ar1923 wrote:Prices are falling.
I just moved to a 3room HDB flat at ToaPayoh Lorong 1, 3 mins walk to Braddell MRT for S$1.9K. Landlord was asking S$2.1K.
The flat is fully furnished (no TV) with IKEA furniture, fully airconditioned and renovated.
Landlord was kind, he asked me to sign a year lease as he forsees rental to be falling next year.
2.1k for HDB is the city rate, Landlord was clever not kind, 1.9 is borderline, there are places 3 rooms for 1800, and even less if patient, what one must think about is, how old is the place, and how long have the people owned it.
A good indication of how much they have paid for the place, and if the mortgage is outstanding or not, lets say it was a one owner, that purchased the place 25 years ago, cost maybe 50k now paid for, Okay if they are business minded, they will be aware of the market price, if they are not business minded, they may well not be greedy, and just want to rent out for extra income... Today a loan with 20% deposit may leave for example a mortgage payment of 1300 to 1800 a month depending on price of course, although if the house is already paid off..and they are not greedy, I would suspect one could score a good 3 bedroom apartment for 1300$ to 1500$ without any real problem if the original owner has had it over 25 years and not really business savvy or greedy. But there again, this is Singapore

but they are out there, you just have to know how to bargain and when happy with the price go for a longer contract if possible!
Although our dump, when i first arrived was 1500 sq ft, for 800$ in 2005, no kitchen, however I built it myself, and dismantled it when i moved too.
That is the way I would look at it. No point crying over spilt milk, if one pays too much, you just have to live with it.