HOLLAND RESIDENCES (Review)

District: 10
Location: Holland Road
Address: 1, 3 & 5 Taman Warna
Developer: Allgreen Properties
Tenure: Freehold

54 out of 68 units released were sold within the first week of release – now, that is quite an impressive debut. So the wife and I decided to visit the sales gallery of HOLLAND RESIDENCES yesterday to find out for ourselves what all the buzz is about.

HOLLAND RESIDENCES is located on Taman Warna road. In fact, the actual entrance to the development is almost at the exit point of Taman Warna into Holland Road. HOLLAND RESIDENCES resides on a long and rather narrow plot of only 74,000sqft, and consists of 83 apartment units in three 5-Storey blocks. The plot ratio is 1.4, and expected TOP of project is 30th June 2013.

HOLLAND RESIDENCES is developed by Allgreen properties, who also has projects like “One Devonshire” (Devonshire Road) , “Viva” (Newton/Thomson Road) and the upcoming “RV Residence” (River Valley Road) under its belt.

The sales gallery was buzzing with activities yesterday. We were “assigned” to this “sweet young thing” of a market agent who seemed more interested in responding to her text messages than attending to us. Maybe it was the causal manner we were dressed, or the fact that neither the wife nor I seemed to be carrying our cheque book with us. And just when we thought things could not get any worse, we were handed a photocopied set of floor plans… no brochure. You would think that for a supposed high-end project that is selling for over $1600sqft, they could at least provide you with a decently printed brochure! Good thing the wife had already received a set of the original (nice) brochure through a separate source, and we were really in no mood by then to pursue the matter further. ANYWAY…

In terms of orientation of the three blocks, Block 1 is located parallel to Taman Warna. It is nearest to the main entrance of the development, which features a circular driveway with a porte cochere drop-off point and central water feature. Block 3 is located next to Block 1 while Block 5 is diagonally opposite Block 3. Other than the main vehicular entrance into HOLLAND RESIDENCES, there are supposedly 2 other  pedestrian side-gates that open out to Taman Warna. From there, it is about a 10-min walk to the upcoming Holland Village MRT Station. Apartment units in HOLLAND RESIDENCES have North-West and South-East orientations.

There are several unit types and layouts at HOLLAND RESIDENCES:

• 1-Bedroom (10 units): 602sqft
• 2-Bedrooms (20 units): 957sqft & 979sqft
• 3-Bedrooms (24 units): 1356 – 1463sqft
• 3-Bedrooms Loft (10 units): 1883sqft & 1915sqft
• 4-Bedrooms (2 units): 1872sqft
• 2-Bedrooms Penthouses (5 units): 1614 – 1754sqft
• 3-Bedrooms Penthouse (1 unit): 1980sqft
• 4-Bedrooms Penthouses (11 units): 2185 – 2787sqft

All the loft units are on the ground floor, while all the 3-bedder apartments are served by private lifts. For the penthouses, only the 3 and 4-bedrooms units have private lifts, while owners of the smaller 2-bedder penthouses as well as the 1 and 2-bedder apartments will have to make do with common lifts.

The design theme of the facilities within HOLLAND RESIDENCES is “water village”. This starts from the oculus fountain by the glass-roof porte cochere, with water flowing past cascading streams to a multi-level landscape of infinity pool, lounge pool with underwater chaise lounge, cabanas, aqueduct feature Jacuzzi and a “floating gymnasium”. Other than the various “themed” pools and pool facilities, you will also get

• Jogging Track around the estate
• Basketball shooting area
• Fitness station
• Kid’s play area
• Covered BBQ pit
• 92 basement carpark lots

However, tennis lovers will be disappointed as there are no tennis courts in the development.

There is only one showflat available in the sales gallery – a 1883sqft, 3-Bedrooms Loft unit (Type C1). As you enter through the main door, you arrive into the dining area and then the living area. Both areas are rather small, and comes with 60cm x 60cm marble flooring. The ceiling height is generally 2.6 – 3.2m, except for the living area, which has a “double-volume” ceiling of 6.5m. The living room opens out to the PES area, which looked easily 200sqft (our marketing agent was unable to tell us the exact size). Each loft unit has its own private Jacuzzi at the PES – this looks plush but it makes the PES less functional.

