Some of my experiences to be shared with New Agents are best illustrated with real cases.

"We are low income people and your Company tricked us into buying the HDB flat" shouted Mrs Tan. Stronger sentiments of misrepresentation from Mr Tan, just 3 hours after signing the HDB’s sale and purchase forms to buy the Bishan apartment on March 15, 1998 at a private lawyers’ office. The purchase price was $175,000, the valuation price of the HDB apartment, negotiated down from the selling price of $185,000. Mrs Tan wanted priority for her kids in Primary One as this unit was less than 1 km from the Presbyterian Primary School and the adjoining Secondary School was convenient too. se"money was no problem" (beware of people who said this – money is always a problem to such people). She could pay $5,000 above valuation too.

My associate had been showing various prospects the valuation report and being a methodical person, he would let prospects read the valuation report. Now this couple denied knowledge of expiry of valuation date. They are the typical sophisticated HDB apartment buyers of the good old days,, having done a few transactions and telling the agents they know more than them (which could be true for new housing agents).

Now they denied they were informed that the valuation dated October 30, 1997 was nearing expiry after they put a deposit of $2,000 on January 23. They "realised" that when the Seller was asked by my associate to sign a "Request for Valuation Report" at the lawyer’s office, in their presence.

Repetition of "low income people" phases can be irritating. The Singapore Government has had been generous to help "low income people" with one-off non payment of maintenance fees and other subsidies. Probably that is how this phase is derived? Whether the Buyer is low income or high income, the root of the concern was the ability to raise cash if the valuation is higher. Selling off the Serangoon North apartment by June 1998 should not be a problem is asking price is at valuation or slightly below and there would be cash flow.

What is the solution to such a problem of allegation of "non-disclosure"? Further price cuts if the new valuation is less than $10,000 or withdrawal from purchase, incurring penalties of payment of 1% commission to the agency and loss of $2,000 deposit? Mrs Tan was still keen on closing as the 1998 registration for Primary School Children would commence around middle of 1998 and she needed this Bishan address to show that she lives less than 1 km from the Primary School of her choice.

Advice to First-time Housing Agents: In this angry situation, you really need to remain cool and offer to meet the Buyers (offer rejected). In my opinion, the best solution is for the Buyer to write to the agency as to what they want from the agency and from the Seller.

• If they want to withdraw from sale, it is possible that a substitute Buyer can be found before March 15 (when Buyers will have completed the minimum 2.5 years’ residency period before being eligible to sell their Serangoon HDB 4 room.
• If they want to propose that $5,000 be deducted if the new valuation report is lowered by $10,000, get them to write in. To be fair to the Seller, $5,000 will be added if the report shows an increase of $10,000. The couple did not want to write in when the latter was also proposed by our agency.

Include the statement that the Buyer has read and is aware that the valuation report will expire on a certain date in the agency’s commission agreement will have anticipated this problem. This is seldom done by HDB realtors but this clause and also "knowledge of meaning of statements" in other languages such as Chinese and Tamil might be useful.