What we will do is
we will collect all these data
from all these different platforms, including our own agency data.
We look for data on SRX, We look for data on,
a paid subscriptions platforms like Squarefoot
And vice versa and we take all the data
and we analyze them and we
present it to our clients,
How do you know What is the right price
To offer for your house? What are some negotiation tips
that you need to know? In this video,
I’ll be finding out the answers from my friend,
JJ Ong, So I think when it comes to
your budget, right, if you're buying a HDB flat,
if you buy a resale HDB flat, There are certain
things like, can you get different types of grants, right,
Whether you can take a loan or not, whether you can take a HDB loan
or you have to take a bank loan, There are different
eligibility criteria. And a lot of these things
is actually based on your salary. I think the first thing
is to get down to doing a proper financial calculation
for your affordability, including how much loan you can get
while the grants you can get and how much money you have CPF,
how much cash you have on hand, and all these things will make up
your affordability. Right? And it is very important
to calculate this as accurately as possible,
especially if you are buying a HDB flat.
because there are a lot of eligibility
conditions as to
whether you can or cannot buy and how much you can afford.
Cause right now, You can find out all this from the HFE letter.
Correct. So that's why step number one,
right, is really to go apply for your HFE, because HFE is
No.1 is free to apply, not sponsored by HDB,
Free to apply. And it basically tells you like
almost everything that you need to know, really,
which is what can you buy? Cause some people might
think that, oh you know like I wanna go and apply for 4 room BTO.
I want to go and buy a resale 4 bedroom HDB And I can get a certain amount of grants,
but you realized, Eh I cannot because I make too much money.
This kind of things right? Like your salary too high.
Right, so when apply for HFE, submit all your information,
And HDB will come back to you with a HFE letter
to tell you what you can buy, what the grants you’re eligible for,
whether you're eligible for HDB loan
or you cannot take A HDB loan,
you have to take bank loan or vice versa
Actually about the HFE letter, When is the right time
to apply for it? Is it
right before you when you buy a house or is it
Much earlier than that? we keep talking about purpose, right?
Once your purpose is set,
then that means you know you need to buy a house, you know,
roughly when you need the house, Then go and apply.
because now HFE is valid for it used to be valid for six months,
now it is valid for nine months. So you actually have plenty of time.
I rarely meet people who search for a house for nine months.
because the HFE letter is actually only needed
until you option the house. Yeah. So you have to have
the HFE letter before you pay your $1,000 option fee for HDB.
Right now, what’s the waiting time for HFE? According to HDB website, it’s 21 working days.
But usually right during like, very, very hot periods,
like for example, February,
BTO launch, FBF launch.. the whole Singapore wants to buy house,
Go and apply so HDB have limited manpower.
It might take about longer la, maybe 2 months?
Usually right, I would say about one month
is the time. So after that HFE letter la,
The second thing right, You see a house that you liked,
how do you prepare yourself before you even the
start of negotiate your price? Firstly, when you have your HFE letter,
then the next step is based on your amount of grants.
Base on your eligibility of a loan,
including how much a loan you can get. You have to go and add that up with your CPF
"OA amount combined."
If you are buying as a family, If you’re buying as a single,
what is your CPF OA amount how much cash you have on hand
and add all these up right you will have a figure.
So when you go shopping you will have to use that
figure as a guide. So let's say I’ve add everything up right,
My loan, my grant, my CPF OA plus my cash.
I have say about $700K right. So when you go shopping,
when you do the filtering on Property Guru, you try to find houses
that is within the $700K plus minus $20-30K range la,
because if it is a bit higher that there's a possibility
that you can negotiate it down and vice versa,
And one mistake that A lot of people make here
is that they add everything up and then they think they can afford,
thereafter they realize they cannot afford because they realize
I need to renovate the house, which is actually
quite pricey these days. So there are also other random
costs like, you know, like house insurance,
conveyancing fee for lawyers. If you're using a private banker,
private lawyer, and in all these things,
so there are all these hundred dollar, hundred dollar,
a few thousand dollars they actually add up. So I think it's
very important to sit down and understand
what all the costs involved, because apart
from the purchase price, right, you still need to add all this
these miscellaneous costs plus stamp duty.