The dry kitchen is opposite to the dining area as you enter the main door. To the left of the dry kitchen is a walkway that leads you to the common bathroom, a home shelter and the two common bedrooms. HOLLAND RESIDENCES is one of the rare developments we have seen so far that features both a home shelter and a utility room within the unit (except for the smaller 1 and 2-bedders, which have no utility room). The common bathroom has marble floors/walls, solid surface bath vanity, “Bandini” bath accessories/fittings and “Kohler” WC. The home shelter will provide you with ample space for storage. The 2 common bedrooms, which are very regular shape, are rather small and the wardrobe space provided is hardly sufficient unless you are one that survive on only a couple of shirts and pants. One of the common bedroom also has a strip of PES outside, which further eats into the living space.

The wet kitchen occupies only a small long strip behind the dry kitchen, and comes with both high & low cabinets, solid-surface worktop that incorporates the kitchen sink, “Miele” hood/hob/oven/built-in 2-door fridge and even a dish-washer. There is a small yard area with probably just enough space for a washer/dryer, and a utility room that comes with an attached bathroom. Judging from the size of the utility, you will probably have to custom fit a smaller single bed inside if you intend to use this as a maid’s room. There is also a service lobby access between the wet and dry kitchens.

The master bedroom is located on the upper level, and accessible via a flight of stairs tucked behind the living area. The bedroom is fairly good size, but the amount of wardrobe provided is again lacking. It comes with a small rectangular shape balcony, which is not very practical (in our humble opinion) considering that you overlook the road – not exactly a pretty sight. The master bathroom is partitioned by a glass panel, so you can actually see your partner showering as you enter through the bedroom door. Similar bathroom fittings and fixtures apply as per the common bath, in addition to a long tub and standing rain-shower stall.

3-Bedroom Loft (C1) Floor Plan:

What we like:
• Location – HOLLAND RESIDENCES is located within minutes’ drive from Orchard Road and a couple more from the CBD. It is also a short walk from amenities and F&B outlets in Holland Village, as well as the upcoming MRT. For nature lovers, Botanic Garden is in close proximity – about 15 – 20 minutes walk or a short 5 minutes drive if you prefer to leave the walking until you reach the Garden compound.

• The furnishing is of very good quality. Even the staircase leading from the lower to upper level looks very chic in design.

• The concept of having both a home shelter and utility room within the unit. Now you do not now have to choose between storage space or maid’s room.

What we dislike:
• The small living/dining area for the 3-Bedroom Loft, which makes the whole apartment looks rather “stingy” in terms of space.

• Although the Loft is supposedly 1883sqft, it does not really feel like an apartment of such size. However, you can understand why when you do the math – at least 300sqft is taken up by the PES/balcony, while the “double-volume” ceiling on top of the living area eats into another 80sqft or so. So effectively you are left with only 1500sqft of “interior” living space.

• Looking at the floor plan of the Penthouses, all the smaller 2 and 3-bedrooms penthouses, despite being 2 levels, have all their “interior” living space in the lower level. The upper level is made up of your own private garden and roof terrace – some buyers may be more than happy to pay for these roof top spaces, but such area is not very practical in our book.

• Looking at the site plan, some apartment units in Block 3 (Stacks #5, #06 & #7) and Block 5 (Stacks #16 & #17) are located very closely across from each other. So you may want to reconsider about these stacks if you require a lot of privacy.

• Taman Warna is a one-directional road – you enter via Holland Ave/Taman Warna T-junction (i.e. where Holland Village Shopping Centre is), and exit at the end of Taman Warna into Holland Road. We find this a rather roundabout way to get in and out of HOLLAND RESIDENCES.

• Despite the project being marketed as near to premier schools such as Nanyang and Henry Park Primary, we can only identify one primary school that is within 1-km of HOLLAND RESIDENCES – New Town Primary. So for those parents wishing to enroll their kids into Nanyang/Henry Park but have no affiliations with either, start working on the “school volunteer” or “grassroot” options.

As for pricing, the 1883sqft Loft is going at $2.93 million, which translates to around $1556psf. We were told that the psf price for the loft units has already factored in the larger PES and the “double-volume” ceiling. The two 4-bedrooms units (1872sqft) are not released for sale yet, but we understand that they will be priced at least $1800psf. And if the wife and I are really really interested in the 4-bedder apartment, we can always put in a cheque for developer’s consideration. And if there are more interests than units, the sale will be done via balloting. And you think trying to put your kids into good primary school is stressful!

