MAPLEWOODS & CONSERVATION SHOPHOMES
Research supported by Asiahomes Internet
Part I.
Maplewoods condos.
Condo/Conservation shophouse
updates. Update on Conservation shophomes for a young
banker with budget of $9,000. Wants space >2000 sq.
ft, high ceiling, loft preferred. A unique modern house
or apartment.
Part II.
Case study for first-time asiahomes.com realtors:
Are Indian, Chinese & Indonesian nationals more
"difficult" clients?
Part I. MAPLEWOODS
 Maplewoods has full condo facilities, a
mini-mart, hair dresser and a cafe. A Caucasian enclave.
Extremely popular with Germans, Dutch and other
Caucasians.
In the Saraca and Bauhinia blocks, sound proofing of the
living room's sliding doors reduce the traffic noise from
the Bukit Timah Road but the bedroom windows facing the
busy road does not have such double-glazed windows!
Some units of the Felicium block face construction and
expats have been known to include an escape
"construction commencement" clause in the
tenancy agreement in case construction begins. Penthouses
are very popular but the bedrooms are small. They rent
around $9000. The Tessarina condos are being
constructed next to Maplewoods as at Nov 8, 2000.
985-993 Bukit Timah Road.
697 units. Completed: 1997.
2-bedroom 79-99 sq. m.
3-bedroom 106-143 sq. m.
4-bedroom 165-176 sq. m.
Penthouse 4+1 or 3+2 237-283 sq. m.
Some units have cable points in the living area. You need
to ask for cable points to be installed in the bedrooms
as not all rooms are cabled.
 A big swimming pool shaded by numerous
palm and tropical trees, wading pool, gym, tennis court,
squash court, covered car park, 24-hour security,
basement car parking, mini-mart, playground, sauna,
putting green, BBQ area, fitness area, audio-visual
intercom.
Many young Caucasian and other children swim in the
evening. Good expatriate community.
Express downtown bus goes into condo. 5-minute drive to
the German, Dutch & Australian schools. Around
10-minute drive to the Canadian, Japanese, United World
College and Tanglin Trust. 15-minute drive to downtown
Orchard Road.
The balcony attracts many Caucasian expatriates although
there are concerns for child safety as the railings are
lower than usual. Potted plants are usually kept as
the balcony is too small for tables and  chairs. Ground floor units may have a
patio. Some units do NOT have balconies.
Some Caucasians dislike the high density but there are
numerous Caucasian mothers and small children.
Proximity to the German and Dutch schools mean that there
is a large percentage of German and Dutch
expatriates.
I have seen older Caucasian children cycle to the school!
PART
I. CONSERVATION SHOPHOMES
UPDATE AS AT OCTOBER 10, 1999.
1. Conservation shophomes vary in quality. Most popular
ones will be the Emerald Hill Road
conservation shophouses  which are within a 5-minute walk to the
Somerset subway and Orchard Road. One or two units are
available for rent. One of the units in the image was
rented to an oil executive for $20,000! Click on image to
view bigger image.
Owners do get $10,000 - $15,000 rent for remodeled units
as there is sufficient demand from expats who want to
experience nostalgia an history in a great downtown
location. No condo facilities obviously and no privacy.
Orchard Road, Somerset subway and the Chatsworth
International School is a 2-minute walk to the right.
Surprising quiet during daytime as the area is off-limits
to outside traffic and there are more convenient parking
lots at the Orchard malls!.
2. Some of the Cairnhill Road
conservation shophouses are quite pretty  but some are really run down. See image on
right. They have a loft or attic room with skylight.
Click on image to view bigger image.
One or two units are available for rent from $10,000.
Some owners have divided the house into 2 parts for 2
tenants or 3 parts for 3 tenants but this is not common.
3. The ones in Chinatown area within walking distance to
the Outram subway are in demand. They are located at Everton,
Blair, Neil and Spottiswood Park
Roads. One or two in this area may have wall cracks. Do
be careful in the selection. A handful of units are
available for rent.