Right. So your buyers stem duty,
can amount up to quite a bit if you're not careful.
how do I know what is the right price
to offer? should we just go with the price
That we see on like maybe Property guru? Yeah.
So I think in the previous video I mentioned it on property Guru,
there are a few different types of listing prices
they are starting from & negotiable. The two main types
So if it's negotiable, There is a chance
that you might be able to negotiate down lower.
if the demand is not very high, if the demand is
very high and there is someone else
that comes in to offer higher, basically no chance for you.
So how we decide what is a good price? What is a fair price? Right.
Because what is good might be different
for everybody, right? But what is fair is factual.
So how do we determine what is fair is
we look at the past transactions. Right now, Webull is running an awesome
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being said, let’s get back to the video. So for those of
those of the buyers who have agents, right,
what we will do is we will collect
all these data from all these different platforms,
including our own agency data. We look for data on SRX
We look for data on, a paid subscriptions platforms like Squarefoot
And vice versa and we take all the data
and we analyze them and we
present it to our clients to show them that,
okay, so in this block, right, what are the
past transactions in this neighborhood, in this street?
What are the past transactions? And we make a decision
based on that. So how we do that is
if the past transactions are all roughly
around the $600K to like $650K range,
if the price if the flat is listing at $750K,
then is slightly higher already, you know that
and you still go and buy, it's always better than you don't know that.
Then you blur, blur go and buy. But then This is when you have a
An agent with you right? If you don’t have any agent with you
Is there any resource that I can use. Yeah.
so usually this part is, Most agent right
Ok so to be fair, We are all here to make a living.
Right. So every agent will tell you that.
Oh, you know like got agent better because of excessive data.
But the truth is right. Consumers also can access
some of the data. Maybe not as detail, maybe not so much.
But if you really, really want to do
some pre-research, right, you just go and Google
HDB past transactions, and you go to HDB’s website,
HDB website, right, You can actually obtain the
past transaction data also, but you have to do the work of
analyzing data yourself. Correct, which is the part that is
A bit leceh la So the fact of
the matter is right, you can do yourselves right.
You can go and gather all the data, if you want to go and pay for the data, right,
which is what we know. you can even.
But it takes up time. It takes up money.
Most people that come to us will just be fine.
It's a long hard day at work, you just subcon this to someone else,
Pay a couple of thousand dollars and call it a day.
if you find the guy. Yeah, but if you
if you are very passionate about it, if you are also very passionate
About purchasing your own house yourself, the data
and all this information is actually available to you,
Just go and search; HDB past transactions,
and you go to HDB website, there’s a portal that allow you
to see some of the information. So just now you’ve mentioned about COV right?
So Cash Over Valuation. So is it actually a bad thing to like
pay a higher price for a property and pay that COV?
I think it really depends. So how COV works
is that the every every house has
a purchased price, Which is what you negotiate with the seller
and then it has a valuation. So how it works is after you pay the option fee,
the buyer will have to go and apply for evaluation,
Right and HDB valuer will come down to valuate the House.
So for example, if your purchase price is $700K,
and HDB valuer Come down and say, Oh,
the value of this house is 650K, that means you are
paying $50K above valuation, and that is known as COV
which means that you are, according to HDB right?
Paying $50K above the market The Fair Price
There is no good or bad in this case, In fact, in this very
in this housing market. Right. COV actually very common
so COV that range from $10K, $20K, $30K
is basically almost a daily occurrence. Right.
Because if you buy a house that is
very very well renovated, and what we call move in condition
you pay $55K or $80K "even for a house
like that. Right." Then you can save for
on your renovation costs. For some people it's quite worth it one
because you not only save on the cost, "you save on
the time." Renovation takes time also.
