5% Cash Downpayment for propety. What is your opinion?
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i think the more you can loan, the more expensive the things will become.
In the past, ppl save before they buy. Now those in the finiancial institutions will make you think that you should borrow from them.....and things get more n more expensive.
Years ago, my mum was being persuaded by banks to buy funds. But I alway persuade her to turn it down because I know it will go downhill and also I read the fine prints.
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After reading today's ST paper, somehow I have this feeling that everybody in Singapore have become 10% richer. Almost every page of the paper are telling you to buy buy buy...dont miss, freehold, seaview, city living, new release 5% cash only, 90% loan.. even development that are going for $1200 psf are promoting 5% cash down...I think they must be crazy.
And because of Mah's policy, our home loan interest rate is now about 1% higher.
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i feel like i am in the wrong country. just dont fit in financially.Originally posted by Gazelle:After reading today's ST paper, somehow I have this feeling that everybody in Singapore have become 10% richer. Almost every page of the paper are telling you to buy buy buy...dont miss, freehold, seaview, city living, new release 5% cash only, 90% loan.. even development that are going for $1200 psf are promoting 5% cash down...I think they must be crazy.
And because of Mah's policy, our home loan interest rate is now about 1% higher. -
Everytime you buy a house, you need to pay stamp duties. Wonder how is the stamp duties calculated and which is the law firm(s) contracted by the government to take care of the stamp duties?
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There is something like this on earth call www.creditbureu.com.sgOriginally posted by Joshua1975:so... loaned from HDB... than 4get what it say.... interest add on or what FUCK let them add....
you have a 5 room... after sometime you dun pay, HDB ask you sell off and pay them but will let you have 1 or 3 room de lah.... same story again.... dun pay.... dun pay
PDP? PAY DUN PAY.........
how many of you in here dun pay/dun service your loaned anymore, reason like out of job....
see their sample report
http://www.creditbureau.com.sg/LibraryFiles/SampleReport.pdf
Dont know whether HDB loan included. -
Actually I think I can do a better job than the current PM. I also think we don't need the SM position and the MM position- because it's a waste of space, time and money.Originally posted by TwilightZone:So you people think that if you are the Ministers you will be able to bring down prices for the people of Singapore, do a better job and the existing ministers, and you will be more than willing to draw 2 or 3 times the salary of an average graduate and serve the country with all your hearts?
And how do you propose to do all these? Give us, the dimwits, your alternatives.
A PM just needs a DPM or a Finance minister(who knows not just finance, but about other issues too) for help and knowledge when needed. For example, Tony Blair has Gordon Brown as back-up. Brown is smart, if not smarter than Blair.
When Bill Clinton was President, Al Gore was his back-up and was equally smart as Clinton.
Back to topic, I do think I can do a better job, in spite of my inexperience and for a cheaper price. No, you don't need to pay US$1.6m annually to me as PM. I will be happy with just US$100k per year- or even less than that.
And you still save US$1.5m annually if u hire me as PM. -
You call us dimwits just because we managed to counter your arguments? I'd say that's pretty pathetic on your part. If you lose an argument, then it wud be better to admit that you lost it. No point in calling people names- it just degrades your sense of maturity and how people view about u from now onwards.Originally posted by TwilightZone:And how do you propose to do all these? Give us, the dimwits, your alternatives.
And as for ministers' sky-high wages? I definately believe it's too high and bears too much of a burden to the taxpayers. In many other countries, it has been proved that public servants and govt ministers doesn't need to be paid US$1m onwards to be effective and efficient.
In fact, the opposite is always true- for two reasons.
1) Excessive money tends to tell people on both sides, two things: for the ordinary people, it means govt ministers, although how inefficient and how ineffective he can be, he's still able to make a lot more money than those who only work for less than peanuts.
From the govt. ministers' point of view, they will view it as a god-given right to get high wages for the so little stuff that they do. Inevitably, some if not all will believe they deserve it so much that they don't even want to consider a wage cut in times of recession and depressions. High wages also encourages inefficiency and ineffectiveness because it will make them believe that as long as a govt. scheme has only 10% effectiveness, it's better than nothing and therefore they still deserve the high pay- which is quite untrue.