4. One Peranakan shophome in Petain Road has
great appeal to Caucasians. 5-bedroom, 4500sq. ft
built-in area.
This renovated unit with metallic mesh staircase has a
unique one-of-a-kind appeal to Caucasian bankers. This is
for rent at $7500. Petain Road is north and a 10-minute
drive to downtown. It is not near any subway.
5. Kim Yam Road. One big shophouse is available for rent
at $13,000 and smaller ones of 3-bedroom at 1,400 - 1,600
sq. ft rent at $6,000 as at Nov 8, 2000. A 5-minute
walk to Clarke Quay and the Singapore River. This
waterfront al-fresco cafe area has great appeal for
Caucasians despite on-going construction activities and
worries about house security.
The four remodeled 2 bedroom models renting at $6000 have
been snapped up over the past 12 months.
6. Makepeace Road. A recently re-modeled
wood board flooring. 3-level with one loft.  Around 10-minute walk to the Newton
subway. Fully air conditioned and enclosed air well.
Asking rent is $10,000. Brand new. Fully air conditioned
and all wood flooring. Large roof terrace. The air well
has 2 plantar boxes (see image of air well and roof
terrace below). Unit available in November.
7. Bugis
Street's one bedroom with loft and other areas rent from
$2,500 but usually there is no vacancy. Others are at Liang
Seah Street, Mohd Sultan Road, Spottiswood Park
Road. Some owners have had subdivided the
shophome into small units with a communal kitchen or a
kitchenette in a studio unit.
BASIC LAYOUT.
Narrow width around 20-foot wide. 2 or 3-storeys. Less
than 3 years old if remodeled.
Usually there is no car parking lot in the Chinatown
shophomes. The Cairnhill ones may have one lot at the
back. Emerald Hill ones have public car parking nearby.
Small garden or patio. Living area goes to  dining area and then the back with
kitchen, bathroom and store room or maid's room. The
living area may be ceramic tiled with old type or just
plain modern type seen in condos, (as in the image on
left, unit is for rent) or wooden floored. There may be a
patio or small garden outside the living area.
Level 2
may have 2 or 3 bedrooms, usually with wooden strips
although some may have parquet flooring common in new
condos.  Owners are proud of the
"original" wooden strips which are replicas of
those in the old days. Bathrooms are modern and so are
air conditioners. Click on image to view bigger image of
wooden floor strips.
The area near the air well between the front and the back
rooms may have a long bath with open windows at the side.
It can be a family area or part of the study room
connected to the master bedroom.
Level 3, if available may have attic room and high loft
with an attached bath and skylight to appreciate the
stars with the other significant ones.
May have 2 bedrooms. One in Joo Chiat Road has a lounge
pool at the back area.
A roof terrace may be present. A jacuzzi bath for those  who love to bathe in the public view.
Large entertainment area for those who love barbecues and
impress friends and associates. This Makepeace unit is
available for rent at $11,000.
Email judy@asiahomes.com or tel: +65 9668
6468.
The air well may be enclosed or open. If open, the living
and dining areas are usually cooled by fans. If enclosed,
the whole areas are air conditioned. Most homes have a
plantar box  in the air well area (see image on left).
Click on image to view bigger image.
More expensive ones have water globe fountain. Very few
have a koi pond. Unit available for rent. Email judy@asiahomes.com or tel: +65 9668
6468
Renovation cost usually exceed S$1 million. Rent in the
Emerald Hill ones are $15,000 - $20,000 per month for the
upscale units.
Of all the conservation shophomes and Balinese-style
house I have had seen, I like one at Everton Road. The
front faces Everton Road. On entering, the living area is
separated from the dining area by a display partition.
Ventilation is provided by the air from the open air well
as the living and dining areas are fan-cooled, not air
conditioned.
