I was exhausted after coming back from a week long business trip. So when the kids wanted to watch the movie Inside Out on a Saturday morning, I was most willing to take them to the cinema - I could enjoy a 2-hour nap in my seat! The story of Inside Out develops around a 11-year-old girl Riley whose five core emotions - Joy, Sadness, Disgust, Fear, and Anger – are housed in … [Read more...]
7 tactics to maximize the return of your investment property
(This article is extracted from my book No B.S. Guide to Property Investment, a bestseller at Kinokuniya and Times bookstores.) As an investor, you have two major objectives when you are holding your property: 1. To generate an optimal return from your investment; and 2. To increase its value to be sold at a good profit in the future. To achieve that, you have to maximize … [Read more...]
From being a tenant to being a landlord: What I should have learned
My life as a tenant I arrived in Singapore alone in 1998. I started renting on my own but ended up moving three times in just 13 months. First, it was a common room in an HDB flat for three months. Next, I stayed in the whole 4-room HDB flat (with one room locked up) for ten months. Then I moved to a private apartment sharing with two flatmates. Being new to Singapore, I … [Read more...]
To let: by agent or by yourself? (part II)
I would definitely engage the service of my property agent every time I rent out my properties, for the following reasons: 1) Why waste the time to advertise, to arrange viewings, and to take the risk of showing strangers around, when a professional can do it for you? 2) Your tenant (especially in a company lease) is mostly likely represented by his/her own agent. You … [Read more...]
To let: by agent or by yourself? (part I)
A landlord posted a message in a property forum, asking whether it’s better to let the flat through an agent, a lawyer or by himself. This post is most likely from a 1st time owner. My two-cents: I don’t think it’s necessary to engage a lawyer, unless yours is a special lease that needs much customization in the contract. Lawyers tend to give 'safe advice' in order to … [Read more...]