2) In public service, wages are always drawn on taxpayers' money annually, whether through direct income taxes or indirect taxes. Such as it is, it is different from the private sector- which the money comes from the spending of consumers, customers who either wants the product and/or the service.
So even though the taxpayers' money will amount to hundreds of millions of dollars, the amount of cash the private sector can draw annually is still much, much higher than the public sector. For example, Microsoft is a company that has billions of dollars of financial turnover annually. It's governed by corporate laws and guidances. It's also a public limited company, so if Bill Gates get paid by the billions, he deserves it.
On the other hand, public servants- being a employee of the public(due to the fact the public actually pays his salary through their tax contributions) cannot and shouldn't draw an extremely stupidly high salary at the expense of the people who pays his salary through taxes. Public sector servants and ministers should never ever peg their salary to the private sector because public sector servants serve the public- they do not serve the shareholders.
They are being paid a good reasonable salary to serve the public- and to run the adminstration on behalf of the people. So if you give the reason on why PAP should peg their salaries to the private sector, I tell you that it's a huge financial burden on the general public.
Already the PAP ministers have demonstrated time and time again that most of them are incomptence and ineffective. And yet they continue to draw huge amounts of wages, in spite of their rubbish performances over the last 3 to 5 years. That creates resentment among the ordinary people and that only increases the bad blood between the people and the govt. It also increases the rich-poor gap in Singapore directly and indirectly and it also can affect the performance of the economy in an indirect but obvious manner too.
So my view is this, in order to get the government to be effective again, in order to get it to be more efficient, to get it to reduce the tons of red tape that it has created itself for its own benefit, we must recognize that govt. ministers are being overpaid, overfed till the point they have become as lazy as Garfield.
In fact make that a whole lot of Garfields.
Govt. sky high salaries must be reduced to a point that is comparable to those in UK, US or Australia- or even lower as our country is smaller and population, also smaller. In addition, the size of government must be reduced and layers of red tape massively reduced. A smaller government with a smaller civil service can be more effective and efficient as it draws less money to run it and also it just makes everyone(who has survived the downsizing of govt and civil service) work harder as they need to cover more ground. -
can you don't talk cock and sing song.Originally posted by TwilightZone:Dear All,
How do you spur your children to excel and scale greater heights? Whilst you will tell them to be prudent and save for the rainy day, you will also in the same breadth encourage them to aim for the sky and take on the challenges of life.
For the young, buying a property should be viewed as one of the most exiting challenges in life. This is especially so in a city state like land-scarce Singapore where owning a property is viewed as a prize. Winning this prize should give them a sense of achievement and satisfaction, having to go through the trials and tribulations, the pain and agony, the tears and joy, and the fun and games to win it.
I notice that when the young people play computer games, they prefer the most challenging ones. They are so delighted when they win a Virtual Prize. But they are afraid to face the real challenging game of Life in Singapore. They want out. Too competitive, they say. No confidence to win the Real Prize. They dive for cover because the game is too challenging for them. They indulge in negativism and pessimism to hide their fear for hardship and pain, pointing to greener pastures elsewhere.
Yes, there seems to be contradictions for example when you express the fear to your child that he might drown if he is allowed to swim but at the same time you send him to swimming lessons with the intention of allowing him to swim eventually. So there is no contradictions in the government's policies.
I appeal to the young people to face up to the challenges and put their chests forward. The greener pastures which you dream of may not be that green when you arrive there. There is nothing like home where you are brought up and where you are with your own people.
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PROPERTY BUYERS BEWARE!!!
Pls read today's (24/7/05) ZaoBao (main section-Finance pg 20) first before u go for house hunting today.
The top article states that the adjustment of the policy alone is not sufficient. The basic factors that support the property market include the Economy sentiment, Employment opportunity, Pay increment, Foreign investment etc etc etc.
The bottom article tells u how the housing loan is being calculated based on the new increased loan interest. This is important.
Will link the above articles if its up in ZB site later.
An interesting article to share http://www.zaobao.com.sg/sp/sp050723_520.html. It shows the living cost 40 years ago in SG. -
Originally posted by chinese-ed:
Would appreciate if you can translate some of the key figures. My CHINA is only half bucket full...
