The story of buying my first property (part III)

Success is not defined by how much you know but how quickly you can find what you need to know.

If you want your property investment to be successful, there’s definitely more you need to know.

3) Don’t go for the lowest interest rate

If you remember the bad times in 2003, banks were fighting hard to get a piece of the shrinking home mortgage market.  They kept slashing interest rates or offering cash rebates, or legal/insurance/renovation subsidies, etc.

I signed up with a foreign bank who offered a 1st year variable rate of 1.3% — the lowest in the market at that time.

Foreign banks are more aggressive to get clients.  But I was not aware of the fact that, if interbank rates are to go up, foreign banks are also more efficient in increasing their borrowing rates.

Three years later, interest rates had increased many times until it reached almost 4%. I finally called it quit and refinanced with a local bank.

In Singapore, similar to mobile operators, banks are more proactive to acquire new clients and provide better customer service to new compared with existing customers.

4) Don’t go to just any contractor

The unit did need some touch up before I could rent it out — changing the flooring, replacing kitchen cabinet doors, revamping the bathroom, and some minor repairs. (I am attaching some photos to show the work after renovation.)

Being a complete amateur of home renovation, I was just planning for a simple renovation project.

I opened the Classified Post and picked three contractors under the ‘home renovation’ column to ask for a quotation.

Finally, I chose the one which seemed to offer the best ‘value-for-money’.

The subsequent experience might sound familiar to you: the initial meetings and phase 1 work were usually fine. But after 50% payment was done, the work kept dragging and dragging. When it’s Christmas and New Year holiday, there were more excuses for delay.

When works done were unsatisfactory and not what you wanted, they blamed you for mis-communication …

Lesson learned: Using a contractor without personal recommendations, you’re leaving it to fate and asking for troubles later. The act was similar to putting up your marriage ad in the paper — you never know who comes along!

What people hear, they forget.
What people see, they remember.
What people do, they learn.