YOU know the property market is hot when you cannot even get to view the house for sale.
Recently, I have been tempted to buy a resale condo for investment.
Maybe it was the slew of reports of sell-out launches of new projects, from Caspian in Jurong to 8@Woodleigh in Serangoon to Optima in Tanah Merah.
I was fired up by visions of getting a new property — maybe a small studio — and making good money from it down the road, perhaps even before the project was completed.
I scoured the property classifieds where many agents claimed that they could put your name on a very, very, very special list to preview units.
Two projects caught my attention.
One was Centro Residences, close to the Ang Mo Kio MRT station.
The agent said we needed a strategy. It was no good jostling with the masses even on the day of special preview.
He said the developer would be more impressed of my sincerity to buy if he could show them a blank cheque, presigned by me.
Then, my name would go into a ballot box on the spot to determine if I would triumph over others with similar cheques.
I said I would think about it, especially when he said the price was likely to be above $1,000psf, a phenomenal sum for a heartland condo. I never got back to him.
The agent for another launch — Optima — advised me to do the same, that is, hand over a presigned cheque. I got cold feet and struck Optima off my list of preferred condos.
Meanwhile, I was also viewing older, tenanted properties.
I liked the Bayshore condo and turned up to view two units. The prices were attractive, giving at least a 4 per cent return.
But the asking prices were also about the same as those when the condo was launched some nine years ago.
Its price had not appreciated at all — who said condos were always a winning proposition? — and that reined in my enthusiasm.
My passion was punctuated a lot more when agents for two tenanted condos, one in Simei and another in the East Coast, said there were no viewings.
The tenants were never at home and the condo owners said they were confident other folks would buy without a viewing, given the hot market.
I now think it's far easier, and less dicey, to invest in property via the share market where you can go with analysts' recommendations to buy, say, Ho Bee, CapitaLand or SC Global.
I still peruse the property classifieds with great interest but much of the hunger, maybe even craziness, to snap up a unit — not the most liquid of assets, I must say — has almost dissipated.
These are unusual times for property and you really need to go in with your eyes wide open and armed with all the facts, such as historical price movements.