Selling advice needed for 1st time seller

Chan82 — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 01:44:08 +0800

Hi all, being a first time seller, I need advice from you sifus out there.

I had received the keys to an apartment last year and put it up for sale for almost 8 months to date.

2 months ago, I applied to refinance it as the previous bank (local) gave higher rates and also, terrible service as they were not very helpful with my questions. I actually banked in more money (around 10k) as repayment but they hadn't noticed and hadn't contacted me with options for me. I then wanted to withdraw that extra money but they won't let me even though I appealed.

I realized nothing was done by the bank when I received the keys and so I decided to refinance it with another bank 2 months ago.

Out of the blue, a buyer contacted me almost a month ago and had a look at the apartment, liked what he saw and we agreed at 1XXk. Please note that, being a noob, I didn't ask for any deposit as the buyer said he wanted to apply for a home loan first and if he got it, then he will buy the apartment off me. I then intro-ed my homeloan banker friend to him and he applied for the homeloan via my banker friend.

While the buyer was waiting for response on his application of home loan, my refinancing bank lawyer contacted me and said that there was 2.5% left which my developer had not billed to the previous bank. I am not too sure what this 2.5% is but the lawyer explained that it won't be billed before 12-18 months after handover of keys as this is a move to protect the owner from defects and the developer can use that 2.5% to repair those defects. So that 12-18 months is some sort of protection/warranty for owners against the developer. My 1st question: Can someone explain this?

Anyway, back to my scenario, my 2nd question: can I request the buyer to add 2.5% to the 1xxk since I do not want to fork this out on my own? * I am surprised that even I want to sell the property, I have to pay to sell...*

A day after my refinancing bank lawyer's call, the buyer called me to say that his homeloan is approved and we should meet up soon to draw a SnP.

I've been reading this forum so I know I can use his lawyer to arrange this and save cost on my side here.

Also, today, another person called me to ask to view my apartment and I've set it within the next 7 days.

My 3rd question is: if this person offers me a higher price, do I have the right to cancel my initial arrangement with the other buyer who applied for the homeloan since this buyer may offer me a higher price? Technically, I hadn't accepted any $ booking/deposit from the other buyer and the only paper drawn was the agreement paper which the buyer and I signed which indicates who and where we both are staying and the selling price agreed on :1XXk so that he can apply for that homeloan.

I wish to minimize my loss as I have only aimed 5% more than my purchase price as the selling price initially so that I won't have such a hard time attracting buyers. 5% is to cover interests and all those additional $ to pay to buy it back then. So, I really not making anything from this. I may even be making a loss. But I am willing to go through this with that as long as I do not have to fork out this 2.5% by myself.

What will you all advise? Please respond ASAP. I am losing sleep over this being a first time seller. Many thanks in advance.

Lowyat.NET: Latest topics by Chan82

Selling advice needed for 1st time seller