I have been offered by landbanking companies to ‘market’ the deals in UK, US, Canada and they offered me VERY HIGH commission but I have rejected them as I have one key objective in my mind.  That is to help our investor group make money.   

One of the landbanking companies’ CEO even shared with me how much I can make as their ‘Marketing Consultant’.   He was a top executive of the ‘Well Known’ landbanking company and he started his own now.  After I pressed him to share with me honestly when the land that he structured is likely to be converted or sold off with profits, he shared that it is very unlikely that the land would yield anything within the next 10-15 years.  But, they told the marketing agents to sell it as  a 5 year exit plan with capital protection.  He went on to share how they would use the money to roll and invest elsewhere for 5 years or more and if there investors who complain or want their money back, they would pay back without the interest!   I was told that after a long time, most of these investors would be happy just to get back their capital and not make a case out of it.  I was very disgusted and left.  There are many such scams around.

It is sometimes not the Marketing Agents fault that they are selling landbanking because they were painted a beautiful picture by the MANAGEMENT and given convincing marketing materials to sell.   They too could have been conned.  The companies would teach them how to sell and HOW TO PULL IN BIG NAMES LIKE THE BIG AUDITING COMPANIES OR PUBLIC LISTED COMPANIES WHO INVESTED etc.  You must remember that Enron and many other big companies whom have questionable acctg  also uses BIG auditing companies. 

So like I have shared.  Thanks to Google Earth and loads of info on internet.  You can check the exact location and check the growth path of a land before buying.  Pls do not think that $0.60psf is cheap.  They could have bought it for only $0.01centpsf.   that is 6000% markup.  If you want to know the truth, ask the company to furnish you the documents of HOW MUCH THEY REALLY BOUGHT THE LAND initially.  They bought it at wholesale, subdivide and sell you at retail.  I dare to bet my last dollar that they will not show you the price they bought the land nor tell you the truth about how many times they mark up.  It is the same piece of land with no valued added done to the land but sold out at different pricing. 

If any company can offer VERY GOOD commission, you must know that the money eventually comes from investors.  So, are they acting in your best interest or their own? 

You must understand that there are many land parcels selling for a few thousand dollars per acre.  When they subdivide it to psf, it is really very cheap.  People in SG and Hong Kong are the two main countries where they solicit funds from as to us SG n HK look at land as PSF whereas land US, UK, Australia are sold on PER ACRE or even PER HECTARE basis.   

One of the CEOs of a large REAL ESTATE agency was the first to represent the ‘Well Known’ landbanking company here and he stopped marketing it after realizing that it was mainly a scam.  The landbanking companies can afford to use the tons of money raised to buy out and PAY OUT TO SMALL SAMPLING OF THE INVESTORS to make it look very profitable. When a small percentage of the investors were paid the profits, they leverage and SPREAD THE NEWS THAT INVESTORS HAVE MADE MONEY to draw in new blood.   Some of these investors who exited with profits were convinced and plow in more money and even become agents to help the company bring in more funds.

I was told that the typical mark up price of land banking is at least 500% to 10,000% of original price.

I wish you all good luck with your investments…More feedback n sharing from those with experience in this welcomed.

 Wendy Kwek

Just want to update that my associates and I have just bought an Eatery unit at the ground floor of the newly built Orchid Hotel (next to Tanjong Pagar MRT).  It is not cheap at $3300psf but I believe it is still a worthwhile buy with market yield of about 7.8% – 9%.   The best thing about this deal is that it is very close to TOP and so, it also means we are likely to collect rental soon.  Now, I have to solicit for potential tenants.  Tenant selection is important for us to have peace of mind.  We will only offer our unit to very well established brand names that will literary and figuratively ‘sell like hot cakes’. 

Unity is power in investing, it is best to be able to form a investment network so that we can pull in resources collectively own good cash-flow producing assets.

With the Japanese crisis, coupled with the new cooling measures on 14 January 2011, the Singapore residential property is poised to be muted.  I think it is a good time to look around for deals and I have just picked up some stocks like Genting at $1.88 per share.  I have relinquished some of my liquid assets and I’m looking at U.S. stocks to reinvest the funds. 

There are still more retail shops available for sale but I suspect it will not fetch the same returns as the eatery.

I must say that I have been very impressed with how the Japanese are handling the crisis.

There are many lessons to be learnt here including the handling of nuclear crisis.  But if there is one thing I learn, it is the phrase that ‘Unity is Power’. 

It was an unfortunate event and my heart goes out to the millions of people whom are affected in one way or another by the earthquake and nuclear radiation risks.  If you are been reading the reports and watching the news, it was surprising that Japanese have remained resilent.  There were no screams when the powerful earth shook and leave widespread devastation.  People, including the elderly would help to search through the rubbles for survivals.  Even as the supermarts are emptying of supplies, the people would queue iand make purchases in orderly fashion without looting. 