That's true. Right? Yeah.
So COV, might not always be a bad thing,
you just need to know why you're paying it. If you don't have a reason
or purpose of paying COV, right, then that is bad,
cause you're just wasting money, right? And,
One of the very important things to take note, right,
is that some people they like, okay, I'm willing to pay higher than market,
because they think they can use CPF to pay,
or they can use grant to pay, but they cannot because
COV must be paid using cash, like in the bank like ching, ching
kind of cash. So it has to be
this is what cash over valuation must be in cash.
I guess like property agents
get quite a bad name because like
feels like that they’re just there to take your money
kind of things. wouldn't there be a conflict,
I say if I want to negotiate
Would my property agent even help me negotiate down the price,
Because if I were to negotiate down, This means that
they will be getting lesser pay. Correct.
so wouldn't there be a Conflict of interest, kind of things
This one really is up to you to pick a property agent
or consultant that you. That you trust. like you said,
I mean, we're all here to make a living, right?
And there are some people that would be more
aggressive than others, I think for most
most property agents. I mean, I can't speak for
everybody, but for most agents, we are here for the long haul.
Like my example in the earlier video, I mentioned that I actually advice my clients to not pay
so high COV, which means that I'm actually sabotaging
my own deal. He already willing to pay already,
but I still tell him, Bro, I think a bit too high.
Then he say, no, no, I want to continue. so I did my part
of advising him right to say, I think it's a bit high,
But his purpose is very strong. He wants to go ahead. By logic right?
For a salesperson is it's like
you're kena scold by your manager
because you're basically
sabotaging your own deal for the sake of the client.
And the client might say, like, okay, then I don't want already.
Then the deal is done, is gone. Right?
And but for I think for most
property agents who are in it for the long haul, right.
We are here to be relationship with my clients, with our clients.
So we do our best. We make a bit less money is okay
most of us survive in this industry
is through referrals. Like we do a super solid job in
the opinion of the clients and if he wants
to sell his property next time, I wouldn't be his ex property agent.
I will be. I will be his property agent for
his whole journey. Right.
And if he has a friend that needs somebody else,
he will recommend me. Because he knows
that I'm honest and I'm not here to make it quick buck,
but I'm here to make a living right. "And that means I
need to" be here for the next
however 100 years or however many years that I lived
I heard of this thing before basically it’s saying,
you are giving out more value than what you are paid
because that if you are doing
more than what is required of your own.
Because it’s like what you said, you’re in here for the long haul.
So it's pointless to "Make the extra
few hundred dollars," But your
Future relationships are sabotaged. All right now
which is why I think
a lot of businesses and salespeople are Not just in real estate.
They like to attract clients by giving discounts, right?
Right, so when you give a very, very big discount, right.
The service that you that you provide might not be
as quality also because. now you're serving,
something a bit too many people that you can handle,
then the quality of service may not be so good
So I think it really depends on it's like,
you know, what people say, 一分钱，一分货 (You get what you pay for)
That there's a market rate. Like for me personally,
I don't negotiate on my rates
because I know that I will give if you pay me my 1% or my 2%,
I'll give you my 200%. I think you deserve that.
Sounds very cliché It is very cliché xD
but, that one is really up to you. okay, I think commission aside,
The most important thing is you must trust your guy.
or girl. that you hired,
because they are going to be the ones that is your mouthpiece.
They are going to be representing you. So you have to be sure that
you can trust them to help you make the best decision.
when buying your house, Do you even need an agent
to represent you or can you just
go and do your house surveying and save on 1 to 2% fee?
Maybe I'll give you anology here so you can make
coffee at home yourself. You can go to
supermarket, you can buy the sugar, buy the coffee bean
Grind yourself and buy the machine and everything.
But why do. Café’s
that specialize in coffee, even Starbucks, right?
