Property Views
-
Zeal mummy\" post_id=\"2032956\" time=\"1628057623\" user_id=\"58173:[quote=\"Zeal mummy\" post_id=2032956 time=1628057623 user_id=58173]
I’ve a family who bought JB house & used to drive kids (Raffles) to sch daily but since covid they had to squeeze into mother’s childcare & all the dad’s fishes in tank died whilst he started a garden at the childcare starting last year. Ano family bought UK property near Oxford for daughter but since covid she’s not returned to sch, doing online lessons & took a gap-year. House there left unoccupied. SIL bought a condo in Penang but now marooned in Melbourne. In good times it was cool for them to take holidays in their own property in these holiday homes & return SG for family gatherings, but since covid, it’s been hard & SIL had to miss her mum’s funeral during Melbourne’s lock-down. Something to consider esp overseas properties.
It will be so cool to own a property overseas. Something to look forward to.[/quote] -
Estéema\" post_id=\"2032976\" time=\"1628061553\" user_id=\"66413:
Sorry to hear of your SIL’s unfortunate predicament. It’s hard during tough times, we need to stay positive and ride through this feeling stronger. Easier said..
I’ve a family who bought JB house & used to drive kids (Raffles) to sch daily but since covid they had to squeeze into mother’s childcare & all the dad’s fishes in tank died whilst he started a garden at the childcare starting last year. Ano family bought UK property near Oxford for daughter but since covid she’s not returned to sch, doing online lessons & took a gap-year. House there left unoccupied. SIL bought a condo in Penang but now marooned in Melbourne. In good times it was cool for them to take holidays in their own property in these holiday homes & return SG for family gatherings, but since covid, it’s been hard & SIL had to miss her mum’s funeral during Melbourne’s lock-down. Something to consider esp overseas properties.[/quote]Zeal mummy\" post_id=\"2032956\" time=\"1628057623\" user_id=\"58173:[quote=\"Zeal mummy\" post_id=2032956 time=1628057623 user_id=58173]It will be so cool to own a property overseas. Something to look forward to.
Thank you for sharing. May I know for the Oxford apartment, any running costs if left unused? Do we need to pay more as non-citizens/investors? -
Zeal mummy\" post_id=\"2032982\" time=\"1628062836\" user_id=\"58173:[quote=\"Zeal mummy\" post_id=2032982 time=1628062836 user_id=58173]
Sorry to hear of your SIL’s unfortunate predicament. It’s hard during tough times, we need to stay positive and ride through this feeling stronger. Easier said..Estéema\" post_id=\"2032976\" time=\"1628061553\" user_id=\"66413:
I’ve a family who bought JB house & used to drive kids (Raffles) to sch daily but since covid they had to squeeze into mother’s childcare & all the dad’s fishes in tank died whilst he started a garden at the childcare starting last year. Ano family bought UK property near Oxford for daughter but since covid she’s not returned to sch, doing online lessons & took a gap-year. House there left unoccupied. SIL bought a condo in Penang but now marooned in Melbourne. In good times it was cool for them to take holidays in their own property in these holiday homes & return SG for family gatherings, but since covid, it’s been hard & SIL had to miss her mum’s funeral during Melbourne’s lock-down. Something to consider esp overseas properties.[/quote][quote=\"Zeal mummy\" post_id=2032956 time=1628057623 user_id=58173]It will be so cool to own a property overseas. Something to look forward to.
Thank you for sharing. May I know for the Oxford apartment, any running costs if left unused? Do we need to pay more as non-citizens/investors?[/quote]Agree, we just need to stay strong & stay positive. Not getting overly anxious helps. Being cooperative with adversities certainly helps. Doubts & snide remarks don’t help. Having strong faith in how the subj-matter experts works closely together to keep us all safe helps. 🤜🏻🤛🏻 Stay UNITED!
On details of costs vis-a-vis non-citizens/investors, really hv no idea as we’ve long decided not to dabble in overseas properties as properties per se is illiquid & to not be able to hv most current news of a foreign country to react in time is added high risks.
We had opportunities to acquire US foreclosure property in the hands of a cousin previously but we realized these are high risks decisions & we’re non-high risks characters. Lol. Then, we had an occasion almost tempted to buy a resort unit at Mandurah, seems nice to hv & easy to pay for Managers to maintain & rent out to holiday makers, but chickened out when our family doc bought one previously but had very low yield. Hubby prefer other investment instruments to stomach the level of risks he can handle. -
Zeal mummy\" post_id=\"2032956\" time=\"1628057623\" user_id=\"58173:[quote=\"Zeal mummy\" post_id=2032956 time=1628057623 user_id=58173]
I have always dreamed of spending extended time to explore the UK in my retirement years. So much so that the very minute we finished with our HDB mortgage, unlike what Singaporeans usually do, I did not look for a property to 'upgrade to' in Singapore, but bought a small apartment in London instead.