Monthly maintenance wise, these ranges from $408 for the 1 and 2-bedders, $476 – $544 for the 3 and 4-bedders and $476 – $612 for the Penthouses – a tad high but one has to consider the small number of units in this project.

In summary, the wife and I quite like HOLLAND RESIDENCES but not enough to splash in excess of $3 million for a 4-bedrooms unit (IF we have that kind of money to begin with). And we stay true to our original opinion that the developer had better deliver on its promise of a fantastic “water village” view, as there is little else in terms of “view” otherwise. So does HOLLAND RESIDENCES justify the $1625psf and above price tag? Well, 54 buyers within the first week cannot be…erm…wrong, right(?!) But we can just see the marketing people at Parvis rubbing their hands together in glee… price increase…hehe…

View Location & Site Plans here:
http://s942.photobucket.com/albums/ad265/proptalk/Holland%20Res/

View & Download Brochure here:
Holland Res Brochure http://d1.scribdassets.com/ScribdViewer.swf

Do spare us a few seconds of your time…

More than a month and 40 posts later, the wife and I have decided to do a straw poll to see if anyone will actually follow our blog.

We are braced for disappointment, so please say it as it is. Your assistance is much appreciated!

HOLLAND RESIDENCES is selling like hot cakes!

The Business Times today reported that Allgreen Properties have sold 54 units at its Holland Residences condo at Taman Warna released this week. The average price of the 68 units released in the 83-unit project is $1625psf – this figure is weighed down by private enclosed spaces for ground-floor units in the five-storey freehold project.

Singaporean is said to have bought 80% of the units sold. One-bedroom units (601sqft) and two-bedders (957-979sqft) were the first to be snapped up at this week’s preview. The project also has three and four-bedroom units as well as penthouses. Prices of one-bedders start from $1.06 million. Two bedders cost between $1.63 million and $1.73 million. The most expensive unit sold was $3.6 million for a four-bedroom duplex penthouse.

The average price of $1600psf for Holland Residences is higher than the $1500psf at which Ho Bee is selling its nearby Parvis, a 12-storey condo at Holland Hill.

However, there are no one-bedroom units in Parvis; developers typically can command a higher psf price for smaller units as the lumpsum amount is still relatively small. Hence the tendency among some developers to build projects with a higher proportion of smaller units to achieve a higher overall average psf price for the development.

The wife and I have seen the plot of land that Holland Residences sits on – you can actually get quite a bird’s eye view of this from the sales gallery of Parvis, which directly overlook Holland Residences from on top of Holland Hill. The Holland Residences plot does not look very large, and given the 5-storey height limitation on the project, we really hope the pool view is worth it. This is because you are unlikely to get much of a view otherwise, despite the surrounding landed properties.

Having said that, it is immature (and probably unfair too) for us to comment on Holland Residences when we have not actually viewed it. And hopefully by the time we get to do so, there are still units available to keep the showflats going.

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Especially for first time buyers – How much to pay and when?

You have been eyeing a particular new project for ages, gone down to the showflat a dozen times just to be sure it is “The One”, and now finally ready to put money on an apartment unit. So what do you do to complete the purchase and what can you expect in terms of a payment schedule?

Some of you property veterans may find this all too elementary, but here is a rundown on what to expect for the benefit of first time private home buyers:

The following is written based on a Progressive Payment option. The wife and I are no big fans of the Deferred Payment/Interest Adsorption Scheme – there is normally a 2 – 3% premium charged on the purchase price, and you find yourselves facing a hugely inflated monthly housing loan repayment when this finally kicks in.

1. Booking Fee
This is the money you need pay the Developer once you have decided to buy. You can call this the “Option to purchase/Exercising of Option” combined payment. This is typically 5% of the purchase price, and you have to pay this in cash, i.e. cannot utilize your CPF.

In the event that you change your mind about buying the property after you have put in the option, most Developers will allow you to “back out” by imposing a partial forfeiture of this 5% booking fee that you have paid.

2. Completion of Sale
This normally happens between 8 to 10 weeks from the day you put in the 5% option. By now, you would have engaged a conveyance lawyer and a bank to take the housing loan from.

To exercise the option, you need to pay another 15% of the purchase price. This can be paid either in Cash, money from your CPF (subject to fulfilment of all conditions on use of CPF for property purchase) or a mix of Cash/CPF. This 15% payment is paid to your lawyer, who will also collect Stamp Duty and some other fees from you – we will detail these in the next section. The legal fees will usually be fully subsidized by the bank that you are taking the loan from.

