0910Singapore Real Estate, Duchess Crest Rental townhouses, Apartments, Condos, Homes Singapore Classifieds, Internet Property Advertisements published by: Asiahomes
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Duchess Crest & Casa Esperanza pictures


Oct 99:
Duchess Crest 4-bedroom apartments - photos of interiors.

Oct 99:
Duchess Crest townhouses - photos.

Sep 24 99 house-hunting report & photos.

Sep 22 99 house-hunting report & photos.

Aug 98:
Updated on July 2000 report (see right).

Case study: Conflicts of interest: Developer acting as Landlords and Rental Realtors (see below).

Pictures of one 4th floor unit for rent by Realtor David: Tel: +65 9668 6468.


Image of one 4th floor of Blk 58 (Nobeles), the top floor in this condo.    You'll see some roof tiles and the city views from the living and master bedroom. 


Master bedroom has excellent views and privacy.  Some units face each other.

This unit, around 1400 sq. ft,  has no balcony off the living area (see images below and above).


Living and dining area with no balcony.


Small dishwasher on top of washer cum dryer.
Maid's room on left. Maid's bathroom (used as cat's room) on right in background.


Excellent view from living area. Note plunge pool at upper left corner. Ground floor units have patio (see umbrella for alfresco breakfast). This top floor Nobeles unit is away from the pool and very tranquil.


Sofa bed for bedroom 3 can be used for guests and is space saving. A 2-year old English boy's playroom with lots of love from mum and dad.

Any expat family who wants privacy and live in a Caucasian condo?

Quickly tel:  +65 9668 6468 to rent this unit! Or email david@asia
homes.com

For Rent as at Sep 11 2001:

Blk 66, 2nd floor, 4+1 1561 sq. ft $6,000

Blk 66, 2nd floor, 4+1 1733 sq. ft $7,000

Blk 50, 3rd floor, 4+1 1711 sq. ft $7,000. Early October

Blk 54, 2nd floor, 4+1 1744 sq. ft $7,000. Early November

Blk 50, 3rd floor, 4+1 1711 sq. ft $7,000. Early November

Blk 54, 3rd & 4th floor 3+1 1346 sq. ft $5,500.

Townhouse $12,000

One ground floor 4-bedroom available.

Contact judy@asia
homes.com.
Tel: +65
9668 6468.

50 - 90 Duchess Avenue.

251 units.

2-bedroom:
87-124 sq. m
3-bedroom:
125-159 sq. m
4-bedroom:
145 -210 sq. m
Townhouses 5+1: 380 - 396 sq. m (rentals asked $15,000 in 1998).  Most rented around $12,000 in 2000.  Only one available for rent as at July 21, 2000, asking $12,000.

Interiors: Living/dining - marble tiles.  Bedrooms: parquet.  Wide main doors.  Kitchen rather small. Maid's room very small.

Facilities:
Swimming pool (main one), small lounge pools x 2, steam bath,  tennis court, small gym at basement, multi-purpose hall, 24-hour security, close-circuit TV at lift lobbies, barbecue area, covered car park.

Sprawling landscaped grounds appeal to Caucasian mothers with small children.  No other condos in Singapore apparently have so much land.

Competitors: Townhouses have no nearby competitors.  Most rented above $12,000. Competitors will be the penthouses in downtown e.g. 
Aspen Heights Penthouses x 24 units.
5+1 3,000 sq. ft (4 bedroom upstairs 2 downstairs) $12,000. 5+1 2700 sq. ft one level balcony $12,000. Available December 1998.
Costa Rhu Penthouses
5+1 3700 sq. ft - 5300 sq. ft (3 bedroom upstairs 2 downstairs) big patio/balcony $9,000 - $13,000.
Pebble Bay Penthouses
5+1 6200 - 6700 sq. ft $13,000 - $20,000.

Occupancy rate:  Nearly 100%. As at Oct 16, 2000, only two 3-bedroom and 4-bedroom units available for rent. 

Sales: 
One townhouse was sold for $2.4 million in May 1999 .
Duchess Crest was first launched in May 1996, immediately after the
government announced anti-speculation curbs for the property market. At its launch, prices ranged from $920,000 to $2.2 million for the apartments while
the townhouses were priced at $4 million each. The project was taken off the
market in March 1997 and relaunched in April 1999. ( B.T. May 5, 1999)

COMPETITOR:
Gallop Gables
has a similar predominant Caucasian expatriate tenant population,  sprawling grounds and low rise apartments but command higher rentals.  It has 140 units.

Gallop Gables condos for rent:
Sep 2001:

4+study+patio 3000 sq. ft  asking $10,500. .

3+1 1700 sq. ft asking $4,800 or $6,000.

2-bedroom unit available at $2,500.

Email judy@asia
homes.com
Tel:
+65 9668 6468.

