Tan Kin Lian's Blog: Practical Guide on Buying A Property

Tuesday, February 09, 2010

Practical Guide on Buying A Property

Someone has asked me to write a book to give practical tips on purchasing a property for investment or own occupation. As this is a major commitment, they like to know how to find and decide if the property is at the right price. This is similar to my book on financial planning. A lawyer, who has many years of experience in dealing with property will co-author this book.

Here are some possible topics for this book:
1. Trend of property prices in Singapore - by various types
2. Analysing a property purchase
3. How to identify and find some suitable properties
4. Steps and costs involved in a property purchase
5. Renting a property
6. Comparison of property with other types of investments
7. Personal experiences (from contributors)
8. Tips to watch out for
9. Legal aspects of property
10. Sample legal agreements
11. Access to property websites
12. Appointing a property agent

What are your views on the topics to be included?

Do you have any story to share about your personal experience (positive or negative) in buying or investing in a property? Send your story to kinlian@gmail.com

6 comments:

Anonymous said...: Mr Tan

Maybe you can consider a chapter on estimating the fair value of the property eg. via rental yields, land value plus construction cost,etc.; February 04, 2010 9:52 AM
Anonymous said...: My only negative personal exp on buying a resale condo recently was the poor service from the lawyer!

Didn't protect my interests as a buyer and as the lawyer's client and still want to argue with me somemore use LAW to scare me!

I had complained to my bank not to recommend this kind of lawyer to the bank's customers anymore!; February 04, 2010 1:51 PM
C H Yak said...: Mr Tan

Considering that both HDB and private properties are so expensive these days, perhaps you may add a chapter to discuss whether "Buying Only One Property" is still considered as an "Investment" in Singapore, or is it "consumption" of a priced luxury?; February 04, 2010 2:03 PM
Lukeo said...: Mr Tan, perhaps you would like to add in a chapter on Financing the property - Interest Rates, Packages, Tips and Pitfalls etc.; February 05, 2010 10:59 PM
Falcon said...: How about a topic on "negotiating a good deal" where you can also expose some of the common tricks of the rogue agents like last minute trying to up the price by saying that there is another buyer etc or in the midst of negotiation the telephone rings and the agent pretends to be talking to an interested buyer who seems to be giving a higher price than the real buyer?
This will help many new buyers not to fall into this venus trap.; February 06, 2010 11:16 PM
Anonymous said...: Mr Tan,

I belive there are more people upgrading their property than those buying their first property. Hence, it may be worthwhile to write a chapter on upgrading (e.g. upgrading from smaller unit to bigger unit, from HDB to private. Also, what are the factors to consider before one can think and plan of upgrading.)

CCL; February 09, 2010 10:03 PM