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Asia USA Realty
(Singapore)
asiahomes.com Pte Ltd Estate Agents
Licence No. L3007306B
11 Mar 2011
Focus: We get for
you affordable Singapore homes
Rent or Investment
WILBY CENTRAL RESIDENCES
Queen Street, near Victoria Street. A 10-minute walk to the Bugis
subway.
Facilities:
Fully featured gym, BBQ area, steam bath and outdoor jacuzzi.
Advantages:
Great location and a 10-minute walk to the Bugis subway and shopping
malls. Newly refurbished in 2011. A
3-minute for a slow walk to Suntec City. Many taxis available and
lots of action in this area.
Disadvantages:
No pool or tennis court. However, there is a complimentary shuttle bus
service to Orchard Road/Newton/Holland Village. However the bus may
shuttle tenants to
FOR
RENT - Wilby Central
Residences. Newly refurbished in 2011
March 11, 2011.
Sq. Ft
Monthly rent
1-bedroom deluxe
274 - 385
$6,400
1-bedroom premier
386 -441
$7,200
2-bedroom
666
$8,200
Above rates excludes the 7% GST and are subject to changes. House-keeping
3x/week except on Sundays & Public Holidays. Rentals also
include complimentary selected cable TV channels, internet
access and local calls. It is not possible to update daily. It is best to
e-mail judy@asiahomes.com
or tel +65 9668-6468 for the latest rates.
The following tip is written in 2011 by Sing Kong Yuen
Salesperson Name/Registration No. Sing Kong Yuen/R030822Z
DISADVANTAGES OF CO-BROKING AND EXCLUSIVE HOUSING AGENT
MARKETING FOR THE LANDLORD.
Your investment condo needs to generate revenue at full
occupancy and to be successful, you must understand the
Singapore housing agent rental system.
Many individual landlords do NOT realise that they need to
be pro-active in marketing and to spend money on newspaper
advertisements or give a management fee to their exclusive
realtor to get the fastest rental done. They give
"exclusive" to a realtor or an agency and wonder why the
condo is not rented promptly or early.
Market your rental condo in the Straits Times 1-2 months
before expiry of rental lease and insert the word "Owner"
if you want to get a prospective Tenant fast. All agents try
not to co-broke with other agents as they lose 50% of
the income on success.
If you have your exclusive agent, ensure that he or she
looks after your interest by doing a good job. I advise you
pay for the Straits Times advertisement and your agent a
management fee on success so that he or she does NOT
"co-broke" as co-broking means that your agent will not be
able to compete with "Owner" advertisements. This reduces
your chances of success and time is money. If you can rent
fast, your advertisement fee as "Owner" and "full
commission" payment is well worth the management fee you
pay to your agent to run around for you to show the condo to
all prospects.
Obviously, you can't expect your exclusive agent to
advertise and still not co-broke as he or she needs to earn
a living, being self-employed. He or she may advertise 75%
commission but why would a realtor with the prospective
tenant bother to get 75% if he or she can get 100% from
"Owner" advertisers?
TIPS FOR
REALTORS
The following tip is
written in 2005 by Sing Kong Yuen.
3 cases
were written in July 5, 2005 and are still useful for new
housing agents in 2011. Bigger accounts are more difficult to close. Smaller
accounts are not worth the trouble. Why are you then
in the rental business?
Case 1.
"You think I can't handle the $10,000 type of cases?"
grumbled one new realtor when he was told to focus on the
other lower budget cases.
Every realtor hopes to deal with the big account
prospective tenants as his or her income is based on one
month's rent per year lease.
However, you need to learn the ropes of the trade by closing
lower budget cases and getting to know the characteristics
of various rental housing.
Owners of bungalows and big penthouses seldom advertise and
as you become good at your work, you will meet them or know
where to find them. When you handle the bigger account
cases, you really need to know where the units are in order
to ensure a speedy decision and not lose out to your
competitors.
Most expatriates with the $10,000 - $20,000 do not give you
exclusive rights unless they find you competent. They are
very busy people and dislike wasting time looking at
"garbage" housing. They are very difficult to contact and
most likely, they will have their company retained realtor
servicing them.
For big accounts, you will think it is much worth your while
in serving the expatriate who calls you from out of the
blue. Who will not want a $15,000 account?
However, there are less good choices and you may find
yourself not closing at all after several days of showing.
For the high accounts, the accommodation must be a dream
home: new, perfect and the best money can rent.
Dream homes tend to exceed the budget of most expatriates.
Therefore, your chances of closing are practically nil as
the expatriate will eventually settle for second best with
one of the several realtors.
This was probably the reason why one expatriate lady told me
in March 2001 that she had emailed 15 realtors via the
internet and only one responded to her. That one was
me. So far, she has had not been satisfied with any of the
twenty houses or condos she saw. There is always
hope as long as she has not found any.
Case 2.
"It will be a waste of my time to handle $1,800 rental
budget cases" said another new realtor when he was given a
case.
If your heart is not in the rental
business, you will not be good at handling any prospect
because you have not picked up the skills. If you want only
big-time clients from any Landlord, you need to have
credibility and experience to compete with the top realtors
in the industry.
If you can't take the heat, get out of the kitchen, the
Americans have this saying.