And should you decide to change your mind about the purchase after completion of sale, be prepared to forfeit the full 20% and possibly getting sued by the Developer for breach of contract. So if you really need to back out of the purchase at this juncture, a better option is to try and “flip” the unit even if it means suffering a small loss.

3. Stamp Duty and Other Fees
This is the biggest component of legal costs in the purchase of your property. A simple way to calculate this is to multiply the purchase price by 3% and deduct $5,400 from the result.
In addition to the Stamp Duty, there are several other fees that you need to pay:

• Mortgage Stamp Fees – maximum of $500

• Registration fees – This is payment to the Singapore Land Authorities (SLA) in order to register the transaction. Registration is a must to formalize the change in interest in the property. Unfortunately, we cannot remember how much this is, and our web search did us no favor. But it should not come up to be more than a few hundred dollars.

• Disbursements – These are expenses incurred by your lawyer on your behalf. Again, this is not big money, i.e. less than a hundred dollars normally.

4. Progress Payment Schedule
After the completion of sale, the balance payment will be based on a progress payment schedule. The schedule is based on the different stages of completion of work done at the project, as detailed in the Sales & Purchase Agreement.

A sample of such progress payment schedule is shown below. However, this will differ somewhat between Developers/Projects:

Purchase Price: $1,255,180

Progress Payment Scheme(%)             Amount
Booking fees – Paid (5%)                  $  62,759.00
Completion of Sale – Paid (15%)       $188,277.00
Foundation Work (10%)                   $125,518.00
Concrete Framework (10%)             $125,518.00
Brick Walls (5%)                              $  62,759.00
Ceiling Works (5%)                          $  62,759.00
Doors and Windows (5%)                $  62,759.00
Carpark, Roads & Drains (5%)        $  62,759.00
TOP (25%)                                      $313,795.00
Certification of Completion (15%)     $188,277.00

It usually takes up to a year after TOP for the Certification of Completion (CSC) to be obtained. So you usually do not have to pay the last 15% till then.

The bank will take care of the various stages of payment, in accordance to the amount of loan you have taken, and pay the Developer accordingly. The quantum of your loan will increase correspondingly and so will your monthly loan repayment amount.

So there you have it. Happy hunting!

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Private home sales gather pace in January 2010…

The Business Times today reported that developers have sold more than 900 private homes so far this month. With another week to go, the tally is easily expected to cross 1,000 units by month end.

Besides Allgreen Properties’ Holland Residences, which will be previewed this week, Wing Tai is said to be making advanced preparation for an imminent preview of L’Viv at Newton Road. The average price is touted at $1,900-$2,000psf, which is significantly higher than the $1,700psf average price at which Ho Bee is selling its Trilight condo nearby.

Wing Tai is eyeing a higher psf price by offering smaller units. This will keep the absolute lump sum price per unit “affordable” to potential buyers. Deferred payment scheme will also be offered, as Wing Tai had clinched approval for it before the scheme was scrapped in 2007.

L’Viv has a total of 147 units, comprising 1+Study (72 units) of around 600sqft+, and 2+Study (72 units) of about 1000sqft. There are also three penthouses (all 3-bedders).

Trilight does not have any 1-bedders. It has two, three and four-bedrooms units as well as penthouses. The 2-bedders range from 1100 to 1200sqft.

Fortune Development is also slated to begin previewing this week RV Edge in the River Valley/Shanghai Road vicinity. The 108-units freehold project comprises mostly smaller apartments ranging from 1-bedders to 2+Study units, with the smallest unit measuring just 400sqft. Prices are expected to start from $600,000+ per apartment.

And as of yesterday, City Developments Ltd (CDL) has sold 85% or about 150 of the 177 units in total at its Cube 8 condo at Thomson Road, which it began previewing last week. 75% of the units sold are bought by Singaporean, with an equal mix of owner-occupiers and investors. This district 11 freehold project was initially priced at $1250psf on average, but prices were upped 2 – 3% for subsequent releases.

Other than the buying buzz created this month from the release of new projects, a steady stream of activity is also seen at existing projects that have been on the market for at least a few months:

• Ho Bee investment has sold about 60 units at its Parvis condo at Holland Hill and 10 units at Trilight since the start of the year.

