Buying a Resale… are you prepared for it? #TrueStory #ResaleWoes #ButWeDidIt #HappyLandlord = #HappyTenant You bought a resale condo slightly below market value. Yay!!! Three and a half months later, you received the keys to your new resale condo and the nightmares started. All that had seemed to be in good condition started to breakdown and all that was not ‘visible’ during the viewing are now glaring in the eye. How could you have missed them?! You wonder.

Fun Fact #1: Buy/Sell as-is condition – The key benefit for a seller selling their property “as-is” is that, after closing, they are no longer responsible for any hidden defects that existed in the home at the time of the closing.

The only exception to this rule is if the seller knew of a defect and failed to disclose it. This would be considered bad faith and the “as-is” language would not protect them from liability. The buyer needs to understand the risk that they take when they buy a property “as-is.” They should take reasonable steps to inspect the property before closing. People buy houses for many reasons. One reason is for investing, for one to buy resale and expect immediate rental. This is normal, as the rental would then be used to subsidise the monthly instalment and maintenance fees. So, in this situation, the owner was buying for investment. As good property agents, we assisted the buyer to make the house suitable for rental. This is a summary of what we did:

1. Replaced the faulty light bulbs and ceiling lights;
2. Fixed the leaky towel bowl and bidet (hand spray);
3. Replaced all the mouldy silicon sealings (whole house);
4. Repaired the vanity shelves in all the toilets, replaced the cooker hood and hob, remove the rusty metal rack below the kitchen sink, repaired the water damaged cabinet door below the kitchen sink;
5. Put in new curtains;
6. Serviced the air conditioners; and
7. Cleaned the house professionally.

Fun Fact #2: A nicer house = higher rental. Small investments to make good the house as if it would to be your own house is worth it.

Now, the house is ready for its new tenant! Lady luck was smiling on us and we found a new tenant within a week! The tenant moved in the following week and the nightmares which we thought were over continued!!! On the day of handover, we discovered more defects, and why? Because some of the fittings needed to be used for the defects or wear and tear to appear. ☹ So new defects/wear and tear came up:

• The gas heater (which uses Citygas) was defective and its brand was discontinued in Singapore. So, we replaced the gas heater and it cost another $1200. But biggest hassle was having to make a trip down to Citygas to personally arrange and pay for replacement services. And the whole replacement process took about 10 days. As you can see, our soon to be next problem was no hot water and cooking for 10 days. This really made the tenants upset.

Fun Fact #3: Citygas refused to turn on the gas supply for the whole house due to the defect in the old gas heater. They said it was for safety!

• The next problem soon arose, the tenants also complained about a peculiar sour smell in the master bedroom. They claimed that it’s coming from bathroom pipes. So, we got a plumber to check but all was ok. The plumber said there’s nothing to fix. Then, the tenant claimed that the smell was coming from the air-conditioning unit. BUT we had already done a full chemical servicing for the aircon before the tenant moved in. So, what was happening? As dutiful property agents, we still got the aircon guys to certify that the smell was not from the aircon. But the tenant said that the smell was still there. Finally, after eliminating all other possibilities, we knew that there was only one left – the water from the bathroom was leaking into the wooden flooring of the master bedroom, hence giving rise to that sour smell. There goes another $1100 for waterproofing the floor.

The owner is happy with the outcome, as if he had chosen to stay there, these defects would have to be fixed anyway. The tenants are happy now, they have a place to call home.

Fun Fact #4: How much the landlord does for the tenant, is directly correlated to how the tenants feels about their stay, and this will translate to the tenants taking care of the house for you.

In future if the landlord wants to move back home, he can be sure that it would be in a homely condition. Advice to all landlords out there, rent out the unit as if it were to be a place that you would stay. While not all resale properties will have such big problems, all resale properties will require some form of repairs. So here are some tips to help mitigate some unexpected repairs:

1. Owner-stay preferred. Tenanted is fine. Vacant… beware! Properties in Singapore are so pricey. If the owner is not living in it, chances are, they will rent it out for income. Rarely a property is vacated for the sole purpose of sale. So do look very closely at the condition of the property when you come across a property that is vacant. Anyway it’s vacant, so take your time to scrutinise.
2. Always do a second viewing and request to check and test as many things as possible. No need to be shy!
3. If you get a chance, ask the owner or the occupant if there’s any leaking problem and watch their reaction as they answer. Sometimes, you’ll get the truth. Sometimes, you’ll catch the unsaid. It’s worth a try ????
4. Usually, properties start to experience leaking problems after around 15 years or so. Not an issue if you are going renovate the bathrooms anyway. But if you are not, consider minimally waterproofing the bathroom especially if the flooring is wooden. It will save you a lot of heartache. Can you imagine putting in a new wooden flooring and 3 months later they all start popping out and then you realise that water from the bathroom is leaking under it?!

Leave a comment, or drop us a message at +65 9794 8823 / +65 9069 9129 if you want to know more. Cindy + Geri What is important to you, is important to us too.