TIPS FOR ASIAHOMES.COM REALTORS
Case study: Will the chief executive
win the heart of his romantic wife?
House hunting February 1, 2000
American family in Singapore for 2 days. The
teenage daughter surfed the net and dad contacted me to
view brand new penthouses and houses. Upgraded
condos are not wanted.
He did not sound keen in going
house-hunting in this short 2-day trip. Therefore,
it would be a waste of time for a realtor to go
house-hunting.
To go or not to go?
Was this an opportunity to earn a living or a waste of
time and petrol money ferrying expats around? Do I
worry about the other agents he had contacted? Not me.
The wife and two teenaged children were excited about
living near the sea at the waterfront Pebble Bay
condos.
But the husband has other locations. Will he win their
minds to get what he wants?
1.45p.m
Meet at the Grand Hyatt.
2.00p.m
The Glencaird Residence at Whitehouse
Park Road. 2-storey detached with big pool,
6+1 16000sf land, 8800sf built-in
$25,000. 2nd biggest unit.
Total 8 units less than one year
old.
High windows bring in natural light. A contemporary
type of housing with louvered windows
for natural air flow yet providing privacy in the
bedrooms. The sliding glass windows are behind
the louvered windows and can be closed if the air
conditioning is required.
Very big dining, family and living areas. A wine
cellar. The kitchen has a central island for the
cooker hob and hob. Long driveway for 10 cars,
providing privacy.
An exclusive multi-millionaire residential area,
near the Botanic Gardens and Orchard Road.
"Any problems with rats and cockroaches or
mosquitoes?"
asked the Daddy.
"They will not have a chance
against the powerful Environment Ministry. There is
the regular anti-mosquito fogging. In this
posh area, such matters are
attended to promptly." The
former President of Singapore,
the Chief Justice and the Israeli ambassador lived in
this neighbourhood, said the
co-broking agent.
2.30p.m
Lewis Road 3-storey detached 6+2+ big
basement pool, 10,000sf land, 10,000sf built-in.
$25,000. Brand new.
Basement lap pool which has a central exposure to the sky
and the interior decoration did not appeal to the
American family,
after seeing the Glencaird Residence. Plenty
of spaces for gym and storage. Small garden.
3.00p.m
Avalon penthouse 4+1 4200sf
$17,700. Brand new.
Private lift and very light
coloured marble flooring. White kitchen appliances
and perimeter balcony. A private terrace to sunbathe.
3.15p.m
Gardenville penthouse 3700sf including
roof garden. 3-level. $20,000. Brand new.
Roof garden accessed from outside the apartment and has
an extensive wooden slatted flooring.
Too many levels and the rooms are small. The wife did not
like it.
4.00p.m
Pebble Bay penthouse,
4+1 2800sf, $14,000. Around 2 years old.
High dome-shaped ceiling, direct waterfront views from
the living, bedroom 2 and master bedroom.
Hexagonal shaped master bedroom with white marble counter
top for the bathroom. Very spacious squarish living and
dining area with a sink behind a bar counter at one
corner. Type D3. Direct water
frontage. The wife and 2 children just loved this
apartment.
4.30p.m
Costa Rhu penthouse duplex,
4+1 4028sf with private terrace, $13,000. Direct
water
frontage. The wife was not in
favour of this spacious penthouse. The bath
tub was said to be too high for older folks to
use, but basically she didn't like the penthouse.
Re-visited
on
the same afternoon:
1. The Glencaird Residence (hot favourite).
2. The Pebble Bay penthouse.
3. Avalon penthouse.
The Glencaird Residence just knocked the socks off the
wife and the two teenaged children. It took their breath
away.
Dad wanted them not to close their minds to condos and be
rational as to the hidden cost of living in a
house.
"They can out-vote me," Dad said.
"But I hold the purse-strings!"
Living there would mean additional costs like gardening,
pool maintenance, air conditioning maintenance and pest
control.
