About to purchase a condo...a good choice?

[JR8]

There is a Sea Esta in Pasir Ris , one of a new raft of them down condo Road (Pasir Ris Drive 3)

The imagined becomes yet more surreal still in real life

[Barnsley]

There is a Sea Esta in Pasir Ris , one of a new raft of them down condo Road (Pasir Ris Drive 3)

The imagined becomes yet more surreal still in real life

There are so many new condos going up in Pasir Ris .... Catering for the relocation of the Overseas Family School. Which is moving to somewhere along Drive 3 in Pasir Ris I think.

There is also one called NV

I reckon they put all the names in a bag in the office.....

[JR8]

NV as in 'Non-Vintage champagne'? Weird!

Surely 'LV' would have more cachet amongst the locals?

[Barnsley]

NV as in 'Non-Vintage champagne'? Weird!

Surely 'LV' would have more cachet amongst the locals?

I am thinking they mean "Envy" in that all your friends will NV you living there.

[JR8]

NV as in 'Non-Vintage champagne'? Weird!

Surely 'LV' would have more cachet amongst the locals?

I am thinking they mean "Envy" in that all your friends will NV you living there.

Oh yes, you may be right. My thinking really doesn't plummet that low.

(What does that expression Nouveau riche mean, apart from the vulgarity of the 'newly minted'?)

[x9200]

surprised no using le or la like in fench yet.

Some of these are hilarious! [I haven't even considered if the genders are mis-used]
LA SUISSE I
LA SUISSE II
LA SUISSE TERRACE
LA VILLE
[..]
LE SHANTIER
LE WILKIE
LE WOOD

Everybody with no mean intentions perfectly knows that LE stands for luxury executive and LA locally admired.

[QRM]

How funny, I just read an article about the architect of that project yesterday and then read all about the project itself. Apparently she's famous:
http://www.zaha-hadid.com/architecture/farrer-court/

My claim to fame I snogged her niece.... Zaha-Hadid was the blue eyed girl at my architectural school.

[yk2366]

Have you done your maths?
The cost of mortgage interest, lost interest on downpayment, taxes and maintenance is most likely the same as rent for a comparable place.
And since you also have to reduce the mortgage, your monthly payments will be more than comparable rent (and only this "more" stays in your own pocket).
Singapore property is not economical for owning, only for selling at a higher price. So, only buy if you believe prices will go up!

I'm not sure. The rent is comparably cheaper in Los Angeles ($1000~2500) with higher mortgage interest payment (3~6%) and real estate taxes, and US residents still buy US property so I'm hoping that we are still making money if the property price stays the same for next five years.. until we sell. We intend to stay here for five years or more. But we do know that we have to sell within 10 years to not let the 99 year status affect us.

and we agree with everyone on the forum. We hate the name! It sounds like "deleted" and we have no idea what the purpose of D' is

zzm9980: it's on the 24th floor so I hope Singaporeans find that high enough to pay more. We ahd no idea who the architect was either until our architect friend told us she's really famous too

Girl_Next_Door: Those are the lower floors. We wanted to buy them but it was already sold out by the time we were looking. Hopefully people will want to pay more for higher floors in the later years.

Wd40: yep! US citizens. another reason we decided to purchase. I guess there's also a positive in being US citizens. we were upset that we had to pay more income taxes compared to other expats

thank you everyone for your reply! looking forward to more thoughts/opinions!

[Girl_Next_Door]

Girl_Next_Door: Those are the lower floors. We wanted to buy them but it was already sold out by the time we were looking. Hopefully people will want to pay more for higher floors in the later years.

Just to share my experiences as I bought a place last year. We were viewing for numerous properties around East area and Novena/Newton area.
- Developers tend to keep the higher floor units for sale at TOP. The prices are usually a lot higher than previously transacted prices.
- You should call a bank and ask for the valuation price of the unit (including the floor) that you are buying. We were very interested in one of the units from the developers but none of the banks are able to match the valuation. To me, I feel that I am over-paying for the property. I don't want to incur additional debts than necessary and I fear problems in selling the place (if I have to, at a later date) because my initial cost of purchasing is much higher than other people who have bought other units at a lower price.
- A few friends feedback that buying a completely brand new units usually have flaws within the units (Something in the apartment is always broken and the contractor will take a long time to fix it). Of course, this vary from developer to developer. As many people are moving in at the same time, there will be a lot of renovation noises as well.
- If there are too many buyers interested in the same development, the agents and developer will often pressure you to drop a cheque quick (often at a higher price, leaving you limited time to do your research & due diligence). We made 2 offers to the development I mentioned earlier, and both offers are rejected (our offer are made at asking price). There are too much competition and the sellers & developer just want to push the prices higher. We walked away after the 2nd offer is rejected because we do not want to be involved in a price war.
- Don't be fixated on one condo/development. Look around and explore other options. At the same time, have all your birds lined up (loans, valuers, sources to do your research, etc) and once you see something that appear to be a reasonably good offer, act fast.

We end up buying a freehold 3 bedroom condo (3 years old) at $1260psf near novena area. We are very happy with our purchase and have been staying there for about 3 months. Our mortgage is substantially lower than the rental amount we were previously paying, and we figured that if we have to leave the country, we should still be able to get a good rental to cover the mortgage (including insurance & monthly maintenance), so we won't be pressured to sell the place at a low price or at a loss.

[yk2366]

Girl_Next_Door: Those are the lower floors. We wanted to buy them but it was already sold out by the time we were looking. Hopefully people will want to pay more for higher floors in the later years.

Just to share my experiences as I bought a place last year. We were viewing for numerous properties around East area and Novena/Newton area.
- Developers tend to keep the higher floor units for sale at TOP. The prices are usually a lot higher than previously transacted prices.
- You should call a bank and ask for the valuation price of the unit (including the floor) that you are buying. We were very interested in one of the units from the developers but none of the banks are able to match the valuation. To me, I feel that I am over-paying for the property. I don't want to incur additional debts than necessary and I fear problems in selling the place (if I have to, at a later date) because my initial cost of purchasing is much higher than other people who have bought other units at a lower price.
- A few friends feedback that buying a completely brand new units usually have flaws within the units (Something in the apartment is always broken and the contractor will take a long time to fix it). Of course, this vary from developer to developer. As many people are moving in at the same time, there will be a lot of renovation noises as well.
- If there are too many buyers interested in the same development, the agents and developer will often pressure you to drop a cheque quick (often at a higher price, leaving you limited time to do your research & due diligence). We made 2 offers to the development I mentioned earlier, and both offers are rejected (our offer are made at asking price). There are too much competition and the sellers & developer just want to push the prices higher. We walked away after the 2nd offer is rejected because we do not want to be involved in a price war.
- Don't be fixated on one condo/development. Look around and explore other options. At the same time, have all your birds lined up (loans, valuers, sources to do your research, etc) and once you see something that appear to be a reasonably good offer, act fast.

We end up buying a freehold 3 bedroom condo (3 years old) at $1260psf near novena area. We are very happy with our purchase and have been staying there for about 3 months. Our mortgage is substantially lower than the rental amount we were previously paying, and we figured that if we have to leave the country, we should still be able to get a good rental to cover the mortgage (including insurance & monthly maintenance), so we won't be pressured to sell the place at a low price or at a loss.

Thank you so much for your reply. It really helps see things in another perspective. We'll ask for the valuation price of the unit and go from there.

May I ask which condo is it that you bought? A relatively new freehold condo near novena area @ 1260 is a great buy. We wanted to look near the green line but even the jurong area condos were going at a similar psf $ so we thought this was one of the best offers in the current market.