Upgrading from HDB to EC
At the our age of early 30s, we thought it will be a good time to upgrade and the current market for our unit seems to be valuable. We got to thanks Stuart, who had helped us through our very first journey to upgrade from our HDB to EC.
We met up with Stuart in July 2018 to hear from him the current market trend and he proposed to us what were the options that suits us for our upgrading intend. Stuart, a very down to earth person with extremely good patience, meticulous, efficient and always strategist well when going through the process with us on house viewing. We truly appreciate Stuart’s sharing and experiences in his career in the property industry. We came to know that he has move on to be a trainer in his team and they have setup their team Navis.
Stuart had provided us comprehensive options for us and we concluded to upgrade to resale EC, sell before we buy. For 3 simple reasons:
- Do not need to pay the resale levy as we gotten grants in the past
- Resale EC pricing for psf is lower than new launch and the unit will generally more spacious than newly built. Not forgetting that we do not need to wait for years to the new launch to be built. Time = Money formulae.
- Do not need to incur additional buyer stamp duty (~12%) if we sell off our property before buying. This will be a lesser risk option to go for.
Our Adora green only reaches its MOP in early November 2018, the MOP date is determine by the day when you collected your key. Stuart recommend us to start viewing early, we started viewing on weekends for resale condo and resale ec. We somehow able to conclude what we are looking for after several viewing. At the end of our viewing session, Stuart will hear from us how we feel about the units we had view so he can understand more to our need. We appreciate his small action, little thoughts that bring to where we are today.
Concurrently, Stuart came to our unit to took photos of our unit and started posting to put our unit on sale to secure some viewing. There was inquiry on our units after the posting was up. There where the time people started coming for viewing our unit. We really have to thanks Stuart for his professionalism for sharing and showing the viewer around our unit while we were engage with our game >.<. We just leave it to him to settle.
In fact, we got an offer by the 2nd viewer, and there was some consideration on our side as we haven seen a unit that we wanted. Stuart try to help us to get extension from the buyer so we will have more time to continue view to get the ideal new home for us.
Stuart also done rough financial calculation for us so we have clear visibility of our position. Coincidentally, we came across a empty unit that was done up with proper renovations. The renovation were what i am looking for, the flooring the kitchen etc, whats surprise me was the unit number relates to my birthday exactly. However, owner was selling at high price. So we thought we can get similar layout unit and done up the renovation ourselves. As what Stuart always says, the interior can be change be renovations as much as you willing to spend.
We shortlisted a similar layout unit and made an offer, we thought the unit required heavy reno as there wasnt maintenance by the owner. Stuart helped us much on the negotiation and he followed up closely. We really thank him for making extra mile to help us. At the end, we manage to secure the unit of 1033sqft for $850k.
The timeline wasnt perfect, the negotiation took quite awhile, and there was really ups and downs. Never simple and easy but we glad we got Stuart to handle both buying and selling, and we dont encounter much hassle through the process. He manage both the buyers and seller for us so we can be a ease.
Shout out to Navis Team especially Stuart Chng, and may there be success at every turn of life, Good Luck to you and your team.
If you are in the mist of looking out for property be it selling/buying, or considering to join as a property agent, I believe Stuart will be the best person you should look for! For more information about Stuart visit stuartchng.com
Thank you Shu Xian for sharing about your journey with your readers!
Am grateful and appreciate Chee Siang’s and your trust in me throughout the many months of feedback, viewings, negotiations and tying down of loose ends.
And the many coffeeshop conversations we had together!
Glad that we managed to negotiate a great price in the end!
Looking forward to attending your house warming!