Bungalow Binjai Park District 11 for Rent 25-05-2008

Bungalow Binjai Park District 11 for Rent 25-05-2008

RESIDENTIAL

BUNGALOW @ Binjai Park for RENT

100 Bnjai Park

Distict 11, Binjai Park bungalow (single storey). In-ground pool, 15,500 sq ft, large patio, huge garden, beautiful landscaping, very quiet, greenery, cosy home, 4+1 bedroom + family, living & dining room.  Build-in Approx : 5,000 Sq Ft .

Rental asking: $22,000 / month

Available : Available
FOR SALE :

Price: View To Offer

Buy, Sell, Rent, Invest, In Singapore

MINDY YONG

( +65 ) 91002985

mindy@mindyyong.com ( email me )

http://www.hotvictory.com

Singapore Kallang River surroundings poised for boom time

Singapore Kallang River surroundings poised for boom time 

Waterside district with lush greenery has potential to be leading residential enclave, say analysts, pointing out its proximity to town and good public transport

By Fiona Chan, Property Reporter 
Walking, jogging and cycling are just some of the outdoor activities that residents of the 4,000 new homes in the area can enjoy. 
 
 
Finally, a bit of news to cheer the ailing housing market: The drab, neglected area north of Kallang River is to be Singapore’s next lifestyle hot spot.
Four thousand new waterfront homes, all to be built by private developers, are slated to come up in the area in the next 15 years.

They will offer cool green living in a lush park setting, as well as resort-style beachfront housing near the water’s edge.

Kallang Riverside will also be transformed into a lively commercial hub and leisure destination, with enough space for 400,000 sq m of offices and shops and 3,000 hotel rooms.

All this was announced by the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) on Friday as part of its latest Master Plan, which guides Singapore’s land use policy in the medium term.

Property consultants say the new Kallang district, bounded by Lavender and Kallang MRT stations on the northern corners and the Kallang River to the south, has the potential to become a premier residential enclave.

‘The area is near town, yet next to the beach, it reminds me of places like the Gold Coast,’ said Mr Danny Yeo, the deputy managing director of property firm Knight Frank.

He lauded the exclusivity of the area, which is bounded by waterways on all sides except for Kallang Road to the north.

‘It’s resort living on the fringe of the city. Many people will want to live there.’

Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL)’s head of South-east Asia research, Mr Chua Yang Liang, called the area ‘a hybrid of the current two waterfront areas, Marina Bay and Sentosa’.

Over the last couple of years, demand for waterfront homes has strengthened and the limited supply of such properties has led to their prices surging to a level beyond the grasp of many Singaporeans, he said.

‘This new district may help make similar projects available to the man in the street.’

Mr Karamjit Singh, the managing director of property consultancy Credo Real Estate, drew a comparison with Novena, another prime city-fringe area, instead.

He highlighted the fact that Kallang is served by two MRT stations, making it a very desirable residential and office location.

‘Kallang has the potential of becoming the new Novena, purely because it’s that close to town.’

Lots to choose from

A range of housing options will be available in Kallang Riverside, if all goes according to the Master Plan.

Most of the homes will be set on the western bank of the river in an area called The Green, which will have a park running down the middle.

Low-rise apartment blocks will face the park, with high-rise condominiums soaring behind them.

The Government has set aside several plots for high-density housing here, with varying plot ratios for different building heights, noted Mr Li Hiaw Ho, the executive director of CB Richard Ellis Research.

This will allow for a ’step-down’ range of storey heights that descend towards the waterfront, enabling residents in the top floors of each building to enjoy views of the water.

Homes that are directly fronting the park or the river will also be encouraged to go ‘fenceless’ to create a seamless blend of parkland, beachfronts and buildings, said the URA.

Landed homes may also make an appearance nearer the beaches, said JLL’s Mr Chua.
City-fringe prices

Kallang may sound like a first-class place to live, but expect to pay top dollar for homes there.

Property values are expected to soar in the area, especially for the planned new homes. The surrounding residences will not feel any impact for the next few years, but prices may rise once the area starts taking shape, predicted property experts.

Most of the housing estates nearby are made up of HDB flats.

Currently, the only condominium in the area is the upcoming Riverine by the Park, along Kallang Road near the river. Nearby is Citylights, at Jellicoe Road near Lavender MRT station.

