Excuse Me, Are You A Property Agent? (22)

I am surprised that this time round, most of my advertisements for rental flats have garnered interest from locals. In the past, it was usually the expatriates or people on short business trips who showed interest in the advertised units.

I went to take a look at a beautiful condominium which was marketed by my two new recruits, Jack and Adeline. The home was meticulously done up, and despite the age, was in a pristine condition. The lady of the house was extremely meticulous and house-proud. She decided to sell her lovely apartment and move to a landed property, preferably a corner terrace or semi-detached house.

However, by the time her unit was sold, she was still unable to find a house that she liked. Hence, she decided to rent an apartment for two years. Likewise, many of the potential tenants had also sold their properties because they wanted to cash in on the hot market, and hoped that the price of the properties would drop in the near future, and they would buy again. So many people seem to forget that Singapore is a small island which is bursting her shores with an influx of permanent residents and expatriates.!

I remember my best friend, Amu, had sold her 4 room HDB flat in the Redhill vicinity, so that she could downgrade to a 3 room flat in Jurong, which would be fully paid up and leave her with some cash. At first Amu wanted to rent after she had disposed of her flat, but I advised her to buy a 3 room flat almost simultaneously so that she could hedge against inflation or a rise in price. Amu is glad she had heeded my advice; otherwise, she would have to pay even more for her 3 room flat now. Amu's unit was marketed by her niece who is also a property agent. I am surprised that as an agent, she had not given Amu the important advice. As agents, we must always bear in mind that we are dealing with clients' hard-earned money; hence it is imperative to give sound and sincere advice to clients.

Housemoving is so stressful and I am amazed that so many have no qualms about disposing their beautiful homes in exchange for a rental home.! When we live in a rented home, the feeling is very different. We would not make the rental home as comfortable as we want to, because we do not want to waste any money to renovate the unit because it does not belong to us. Moreover it is so wasteful to pay rentals for a unit which is not ours. The rentals could sometimes fully cover the mortgage of a property. We also have a more peaceful and "settled" feeling when we live in our very own premises, and can really enjoy singing the song, "Home, Sweet Home."

Gan Cao