Terra Haus

I am always excited to speak to first timers – be it it’s your first time selling or buying a home or it could just be that it’s been a while since your last experience!
My advice to many of my clients, like yourself, is to start speaking to professionals in the field before making a decision on who to engage. More than understanding each realtor’s expertise, go beyond to understand the realtor as a person.
Buying / selling a home requires a hand-in-hand collaboration between your realtor and yourself. Hence, it’s important to engage a realtor that you are able to work well with and is able to safely put your trust in.

For private properties, a transaction can be completed as soon as four weeks if the property is fully paid for and the loan has been redeemed. For properties with outstanding bank loans, the transaction is typically completed between eight to twelve weeks from the exercise date.
For HDBs, a transaction typically takes about 3 months from the application date to complete.

The market value of a property, be it private properties or HDBs, is influenced by the latest transactions within the development and in the vicinity..
For private properties, you can find out the valuation of a specific property through a banker or the banks’ panel of appointed valuers.
For HDB properties, the actual valuation can only be made known by requesting from HDB itself after the Option to Purchase has been issued. However, with experience, your agent should be able to give you a rough gauge of the indicative valuation of the property before you commit to a sale or a purchase.

My recommendation is to engage only one agent to assist you at a time.
When you have more than one agent competing for the sale of your home, you run the risk of them wanting to close the deal fast before others do, instead of having your interests at heart.
When choosing an agent, always read reviews on them and speak to them personally to have a sense of whether he / she is able to best serve you and your family’s needs. A good agent is one who is prompt to take action and one who is willing to invest their time, energy and money into helping you succeed in every way.

This is a concern that has been raised by many of the home owners that I have come across. It’s a very real concern and having no where to stay is something that no one will ever want to experience, not especially if you have young children with you.
That said, this concern can be easily resolved by careful timeline planning. A good agent will not be hurried into marketing your home without a plan in mind. A good agent will always have your sale and purchase timeline planned out first before everything else.
I have helped many of my clients transit successfully to their next home without the need to rent in the interim. My clients, Jerome and Jemimah, have a similar concern and you can read their story here on how I have helped them address their concern.

You can set a budget for your property purchase by taking into consideration the financial resources that you have on hand from the different sources by asking yourselves these questions:
Bank Loan:
How much is the bank willing to lend me?
You can find out how much you can borrow from the bank by applying for an In-Principle Approval (IPA) though a banker.
Remember, determining affordability is not just about what you can borrow but also about what you can comfortably repay. Hence, also ask yourselves:
How much is a comfortable amount I am able to repay for my monthly mortgage?
Savings in Bank:
How much of my savings in bank am I willing to set aside for the down payment of my property purchase?
Savings in your CPF Ordinary Account:
How much of my savings in my OA am I willing to set aside for the down payment of my property purchase?
Housing Grants from Government: [applicable only if you are buying HDB and is eligible for housing grants]
To ensure that you have budgeted correctly, my advice is to get an experienced realtor to work through these in detail with you. The last thing you want is to have bought into something that is beyond your means and struggle your way through life.

For the purchase of private properties, you typically do not need to pay your agent commission as he / she will usually get a cut of the commission from the seller agent.
However, there are instances where some buyers may choose to pay their appointed agent commission so that they can be assured that he / she will act for their best interest.
For the purchase of HDBs, you will have to pay your agent commission to represent you. The typical market rate that agents charge buyers is 1% of the purchase price.