Hi,

I am planning to buy a house soon. I used to have a house but i sold it before I go overseas. I bought it from developer last time

Now since I am moving back here, I would like to buy a house again

I may opt to buy from direct owner (no brokers) to cut cost. However, since there are no "neutral" parties this way, I would like to get some advices on what should I pay attention to in order to avoid being cheated by the seller

Any help would be appreciated

Thanks

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Below are some of the good points shared by lowyaters. I will update as I found them (thanks a lot to those that contribute)


1) Check for the status of the seller if they are bankrupt. If they are, in principal the property belongs to the creditor and cannot be sold

2) if you buy a partially/fully furnished house, list down (and take pics) of the furnishings & items in the house. and have your lawyer include the list in the S&P.

my bro in law once encountered a situation where his supposedly fully-furnished house was bare upon receiving the keys. it turned out that the seller took out the lamps, fans, furnitures, etc before leaving. and she tried to blame it on the contractor. only when my bro in law wanted to report to police did she come up with the missing items, saying that her husband managed to force the contractor to return the items. what a crock of sh1t

3) I have encountered a very nasty seller. He keeps changing the S&P so that it is to his advantage. My advice to you is not to pay the seller anything until the S&P is signed. Not even "booking" fee. If he wants you to sign a letter of intent to purchase, make sure that there is a clause to finalise the S&P within certain period or else you can back out from the deal with all money refunded.

4) Make sure you have your own lawyer to represent you in the S&P to protect buyer's interest

5) Vacant possession or penalties/rental fees must be stated clearly in the S&P.

Search around, there's plenty of cases where buyer has paid the deposit and balance, but couldn't move in due to owner or tenants still staying there. Then buyer will have headache trying to evict them.

Exit clause should be in S&P also. This will take care of situation when S&P cannot be executed due to issues with Seller e.g. Seller is bankrupt, cannot get loan, or Seller's partner don't want to sell, etc... I think a deadline in completing the S&P is a must.

This post has been edited by greatbargain: Oct 25 2009, 09:37 PM

I think you got to ensure that the owner is financially sound; how to? I am not totally sure how to do it...

I have posted something here:

From: http://forum.lowyat.net/topic/1194519

That is interesting. Good point

I will put it in my 1st post

I have encountered a very nasty seller. He keeps changing the S&P so that it is to his advantage. My advice to you is not to pay the seller anything until the S&P is signed. Not even "booking" fee. If he wants you to sign a letter of intent to purchase, make sure that there is a clause to finalise the S&P within certain period or else you can back out from the deal with all money refunded.

Thanks for your advice

I assume the S&P is drafted by his lawyer? Maybe a good idea is to get your own lawyer too to counter check?

I think s&p is usually drafted by the buyer's lawyer, if i am not mistaken

but if you buy from developer, it is their lawyer, right?

duno...not sure

thanks leongal,

you have been a great help.

i hope more will share their experiences

if you buy a partially/fully furnished house, list down (and take pics) of the furnishings & items in the house. and have your lawyer include the list in the S&P.

my bro in law once encountered a situation where his supposedly fully-furnished house was bare upon receiving the keys. it turned out that the seller took out the lamps, fans, furnitures, etc before leaving. and she tried to blame it on the contractor. only when my bro in law wanted to report to police did she come up with the missing items, saying that her husband managed to force the contractor to return the items. what a crock of sh1t

No, it is from my lawyer but he doesn't agree to it and came with his own draft

Good point there. Will update in my top post

yeah....by the way, if this is the case, WHEN shall we go to check the fully-furnished house? before 2 drawdown?

If the seller is bankrupt the loan will not approved. Just request to sign the loan agreement with the SNP.

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Added on October 24, 2009, 9:33 amYes, it will always be their lawyer. Any reputable developers will have a lot of end financing from various banks. The more the better and it will also mean it has a lower risk to get halted halfway but it still is not 100% risk free.

This post has been edited by soitsuagain: Oct 24 2009, 09:33 AM

Without an agent?
Good luck, you'll be needing a lot of it.

why did you say that? is it that difficult not to get cheated without agent?

Vacant possession or penalties/rental fees must be stated clearly in the S&P.

Search around, there's plenty of cases where buyer has paid the deposit and balance, but couldn't move in due to owner or tenants still staying there. Then buyer will have headache trying to evict them.

Exit clause should be in S&P also. This will take care of situation when S&P cannot be executed due to issues with Seller e.g. Seller is bankrupt, cannot get loan, or Seller's partner don't want to sell, etc... I think a deadline in completing the S&P is a must.

Here's a true story that happened recently in JB.

A few years back, an Indian lady want to buy a townhouse. Cost around 140k.
She like the place and place 20k deposit with the owner.
After that the owner run away.

So she stayed in there a few more years until recently the bank wanted to auction the unit she is staying.
Which belongs to the owner that run away.


This is the price for not getting a reputable agent to represent you.
Most of the time it doesn't happen the way this Indian lady encounter, but you got to be lucky not to be the victim.

Thanks for the tips.

Normally the S&P is drafted by the buyer's lawyer? If so and you get an experienced lawyer, would that help?

Yeah that's the problem.
Most new purchaser have no idea of their rights, or the house buying procedure. Many simply follow their agent recommended lawyer.
See this case for example when agent/lawyer sided with seller instead of buyer -> Terrible Owner