• CDL is also understood to have sold more than 50 units at its Livia condo in Pasir Ris this month and the 724-units project is now left with about 10 units.

• UOL Group has sold 25 units at Double Bay Residences in Simei and 18 units at Meadows @Pierce along Upper Thomson Road so far this month.

The UOL Group plans to launch two projects in the first half of this year – a 99-years leasehold condo with 600+ units at Dakota Crescent (near Old Airport Road) and a project with some 170 units on the Rainbow Garden site in the Toh Tuck area.

If any developer is reading this blog, can the wife and I politely request that you spead your launches more evenly over the year? The will certainly help us reduce the existing backlog in our “To View” list, thank you very much!

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VISTA RESIDENCES – Hot off the grapevines!

The wife has received information today that Far East will raise the prices for VISTA RESIDENCES by another 2% come next Monday.

Also, the 4-Bedrooms showflat is now ready for viewing.

So for those of you who are interested in this project, bring your cheque book and head on down to the sales gallery before Monday!

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THE TRIZON (Review)

District: 10
Location: Mount Sinai/Holland
Address: 2, 6 & 8 Ridgewood Close
Developer: Singapore Land Limited (SingLand)
Tenure: Freehold

One wonders why it took us so long to review this particular project, given that it is located almost right at our backyard. But in all fairness, this is the second visit to THE TRIZON for the wife and I – the first was back in November last year. And frankly, the first impression we had on this project was far from good. This is because of a number of “dubious” representations in the 4-Bedroom showflat

• A “Baby Grand” was straddling between the balcony and the living room – now how often do you see that happening in real life?

• The space in front of the main door was “marbled up” – this gave the perception (at least to us) that this space is part of the unit’s area, which in fact it isn’t.

• A loft was built within the “double-volume” master bedroom, and we were told at that time that this is an option at owner’s expense after the Certificate of Completion (CSC) for the project is obtained. However, we found out later that such construction, even if we are prepared to pay for it, may not be approved.

But in the spirit of unbiased reviewing, we decided to revisit the sales gallery of “THE TRIZON” yesterday.

THE TRIZON is a freehold project consisting of 289 apartment units in 3 iconic towers of 24-storey each. It is sited on a 194,000sqft elevated plot – where the former “Himiko Court” used to stand. The entrance to THE TRIZON is located on Ridgewood Close off Mount Sinai Drive. There will also be a side-gate from the development that will lead to the Pandan Valley/ Mount Sinai Drive intersection, from which is a short 3-mins walk to the main Holland Road and about 8-mins walk to Dover MRT Station. The expected TOP of THE TRIZON is end-2014.

Orientation-wise, Tower 8 is located directly opposite to Towers 2 & 6, and separated by the lap-pool. Towers 2 & 6 house the larger 3 and 4-bedroom units, while Tower 8 houses mainly the smaller 2 and 3-bedders. All apartment units are N-S facing.

THE TRIZON is a full-facility condominium project. But as a departure from the many new projects that have exploited sky terraces to their deaths, all the facilities in THE TRIZON are located on ground level. These include

• A 50m lap-pool and other “themed” pools
• A tennis court and a multi-purpose court (* basket-ball court soccer, anyone?)
• Entertainment pavilion with private pool
• Landscape spa alcoves with Jacuzzi
• Jogging track within the development
• Clubhouse – function room/gym/steam rooms

There will also be a total of 312 underground carparks within the development.

There are several unit types available at THE TRIZON

• 2-Bedrooms (55 units): 1012sqft & 1044sqft
• 2+1 Bedrooms (45 units): 1195sqft & 1346sqft
• 3-Bedrooms (95 units): 1550 – 2110sqft
• 4-Bedrooms (83 units): 1959 – 2314sqft
• Penthouses (11 units): 1776 – 7083sqft

When we first visited THE TRIZON, there were 3 showflats within the sales gallery. This time around, only 2 showflats are open for public viewing. The 4-Bedrooms showflat is currently closed for “improvement works”. This made us wonder if we are not the only ones that have issues with the “representations” of the previous 4-bedders showflat.

The first showflat is the 1894sqft, 3-Bedrooms unit ((Type C1a). Access to the unit is via common lifts (no private lifts for this development, sorry!). You get 3.34m high ceiling, marble flooring for the rectangular shaped living/dining area and even the kitchen. However, for a supposed high-end project, the developer can certainly do better than the small 60cm x 30cm marble-slabs that are used for the floors. The balcony is long and rectangular, and takes up almost 250sqft.