The electricity bill, if the whole house of 8800 sq. ft
floor space, if air conditioned 24 hours per day every
day wasestimated to be S$3,000 per month !
The wife was an incorrigible romantic. She could
visualize the ground lights reflected on the palm trees
in the cool evening breeze, the beautiful koi fishes in
the tropical warmth of the pond, the cascading fall of
the water in the fountains, living in the room just
next to the pool, sunbathing in the pebbled patio
upstairs. The kitchen with its stainless
steel ovens, cooker hob and hood were attractive
features. The patio off the family area to have
breakfast and chat with friends. Barbecue by
the pool.
For the Pebble Bay penthouse, the river
view was breath-taking but the drizzle clouded the views
of the green river. They could feel as one with
mother nature as the river was just in front with no
buildings or obstructions of the view from the
balcony.
The school bus to the American School comes around 7 a.m
and it takes around 45 minutes to reach Woodlands where
the school is located. The teenage children did not
mind. The wife did not like the grilled windows but
these grilles can be removed.
A vacant piece of land facing the master bathroom caused
some concern of privacy and noise in the event that there
was construction nearby.
During the re-visit, the existing tenant highly
recommended the landlord as being prompt in attending to
any complaint although none of us asked her about the
landlord.
This demonstrated an excellent landlord-tenant
realtionship. The reason for the incumbent moving out was
that it was too long a bus ride for the less than
10-year-old children to go to the American School in
North Singapore.
The votes were 3 to 1 for Pebble Bay.
However, it is only 2800 sq. ft and Dad was keen on
having more floor space.
Avalon in Orchard Road is in a great
location but it was not a heart breaker for the wife and
children. It did not bring out the bells and
the whistles and it did not strike an impression in their
hearts.
In any case, it was a rushed through viewing during a
sudden tropical rainfall.
The bus should take less than 30 minutes and the American
School bus should drop the children at the Avalon
although they are big enough to find their way
home.
Living in Orchard Road is practical for the wife as she
will be in the centre of action and can meet other expats
without the hassle of looking for taxis and taking
buses.
In Singapore, many expat husbands let their wife take the
company car, but this may not be possible for this busy
American who has to chair meetings.
Dad wanted the family to re-visit Avalon penthouse as it
is located in a great location and has much bigger floor
space.
He loved it but there was no consensus.
Mum asked whether there would be a bigger penthouse in
Pebble Bay in the near future?
But time is of the essence as new upscale penthouses are
scarce. Dad knows best. He knows the market,
being a regional marketer.
We left Pebble Bay for Avalon.
Avalon is a low density upscale condo of 82 units.
A lap pool fringed by palm trees and a cascading fountain
at the other end. A small gym.
The penthouse is 4200 sq. ft. There are also
advantages of not having to pay for the maintenance for
the pool, the garden and the pest control.
The children did not sound terribly keen but Dad wanted
them to be analytical and vision the big picture of great
location, cost and floor space, amongst other
emotions.
The mother could not recall any feature, being rushed
through the penthouse in 10 minutes in order to meet the
appointment at Pebble Bay.
The co-broking agent Philip was very helpful and managed
to get the keys. It was past 6.00
p.m.
Will Daddy's pragmatism of living in a great location
near downtown win over the hearts of the romantic wife
and children whose hearts were set on living by the
crystal clear green waters of the Kallang River at
Pebble Bay and be close to the sea and recreational park
of the East Coast?
The wife was happy in seeing good homes.
She thanked me by asking everyone to clap their hands
while we were leaving in the car to go to the nearby
American Club for dinner.
A farewell hug from the wife and thanks from the husband
and children. The family had to wake up at 5 am to
catch the plane.
This must be one of the most emotional house-hunting
trips in a day of any rental realtor.
The special concern of the teenage daughter for the
mother to find a home she likes, the battle for the mind
rather than the heart by the chief executive husband, the
dream house at the Glencaird Residence, the romance
of waterfront living at Pebble Bay, the race against the
clock, the wet drizzle and short thunderstorm wetting
everybody.