Units were recently sold at Riverine for $1,600 per sq ft (psf) and at Citylights for $1,000 to $1,300 psf.

Across the river, condos in Tanjong Rhu have been sold for as low as $750 psf at Tanjong Ria Condo and for more than $1,600 psf at Casuarina Cove.

Knight Frank’s Mr Yeo believes home prices in the new Kallang will be ‘a shade below those in Orchard, and probably comparable to those in Newton and Novena’, with waterfront homes costing even more.

Mr Chua expects prices to be about 10 per cent to 15 per cent lower than those currently commanded by Marina Bay and Sentosa, which range from $1,700 psf to $2,700 psf.

‘The plans will bring the population back into Kallang and increase demand for the surrounding properties,’ he said.

Already, buyers are being drawn to HDB flats in the area because of the high prices of private homes and the conservation charm of Kallang, Mr Chua said.

‘It’s still a little sleepy town now, and there won’t be much short-term impact, but in the medium to long term, we should see price movements there.’
EMERGING HOT SPOT

Under the URA’s latest Master Plan, Kallang Riverside will be transformed into a lively commercial hub and leisure destination, with enough space for 400,000 sq m of offices and shops and 3,000 hotel rooms.

Knight Frank’s Mr Danny Yeo likens the area to city-fringe resort living, as it reminds him of Australia’s Gold Coast, with the district being near town and yet next to the beach.

Jones Lang LaSalle’s Mr Chua Yang Liang calls the area ‘a hybrid of the current two waterfront areas, Marina Bay and Sentosa’
Source : Straits Times  - 25 May 2008

Singapore Property - Buy, Sell, Rent, Invest

Mindy Yong

(+65)91002985

mindy@mindyyong.com

Start early, and time is on your side

Start early, and time is on your side
 
You need not be a whiz to save enough to retire; just start early and let your money compound

By Lorna Tan, Finance Correspondent 

 
It’s embarrassing to say this because it makes me seem money-minded, but I sleep with my financial calculator at my side.

The reason is very simple.

I enjoy playing with figures, and one of my favourite bedtime activities is punching different permutations of numbers into my calculator to work out the number of years it will take for me to fill up my pot of gold, which to me means financial independence.

It never fails to amaze me that it is possible to grow a modest sum into a sizeable one simply through the power of compounding.

For instance, do you know that $68 a month invested for annual returns of 8 per cent over 30 years will generate a sum of $102,020? But if your investment horizon is shorter, say, 10 years, you will need a larger monthly sum of $554 invested at the same rate of 8 per cent to generate $102,020.

Pay yourself first
When you sit down to sort out your bills, the first cheque you write should be to yourself. Work out what you can realistically save every month and pay that ‘bill’ first by depositing the money in the bank or investing it. Then, and only then, pay your other bills. Start with a modest sum and stick to it. Set aside more when your income goes up. If you get a bonus, sock part of it away.
 
Consider this: If you start saving at the age of 20, putting away $2,000 a year until you reach 30, and you continue to stay invested without any further input of cash till you turn 63, you will have nearly the same amount of money socked away as a person who also saves $2,000 every year but starts a decade later, between the ages of 30 and 62.

To illustrate this, let’s assume Mr A started a yearly investment of $2,000 at age 20 and stayed invested for 10 years, at a rate of return of 6 per cent. Then, from age 30 to 63, he allowed his investment to continue growing at 6 per cent without any further annual inputs of $2,000. At age 63, his investment would total about $191,150.

In contrast, take the case of Mr B, who embarked on a yearly investment of $2,000 only when he turned 30. He must continue putting in $2,000 a year all the way till he turns 62 before the total value of his investment grows to about $192,690.

A handy and easy tool that illustrates the effects of compounding is the Rule of 72.

To work out how long it would take for your investment to double in value, divide 72 by the expected percentage return. With a return of, say, 9 per cent a year, to double your money, you would need eight years, that is, 72 divided by nine.

This means that if you invest $10,000 in an instrument that gives you an annual return of 6 per cent, that sum would double to $20,000 after 12 years.

I’ve concluded that to make compounding work for you, two things have to be present: a good savings discipline and a long investment time horizon.
Set up a saving routine and stick to it

Let’s look at the first one. Without the discipline to save, there can be no surplus for investments.

