Much Ado about Property Investment......

As a property agent for the past 15 years, I have come to observe many interesting aspects about people.

Many of us would assume that it is the people who have the money who would invest but this is not necessarily true. I have come across people with tons of savings in the bank, but who do not have a property in their names. They are very comfortable staying with their parents in their HDB flat. Some of them could be the only child or could be the only sibling who does not own any property. Though eventually the parents' flat would go to him, many would know that HDB flats give good rental returns, very often up to 8 to 15%. Morever, those who have bought their HDB flats in good locations have found themselves a lot richer when they sell. eg. The couple who sold their flat at Mei Ling Street for almost close to nine hundred thousand dollars during the recent property boom.

I remember a lady who worked as a secretary. She is a classic example of someone who has more guts than cash. Obviously she is talented and has a nose for smelling out good buys. She makes fast decision. Once she told me, "Buy first....worry later. Problems have a way of solving themselves." This gutsy lady who used to earn a couple of thousands as a secretary now owns a few properties!

One of my clients started off as someone who lived in an HDB flat. He sold his 4 room flat to upgrade to a condominium. Subsequently, he sold his condominium and upgraded to an inter-terrace house. Now he is living in a bungalow in the East. He shared how he and his family never really unpacked their boxes of belongings because it would not be long before the family started to move again. "Sure, it is inconvenient, but how can anyone make money without the price of inconvenience and trouble?", he would say. Somehow, he had the gift of zooming in to buy when others were not buying and he bought some good properties and sold them when the price went up.

Then I also come across a group of people who would always tell agents that they would pray about buying the property. Ever so often by the time they finished praying, the property would have already been sold! Some of these people have forgotten that they have been endowed with brains. However, using the brains alone may not be quite enough.....for there are some who analyse till they become paralysed with fear and confusion! Analysis till paralysis! I know of a professor who lectures on properties but he has never bought a single property in Singapore!

Hence, it is important that a potential investor uses his gut feelings as well as knowledge when buying properties. There is seldom a perfect property, but as long as a property has 80 per cent of good points, it is worth taking it up.

Gan Chau