Expatriates satisfied with your service will always refer
their friends to you and some do have much higherbudgets. The first year is meant for you to learn
all about Singapore rental housing, from all over the
country and the smaller budget clientele will give you the
in-depth knowledge of what this is all about. This is
because there are more of such prospects than the big
fishes. And a much larger variety of housing choices for the
$1,800 - $3,000 rental budget cases than the $20,000 ones!
Case 3.
"The expatriate has so many agents serving him" commented
one new realtor. You are fortunate that the
prospect contact you as he is probably not satisfied with
the services of the other agents. Very few expatriates give
exclusive marketing rights to you. Some human resource
managers in large corporations may force the expatriate to
stick to the company's retained realtors but strong-willed
expatriates who want more choices are likely to contact
other realtors.
If you are contacted, take this as an opportunity to compete
with the best and pick up a few Owners or knowledge from the
free house-hunting services you provide.
With a good attitude, the expatriate remembers you and will
refer his colleagues relocating to Singapore to you. Some of
them dislike too many agents phoning them and you may be
hand-picked as one or two to represent them.
Many small realtors have great difficulty closing on stray
expatriates who contacted them via email or telephone.
This is due to the fact that there are just too many choices
of accommodation available in the newspapers and in the
internet. Many expatriates may see one hundred
units with various realtors. Therefore, the
probability of success in closing is very low.
TIPS FOR
SINGAPORE CONDO INVESTORS
The following tip is
written in 2001 by Sing Kong Yuen.
WHAT EUROPEAN
CAUCASIANS LIKE IN A CONDOMINIUM, USING THE
WILBY BUKIT TIMAH RESIDENCES AS AN EXAMPLE.
Inside the apartment: A spacious living cum dining area made
of
glossy light brown homogeneous tiles. Although they are not
marble, unlike most new condos, they look attractive and
cool.
The bedrooms are spacious too compared to the newer
3-bedroom condo where the sq. ft of living area is usually
1,300 - 1,500 sq. ft compared to around 1,800 - 2,000 sq. ft
for The Wilby Residence.
The bedrooms have parquet flooring. There are built-in
wardrobes, kitchen cabinet, cooker hob & hood, split-unit
air conditioning. No microwave oven. Audio-intercom
system. Some Caucasian mention that the kitchen is
dark, but there is a back door to the utility area and
opening the door will bring in natural daylight.
A good-sized maid's room and utility area where a stacked up
washing machine and dryer - European brand will be provided.
Quality accessories in the bathroom with the master bathroom
having a bidet in addition to the shower stall and white
long bath.
A large balcony in every apartment to enjoy the countryside
ambience and plants.
Cable-television points in every room. Pneumatic garbage
disposal system which clears garbage automatically 4 times
daily.
Facilities: Swimming pool, wading pool, spa pool, tennis
court x 1, good-sized gym, playground, exercise station,
jogging track, barbecue areas, 24-hour security, private
shuttle bus service to downtown, subway and shopping area.
Car rental package. Covered car park at basement.
Ground floor units facing the pool do not have doors
accessing the pool to ensure privacy for all since Tenants
will have to enter by the other side away from the pool.
Blk 33 appears to be the best block, being further away from
a condominium construction project on a piece of land
between The Wilby Residence and Maplewoods Condo.
The living areas face south and do not receive the heat of
the afternoon sun.
House keeping services is charged extra
$400/month for fully furnished package if the Tenant rents
fully furnished is an extremely attractive incentive to sign
on. Corporations usually pay the rent and this service is
included in the rental package.
The reason for the house-keeping services not being
available for Tenants who rent partially furnished is that
the Landlord does not want to be liable for any damage to
the Tenant's furniture caused by the house-keepers.
Characterised by low rise and low density
living and very big balconies.Good
quality finishes of the bathrooms, including a bidet in the
master bath, bigger bedrooms than the usual new condos in
the 3-bedroom units.
Mothers have to lock the sliding doors as 2-year olds (Dutch
boy in photo) simply love climbing up the railings
naturally. Click on thumbnail photo to view bigger images of
the facilities including the sprouting dolphin fountain. The
big gym facing the pool is in the background with the
playground on the top left.
This unit in the photo is a 3-bedroom, 3rd floor and is
available for rent at $6,800. The ground floor unit on the
left may be available for rent.
The presence of a pool, wading pool, spa pool, tennis court,
gym and playground is important for expatriates with small
children. Around 5-minute drive to the Swiss/German/French
school, near two
Cold
Storage supermarkets (Sixth Avenue and King Albert Park),
full condo facilities, free bus shuttle services to the
downtown, the big balconies, the beautiful
landscaping, the low rise low density (181 units only) and
an impression of countryside tranquility, make this condo
very popular with European families. The pink tiled road
(see photo of flower bed on right) around the gym does not
have car traffic so that children can cycle safely as there
is a basement car park below the gym.
The Maplewoods Condo next door has been more popular with
the Dutch and the Germans in 1998 but it is a massive high
density condo and appears crowded by comparison. It is
extremely difficult to avoid new construction in this
neighbourhood where new condos are being built over the past
years.
Ground floor units are in great demand as most Caucasian
families have less than 5-year-old kids and there are not
many of such units. Do contact
judy@asiahomes.com to book them early or tel: +65 9668
6468.
