Jul 31, 2007

Buying additional car park when purchasing condo unit

Most condominium units are packaged with a minimum of two car parks or more if the unit is big in built-up area but the majority of the condo units that are for sale by developers today come packaged with only two car parks for each unit. For most of the project, developer usually plan additional car parks either to be used as visitor car parks or waiting to be sold to those interested to purchase additional car park. Purchasing of car park can be also a form of investment if the car park allocated is two or less for each unit. Even at current time, two car parks may not be sufficient for some family with more than two cars which are rather common today. Therefore if one has additional car park, the car park can also be rented out to those who need additional car park. Good new is owning additional car park does not resulted in additional maintenance charges as the monthly maintenance charges is computed based on built-up area of the condo unit. Thus having additional car provide additional avenue for one to earn additional rental income without too much financial commitment. A note of caution though, if the car parks allocated for each unit is more than two then renting out the car park may not be feasible.

Jul 30, 2007

Things to note when buying highrise condo unit (part VII) - land status

Another aspect that condo buyer need to take note of is the land status of the development project which he or she is intending to purchase a unit. The land status can either be in residential or commercial. If the land status is commercial, one can expect that the quit rent, assessment and the utilities bills will be charged at commercial rate which is higher than the rate for residential status. For those who are buying for own occupation, this may mean higher maintenance cost for the unit. For those buying for rental yield, while the utilities bill may most likely be paid by the tenant, the higher quit rent and assessment may translate to a lower rental yield.

Jul 24, 2007

Things to note when buying highrise condo unit (part VI) - air-con piping

Air conditioning is such an integral part of condo living today, a three rooms condo would need five aircon units, one for each room and one each for living and dining area. Most of the high end condo units are designed with a designated area for aircon compressor unit and these area are usually accessible through windows or balcony for ease of future maintenance. Some of the reputable developers have even included the aircon units in their sale package and for those who don't, they probably have included the aircon electrical points as well as the piping for the aircon units. However, there are some that only provide the aircon points without the piping.

Therefore when one is comparing between different projects, be sure to compare apple to apple and take into consideration the cost involved in the installation of those aircon piping as well as the drain pipe for the aircon units. While the air compressor units are required to be placed at certain designated area, the drain pipe would most ideally be required to be taken to bathroom and most of the time require certain hacking and patching which sometime can involve replacement of floor tiles and most probably will require repainting of certain area.

Some developers will include aircon units and piping and sell the units at slightly higher price while some will sell at lower price and provide only the electrical points.

Jul 22, 2007

Things to note when buying highrise condo unit (part V) - refuse area

All highrise condo block are designed with a refuse room at every floor to allow the residents to dispose off their rubbish without taking it to the ground floor. When one is buying a condo unit, what is normally given by the sale person to the potential buyer is a beautiful brochure that shows the location plan, site plan, floor plans, building perspective, specifications and all other information that the developer wants the buyer to know. Thing like the exact location of the refuse room is never clearly indicated in the brochure, the refuse room is normally located at the common area at each floor and because there are many other facilities like the riser duct, escape staircase, meter room etc within the common area, it is inevitably that the refuse room will be closer to certain units. Therefore always ask the sale person specifically where is the exact location of the refuse room before finalising on the purchase. You sure would not want to end up buying a unit where the refuse room is close to your unit.

However if the unit that you like is close to the refuse room, then make very sure that the refuse room is designed with double doors, two layers of door whereby if a door is not fully closed, chances that the other set of door will be closed, which mean that when a resident wanted to dispose off rubbish in the refuse room , he or she will have to go through one door after another. The two sets of door will minimise the smell of rubbish from escaping from the refuse room.

Jul 19, 2007

Things to note when buying highrise condo (part IV) - car parks

Condominium for sale from developer especially those high end condominium is packaged with a minimum of two car parks as accessory parcel to the sale & purchase agreement. The car parks are already allocated for each unit of condo unit before the sale and when one is buying a condo, always ask for the car park layout to ensure that you like the car parks location as much as you like that particular condo unit. The two or three car parks allocated are usually in the same location, usually side by side. Recently a friend has purchased a condo unit and she forgot to check the car park layout and she later found out that her two car parks are separated by the car park ramp. Not a big deal though but may be important for those who like their cars to be parked side by side. An attempt to change the car park location after signing of sale & purchase agreement is rather difficult or should I say next to impossible as every single car park would have been allocated to a condo unit.

