I had advertised a unit in Pacific Mansion for $1.29 million. Earlier I had advised my two clients to buy a unit in the same project, but it was sold by the time one of them had reverted to me.
By the time I woke up at 8.00 a.m. I already had 3 missed calls! One of the buyers excitedly told me that he would like to view the project, and I told him I might as well show him two other condominiums.
When we were at the poolside of Pacific Mansion, Mr. Tan suddenly said to me, "I'm so angry with the agent!"
"Oh yeah?" I queried, thinking it was a very recent incident.
"Twenty years ago, I came here and wanted to buy a unit. It was then going for about $400K, but the agent stopped me. He said Pacific Mansion was a red light area!" I could not help being amused for indeed, Mr. Ng has an elephant memory.
"Don't worry! That is history already. Even if you buy one unit now, it is not too late. Sure, you might have to pay slightly over a million dollars, but the enbloc would earn you substantial profits too."
In the evening, Mr. Ng phoned me and told me that his partner who was traveling abroad, did not believe the price could be $1 million dollars. He said the price should be only about $700K! Properties with enbloc potential could never be sold at valuation price. Owners are giving up their rights and hence when they sell, they would expect a little premium above the valuation price.
Somehow I already sensed that Mr. Ng and his partner had already missed their boats, and would probably miss this ocean liner too. Within 2 months, units in Pacific Mansion were going for about $1.3 million, and now it is hovering around M$1.4 million! Some uninformed Singaporeans still think Pacific Mansion is a red light area, without realising that it is perhaps the only gold mine left in the River Valley area.! If they had taken the trouble to visit the place, they would find that the condominium now has been upgraded with a lovely swimming pool, gym and children's playground. Now, we can also find expatraite tenants and sarong party girls enjoying themselves by the poolside.
How many of us are like Mr. Ng, always regretting and regretting.? Instead of looking to the realistic present and the hopeful future, we keep looking back and regretting, instead of moving on with lessons learnt and renewed optimism.
Gan Chau
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Missing the Boats ......and even Ocean Liners!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
I am also a property agent.
Since March of this year, I have been urging buyers that it was a good time to acquire a property or upgrade into a larger one.
Many clients believed that the property prices will fall further and there will be 'good deals' in Quarter 3 onwards. This is despite of me analysing how the situation in 2009 is very different from 1997/1998 when no one then wanted to buy any property.
This time round, there are many people looking for 'good deals' they are providing a support to the market. The extreme low interest rates (as a result of concerted govt efforts to support the economy) is adding to inflationary pressures of real asset prices. Also, Singapore has come a long way since 1997. Now, there are many new foreigners entering this island for work - thus adding demand to the property market.
It is now 25th July, and if one has read the papers of the past week..... I can only laugh at the folly of those 'potential buyers' who cannot live in the realistic present (many were hoping prices drop to 2003 levels!!).
Post a Comment