It is understandable that tourism to Japan is affected.  However, what is interesting to note is that even outbound tours are being cancelled.  Many Japanese whom are scheduled for holidays out of their hometown have cancelled their trips as they feel that it is not right for them to be enjoying themselves while their nation suffered.

It seems to me that the Japanese are indeed patriotic and I hope and believe that we have the same spirit in challenging times.  It is heartwarming to see also how the world united to provided timely aid.  With the world united, I believe we can resolve many inevitable issues effectively.  

I pray for a recovery of the Japanese nation and all whom are involved in supporting them get out of the crisis.

I found SO many MTL (‘Mai Tu Liow”) property deals recently!  MTL in Hokkien, means ‘don’t wait any longer’.  This is my lingo when I found ’HOT’ deals.  Those of you whom are our Property Investment Program Attendees will know what I mean.   Those of your whom are not yet.  MTL, you really should come and join us as we are the most active property investment group.  The network we created have bought more than 1400 properties in Singapore and in the international market just within 2 years.  My role is to screen through the property deals and only allow those that meet my investment criteria to be shared with our network.

Here are some deals I am working on now.  I still quite a number of deals upcoming this year.

I cannot mention the names  or location of the developments as our Property Investment Program network must have the privilege to secure the good deals first.    Some of the projects are in Singapore and some are overseas.

One of the development is WELL LOCATED office building next to a large, well established shopping mall. 

Another is a CINEPLEX with food stalls and retail shops for sale.  I just met the Developer today to go through the deal that will be offered to our group tomorrow.

Today, I just secured another deal that is a MEDICAL CENTRE.  I know in my heart I found a gold mine.  Imagine if you have bought Mount E hospital units or even Thomson Medical Centre many years ago in Singapore. You don’t have to struggle financially anymore.

There is also a HOTEL deal that is enjoying more than 85% occupancy where we are looking at buying 40% stake, refinance, change some of the biz strategy selling the whole building for a good profit.

What we do is to share property deals of varying price point so our investors can participate in deals as low as $500 per month with no downpayment, to one time investment of S$10k onward to own actual properties to structuring multimillion dollar deals.  Those who lack funds can learn how to co-own assets so that it is possible for an average person to own multiple properties. 

Very simply, my goal is to help as many average people own multiple properties by investing wisely.

ALL my employees own multiple properties.  One of my Philipino team member who never owned any property now owns 12 properties in Singapore, UK and Phillipines after joining us over 2 years.  I believe we have proven results.

If you are keen to attend our free 2-hour property investment seminar, you can email to lina@exec-directions.com or call us at +65-62210090. 

Wishing you the best in your investments too.  Remember MTL.  Take action and don’t analyse until paralyse.

The way to win in the property game is to have a longer term perspective. It is not a zero sum game as there is ‘organic’ growth attached to property investment.

Let’s put an example so you can understand what I mean.

If Lee bought a freehold house 20 years ago at $100K and now he sold to Tan at $1 million cash. Who now has the networth of the $1million?

The answer is both! Lee has 1 million in cash and Tan own 100% of the property with 1 million dollars.

Why will there be growth.
Consider this. There is firstly inflation that will generally create the uptrend in the market.
Price of land, building materials, energy, manpower cost etc is continually on the rise as that is why on a long term basis, holding property as asset is a safe bet. 

However, the problem that Singapore, China, Hong Kong and many other countries are facing is the over supply of money.  Over supply of money creates hyper inflation.  So, there has been property spikes and I would stay clear of the market that is over priced now.  I hope that people do learn from the 1997 Asia financial crisis.  Do you know that many people who bought their property just before the crisis are still not making money from their properties?  That is because the market got very speculative and we are seeing similar trends right now.  It is wise that we have anti-speculation measures.

I’m waiting for the market to cool down before entering.  Now patience is the name of the game.

I learnt this from my car mechanic, whom is also a junket, who brings people to become VIP members of our casinos here.  He shared some interesting experience.  He has seen some of the big players lose big time and needed to sell their assets urgently. 

How was it being done? This is a true example.  Mr A lost alot of money at the table…and in the heat of the moment, he says he has a fully paid condo at River Valley that is currently valued at $950K.  Mr A says that if anyone in the room now can give him $600K cash, that condo will be sold at that price.  The very interesting thing is that the Casinos have lawyers on standby throughout the day to help facilitate such deals.  On the spot, the lawyer can check the title deed, the recently transacted price of similar properties and facilitate the option to purchase and condition of sales!  Wow, super efficient, right?