There is no dry kitchen, which actually works for this unit as you get more space in the living/dining area. The wet kitchen is good-sized, and comes with full set of top & bottom cabinets. You also get “Smeg” brand hob/hood/oven/dishwasher, “Damixa” kitchen sink/faucet and a built-in single-door fridge (quite small). The yard is definitely big enough for laundry chores, but it may be a challenge to fit a regular-size single bed into the home shelter/maid’s room.

The two common bedrooms are of decent-size, which you will have no problem putting a queen-sized bed into. The common bathroom (quite big) has homogenous tiles for the floor/walls and comes fitted with “Hansgrohe” bathroom accessories.

Now for the master bedroom: this is where the “double-volume” (6.7m) ceiling height comes into play. And this time around, the marketing agent did specify that building a loft here may be possible, but is subjected to approvals from first the MCST and then the BCA, and only after the CSC is obtained. However, there is no guarantee that approvals will be granted. The master bathroom is very elegant, with marble floor/walls, a standing rain-shower and a step-down sunken bath. You also get separate “His/Her” bathroom sinks, which is a nice touch.

The other showflat is the 1012sqft, 2-Bedrooms unit (Type A2). You get the same marble floors, a much smaller rectangular-shaped living/dining area, a rectangular balcony/planter area that takes up about 80sqft, a long strip of a kitchen that comes with top/bottom cabinets and similar kitchen accessories minus the fridge and dishwasher. There is no yard in this unit, and the tiny home shelter is situated in the living room itself (less than ideal).

The common bedroom can probably manage a queen-sized bed, while the common bathroom is surprisingly large for such a smaller-size apartment. The master bedroom is of decent size, and the funny thing about the master bathroom is that there is a tub but no overhead shower – it comes with one of those retractable hand-held showerhead, which you will have to hold on to as you take your shower.

What we like:
• The quality of furnishing and fittings, which we felt is a close second to Parvis. We especially like the luxurious look of the master bathroom.

• All areas (except maybe the home shelter) in both showflats are very regular in shape and highly functional. This is especially important for the smaller units, where space is a premium.

• The location – THE TRIZON is easily accessible from either Mount Sinai Drive or from Pandan Valley. It is also located very close to amenities like Jelita Shopping Centre, Ghim Moh wet market/food centre, Clementi Central Hub & Holland Village, and within walking distance to Dover Road MRT Station.

• The Mount Sinai area is one of the most popular Expat address. So one can expect good rental yields.

What we dislike:
• The 1894sqft 3-bedder unit is actually much smaller than it sounds. If you minus the 250sqft of balcony space and the 118sqft of void area in the master bedroom (* remember the “double-volume” ceiling?), you are left with an “interior” area of about 1526sqft.

• Back to the “double-volume” master bedroom – unless you can really utilize the 6.7 ceiling height, like building a loft, you are basically paying for another 118sqft of useless space above your head. Sure, you can always hang a nice big chandelier in your master bedroom for kicks, but have you considered the complexity involved in keeping it clean? Better get ready that super-long ladder and hope you are not afraid of heights…

• Only one primary school is located within 1-km of THE TRIZON – Henry Park Primary. The only consolation is that the school is co-ed, and if the past three years are anything to go by, no balloting for phase 2C!

The sales gallery for THE TRIZON has been up for about 3 months now. However, the project is supposedly still on private preview basis, with the main launch only happening after the Chinese New Year. At present, only units in Towers 6 & 8 are released for sale. We were told that almost 80% of the 180 units released so far have already been sold – only 7 units of the 2-bedders and 10 units of the 3-bedders remain.

As far as pricing goes, units at THE TRIZON are currently selling at the $1400-1600psf price range. And here is a sample of what you need to pay

• Tower 6, #16-05 (1894sqft, 3-bedder Type C1a) – $2.73 million, or $1441psf
• Tower 8, #16-13 (1550sqft, 3-bedder Type C2) – $2.44 million, or $1574psf

We understand that the layout for Type C1a and C2 are almost similar, with C2 being 344sqft smaller because of

• No double-volume ceiling in master bedroom 
• Smaller kitchen/yard 
• Smaller master bathroom with normal tub instead of sunken bath
• No walk-in closet in master bedroom 

For those who are really interested in THE TRIZON, you may be interested to know that the project is currently already at its 50% progressive payment stage.