As car parks are key component to condo living, be very sure you like the car park location too before you sign above the dotted line.

Jul 17, 2007

Things to note when buying highrise condo (part III) - roof

The price of condo units at higher floor tend to be higher compared with the lower floor units as most higher floor units command better view. In most cases, the bigger units such as duplex or penthouse are also purposely designed to situate at the top most few floors. It is important to note the type of roof of the building when one is buying a unit at the top most floor, one should check if the roof is a tiled roof or concrete roof. Both types of roof if constructed properly would not pose any problem to the dweller of the top most floor.


However, there is one scenario where reinforced concrete roof can pose a problem. I had the opportunity to observe a case where the roof of a duplex unit is a reinforced concrete roof and the concrete roof also serve as the compound for the penthouse at the floor above. The subject building was designed with staggered height whereby the middle section is two floor higher to accommodate the penthouse at middle section with the duplex at the lower section at the side. With the reinforced concrete roof of duplex serving as the compound of the penthouse sound like wonderful idea but the problem surfaced when the owner of the penthouse decided to renovate his compound by putting on beautiful tiles. In the process of putting on the tiles, certain hacking would have to be carried out and unknowingly the waterproofing material to prevent seepage of water through the reinforced concrete roof is damaged. After completion of the tile laying, the penthouse owner has a beautiful compound but the duplex owner begin to suffer as the reinforced concrete roof started to have seepage during rain as the waterproofing is now not perfect and rain water starts to seep through the roof, the seepage may not be serious enough to cause a leaking roof but the roof will most of the time be wet because of the continuous seepage. Practically water is retained in the reinforced concrete roof until a prolonged dry season dry the roof. The seepage cause not only the roof to be wet but also the wall as water will find its way downward due to gravity flow. With the wet roof and wall, paint start to peel off and fungus developed.


However one may say that any defect to building can be rectified but the problem highlighted above is more complicated as the roof which serve as the compound of the penthouse cannot be accessed other than going through the door of the penthouse. The owner of the penthouse does not suffer any ill effect out of his renovation and therefore will not allow anyone to enter his house for any rectification works.


For the owner of the duplex below, the leaking problem could only be rectified at the floor above, the management couldn't do much as the compound is part of the penthouse and considered as private property. The owner of the duplex can resort to legal recourse to compel the owner of the penthouse to carry out the rectification works but that would be time consuming.


Therefore if one is buying a condo with reinforced concrete roof above, make very sure that the roof is part of the common properties where the management can gain access to the roof if there is any damage to the waterproofing system

Jul 14, 2007

Things to note when buying highrise condo (part II) - lift core

When buying highrise condo unit, it is very important to note that the unit that one is choosing does not share a wall with the lift core. Highrise condo are equipped with lift or high speed lift where the up and down movement of the lift cars are guided by rails attached to the wall of the lift core. If a condo unit has wall that share the same wall with the lift core, it is inevitably that to some extent the noise and vibration as the result of the movement of the lift car can be transmitted to the condo unit. How much noise or vibration is transmitted depend on the structural design of the condo itself, if the structure is designed with reinforced concrete or sheer wall, then the noise transmitted may only be minimal, brick wall results in more noise to be transmitted.

Ideally there should be a buffer such as staircase area or any other utility area between the condo wall and the lift core wall so that the noise from the lift car movement can be well insulated from being transmitted to the condo unit.

However, how much noise there is also depend on the type or quality of the lift and the thickness of the wall of the lift core. In the most optimistic case where the good quality lift are being used together with thick lift core wall, the noise transmitted will be very minimal.

But then again, many such information are beyond reach by ordinary buyer and it is better to play safe rather than saddled with a condo unit which are constantly being disturbed by the unwanted noise.