0614 Singapore real estate condos,apartments,houses advertised by internet property agency asiahomes.com, Singapore

How to rent your condo faster?

Just 4 years ago, Singapore Landlords could rent their condo in Districts 9, 10 and 11 within 7 days with one or two Straits Times Advertisements. The recent recession resulted in many investment condos being vacant for months. How to rent your condo faster than others? For readers of "the graduate", I have 800 words to share my experiences as a rental realtor and will provide tips based on: be a flexible owner, know the market rent, use all realtors to help you, advertise frequently and remodelling old apartments for rent.

Be a flexible Owner.

An Owner of a District 12, brand new Trellis Towers 710 sq. ft apartment was offered $1,800 partially furnished for one year. He would save by not having to buy the washing machine, beds, living and dining sets. It had been vacant for one month despite intensive marketing. The co-owner wanted $2,000. The prospective Tenant did not accept and found a higher floor unit at $1,500.

There were no other offers despite open house 2-5 p.m. for the past 6 weekends and twice weekly advertisements in the Straits Times. One or no visitors came during open house, indicating that there was little demand for suburban condos as the supply is excessive.

I was desperate as I don't get paid if I don't perform. It is a harsh world for rental realtors. Out of the blue, a young man contacted me via the internet and phoned me from Hongkong. I persuaded the him to proceed to this Trellis Towers condo directly from the airport and to rent it for $2,300 fully furnished for 6 months with the carrot of him getting a furnishing allowance to buy new furniture.

The prospects wanted a $4,000 furnishing allowance to buy living, dining, TV and bedroom sets. One co-owner felt that $3,500 would be too much but offer this amount.

"I'll think about it," said the expatriate's signifcant other at the end of a difficult discussion with the Landlords. It was 9.30 pm. I knew the case would not be closed owing to a difference of $500. The owner   could generate rental revenue of around $80 per day the very next day and recoup the $500 in 7 days. It is still vacant and another realtor would be engaged.

I found the expatriate a brand new 770 sq. ft River Place Condo fully furnished at $2,500 within 2 days. The owner has just got the keys for her unit, furnished it simply and was flexible. The expatriate just loved the condo and did not demand any allowance.   River Place Condo is in prime Robertson Quay location, fronting the Singapore River and is considered an upscale condo.   Photos are at:
http://www.asiahomes.com/singapore_condos/riverplace.htm

There is also free shuttle bus to the Raffles subway too whereas in Trellis Towers, the expatriates would have to walk to the subway and pay for the rides to the office at Raffles Place. A waterfronting and upscale two-bedroom condo in prime district 9, so near to Raffles Place and Orchard Road for $2,500 rent per month?

An equivalent new upscale Paterson Edge two-bedroom condo near Orchard subway is renting around $5,000.   Why does this Owner rent hers at $2,500 fully furnished? Other Owners have been renting close to $3,000. It is hard to believe but this is true.

Market Rent for new apartments/condos.

Is the upscale River Place Condo Owner renting below market? http://www.asiahomes.com/photos/120RiverPlace_river160.jpg
Most owners are asking $3,000. Check out the average market gross rent for new apartment/condo in the table below.

District	Rent for new apartment/condos S$/sq. ft/month
9, 10, 11	3.50 - 5.00
15, 16	1.50 - 3.00
3, 5	1.50 - 2.50
	Source: Knight Frank

It would appear that the Trellis Towers Owner has had missed a good offer as District 12 is not a popular district, even much less popular than Districts 3 and 5. He was offered around $3.00 per sq. ft for his apartment. There were no serious offers even during this peak season of May and June. District 12 private condos are not on the hot list for expatriates and first-time Landlords must be more flexible and decisive than others.

The average market rent above is a guide only. Know how much your neighbouring units have been renting. If you stick to the average market rent, you may become inflexible. Negotiate a rent to be mutually agreed upon by the landlord and the tenant and get on with your life.

What you want is to rent out your condo at the earliest date and get the Tenant to pay part of your mortgage interest and maintenance fees. If you have no offers, 6 months' rent is better than 6 months' vacancy. Immediate vacancy, Caucasian nationalities and an expatriate working couple without children who are deemed to cause more wear and tear to the furniture are what you competitors want. Co-owners need to be decisive.

