Hello,
This will be a long mail, coz I have something about house rental to tell. I will be back to Sg around 10th June. Before that, if you could look for a suitable house, then just pay deposit, haha.
First of all, here are my preferences:
1) I've decided to stay in a single room, only if the rental not higher than $380 (exclude electricity & water).
2) Prefer house that allows cooking, not prefer, but a MUST, haha. I believe girls will agree with me.
Next, things that I would like to share:
Searching a house from website or agent:
1) Can try to look for 3+1 or 4+1 houses. If we can find a 3+1 unit with a big master room that can accommodate 3 ladies, it
would be good.
2) Do not look for house which the owner or agent is Indians. Yes, I dislike Indians, haha, but the main point is, if the owner
is Indian, then the house will be in Indian-style, I guess it won't be suitable for us. And, the very important thing is, most
of the Indians cannot be trusted. This is true, believe me. I am just afraid that we would be cheated, especially by Indian
agents.
3) Before arranging a time to go and take a look on the house, ask Agent/Owner these questions 1st:
i) Rental (Our budget: 3+1 unit : $1600-1800; 4+1 unit: $1800-2000), u can try to ask if can lower the rental, but dun be
too insist. If u think the rental is reasonable, can arrange time to go to the house 1st, if the house really fixes us, then
only negotiate with Agent/Owner again. If we keep asking them to lower the rental in the phone, that's not so good.
FYI: Ke Wei's house @ CCK, 4+1, $2100; Siew Ling's house @ CCK, 4+1, $2100.
Thus, if possible, please keep our rental below $2100. Remember, dun be too insist in the phone!!!
ii) Furniture: If the house is totally unfurnished, please ignore it.
iii) Cooking: If cooking is not allowed, please ignore it, too. Light cooking means only for boiling water, so, if they say only
light cooking is allowed, can ignore also.
iv) Address: Of coz u need to ask for address. After u got the address, actually u can search from net to check whether it
is in good location. Here are some of the websites:
http://maps.singaporeexpats.com/ http://www.can.com.sg/ http://maps.google.com/ v) Keep everyone of us update whenever u've called the agent/owner for the particular house and also whenever u've
arranged an appointment. Jia Mei created a blog, i think we can post every particular house that we have already
asked, and write down comment, so that we won't repeat and call the same agent/owner again. Thanks JM.
http://ourhsh.blogspot.com/ 4) It's very difficult to "imagine" the house when talking only in the phone, thus, arrange a time if u think the agent/owner is
trustable. Remember, dun go alone!!
i) First, prepare deposit, agent/owner would like to collect deposit on spot. And it would be better if we can pay deposit on
spot if the house is really good.
ii) On the way to the house, I guess we will know whether the house has good or bad location.
iii) Before paying deposit, check everything in the house. Every single electricity functioning? eg. Air-cond, washing
machine, water heater etc. Switch on & off every lightings and fan. Flush the toilet bowl. And, very important, check if
there's leaking pipe. How to check? See if there's water on floor or on ceiling. If there's leaking pipe, yellowish colour will
appear on the ceiling. CHECK EVERYWHERE before paying money! once deposit is paid, we won't be able to take back
the money if we found anything wrong after that!
iv) Ask if the rental include electricity & water & others (normally it won't, but can ask). And, a MUST ASK question: Who is
responsible to pay for the maintenance & repair? This is very important, set a rule with the owner, so that if anything
goes wrong, we can negotiate with owner. My friend staying in Woodlands told me, they have this agreement
where themselves will pay for the repair if below $100, if over $100, owner will pay for the rest. We can take this as
reference. Of coz it would be better if owner can pay all, if cannot, $50? $80?
v) Ask agent/owner about the contract. CONTRACT is so so important in Sg. Read every single word carefully before u
sign!! Confirm everything 1st!! such as lease.
5) After paying deposit, then we can start to plan & divide the rental according to the room size.
6) We are all adult, and I guess we are able to judge whether the agent/owner is trustable. I saw some posts in the forum
saying some agents alwiz cheat ppl, maybe can copy down the phone numbers and share with u next time, haha!
Remember, be a BRILLIANT TENANT!!!
So, things that we need to do now are:
1) Prepare money. At least $350 each, coz we have to pay for the deposit. Who wants to be our treasurer???
2) Can start to search from web whenever u are free, here are some websites:
http://www.sg-house.com/ http://www.sgadsonline.com/viewcat_rlest2.html http://www.flatsdb.com/index.php?act=rent So far, that's all. Will update u if I can think of other points. Sorry for the super super long email, and I hope it will be useful.
go go Redang~ (CK: work hard!)
Cheers,
CheRry
kitchen
living room + shoes rack
toilet + corridor to rooms
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Chinese