From the living to the dining area, there are a few steps
on the side to access the kitchen and backyard.
At this side, cascading water flows down the steps into a
good-sized koi pond which is the floor of the air well.
Bright daylight and air comes into this area.
The nostalgic ambience of the wooden floor strips, the
historical past romances you while gently flowing waters
and the orange koi fishes calms you after a hard day's
work.
The koi fishes will swim to one corner to avoid you as
you are a stranger but for the Tenant, they look forward
to meeting you.
You could talk to them about your problems and they will
listen without interruptions. Koi lovers are known to do
so. Sound crazy talking to fishes?
But this unit excited our American single who had seen
the whole of Singapore shophomes with Realtor Christine
and I. It was rented at $10,000.
This was one case of good timing and good co-broking. You
win some cases, you lose some (see case study below).
Other reports, visit:
Singapore Unique
Homes
PART
II.
Case
study for asiahomes realtors
Networking with expats to get what you want and give what
they want. Are Indian, Chinese & Indonesian nationals
more "difficult" clients?
Case No. 1
"My husband spent time and money on house-hunting
with the Indian prospect and he finds an apartment with
other agents. It is not that we don't want to accept
anymore Indian referrals from you, but we had similar
problems with the Indonesian and one American
Chinese," explained the wife. Another single
Caucasian had also found something else recently. Much
work done with no results. Therefore, the wife decided on
qualifying prospects.
But in this business, you can pick and choose only if you
have lots of prospects and this was not her situation!
You cannot live on fresh air but you need the network
with the expats. Some of these will refer cases to you if
you are that good but unlucky.
Case No. 2
"My husband said I was stupid to show her so many
apartments for several weeks and now she found Leonie
Condotel with another agent although she said she did not
like Leonie Condotel," regretted one Realtor who had
spent so much time including lunch with a Finnish lady to
view all the upscale apartments.
Case No. 3
"We have no complaints about your Realtor who had
house-hunted with us for the past 3 days. It's just that
we were visiting friends at The Fontana Heights on
Saturday morning and an agent was there. She took us to
see one unit at Fontana Heights and another one at The
Regency Park. We have decided to see one or the other,
." said one Caucasian American prospect with $8,000
- $10,000 rental budget. This realtor had not shown her
the above 2 units despite my advice to do so.
Case No. 4
"The Horizon Towers unit was very well renovated and
the Owner offers to reduce the rent further..." one
American Chinese banker told me when all the time she
said she disliked Horizon Towers as it has a very small
dining area. The other agent had persuaded her to see
this unit which I had not shown.
I had great difficulty in persuading an old Orchard
Bel-Air landlord to do some renovations on the kitchen.
The bathroom's WC was full of cockroaches as it was a
company property and here, there was no decision to rent.
"You had the first bite of the cherry," said
the banker and I could not get her the type of housing
she wanted. I have new several listings and contacts
though.
CONCLUSION.
Rental realtors are self-employed. They need to have the
financial resources if they want to succeed. This applies
to all small businesses.
If you pick and choose referrals, you end up with no
referrals because being fussy, you end up with no
caseload.
After all, most referrals come when you build up your
reputation amongst the expatriate community and if you
don't make a name by being hard working and taking up
numerous cases, you don't get known by the expatriates.
Not all expatriates have low rental budgets of less than
$2000.
Dreams of landing the big account are just dreams if you
pick and choose when you start your career. You need to
do your leg work and gain the experience.
In any case, the big-time will come when you have the
experience and the network. But it will take more than
one or two years of commitment.
Small cases add up to the same revenue as one big case.
You have not put all your eggs in one basket. In bigger
accounts of over $10,000 rentals, like the bungalow
plus pool cases, you have less choices and great
competition from the big firms and experienced
realtors. You may end up with no closing.
Therefore, a small account which closes is better than a
big account with no closing as time is money for the self
employed realtor.
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