well, read what LF's said. It's a conundrum. What's the right
thing to do for one group, would be the wrong thing to do for
another. There are two sides of this coin. Of course, from your
side of the coin right now, it'll be the wrong thing to do.
But let's look at it from another angle shall we ? Why is assets
appreciation and wealth creation important ? Because in practically
every country in the world, especially ones with first world
economies, housing represents your single biggest cost over your
lifetime. It takes up the largest chunk of your income. It would
also be your single biggest asset.
Now imagine the single thing that you've spent the most amount
of money you've made on, can only remain a black hole, and a
neccessary one, because the value of which is not allowed to
appreciate via a free market mechanism.
Would you be happy ? I'm sure you'd be cursing the
powers-that-be just as much then.
And further more, it's not always correct that you'll always
loose out when you sell your flat and get another one cos you'd be
hit with the double whammy of another COV all over again. I'll give
you an example. The last HDB transaction I was involved in, this
family lived in a 4 room flat, when the childre reached their teens
and needed a room each they applied for a 5 room BTO and got it.
When they sold their 4 room, they got it for more than what the 5
room cost. So their new house practically paid for itself, even
after levy. Shiok neh ? Of course, try selling the idea of no COV
to the family.
People buy and sell their flats for all sort of reasons. I've
seen it all, people selling to pay off gambling debts, to cash in
to travel around the world, to pay for the kid's cambridge law
degree, to upgrade to condo, to get out of bankruptcies, to pay off
a particularly huge overseas medical bill. Regardless of the
reasons, it is important to all these people that they were able to
monetize their assets. In some cases their lives depend on it. If
they weren't able to get a premium on what they paid for the flats,
they would all be quite farked.These are the people on the other
side of the coin you're standing on.
People like to blame property agent chaps for high prices of
course, it comes with the turf. But I tell you, our instincts is
actually to push down the prices to make the deal go quicker. Let
me work out the sums for you. our commission averages 1%, so for
every 10,000 we can wheedle up in prices, we'd only make $100 more
... in terms of opportunity costs, we'd much prefer to close the
deal as quickly as possible, instead of sqeezing out a further 10
or 20k from the buyer, and move on to sell another house, where we
may pick up another 10k instead of 100 bucks.
MY side of the coin is that of the hapless single who will never
qualify for BTOs, never get married, can't afford a condo, and is
forced to look at the open market to secure a roof over his/her
head. and from our point of view, COV is a very bad idea.
