I’m listing the lessons I learned from my 1st purchase. Hopefully you won’t make the same mistakes in your property investment.
1) Don’t just listen to the agent
The property agent told me that this was the last batch of high floor 1-bedroom units with sea view.
After I bought my unit, there were more high-floor units released for sale. Towards the end, UOB obviously just wanted to get rid of the rest of the units. The last few units were transacted at ridiculously low prices (well below S$300K!).
Who could I blame? I should have checked all the recent transactions before buying.
Anyway, lessons learned:
– Don’t trust the agent. Do your own research.
– Be prepared to forgo some good opportunities.
– Be patient. Opportunity will come.
Property investment gurus suggest to look at a hundred properties before you buy one.
I strongly agree with this. The unit I grabbed was just the 76th property I saw!
2) Don’t use the agent’s lawyer
When the agent knew that I don’t have my own lawyer, he referred his to me. What was originally a good gesture turned out to be a bad experience.
The recommended lawyer did poor follow-up on my request for early completion. I had to do a lot of chasing to ensure a smooth handover. When the bill came, there were so many unexplained items that I ended up paying a higher fee.
I am sure that this agent received referral fee from the lawyer. But he’s completely ‘hands-off’ when I told him the problems.
I came across a similar discussion in Donald Trump’s book TRUMP – Think Like a Billionaire – Everything you need to know about success, real estate, and life.
He gave a good reason why you should never use the lawyer referred to you by the agent who happens to also sell you the property:
Do not ask your mortgage broker to refer an attorney. Though brokers always know many attorneys, there can be a built-in conflict of interest if the sale deserves to be aborted. The lawyer might be reluctant to recommend terminating the deal, since the person who recommends him or her will then lose a commission.
Oops, if only I learn that earlier …
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