A chain still doing still do so well
because there is a value in paying for something.
So if you can see the value, then then you pay for that service.
But if you cannot see the value, then you will have to be okay
with investing in doing it yourself because doing yourself is not free
as what most people think. Right? So back to the coffee analogy.
Even to make coffee yourself at home,
you want to make good coffee yourself at home.
you have to buy the coffee machine
buy the grinder select the correct beans,
understand the process of roasting, those kind of thing.
It takes time, if not money. It takes time and effort.
The answer to can you do it yourself is can,
definitely can. But are you willing
to make those sacrifices to do it yourself If the answer
is yes, right, 100%. you should do yourself
because like if you like it
and if you enjoy the process of doing yourself right,
then why might pay someone else to do? Yeah. Yeah.
But if you if you see the value in engaging
"someone that you can trust and to do it,"
then you definition should. Because that saves you time, that saves you money,
and it allows you to transition into the next phase of your life
with a little bit "more of a
peace of mind." Okay, So
let's say if you need an agent, how do you even find
a good agent that you can trust? I think the most important thing is
that there are many good agents out there.
But what is good for you might not be good for someone else.
So I think the most important thing, right,
is to find someone that you can vibe with, right?
You can find someone that that clicks with you,
that understands you, understands your what you want, and vice versa.
So I will say step No.1 is go and look around
your circle friends, family that you can trust. Not that
you know like uncle that you see once
every few years at a wedding or something
like someone that you can trust in your circle
that is in the industry, that has
enough experience to help you. I think that's that step number one,
step number two right, is when you do
get approached by agents or when you do
engage your agent, that is a complete stranger.
step no.1 is go and check to make sure they are registered
because unfortunately, there are a lot of
people out there right now impersonating property agents
and scamming people. So step number one is really to go check.
how you check, right is you can just go to the CEA public register, type in their CEA registration number
and their license should appear. If it doesn't appear, then that's
Red flag number one. Maybe we talk a little bit about
if you do not really know anybody around you
that is doing this or there are people, right?
And I do have clients that have close friends
who are real estate agents, but they come to me instead.
not because they trust me more, but because sometimes they are
more private people. They don't want their close friends
to know the salary, their CPF and, and these things.
So they come to a stranger. So if you do go to a stranger,
I think it's very important to build some kind of rapport
with the stranger like me. For example, if you don't know me
and you come to me, I think what
most good agents will do right
is they will provide a free
session to do like a consultation. Think of it as
speed dating Apart from helping you to get your numbers
right Apart from helping you to understand the timeline,
which is basically completely free. it also serves
as a way for us to see if I can help you.
Can I work with you as a client and do you like me in the first place?
Because maybe I am super good in my job,
but you don't like me, right? Then the working relationship
is not going to work out. Because whatever I tell you, right?
You're going to suspect me. Whatever I do for you, right?
You are going to think that, Oh, maybe not so good. And then,
it might not be as efficient. It’s better to not work together then.
correct right? It works both ways.
Like maybe I don't vibe with my client. Then I might always be suspecting
Is she telling me the truth? Does she have more money in CPF?
Then, you know, it's not efficient working relationship,
not every working relationship is perfect just because. Right.
The person isn't very good at his or her job. Yeah.
So I think the most important
is just make sure that the person is not a scammer
and find someone that you can Vibe with that is experienced
enough to do a good job. Okay.
I think with that being said, that's all for this video,
any last words? last words?!?
Yeah, if you're looking for a house, don't call me.
The first thing to do is Go and call someone that you
that’s already in the circle that you trust. If not, then
You can call.. Kelvin.
Don’t call me I will just leave his links down below,
if you need. whether you’re buying or not buying,
if you have any questions, Don’t ask me.
Ask him. He’ll be way more qualified
Than me. So i think that’s all,
Thank you for Answering all these questions.
Thank you for having me. Thanks!
Bye!