Finding more than one home the family likes. Yet
not having the time to linger and appreciate the
characteristics, being rushed by the realtor and the
husband. Which one to choose?
These were just overwhelming in a condensed house-hunting
tour of 5 hours.
Does Avalon have ground spot lights dazzling the palm
trees in the evening, creating a magical night?
What do you think?
A decision was made to give an offer to the Avalon
penthouse. Although the master bedroom was small, the
location was great. Brand new bathrooms and kitchens are
always a great attraction to Caucasian expatriate
executive officers who are usually used to a much higher
standard of living.
TIPS FOR
ASIAHOMES.COM REALTORS
This case study showed that the Singapore rental realtor
must be proactive and have a positive mental attitude
when handling stray calls for house-hunting.
Expatriates may or may not have seen various units with
various agents when they contact asiahomes.com.
Many Singapore agents and some asiahomes.com realtors are
already depressed when they receive such assignments from
the company as they feel that the expatriate will be
seeing several units with several agents and that they do
not have a chance. As long as the expatriate is looking,
you stand as good a chance as the competitor but you must
have what he wants and that is the answer to your
negative mental attitude.
If you feel that you are being a tourist guide providing
free house viewing services, it is best that you serve
the Landlord instead as you may get an exclusive
marketing right. However, sophisticated Landlords do not
give exclusive marketing rights to one agent and usually
have a handful and even market the property themselves.
In other words, you are still no better than being
tenant-based as one house-viewing visit of several
properties may result in closing whereas for the
Landlord's properties, you may have to go and open the
unit several times a day or weeks and get no
closing.
Info for new associates of asiahomes.com
Is there loyalty in
internet surfing prospects?
More expatriates surf the internet to look for housing.
90% of the emails at www.asiahomes.com come from Caucasians.
Nobody can predict the outcome of the case you will be
handling as there is promiscuity amongst the prospective
tenants in most cases.
There is no such thing as loyalty, just as you cannot
guarantee the expats that you will get them the house
they want.
If you give them what they want, you earn a
livelihood.
Much depends on co-broking and therefore, show the best
of what you have within the short time given.
You will be competing with the best realtors if you are
handling big accounts over $10,000 rentals per
month.
But you are given the first bite of the apple (in many
cases, from the internet) and if you know what to show,
you get the case closing.
It means lots of hard work and lots of cases lost to
other realtors before you gain that experience to show
what the customer wants.
That will take about one year of focus on Singapore
rentals, intensive sweat, heart breaks and tears.
Once you are competent, you get referrals and loyalty as
expats know that you are not showing them unqualified
homes, wasting their precious time.
The
internet brings in lots of queries. Many expats have
their own realtors and you may be taken for a ride
showing them some good houses. They will then tell
their realtors to negotiate for them. Fortunately, there
are few of such expatriates.
However, in
most cases, the surfers are genuine. If you can
find the right home, it is closing within a half day of
viewing.
You will be demotivated but then, which self-employed
person isn't when starting out?
If you can't focus on real estate, it may be best to
leave this specialty and go on being an employee or do
other things.
Success can never be achieved as a part-timer or without
hard work and passion.
ADVERT
You got Tenant, Owner?
Be first to rent with an internet advert to be seen by
expats all over the world, looking for Singapore
residential rentals at http://www.asiahomes.com
now.
Email your ad to: judy@asiahomes.com.
Affordable rates at S$13.50 for 40 words for 90 days. See
details at:
AsiaHomes Internet
Singapore Properties shown in this report may be
available for rent to expatriates.
More descriptions are at: Subdivision Rentals
For more Information on FREE house-hunting for expats
relocating to Singapore, and to rent above houses, email Judy Quek,
Tel: +65 9668 6468, 6254 2728, 6254 3326, 9668 6469, 9760
6466.
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Pebble Bay penthouse
Bedroom 2 with sea views and
attached bathroom. 