CHARACTERISTICS:
Balconies small but are favoured by Caucasian expatriates. Not all units have balconies.

Sprawling grounds loved by families with young children who cycle and socialise.

The ground floor units rent higher as they have a patio on level ground and if they are away from the swimming pool, they get rented almost immediately by Caucasian families with small toddlers.

Investment potential: 
99 years old.  Great demand by Caucasian expats and therefore easy to rent.

Popular rental units are not facing the pool, have balconies and not facing another apartment or barbecue areas.


Ground floor with patios command premium rentals and are in great demand.

Balconies on upper floors. Patio on ground floor appeal to Caucasian mummies with toddlers and 2 year olds.

Advantages:

Near international schools.  Expat enclave resort ambience, sprawling grounds. Large numbers of Caucasian families. . 

The neighbourhood is predominantly low rise houses and many Caucasians love such residential neighbourhood away from high rises.

5+1 townhouses may interest expats with large families. Rentals high at $15,000. 

Small balconies in some units and none in others.

Low rise.  4-storeys only.

Near to International Schools - within a 15-minute bus ride.

Disadvantages:

Little privacy as the lower units face each other.  
No visitor's lobby if the multi-function room is taken up by functions.

Some Caucasian expats complain that the kitchen is too small.  Can't accommodate a large dishwasher. 

A long 15-minute walk to the main road or Coronation Shopping Plaza for groceries or buses. 

However, presently, the condo has an in-house bus shuttle service to Newton and Orchard Road at certain times. 
The bus shuttle goes to
the bus stop opposite Coronation Plaza (Dunearn Road side or Bukit Timah Road side for two way trips), Newton subway (Scotts Road opposite and near Sheraton Hotel for two way trips), outside Thai embassy (Orchard Road). 
From Duchess Crest,  the times are: Monday - Friday from 7.10 am - 7.10 p.m.   Saturday 7.10 am - 1.50 p.m.   


Tel:
asiahomes.com
+65 9668 6468 if you wish to rent a unit, anytime when you arrive in Singapore and have recovered from jet lag.
We just go house hunting when you call, provided we are tied up house-hunting with others. You come first. Email Judy for appointments.

Case study: Conflicts of interest: Developer acting as Landlords and Rental Realtors.

On August 26, 1998, I brought an expatriate to rent a brand new condo.  The guard said:

"Sorry, you are an agent, you cannot come in to view with your client," said the security guard firmly from his booth, on a rainy afternoon. 

He said no other agents associated with the Developer were in the condo and therefore no permission was given to enter the premises.

The Developer who was the Management had given strict instructions to stop all outside agents from viewing the new condos.

An agent would be barred unless he said he was the Owner or visiting the Owner or going to get keys to this massive condo development. Therefore those outside agents who had their own clientele units could not be contacted by co-broking agents.

The Developer was selling his units, marketing his own unsold units for rental and has a realty firm to rent out units for its Buyers.

The Developer who was the Management must have felt that he was in a monopolistic position as most Buyers would entrust their properties to him and started to put up barriers.  

The Developer's realty firm wanted other realtors to co-broke with his realtors.  But he did not have:

1. a sufficient number of realtors to handle the massive development.

2.  realtors to work during weekday evenings the show apartments opened during weekdays.

3.  motivated realtors to work after office hours or during weekends.

4.  rapid response and feedback from his realtors simply because they were overwhelmed by queries of sale and rentals and each has only a limited number of hours to work per day!

First-time Landlords have to be aware that such Developer-realtor situations lead to a conflict of interest.

Understandably, the Developer must rent his own properties first as the bottom line is important for him.

It will be best to market your own properties and to know the realistic situations in which Developers had their own units to rent too and may have few resources to help you out.

The whole development, being monopolised, would be shunned by most rental realtors with clients and there would be a high vacancy rate.

This would lead to a loss of confidence to rent from prospective Tenants as they would see so many units vacant.

If the location is great, your units will be rented out eventually, but are you prepared to wait much longer than usual?

This was August and by end of October, the peak season for rental had ended. We hope this report helps first-time Landlords who rely on Developers who are also renting their unsold units to rent out their units.  In this situation, the guard did prevent rental realtors from showing units advertised by the Owner who paid full commission to agents too.  Fortunately, such a situation in which the guard stops all outside agents (except Developers' agents) from entering the condo to show prospective tenants is uncommon in most of the new developments in Singapore.

The above report was written in 1998 and was not referring to the  Duchess Crest condos which were open to all rental realtors to market after a short period of sole rights to one private realty firm. 

The first-time Landlords just have to be pro-active in marketing their own units rather than depend on developer-realtors especially if the Developer has his own units to rent as well. 

Nobody can feel the pain of revenue loss than the investor himself.  The private individual definitely lose out in such circumstances.