[b]PROPERTY BUYERS BEWARE!!!
Pls read today's (24/7/05) ZaoBao (main section-Finance pg 20) first before u go for house hunting today.
The top article states that the adjustment of the policy alone is not sufficient. The basic factors that support the property market include the Economy sentiment, Employment opportunity, Pay increment, Foreign investment etc etc etc.
The bottom article tells u how the housing loan is being calculated based on the new increased loan interest. This is important.
Will link the above articles if its up in ZB site later.
An interesting article to share http://www.zaobao.com.sg/sp/sp050723_520.html. It shows the living cost 40 years ago in SG.
[/b]
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Translation of the important figures as reported on http://www.zaobao.com.sg/sp/sp050723_520.htmlOriginally posted by Gazelle:Would appreciate if you can translate some of the key figures. My CHINA is only half bucket full...
In 1965,
Starting monthly salary of:
An O level graduate: $250
Logistic degree graduate: $500
$40 / month is enough to sustain a guy (transport, food, entertainment) and his dating expenses.
Bus fare per trip ranges from 5 cents to 20 cents.
1 BBQ rice: 20 cents
1 cup of coffee: 10 cents
"Very expensive" plate of chicken rice eaten while dating girlfriend: $2
$500 is enough to support a family of 7-9
A huge house (landed property) with living room + 9 rooms monthly rental is $28
A 6 years old second hand car cost $2000
Monthly Oil expense: $10
A wedding table cost $60 - $80
The above are 1965 living expenses figures as reported on zaobao.com. The article continues with 2005 living expenses which I didn't bother to translate.
So who is thinking of migrating? -
It is kind of hypocritical for Mah Bow Tan to come out and tell potential buyers to be prudent and do their sums before signing on the dotted line. By doing so, he is directly tell us that if you get yourself into trouble, it is not the government's fault, as we have already warned you.
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actually, if you read into the changes carefully, you will realise that the main aim is to encourage the rich and the foreigners to invest into the private properties here. Not exactly targetting the common folks like us.Originally posted by Gazelle:It is kind of hypocritical for Mah Bow Tan to come out and tell potential buyers to be prudent and do their sums before signing on the dotted line. By doing so, he is directly tell us that if you get yourself into trouble, it is not the government's fault, as we have already warned you.
As for to measures to warn potential buyers to be prudent, market forces will come into play to do so. eg. UOB is raising interest rates only for the '90% home loan' package, to mitigate the risk.. Caveat Emptor (let the buyers beware). If the government poses too much restrictions, people will also say that they are putting up too much red tape.. -
Originally posted by k4korny:
Do you seriously believe that "the main aim is to encourage the rich and the foreigners to invest into the private properties here. Not exactly targetting the common folks like us." ?
actually, if you read into the changes carefully, you will realise that the main aim is to encourage the rich and the foreigners to invest into the private properties here. Not exactly targetting the common folks like us.
As for to measures to warn potential buyers to be prudent, market forces will come into play to do so. eg. UOB is raising interest rates only for the '90% home loan' package, to mitigate the risk.. Caveat Emptor (let the buyers beware). If the government poses too much restrictions, people will also say that they are putting up too much red tape..
Will the rich need any additional financing from our local Banks ?
Can the foreigners have access to loans from our local Banks to purchase the private properties here ?
Contrary to your view, when compared to the number of "the rich and the foreigners", it is the larger number of "common" Singaporeans - with a dream of upgrading their homes and their lives - that are being targetted.
The raising of interest rates only for the '90% home loan' package will clearly show that those who cannot afford a higher cash outlay, should not think of borrowing more.
Surprisingly enough, there is quite a large section of our population who will jump into this new scheme.
Most of them enjoy a monthly salary of above $4,000, in the age group of between 35 to 50 years old, and will immediately be able to raise cash with the sale of their current HDB flats.
The main criteria one should consider is how many 'working years' left that can allow us to support a new loan from the Bank ? -
The new rule allows only 5% cash, is really attractive to people. But is is important to do a self check before you rush out, sign on a deal and regret later.