On a parting note, the wife and I were really glad that we decided to visit THE TRIZON again yesterday, as our opinion of the project has definitely taken a change for the better. It will probably go into our “To Consider” list now, if we are shopping for a new apartment and have about $2.5 million to spare. But we will probably give units that have “double volume” ceilings a miss. It will also be interesting to see if substantial alterations are made to the 4-Bedroom showflat once they are done “renovating” it.

View Pictures and Floor Plans here:
http://s942.photobucket.com/albums/ad265/proptalk/Trizon/

Want to know how much you actually made out of that property sale?

After our recent post titled Just when you think you have made that tidy profit “flipping”… (January 20th), we have received a request for a working spreadsheet to calculate the “Nett Profit” of a property sale after deducting all known costs.

And being the obliging people that the wife and I are, here is a downloadable spreadsheet that allows you to do just that… or at least put you around the ballpark.

The usual disclaimer follows (refer to spreadsheet). The calculation will probably apply for both old and new properties, but we reckon it will work better with new property that is unconstructed/under construction, as the “costs” associated with old properties may be more complicated than what we have envisaged.

Have fun!

DOWNLOAD ‘Nett Profit Calculator’

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VERDANA VILLAS (Review)

District: 19
Location: Serangoon/Lorong Chuan
Address: Grace Walk
Developer: Far East Organization
Tenure: Freehold

It is bad enough when you have a marketing agent that does not know what he is talking about. It is even worse when he cannot even sell to the right audience. This was what the wife and I encountered when we visited the sales gallery for VERDANA VILLAS yesterday.

The conversation went something like this:
Him: Welcome to Verdana Villas! Looking for a house for own-stay or investment?
Me: Own-stay.
Him: Then Verdana is the best choice. Our houses are much lower priced compared to the $4 – 6 million you have to pay for similar cluster-house projects in Lornie Road.
Me: But Lornie Road is like District 11, whereas you are District 19. So it’s not exactly “apple to apple” is it?
Him: ……..
Him: Your children are studying? You know, we are located near very good schools like the French School, Australian School….
Me: Er…. We are buying for our own-stay, and we are neither Australian nor French. So what good are these schools to us even if they are right next door?
Him: ……………….

Humour aside, VERDANA VILLAS is a freehold cluster housing project located at Grace Walk, off Lorong Chuan. It sits on a long strip of land of about 104,000sqft, and consists of 54 units of cluster Semi-D and 2 units of Bungalows. The vehicle entrance into VERDANA VILLAS is via Grace Walk, while vehicle will exit into Lorong Chuan. There will also be two side-gates located along Grace Walk for those on foot. All villas have five floors – basement, ground, second, third and roof terrace. The expected TOP of this project is in December 2014.

VERDANA VILLAS is developed by the Novelty Group. For the uninitiated, Novelty Group is a mid-sized developer that is responsible for several medium to high-end projects like Lucida (Suffolk Road), Iridium (Newton), Luma (St. Thomas Walk) and the infamous Amanusa (Yio Chu Kang Road) – where Novelty was taken to court by the Amanresorts in Bali for violation of “well known mark” over the use of the “Amanusa” name.

The sizes of units available at VERDANA VILLAS are
5-Bedrooms Semi-D Villa: 4327 – 4951sqft
6-Bedrooms Bungalow Villa: 8019 & 9128sqft

In terms of facilities, there is really not much to shout about, which is typical of cluster-housing developments. You get a 20m lap-pool, steam bath/gym and 2 carpark lots per villa in the basement. Visitors will have to find their own roadside parking along Grace Walk.

The bungalow villas come with your own private pools on the ground level, while all the Semi-D villas have a 13m lap-pool on their rooftops. Each villa also comes with your own home lift, which is handy for those who are not particularly enthusiastic about stairs-climbing. The “built-in” area in each level of the Semi-D villa is supposedly 13.5m x 5m, which gives you about 730sqft per floor. This area excludes most of the PES space on the ground floor, which can vary quite a bit in size depending on the actual villa you select. We will not elaborate on the villa layouts, as you may see these for yourself in the e-brochure below.

There is no “showflat” per se at the sales gallery – what you get is a “representation” of the living/dinning/ kitchen and the master bedroom/bathroom areas, which will give you some idea of the space as well as the quality of furnishing & fittings you can expect to get with your villa.

