one on offer, they then proceed to show you something a bit more expensive but better.....

Good luck, If this is the way things are going I dread two years time

[audiojunky]

Yes, quite frankly I am really surprised by the cost of apartments/ condos here (as posted in an earlier forum). It seems that the only way to get something nice is by earning a LOT of money and spending most of it on rent

Single income families must be finding it really really hard to survive here.

All landlords must be driving Ferraris and Lambos in Singapore despite the crazy cost of cars here!

[lost_canuck]

I honestly don't know what to tell you, except look to rent an apartment not a condo, apts are cheaper than condos, because you don't have the pool, tennis courts, etc.. and to be honest, if the prices for condos continue, hopefully they run out of people to rent them. A colleague of my husbands rented here just over a year ago and his flat is $1800 a month, one year later, $700 more? Are there no regulations?

[huggybear]

like real estate in the united states. the listed price is not the one and only price. if the agent is telling you that the place is going for 3k but this website says it's 2.5k and you think it's only worth 2.2k. then bid 2.2k. if you lose the property to someone else...then u were wrong...

if you win the property at 2.2k then u were right and the agent was wrong.

[Grim Reaper]

Exactly huggybear...

It is a free market of demand and supply and you decide whether or not you pay what is initially asked for. ALWAYS ask if negotiable. If not, don't even bother, leave it to others to pay too much.

The market here was down last year, the prices on this site were too high. Now the market goes up, prices shown on this site are too low on certain occasions. What does that mean?

They do not update the pricing so much.

Is the information therefore reliable?

You decide.

[Makan24-7]

Check the dates on the prices the units were listed. Anything more than a week old probably isn't right anymore especially this month.

I closed on my apartment after 3.5 weeks of searching and bidding each day... I initially started out with a mindset like huggybear's and lost out each time - at least 7 times! After 2 weeks, I threw my hands in the air and I started to meet asking prices but asking for the landlord to throw in stuff. I lost out 4 more times by having others bid the asking but asking for nothing or others actually bidding higher than the asking... Finally managed to close on one with is still slightly overpriced but at least I didn't get into a bidding war especially with new apartments in the city center.

The market's just way overheated and it only started after Jan 1, 2007...

Friends who are real estate analysts with the tier 1 banks said I came at the worst possible moment. Didn't believe it at first but been burnt too many times to know it's true....

[huggybear]

makan
by definition it cannot be overpriced if you were willing to pay that much for it. what's an apartment worth? it's worth what people are willing to pay for it. thus your apt is not "overpriced" but "properly priced."

tier 1 banks? are you kidding? KSL where are you to throw the gauntlet to banks?

these are probably the same "tier 1" analysts who called for a housing price collapse in the USA in 1997, then again in 1998, then again in 1999, then again in 2000, then again in 2001, then again in 2002, then again in 2003, then again in 2004, then again in 2005...oops think they called one right there.

but hey a broken watch is right at least twice a day right?

the housing market is that it is here. and right now it's on fire. i personally don't think it's going to bet any better...from me troling these boards i see there are families waiting to move here in Jun after the school year in the US is over...additionally, the singapore real estate market has been dead for years and is now just awakening. it has a lot of room to grow to catch up with hong kong, tokyo, seoul, etc.

[Makan24-7]

Haha overpriced cos i didn't have enough time to look longer before I had to rush back to the US for more meetings... Had to meet an asking price for a place I thought was the least overpriced... Would I have paid that amount had I a bit more time? Heck no!

True, but then the Tier 1 bank analysts call the shots and even the Global 100 firms' CEOs bow to them.. sad but true, that's why the ultimate corporate strategy is to take yr corp private! LOL... Haha, u wonder why these guys get paid obscene salaries and bonuses eh?

Yeah God forbid SG becomes like HKG too soon... I feel for the locals who have to survive with the expats driving the markets...

[huggybear]

yes i agree with you on the top 100 ceos. i have talked to CFOs at most of these companies. I'm usually surprised how absolutely unintelligent they are. I would gather most of them just try not to rock the boat and are too scared to take a risk...

there are some really forward thinking people out there.

one is google.

[Makan24-7]

Fingers crossed... As most corporations grow larger and larger and they find they cannot run it like an entrepreneurial operations anymore, that's when they really are tested.

Met Larry Page and Sergey Brin before.. Real smart cookies...