A Prospect Reaches Out

What you see above are the two latest awards (placed in agency’s top 2%) I received prior to writing this post.

Just to show you I’ve been working 😅

Interestingly, more overseas-based buyers started reaching out to me in the second half of 2021.

Check out these stats:

In 2020, 3,631 foreign buyers bought private properties in Singapore.

In 2021, this figure increased by 75.48% to 6,372.

Do you reckon the above figures came into the government’s thinking when they increased the ABSD (Additional Buyer Stamp Duty) to 30% for foreigners on 16 December 2021?

What would happen to prices had ABSD stayed at 20%?

Will the new cooling measure lead to a price correction or simply a pause in price increases?

Does this mean game over for foreign buyers?

Well, maybe not for all of them.

Two weeks ago, I had spent some time with a foreign buyer who had entered Singapore via the vaccinated travel lane (VTL).

The increase in ABSD doesn’t impact him as he is an American.

Ok, enough of this market update.

This post is supposed to be a personal update 🙂

To let you know that I’m still active in real estate.

So what have I been up to?

On A Personal Front

(a) Project Reno

For almost the entire first half of 2021, I was predominantly busy planning, taobao-ing & overseeing the renovation work for my mum’s new place.

The project took up a lot of my time (March to August).

Way too much.

But I thoroughly enjoyed it.

I had so much fun that I decided to write a post in a Facebook renovation group (Budget Reno) detailing my renovation journey & experience.

A 9,000-word post no less 😂

If you are renovating your place for the 1st time, you might find that post insightful.

By the way, please don’t be mistaken.

I was still doing real estate work that landed on my lap during that period.

And delivering results for my clients ✌🏻

I simply wasn’t actively prospecting or updating my website 🙂

(b) PSLE Year

2021 was a PSLE year for my second child.

She was among the first batch of primary six students to undergo a new PSLE scoring system.

There was a lot of ferrying & watching over her.

The usual parenting stuff, you know.

But only with greater intensity since it was a PSLE year 😅

Happy to share it all went well.

My girl is now happily settled into her first choice secondary school.

However, this new chapter in 2022 means that I have to wake up earlier every day at 5.43am (really!) to prepare breakfast for everyone… before starting my ferrying duty (4 stops!) 🚗

(c) Covid-19 Positive

Unfortunately, three different covid-19 episodes disrupted my family in the last quarter of 2021.

The first episode happened before my daughter’s PSLE.

That gave us a bit of a scare.

The other two episodes happened after the PSLE was over.

Thankfully, we were in the 98% group that experienced very mild symptoms.

Next best thing to happen?

My weight went down by 5kg with minimal effort.

Simply by healthy & proportionate eating while serving my isolation.

Oh yeah! 💪🏻

I’m now more conscious of what I eat.

(d) Website Revamp

Doing a website revamp is my number one priority right now.

Ok, maybe number two because making sure I deliver results for my clients will always be the number one priority.

Brainstorming for the revamp started in August 2021 when Project Reno ended.

I’m doing everything (design, content writing/re-writing & development) myself because I still retain a keen interest in web development.

I know what I want best.

Unfortunately, the various points I shared above have impacted the progress of the revamp work.