It will be so cool to own a property overseas. Something to look forward to.[/quote]
Please do not underestimate the 101 issues that arise from purchasing, managing and selling and overseas property. Let me highlight a few.
1. The exchange rate fluctuations. I bought when GBP was about SGD$2.10. Today, the exchange ratee is $1.9.
2. All sorts of taxes. From inheritance tax, capital gains tax, to income tax. No other tax system is as simple and easy and straightforward as Singapore's.
3. Managing the service charges, council tax and all sorts of bills like gas, heating etc, especially when the property is vacant.
4. The regulatory requirements. You need to update your electrical safety and gas safety certificates once every x years, as well as other things like energy performance certificates.
5. You are completely dependent on agents for the letting of your unit.
6. If you are taking a loan, there is a lot to sort out too.
The positive side (and I can only speak for London properties as that is all I am familiar with) - the rental yield has been strong. The capital appreciation has been decent (though it's not been great post 2015)..
Is it worth the trouble? I would imagine anyone who has put the money in a good, well-located property in Singapore, would have made good gains too over the past 10 years. However, in my case, the considerations were different as UK is a sentimental place for me. -
Zeal mummy\" post_id=\"2032982\" time=\"1628062836\" user_id=\"58173:[quote=\"Zeal mummy\" post_id=2032982 time=1628062836 user_id=58173]
Sorry to hear of your SIL’s unfortunate predicament. It’s hard during tough times, we need to stay positive and ride through this feeling stronger. Easier said..Estéema\" post_id=\"2032976\" time=\"1628061553\" user_id=\"66413:
I’ve a family who bought JB house & used to drive kids (Raffles) to sch daily but since covid they had to squeeze into mother’s childcare & all the dad’s fishes in tank died whilst he started a garden at the childcare starting last year. Ano family bought UK property near Oxford for daughter but since covid she’s not returned to sch, doing online lessons & took a gap-year. House there left unoccupied. SIL bought a condo in Penang but now marooned in Melbourne. In good times it was cool for them to take holidays in their own property in these holiday homes & return SG for family gatherings, but since covid, it’s been hard & SIL had to miss her mum’s funeral during Melbourne’s lock-down. Something to consider esp overseas properties.[/quote][quote=\"Zeal mummy\" post_id=2032956 time=1628057623 user_id=58173]It will be so cool to own a property overseas. Something to look forward to.
Thank you for sharing. May I know for the Oxford apartment, any running costs if left unused? Do we need to pay more as non-citizens/investors?[/quote]Hi Zeal Mommy
Re Oxford apartment's running costs when empty -
1. Council Tax (depends on the council tax policies of the councils, many London councils now will still levy council tax even for void properties).
2. Dependiing on the electricity / heating company, some companies have a fixed standing annual charge that is levied regardless of usage.
3. Monthly service charges will definitely apply.
4. Ground rents will also apply, if the apartment is not freehold. -
I think those having properties in JB not very positive. My friend sold one and still holding on to one or two and from what I understand can kinda ‘ignore’ when calculating the asset. Before this I heard rental, the tenant profile also jialat…actually not many able to pay high rent and foreigners can only purchase above certain value. If one day retire there can just rent and keep changing to new one maybe better also. But don’t think we will retire there la…kids here how leh.
-
lee_yl\" post_id=\"2032931\" time=\"1628050000\" user_id=\"17023:
ooh both of you have gotten me very curious about Hillcrest Villas! What is the monthly service charge like? It's a good number of units, so I think the service charge will still be okay. I have not personally checked it out myself. But really, I've not viewed any cluster landed that didn't give me the claustrophobic + twirling up the stairs type of feel. I feel the spike in demand for cluster landed is due to the demand for larger units, and also units with MANY rooms (which cluster houses tend to have) as it really caters well to WFH, and it's relative affordability compared to large condo units. Relative to large condo units with 5 bedrooms, the prices of cluster houses do not seem to have gone up as much.