Another lady bought a Merz at $180K and within two months, while she lost quite a lot of money in the Casino, she said that anyone who can pass her $120K cash there and then, the Merz is considered sold.  My car mechanic took that deal at $120K and subsequently sold the car at $140K.

So what is the moral of the story…if you want to go to casino, don’t be the one who bet heavily.  Be there to find people who lose heavily.  One of the strategies for finding motivated sellers is to ask some one who had lost heavily if they needed to sell their house or car. Who knows, you may just get the good deal or you may end up with a black eye!  Haha…good luck.

Hope you have fun with my sharing and stay in tune for more upcoming… 

P.S.  This is just a sharing and not an encouragement or whatsoever about going to the casino. I believe our readers here are wise enough to distinguish that.

I appreciate all the positive comments that are streaming in.  It encourages me to share more on the blog…

The reason why our property investment strategy has not been negatively affected by the new property ruling is because we are very cautious and we always buy during the Buyers’ market and sell during Sellers’ market.  I like to apply Warren Buffett’s strategy of value investing into the property market.  And like what Warren Buffett says, “be greedy when others are fearful and be fearful when others get greedy.”  Not that we are speculators.  In fact, we hold most of our properties for the mid to longer term perspective.  We love to buy from motivated sellers during challenging times but what I realise is that there are JUST too many ‘motivated buyers’ out there!   Do not buy on emotion.  Every property to us is a business deal. When the market starts to get over heated in the residential sector, I stay out  and choose to play the game in commercial and industrial projects.

One of the ways to win the game is to structure deals collectively there is more bargaining power with developers and sellers.  With a collective effort, there can also be better holding power.  Like I always say in my seminar, ‘UNITY is power’ in this game.    The best way to get ahead is to leverage with people who have the insights of property market and experience to short cut the learning curve.  For now, I’m patiently waiting for the market to correct up to 20% in the residential sector.  But I’m still accumulating commercial properties and also foreign properties that offers great growth potential.   Opportunities are of abundance.  I am optimistic about the Rabbit year.  I already in the Chinese New Year mood.   Wishing all of you a Bountiful Rabbit Year!!   Have fun!

The trump card is out!

We were already expecting a new round of new property ruling in November 2010 after the property rulings on 30 August 2010 did not seem to cool the property market.  I think this time round, it is going to be effective.

I was sharing with my network group that we were expecting a capital gains tax or slightly increase SSD but the introduction of much higher Seller stamp duties (SSD)  beat that!  

(Taken from IRAs website)

On 13 January 2011, the Government announced the extension of the holding period for imposition of SSD on residential properties from 3 years to 4 years based on new rates. The new SSD rates will be imposed on residential properties which are acquired (or purchased) on or after 14 January 2011 and disposed of (or sold) within 4 years of acquisition, as follows :

• Holding period of 1 year : 16% of price or market value, whichever is higher
• Holding period of 2 years : 12% of price or market value, whichever is higher
• Holding period of 3 years : 8% of price or market value, whichever is higher
• Holding period of 4 years : 4% of price or market value, whichever is higher   

So even if you buy a condo unit on or after 14 Jan at S$1mil and urgently need to sell it for whatever reason within one year for S$900k, you lose $100k in capital loss and you still need to pay 16% on the S$900K of the selling price of the property or the market value of the property whichever is higher.   That’s risky.

In the event of capital gains tax, you only pay a percentage of the gain and there is nothing to pay  if there is a loss.  So in my opinion, SSD this is a very direct way of curbing speculation and short-term minded buyers.  Great news for genuine long term buyers.  I am now waiting patiently for the prices to cool at least 10-20% before buying in.

So with more people holding back investment into Singapore residential properties, where will the load of liquidity in the market flow to?

Stay in tune for more insights…

First of all, Happy New Year!  Welcome to my blog.  I hope that this blog will serve to add value in terms of sharing of insights and experience that I have the privilege to personally gain in my personal and professional life.  My purpose in life is to inspire and positively uplift at least 10 million people’s lives by means of providing education in the area of Entrepreneurship, Property Investment and also Personal Development.  I love to be in the process of seeing people grow to be more successful mentally, emotionally, financially and spiritually. 

I concur with Oprah Winfrey that one of the purpose in life ultimately is to raise the consciousness of mankind.  To evolve personally into a better being.  In the journey of life, the only thing that we can take away is what we give.  I know that with the assets and wealth I accumulated, it is nothing but just gaining amazing experiences in life.  There is nothing of monetary value that I can take away.  And that’s why, at the end of my life, all my assets will be donated away to worthy causes. 

So, why am I accumulating in the first place?  To me financial success is only one way to measure one’s financial intelligence, determination, networking skills and most importantly guts.
I wish all the readers here an exciting and rewarding journey in life.  May the rest of your life be the best of your life!