1) Are you having a combine family income of S$10K?
2) How confident are you that your combined income will be stable for next 10years at least?
3) How confidence are you that your property would rise by at least 50% if your loan rate is 3% per annum?
4) Do you have an alternative low interest loan source to finance at least part of your big ticket purchase? Eg Papa Mummy Property REIT or Sugar Daddy Unit Trust(Sweet Young Thing only)?
If you have the model answer to all the self check items, Congratulation To Your New Home Ownership!! Cheers!!!! -
More people declare Bankrupt ... due to more loans and Big Head.
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To be frank, Singapore needs to ride the China Dragon and America Eagle for a double engine growth for our future. But to do this, we have to know the US and China work differently. Our tradition singapore working model has been previously fine-tuned to american ways, are totally incomparable to China system. It is sometimes ironic to compare the success rate of singaporean company vs the ang mo MNCs in the China business deals.
We need to be more flexible. Mr Mah is right to liberate the terms and condition that regulate the property market. I am sure there will be critics to say this no good, that no good. But ultimately, nobody really knows the market trend. The best approach is to let the market factor to decide for the pricing based on Supply & Demand. -
With the 5%/90% policy, I dont think it is that difficult to predict the market trend. Lower end condo and 4/5 room HDB will see the biggest surge in demand, and property prices in that segment will go up. Price of smaller HDB will soften as existing owners will upgrade to bigger units.Originally posted by archon1234:But ultimately, nobody really knows the market trend. The best approach is to let the market factor to decide for the pricing based on Supply & Demand
I dont think there is any issue on the supply at the moment. Market has been very soft over the past 6 to 7 years and private developers with holding power have been quitely building up their land reserve and waiting for the right time to off load them. Since demand has picked up, developers will try to push up the price for new launches and make a gain out of it.
HDB on the other hand, has alot unsold 4 and 5 rooms HDB to off load and I am sure over the next few weeks, we will see alot of activities there. -
To be true to yourself before buying a flat or start a new property invetsment, one must do a lot of home work before hand. There are some pointers to note:
1) salary
- stability, increasement & bonus
- CPF contributions (salary cap for employer contribution is coming revising downwards). This could means that u have less CPF to pay the house.
- Flexible salary scheme implementation
2) which type of properties to buy
- High end condo project in / near city centre
safest investment and projected rental returns
- Middle low end condo project
dependent on the locations (best is near to good institutions and science parks) for rental returns to foreign talents
3) Property Laws
Property laws can really affect the fair value of your property investment eg 99 lease hold property can be top up and redevelope... something not possible not too long ago
Not to forget,
less cash up front = more more interest to pay later= not so good deal
4) Other committments:
Buying a property is a BIG BIG investment for a good majority of medium class singaporean. If you want to own a car, new country club memberships and other MLM ventures, play shares and options all at same time, you will have a HARDROCKing time to troggle your resources, as they will be spread thin among your many BUSINESS, you risk of losing your STAYing power. In business venture / invetsment, you have have the cash to burn in order to provide buffers in various stages of your business cycle.
Just my 1cent advise -
Unless you have 2 properties, owning 1 property in Singapore is almost never an investment. It is a LIABILITY - don't understand? Please read Rich Dad Poor Dad.Originally posted by archon1234:To be true to yourself before buying a flat or start a new property invetsment, one must do a lot of home work before hand. There are some pointers to note:
4) Other committments:
Buying a property is a BIG BIG investment for a good majority of medium class singaporean. If you want to own a car, new country club memberships and other MLM ventures, play shares and options all at same time, you will have a HARDROCKing time to troggle your resources, as they will be spread thin among your many BUSINESS, you risk of losing your STAYing power. In business venture / invetsment, you have have the cash to burn in order to provide buffers in various stages of your business cycle.
Just my 1cent advise
Just my 2 cents advise. -
I support Bros TwilightZone for his love for Sinagpore.
Singapore is at a cross road now. Our situation is totally different from 1958. In the 1950s, the Free World Capitalist and Red Communists are trying their best to westle Singapore into their camp. Our leaders made a wise choice of following a path that lead to free world, and we have ripped the fruit of success for the last 4 decades of extraordinary high GDP growth annulaised at about 8% growth per year.