The appreciation is not a lot so probably many people still have the perception “want buy then buy a real landed”? But if I have to fork out $300k more that is a lot to me lah!doodbug\" post_id=\"2032836\" time=\"1627977768\" user_id=\"13281:
lee_yl, the appreciation for cluster/strata landed is not as strong as with regular landed. $2.9 mil to $3.2 mil is actually not fantastic appreciation, esp if you minus off stamp duty and agent fee.
cluster/strata landed also tends to have very very high monthly service charge. Anything from $500 to $1,300.
Also, there is a huge privacy issue for many cluster/strata landed houses as they are packed very close to each other, some developments, row after row.
you can rebuild a regular landed to expand build in area from say, 2000 sq ft to 4500 sq ft. you can't do anything to increase the square footage of a strata/cluster landed.
BUT, the rental yield for strata/cluster housing is generally better than with regular landed, esp if the regular landed is unrenovated or if the plot is not yet maximised.
I have seen quite a handful of clusters and most cannot make it. Hillcrest Villa is one of the better ones and it’s opposite Tan Kah Kee MRT and Hwa Chong. Only downside is that it’s a leasehold property.
In 2016 we nearly bought it but after much consideration, the money went to FH investment condos instead. So if we want to go ahead with Hillcrest Villa then we have to dispose off our FHs to get the LH! :roll: Hmmm…
And to buy a nice “real landed”, which DH believes prices for landed will continue to grow, we need to dispose our current matrimonial house (which we are still staying), but I would like to keep this due to sentimental value. -
MrsKiasu\" post_id=\"2033001\" time=\"1628067198\" user_id=\"43981:
Hubby also say same thing - retire go in/out a few months to stay & return to creature comfort in SG. Rent is best. No baggage. Can stay in different states over time. Same thing when we were in Australia & Europe. Hubby says just rent.
I think those having properties in JB not very positive. My friend sold one and still holding on to one or two and from what I understand can kinda 'ignore' when calculating the asset. Before this I heard rental, the tenant profile also jialat..actually not many able to pay high rent and foreigners can only purchase above certain value. If one day retire there can just rent and keep changing to new one maybe better also. But don't think we will retire there la..kids here how leh. -
Estéema\" post_id=\"2033007\" time=\"1628068498\" user_id=\"66413:
Wow hop around. That is nice too. Hop KL stay a while then hop to Penang etc.
Hubby also say same thing - retire go in/out a few months to stay & return to creature comfort in SG. Rent is best. No baggage. Can stay in different states over time. Same thing when we were in Australia & Europe. Hubby says just rent.MrsKiasu\" post_id=\"2033001\" time=\"1628067198\" user_id=\"43981:
I think those having properties in JB not very positive. My friend sold one and still holding on to one or two and from what I understand can kinda 'ignore' when calculating the asset. Before this I heard rental, the tenant profile also jialat..actually not many able to pay high rent and foreigners can only purchase above certain value. If one day retire there can just rent and keep changing to new one maybe better also. But don't think we will retire there la..kids here how leh.
Haha getting excited..rent out our Spore home for 1 or 2 years, go hop outside, come back home change furniture hehe. -
MrsKiasu\" post_id=\"2033011\" time=\"1628069631\" user_id=\"43981:
Wow hop around. That is nice too. Hop KL stay a while then hop to Penang etc.
Hubby also say same thing - retire go in/out a few months to stay & return to creature comfort in SG. Rent is best. No baggage. Can stay in different states over time. Same thing when we were in Australia & Europe. Hubby says just rent.Estéema\" post_id=\"2033007\" time=\"1628068498\" user_id=\"66413:
[quote=MrsKiasu post_id=2033001 time=1628067198 user_id=43981]I think those having properties in JB not very positive. My friend sold one and still holding on to one or two and from what I understand can kinda 'ignore' when calculating the asset. Before this I heard rental, the tenant profile also jialat..actually not many able to pay high rent and foreigners can only purchase above certain value. If one day retire there can just rent and keep changing to new one maybe better also. But don't think we will retire there la..kids here how leh.
Haha getting excited..rent out our Spore home for 1 or 2 years, go hop outside, come back home change furniture hehe.[/quote]Ya. We met a British couple doing that in Austria. But that’s coz within EU, they’re free to do w/o limitations.
More comfortable to change furniture & the lot. Anyway, we always get pre-loved to furnish before rental.
Hello! It looks like you're interested in this conversation, but you don't have an account yet.
Getting fed up of having to scroll through the same posts each visit? When you register for an account, you'll always come back to exactly where you were before, and choose to be notified of new replies (either via email, or push notification). You'll also be able to save bookmarks and upvote posts to show your appreciation to other community members.
With your input, this post could be even better 💗
Register Login
Online Users
Recent Topics
Statistics