Not long ago, I ran into a former colleague who complained that she was unable to save every month, after settling her bills and paying for entertainment. It was clear to me what the problem was: She was paying others before she paid herself. Being disciplined about saving includes learning to ‘pay yourself first’.

It is not that difficult to make savings your priority. Decide how much you can realistically save by taking into account your monthly liabilities. Start with a modest sum and stick to it. Increase this portion when your income goes up. Don’t spend all your year-end bonuses.

Over the years, I have found that most people have trouble saving for the long term. They might be disciplined at the beginning and save for a short time, but then, they throw caution to the wind by blowing all their hard-earned savings away on some big-ticket purchase such as a holiday or a car.

I have money automatically channelled from my pay and deposited into regular savings plans so I have no access to it. After all, if I don’t see it, I’m much less likely to spend it.

Financial experts typically advise clients to save 20 per cent of their pay. Learn to distinguish between needs and wants, limit expenditure on depreciating assets such as consumables and live beneath your means. Don’t give in to compulsive buying habits and make it a habit to question every purchase.
Start as early as you can

The second factor required to make compounding work for you is a long-time horizon. This refers to the amount of time you have before you actually need to cash in your investments.

Generally, if you have less than one year, your investments should be kept liquid, in savings and money market funds. If you have a medium- to long-term horizon of five to 10 years, your money should be kept in a mix of cash, lower-volatility instruments such as fixed income, and equities.

If you have an even longer horizon, you have enough time on your side to ride out the volatility of investing in equities, so more of your investments could be channelled there, depending on your risk appetite.

This is why it’s just good sense to start saving early as well as regularly. In fact, get started as soon as you get a job because you will have more time on your side. Check out regular saving schemes, which include savings plans offered by banks as well as insurance plans. Many unit trusts also let you make regular savings plan contributions from as little as $100 to $200 a month.

We work hard for our money, so let’s make sure our money works just as hard for us. Focus on the long term and make time your best ally.

 
Source : Straits Times  - 25 May 2008

Singapore Property - Buy, Sell, Rent, Invest

Mindy Yong

(+65)91002985

mindy@mindyyong.com

New rules keep you in the know - Singapore

New rules keep you in the know  - Singapore

New measures are in place to improve the disclosure standards for participating life insurance policies. Lorna Tan navigates through the changes.

 
If you own a whole life or endowment insurance policy, you can expect more information on your plan to come your way.
This is in line with recent measures taken to close the information gap surrounding what are known as participating life or ‘par’ policies.

To recap, premiums paid by policyholders for their ‘par’ plans go into a common pool called the ‘par’ fund and is invested in a variety of assets, with bonuses paid out from surpluses.

Such traditional policies are popular in Singapore, with 3.5 million ‘par’ policies with total assets of more than $50 billion.

Yet, despite their popularity, many policyholders had been dissatisfied with the way funds were administered and bonuses were declared.

Most insurers did not disclose the returns or losses of their funds, the target returns and payout levels, or the funds’ investment strategy and allocation mix.

With the new measures implemented since March, all this is set to change.

They include a revised benefit illustration with two projected rates of returns, which is meant to help policyholders understand that cash bonuses are not guaranteed and will vary depending on several factors. Also, it is now compulsory for insurers to disclose how they invest the premiums collected as well as their past performance.

The changes reflect the industry’s effort to improve consumers’ understanding of ‘par’ policies so that they can make informed decisions.

What information should you receive now?

You will receive three sales documents from your adviser before you purchase a participating policy. They are:
Your Guide to Life Insurance;

A Product Summary; and

A Benefit Illustration.
The guide contains general information on life insurance, while the product summary describes the features of the particular policy you intend to buy.

In the latter, look out for the investment strategy of the insurer and the key factors that would affect future non-guaranteed bonuses.

For instance, a recent product summary for NTUC Income’s Vivolife product states that its ‘par’ fund currently has this investment mix: 31 per cent goes into equity, 52 per cent into fixed income, 5 per cent into loans, 6 per cent into properties and 6 per cent into cash.

The summary also provides the annual investment yield and expense ratio - a reflection of how much of the assets are soaked up by costs - of the fund from 2005.

While the product summary is a compulsory requirement, the guide to participating policies is provided at the customer’s request.

When you bought your policy, your insurance agent may have shown you a schedule, also known as the benefit illustration, of how much the cash value of your policy is projected to grow over time.