Straits Times Advertisement "For Rent by Owner". Most rental ads are placed by realtors and only around 20 Owners advertise directly. They include the word "Owner" in the daily Straits Times advertisement. They get lots of calls from realtors with prospective tenants than if they do not use the word "Owner".

Such realtors need not share 50% of their agency commission with a non-Owner if they successfully rent out a condo directly from an Owner. A few prospective tenants contact Owners directly.

Include the pertinent details of number of bedrooms, built-in areas and rent if you do not wish to answer same questions repeatedly. A good example will be:

RIDGEWOOD TOWNHOUSE. 2850 sq.ft. 3+1+1. Face pool. Furn. F/facilities. Garage. $7K. 888-8888 (owner).

Use up all the 20 words for your around $30 advertisement. Many prospective rental realtors and tenants have so many choices and do not have time to call for more information to find out about rent and floor space as will be required in this advertisement:

DOVER PARKVIEW. 2+1. F/furn. High flr. Excellent condition.
Owner 9999-9999

Internet Advertisements. Singaporean owners rarely advertise directly in the Straits Times, let alone use the internet property classifieds to advertise and promote their properties.   It is a good and useful medium as many prospective English speaking and/or Caucasian expatriate tenants relocating to Singapore use the world wide web to check out Singapore rental properties.

One solution is to ask your children to post images in .jpg files and get the property advertised in the free internet classifieds stating "Owner". My company, http://www.asiahomes.com is a website dedicated to expatriates finding Singapore housing and internet ads are charged at an affordable rate of $13.50 per 40 words for 3 months.

As there are several thousands of rental condos, you will need to advertise regularly if you want to rent faster nowadays. You may not be able to spend like the corporate landlords, but frequency of advertisements is a key to success.

Get all Singapore Realtors to work for you.

D.16 THE SUMMIT. 3 rms. F/furn. Aircon. Owner. No agents.
pls. Pg. 7777-7777 is a rare advertisement in which the Landlord specifies that rental realtors need not call him. Most investment-minded owners know that rental agents still have the clients and therefore it will not be wise to save the one month's rent per 2 year lease by excluding agents.

What you want is to rent fast.   Protracted house viewing periods is time consuming. After a while you get tired of opening the doors during odd hours, lunch time and dinner time, weekends and get paged while you play golf. You get frustrated and your representative or agent gets moody if your condo is not the hot type.

In the first half of 2000, there have been an increase in rent but only in upmarket condos and luxury houses as there are more expatriates chasing after a limited supply of housing.

Older apartments are not favoured by expatriates.
However, the new condos with facilities in suburban areas are in excess supply and rents have dropped. Older apartments and houses take more than 6 months to get rented if owners stick to their high asking rent or have not remodelled. It is best to renovate the whole unit rather than in bits and pieces. Install all new split unit air conditioners although you may be tempted to save money by leaving a window unit in the guest room. New flooring, bathrooms and kitchen cabinets and appliances are essential if you wish to compete with the new kids on the block. Some owners do not replace the maid's squatting toilet and floor tiles in order to save money, but the whole picture of a modern apartment is spoiled by the lack of a uniform consistent picture of a new apartment.

Owners nowadays have to be pro-active in knowing what their competitors including the corporate landlords are doing. Be investment minded by making sure that the investment gets income as soon as possible.

Competition for tenants is stiff.   Condos which are not near subway have difficulty in finding tenants. Your developer competitor provides a free shuttle service as in the River Place condos.
http://www.asiahomes.com/dev/tn_RiverPlace_pool.jpg. Does your condo management provide such free transportation? If not, you will need to be more flexible.

Every case is slightly different but will need your prompt decision.
The location, the quality of the Tenant, the nationality, a corporate or personal lease and many other factors are important and are discussed in various case studies in "Tips for the first-time Singapore Landlords" published in       http://www.asiahomes.com/singaporeapartment/landlord_table.htm

Do remember to manage your investment well and the foremost advice for all investment properties is that they must generate revenue by not being vacant for long periods of time. If not, the mortgage interests and the maintenance fees paid by you for a vacant condo may wipe out any "capital gains" you hope in getting when you sell the condo in 2 years' time.