Today, Singapore is at the cross road again. Now we face a very challenging task - how to compete in globalization?? Our think tank has came out with effective solution like working on high valued added industrial activities, knowledge economy and biomedical sector (IP very critical). These strageries are drawn upon our strengths and experiences from our years of experiences.
- we are small but flexible
- we are trustworth and obey IP laws
- we are hardworking
All these moves are very good, but all have their shortcomings.
1) A good bulk of our workforces are not fully prepared for the new booming industries. Retraining is not really effective for most of the workers. Employers would prefer to get young fresh and dynamic workforce at a lower price tag on the salary slips. Older workers could not compete with that type of lower salary because of their family burdens. Keep in mind that majority of the people had to pay for flats, transportation, electrical bills, medical bills. We can find that it is common that our copany medical benefits are dwindle.
New foreign talents are brought into Singapore, many attracted by high salary and benefits. These group of people has helped to jump start the new technologies & banking sectors in many instances. But their arrival is critical for us to play catch up in R&D and Finance sectors, but it also create some uneasiness amoung the local talents (elites) and workforce. People are worry that they might be replace.
Even if the local workforce begins to emulate the vietnamese hunger for knowledge as mentioned by SM Goh, we are willing to start for night schools for our part time degree courses, PGD, Master programmes. The local would still need to know:
a) what type of courses to attend?
b) is the courses affecting his work performance?
c) is the course expensive or company recognise this course?
d) a lot of degree holders wanted to take a master course and found that they are not able to meet the minimum requirment for these part time master courses. Should we treat education in a more gentle tone, and allow people who would want to learn new knowledge to have a chance at least to prove themselves? Or should we just allow elites only policy to continue in our education? I would prefer that every singaporean would be given a equal chance to upgrade, not only base on his A* only.
The recent effort by the gov to get the foreign talent into our local singapore social system is applausable. But we need to be careful in the minor details to intergrate these much needed people into our country, they really help to inject new elements and ways of life to our country. Their ideaology and values will help to refine our systems and culture.
2) Local R&D effort are still behind the world reknown insitution in primary researches. We are focusing on application reserach for industrial applications. These has helped in certain extend in attracting oversea investment. But this is far from enough, if we want to attract the best companies and talents to settle / invest in sinagpore. We need to be orignal and it means we have dare to challenge ourselves for undertaking ground-breaking R&D into advance sciences, to produce our Nobal prize winner. This is really critical for a small country, afterall, we are banking all our hopes on knowledge economy. Singapore needs to tell the world her role and capability that is unique to the world economy system, in order to survive the globalization onslaught. We can hide behind excuses that we are small and limited resources for our limited R&D technological success. We must follow the model of other small countries like Sweden, Finland & Denmark, are capable to produce scientists doing cutting-edge research in aerospace, medical and other sectors.
3) To be true, the small physcial size of the country and lack of resources has been a real constrainting factors for our devlopement. No matter how hard you work, you only have 24 hours a day and 1 pair of hands. Singaporean must learn to synerise with one another. But in truth, The never ending rat race to the top has transformed singaporean into very isolated, self-centred, negative and greedy (in some cases) people. The heavy burden on their backs and never ending + rising expectation has been fuelling the process for this ugly transformation. Sometimes, I wake up at night and still thinking why I am still lacking behind my classmates, friends and even sildings in this material chase. Am I a loser?
I think not. At least, I am still aware that a happy person is a satisfied man. Learn to love and cherish what you have. -
Not very true.Originally posted by Cindyfeh:Unless you have 2 properties, owning 1 property in Singapore is almost never an investment. It is a LIABILITY - don't understand? Please read Rich Dad Poor Dad. Just my 2 cents advise.
I can live with my parents and invest in a property for rental income. Doesnt that consider as investment? -
Yeah perhaps that rental property can be considered as an investment. Good to see that you have an understanding spouse who is willing to stay with your parents.Originally posted by Gazelle:Not very true.
I can live with my parents and invest in a property for rental income. Doesnt that consider as investment?