He may have told you that your policy ‘breaks even’ after a certain number of years, meaning the cash value starts to exceed the premiums you pay.

You would be told that you will receive a certain amount in cash when you surrender the policy.
Bonus rates not guaranteed

Your ‘par’ policy provides a combination of guaranteed cash benefits and non-guaranteed benefits in the form of bonuses.

Do note that the bonus rates used in this illustration are not guaranteed and may vary according to the performance of the ‘par’ fund.

In line with the changes, the revised benefit illustrations will now show two projected investment rates of return - 3.75 per cent and 5.25 per cent.

Insurers may vary in their assumed rates, but they should not exceed the higher rate of 5.25 per cent, which is set by the Life Insurance Association (LIA).

Before March, only one rate - with the corresponding values through the duration of the policy - was illustrated in the table. This led many policyholders to believe mistakenly that the illustrated values were guaranteed, when in reality, they were not.
Bonuses paid from ‘par’ fund surpluses

The cash value and exactly when your policy breaks even depend on the amount of annual or reversionary bonuses declared each year and the terminal bonus.

The latter is paid only at the time of death or when the policy is cashed out.

Annual bonuses are surpluses that insurers set aside from the ‘par’ fund. Once declared, they are considered vested or guaranteed in the plan and this increases your policy value.

Factors that determine the level of bonuses include:
Investment performance or how skilfully your life insurer has invested the premiums. This is usually the most significant factor determining the amount of bonuses declared.

Level of expense allocated to the ‘par’ fund.

Claims of death or sickness paid out from the ‘par’ fund.
Still, policyholders cannot assume that a record investment yield for a particular year will translate into immediate and bountiful bonuses.

This is because a key feature of all ‘par’ plans is that the bonuses are ’smoothed’ over the duration of the plan as the insurer manages the bonuses allocated each year.

This means that during good years, the insurer will set aside some of the surplus in the fund in order to ride out the bad years.

This ’smoothing’ allows insurers to manage through good and bad times, and it also means that any bonus change will be gradual.

The issue of bonus payouts has been a source of discontent among many policyholders.

To make matters worse, there have been cases of insurers that used high projections to sell their policies, but reduced the terminal bonuses before they were due to be paid.

Of late, Income has cut the annual bonus payouts of existing and new policies. Instead, it plans to assign more as terminal bonuses, which are paid only at the time of death or when the policy is cashed out.

Although this reshaping of the bonus structure has met with much resistance from former chief executive Tan Kin Lian and several customers who claim that it is a bad deal, Income is expected to go ahead with it.

Prior to the new measures, customers were left in the dark about how bonus payouts affected the value of their policies.
Annual bonus update

Going forward, you will receive an annual bonus update. This will include information about:
The performance of the participating fund and its outlook.

The bonuses allocated, if any, to your policy for that year.
You will also receive an update of the projected total maturity value for endowment policies, or the revised total surrender value for whole life policies, whenever there is a change in the bonuses declared.

In order to rein in your expectations, it is prudent to request, on a regular basis, a benefit illustration showing future non-guaranteed benefits based on the insurer’s latest best estimate of the future performance of the ‘par’ fund.
Comparing investment yields of insurers

Now that the investment yields and expense ratios of each insurer have made it to the public domain, it seems the next logical step is to compare and rank them.

After all, consumers would want to go with an insurer that can boast of high investment yields and low expense ratios.

However, LIA president Mark O’Dell cautioned against doing this. This is because at present, the current information provided may not be sufficient for consumers to accurately judge the performance of insurers.

‘The investment yields disclosed in the current product summary may not apply to all ‘par’ policies sold by that company, as the par fund could be segregated by sub-groups,’ he said.

Moving forward, the LIA will work on enhancing the transparency of such policies by providing information on how the ‘par’ fund is operated, as well as the principles that are used to determine bonus payouts, he added.

The industry will also work on improving consistency in reporting their ‘par’ fund figures.

So what should policyholders look out for when shopping for a plan?

‘In evaluating policies, individuals should consider the level of guarantees, the company’s investment allocation strategy and its associated risk profile and whether the current bonus scale is supportable with the current returns,’ suggests Mr O’Dell.
 
Source : Straits Times  - 25 May 2008

Singapore Property - Buy, Sell, Rent, Invest

Mindy Yong

(+65)91002985

mindy@mindyyong.com