Start of the year, i asked for 3 things from God, a practice we do in New creation church: 1) that my son will do better in school-he had a learning disability, He couldn’t even write or read when he entered school last year in 2010. Now he can write eligibly, and have started to read books. A marked improvement

2) That i will do well in my career.  Sales was good for 1st and last quarter. But more than the money, I have made very good life long friends from my clients. that i feel is my true mark of success.

3)That i will clear all debts..that was done in December.

In the 2nd and 3rd quarter, a devastating news broke me: my son was diagnosed to have Duchenne muscular dystrophy. That completely threw me off guard, and off track..I couldn’t work or think…for 2 weeks after he was diagnosed, i was crying continuously..His legs literally turn to jelly when he walks, and was walking on his toes, a precursor to wheel-chair bound. But the moment I found strength in God’s word, and told God that i will let go and let God, the heaviness in my heart left.

Thou there is no cure, and he’s not under medication except some ayurvedic tonic, Ryan has been walking strong albeit with a swagger..Well it was much better now then when he was diagnosed initially.. This year i know that Ryan will be cured somehow, by Jesus’s stroke of a miracle..He will do better in his class as well, i believe.

And there will be unceasing fruitfulness in my career. Yesterday my manager called and told me that i was the top in the team. This year i hope to be top in the group and eventually the company. This will all come to pass

But my sincerest wish is that I will want to start a foundation for children. That will be the start of my legacy

God bless you all for a fruitful 2012, with shalom peace, health and prosperity

Yes you have guessed it right!

It’s written DESiGNER DECORATED all right!

Step into a multi-configured flexible rooms  with floating partition

All in absolute good condition

New York loft designed cosy that is out of this world

Cosy kitchen where u play and rest and forget this world

A dreamy package indeed

Not forgetting amenities like the festival market and Hougang point

For Kiasu parents, you cannot but consider the Band 1 schools like Rosyth so your children you won’t disappoint

Then you have a choice to struggle with 2 MRTs early in the morning

But then you will dream about coming back to your cosiness by the evening

ADVISORY: THIS AGENT BEARS NO RESPONSIBILITY IF YOU GET ADDICTED TO THIS HOME, AND NEVER GO BACK TO THE OFFICE

BEAUTIFUL VIEW, very rare, High floor, and very windy home

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The pictures will speak of its beauty!

Priced to sell fast,Valuation=$375k,asking COV-$75k

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But analysts said that will not prompt the government to introduce more property cooling measures in the short term.

However, they noted that the last round of cooling measures may have had an unintended effect on driving up public housing prices.

For the first five months, 6,810 private homes were sold.

With the June figures added in, this is set to surpass the second half last year, where 7,526 units were snapped up.

Despite the higher volume, market watchers believe there are unlikely to be more cooling measures in the near term.

Nicholas Mak, Executive Director of Research and Consultancy at SLP International said: “If the government rolls out cooling measures every few months, it does give the impression that all the previous cooling measures that they have implemented may be seen to be ineffective.

“The latest round of measures in January was one of the most severe ones in the history of the Singapore property market. It still needs time for it to work its way through the system. But certainly it has reduced the level of speculation, because the four year sellers’ stamp duty is rather punitive.

“And at the same time, the message has also been absorbed by many property investors that property speculations are not really paying off in this current regime.”

In January, the cooling measures that were rolled out included the lowering of the loan-to-value limit for buyers with more than one outstanding loan. This was adjusted from 70 per cent to 60 per cent of a property’s value.

Another change was the increase in the holding period for the imposition of Seller’s Stamp Duty from three years to four years.

The increased difficulty of getting a second home may have driven sellers away from the market.

As a result, there has been a reduction in the number of HDB flats being put for sale as potential sellers delay plans to upgrade into private units.

This appears to be reflected in the rising trend in Cash Over Valuation (COV) being paid for HDB flats.

COV is the premium that buyers pay over the valuation of the apartment. For the first quarter, the median COV was S$21,000.

According to some industry forecasts, the median COV is currently hovering around S$25,000 and is expected to hit S$30,000 by year-end.

“Today’s demand outstrips the supply, and some of the reasons here is due to (the fact that) some of the new measures have created a situation of less motivation for people to sell. That’s why some of these policies being tweaked to encourage people, … will help the supply side, and as such the COV may find moderation in terms of its price,” said Mohamed Ismail, CEO of PropNex.

Although the government has plans to ramp up the supply of public housing, this could take a while before they help relieve the pressure.

PropNex’s CEO said: “The government’s strategy of launching more Build-To-Order flats will have an effect on the resale price, but it is not going to take place in the next one or two months because it takes time for people to sign up for the BTO flats.

“In the HDB resale market last year, almost 50 per cent of buyers were first-timers. If all these people successfully bid for BTO, that will create less pressure in the resale market, and certainly prices will start to soften slightly. But we are probably going to see that in the tail end of the year and or the beginning of next year.”

In the mean time, observers said it may be necessary to tweak current policies to encourage sales in the resale market.

“Perhaps one possible solution is for the government to amend some of the measures on the private property market to allow some of the HDB owners to upgrade to private property, provided that perhaps when they take possession of their private property, they have to sell their flats within a short period of time and be given a more favourable loan-to-value ratio,” said Mak.

_CNA

DAD’s note:- Even with the current BTO applications, most “subscribers-per-unit” ratio is at least 3:1, and have gone to 10:1 and even 20:1..and new home owners has 2 chances, before they fall back in the queue..Second timers are way back in the queue, so getting a BTO is also a challenge..It’s now a catch 22 situation..I think we can wait for market to cool down, in sense that when more BTOs come up, and once first-timers are placed, then the market can be stabilised. But with the recent DBSS in Tampines going at around $800,000, I still see prices for HDB not falling below the $30,000 COV..buying a resale flat seems more affordable, especially in mature estates, as BTOs inch closer to older HDB flats and in some cases, private homes

Also released for HDB, search HDB MOBILE

And Mar 2nd, we saw the launch of iPad2

What a load of improvement: thinner by 33%, dual A2 chip,which is faster, gyroscope, and new iOS 4.3.. All is good and well.

But the Xoom honeycomb handles notifications, multi-tasking and app switching better. Honeycomb has more features and is more customizable.

But here is where the crush comes in… We agents need to use HDB and CPF sites very often,sites that use flash. And sadly, as with the old iPad, the new one does NOT support it. Xoom has the ability to play flash soon

With Xoom you can download any app you want..not for Apple

I think in this battle, Xoom wins by a tiny margin.. iPad2, i love for the brand(I already have an iMac, iTouch and iPhone)..but for practical business purpose, i am drawn more to Motorola Xoom

Then begs the question:  What platform?. With and onslaught of tablets springing up like overnight mushrooms, we have almost all big players coming up with their own version of tablets. Apple is coming up with iPad2, that is a direct killer for most tablets, including the upcoming Motorola Xoom. On March 2nd, we will know how the iPad2 will look like. Then it will be the war not just between tablets but operating systems. Google’s android looks set to be THE operating system, while Apple’s iOS is being used the most. The question will be: Who can get the most apps?

I just believe that tablets should replace paper, and it already started with ebooks..so next will the countless forms that is in dire need to be replaced? Let me tell you why it’s worthwhile to go paperless. It cost me $50/month just to replace ink for the countless forms i need to print or copy..times that by 12 months, and you will have enough money to buy a tablet. Plus ready information ALWAYS on the go, and thats’s priceless, when it can make you look good to your prospective clients. And of course taking down notes, as in scribbling on a tablet, like a traditional “analogous” notebook..PRICELESS.

SO get a good tablet, and go mobile!