At least part of the Living/Dining area in each Semi-D villa comes with double volume ceiling (6m) and 90cm x 90cm large marble-slabs flooring. The dry kitchen top is equipped with its own induction cooker and hood. The wet kitchen is surprisingly small, with possibly just enough space for two people to work in. “Scholites” brand hob/hood/oven/microwave are provided, as well as a small single-door “Teka” fridge. The master bedroom looks quite big and has ample wardrobe space. The master bathroom has marble floors/walls, separate tub and rain-shower cubicle, and you get “Duravit” brand bathroom sink/toilet bowl and “Gessi” bathroom fittings.

What we like:
• The “built-in” area for VERDANA VILLAS, if it is indeed 730sqft/floor for the Semi-D villas, is a more accurate representation of the house area you are actually buying as compared to, say, ESTRIVILLAS (reviewed on 27th Dec 2009). There is definitely much lesser of what the wife and I deemed as “unaccounted for” space for the former.

• The quality of furnishing and fittings – the large marble-slabs in the living/dining room look really nice, while the master bathroom is also very elegant.

• Guests can actually enter your house from the ground level – there is a gate at the PES in front of your villa. Once through the gate, you arrive at a door that opens into the living room. This is unlike ESTRIVILLAS, whereby for most of the units, your guests can only enter your house via the “main door” in the basement or through the back-door in the kitchen on the ground level.

What we dislike:
• The small wet kitchen, which is a major complaint with the wife as she does quite a bit of “heavy duty” cooking.

• Grace Walk is actually a rather narrow road, with a row of terrace houses on the opposite side. So finding roadside parking may be a problem since you have to compete for spaces with the terrace house owners with multiple cars.

• VERDANA VILLAS is marketed to be within close proximity of amenities, e.g. Chomp-chomp, Lorong Chuan MRT and the upcoming Nex Mall – which is supposed to be the regional mall in Serangoon Central. But as far as we are concerned, none of these are really within comfortable walking distances from the development. So you risk getting a heat stroke or drenched if you intend to walk to these places. Your nearest “supermart” is probably the CALTEX station across the road from Lorong Chuan, which also sells “Old Chang Kee” curry puffs.

• Traffic along Lorong Chuan/Serangoon Garden Way during rush hours can be a nightmare, while your most direct access to the city/CBD area is via the CTE. And you probably know by now how much the wife and I “love” the CTE.

• The only primary school that is within 1-km of VERDANA VILLAS is CHIJ Our Lady of Good Counsel – not much of a choice and none for those with boys.

As of yesterday, 20 of the 56 villas in VERDANA VILLAS have been sold. This includes one of the bungalow (9128sqft). With regard to price, this varies slightly depending on the actual unit you are interested in. As an illustration, the Semi-D villa #33, which is 4456sqft, will cost you $2.96 million. This translates to around $664psf.

In summary, the wife and I believe that VERDANA VILLAS is an “acquired” taste – the development will probably appeal most to those who are already living around the Yio Chu Kang/Serangoon/Hougang area. And until they do something about the unpredictable nature of traffic on the CTE, we will probably give it a miss.

View Pictures and Site Plan here:
http://s942.photobucket.com/albums/ad265/proptalk/Verdana%20Villa/

View E-Brochure and Floor Plans here:
VerdanaVillas http://d1.scribdassets.com/ScribdViewer.swf

Another sign of pickup in the luxury property market?

The Business Times yesterday reported that CapitaLand has rung in more sales from Urban Suites. It has now sold 126 units – 90% of the 140 launched to date, and 76% of the 165 in the freehold project located in the Cairnhill area.

CapitaLand launched the second phase of this project recently, and has sold another 66 units. These include homes sold in Jakarta last weekend. The units went for $2500 – 2800psf. Prices rose by 4% from the $2400 – 2700psf range in the first phase of the launch.

All the two-bedders and many of the three-bedders have been sold. Two of the five penthouses available were also picked up, one for around $8.6 million and the other over $9 million.

On the whole, some 70% of the buyers were foreigners, from countries such as Indonesia, China, Australia and Canada. Indonesians alone made up 40% of buyers.

The wife and I have heard that viewing at Urban Suites is by invitation only. So we will advise you not to hold your breath waiting for our review on this project. This is unless someone from CapitaLand is reading this… and be so kind to send us an invite….anyone?

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