**sINGAPORe PART 7**

[marsh_candy]

haha problema ko din yan dati. May nakita ako sa bugis nun pero sa Pinas na rin ako nakabili nun!

[yapeegurl]

ang mahal ng mga gown/evening dress dito sa tangs ako nakabili noon.. hindi na ako uulit

[hime]

Hi sisters! Looking for work in SG, san ba maganda maghanap ng place to stay? Me and my bf tapos his brother will be going here on July. Pero kami last week nang June.

[marsh_candy]

hayyy nakakaloka.. dami issues ng Pinoy ngayon dito sa SG..

2 Pinoys arrested for attempted robbery at Burger King

 

[Grayce]

^nakakahiya!

[kRiStAh]

mga sis help. in less than two weeks i'll be going to singapore for work. first time ko to umalis ng bansa and super kinakabahan ako. the company is nityo infotech in tanjong. 2 weeks accomodation lang ibibigay nila sakin then after that i'm on my own. sa mga taga SG pwede po malaman kung how much usually ang room for rent sa singapore and kung sa tanjong ang company ko saan ba magandang location para maghanap ng room para malapit lang sa work. can you also pls give me an idea magkano ang 1 araw sa singapore like magkano ang expected expenses ko for 3x meals/ transpo?

Thanks mga sis...

[ficklemind]

hi sis, you can look for room for rent / bedspace sa pinoysg site, monthly rental for a bedspace would be 300-400 per person, if you want your own room 500 above. i think better to stay along green line kasi sa green line ang tanjong pagar or ok din yung meron direct bus sa workplace mo.
as for the daily expenses mo, it depends san ka ba kakain, but normally 10$ per day pwede na siguro un. dati nga nung jobhunter ako, max of 6$ per day lang gastos ko sa food e.
hawker/foodcourts can range from 2-5$ per meal, mcdo & other fastfood - 4-8$ per meal

ok din kung magluluto ka or share share kayo mga kahousemate mo, tipid din.


sa pamasahe naman, depende sa distance ng workplace mo. to give you an idea, now na working na ako, nakaka 20$ per week ako sa top up sa ezlink, kasama na dyan gala ko ng weekends (north ako  going to city).

[blooming]

sis kayesl, bugis ako at novena.  gawa ko naman pag wkends, gym, mornings ang gym ko, kung kelan tulog pa sila   tapos pag wkday, lunchtime na, parang nasa office din ako.

sis keiji, yung product na binebenta naman ng DBS ngayon eh parang timedep, pero moneysaver express tawag nila. para sa mga existing clients daw ito ng mysavings.  it acts like a timedep kasi pag invest mo ng money ngayon after 5 years mo pa makuha ang interest. ang catch lang, you have to contribute the same amount of money for the next five years at ayaw nila ng lumpsum. 

re burger king, nakita ko nga yung news. di ko alam pinoy ang involved. nakakahiya nga. ginagawa nilang pinas dito   buti nalang may nahuhuli ang mga ganyan, kasi if they get away with it, mas nakakatakot at maraming gagaya, malamang hindi lang pinoy, baka ibang lahi din.

re dresses/gowns, sinabi nyo. pag may nakita akong maganda, ang mahal mahal. pag mura naman, pangit.  wala ditong value for your money talaga, not much choices din. sa atin lang.

[kRiStAh]

^^sis ficklemind super thanks sis. not bad pala sabi kasi ng father ko when he went there mcdo would range 20$ daw kaya naman ako hehe. good thing hindi naman pala ganun kamahal ang food. problem ko na lang ang pag-iikot para makahanap ng room for rent. pumapayag ba sila na couple ang mag rent ng room? try ko kasi kunin hubby ko as dependent eh.

if ever from tanjong may mrt ba or busses? thanks sis!

[tonette815]

^sis meron naman pumapayag na couple ang nagrent ng room pero medyo mahal ranging from 600 - 900. pero yugn 600 swertihan yon.

sis saang tanjong ang ibig mong sabihin? kasi may tanjong katong, tanjong pagar. please check out streetdirectory.com.sg and gothere.sg so you can have an idea of the vicinity.

[kRiStAh]

tanjong pagar sis sorry. I see mas mahal pala room pag ganun. thanks!

[kRiStAh]

and another question po, ano mas ok na dalhin dyan Peso or US dollars na? Thanks!

[tonette815]

^sis if your money is in USD ok na yan. But if your money is in PHP don't have it changed to USD na matatalo ka sa double conversion.

re: tanjong. okay lang yung di naman lahat nakakaalam na dalawa palang lugar dito ang nagsisimula sa 'tanjong' baka nga madami pa eh. tulad lang ng 'bukit' may bukit merah at bukit panjang kaya nga malaking tulong talaga yung dalawang site na binigay ko sa iyo.

[yapeegurl]

34.7 conversion ngayon! yahoo! sana umabot til sweldo

[amnesia]

Hello SG GT sisters!  Tagal ko rin di nakapag GT. How's everyone?

^@yapeegurl - I saw nga kahapon sa LP sis. Yay! 

I have a question sana about Passport Renewal in SG. I heard na apparently regardless of kung anong araw pupunta, queues starts at 7am dahil sa 120 pax cut-off. I got the basic requirement list from the link below. I've been trying to call the Embassy pero automated prompts lang. So dito na lang ako ask.

http://www.philippine-embassy.org.sg/consular/passport/application-renewal/

I have a Green Passport which is under my Married name. If I renew do I just renew it as is with just my existing passport + EP? Or kailangan ko pa yung additional requirements na

For Married Women Who Wish to use the Surname of their Husband (holding machine-readable passports) - Married in Philippines
•Original and photocopy of marriage contract issued by NSO and duly authenticated by DFA
•Photocopy of the data pages of passports of both husband and wife

Or di na since na change ko na name ko before + di naman machine readable passport ko? Machine readable is yung brown di ba? Thanks in advance guys! <3 

[amnesia]

I wanted to share pala something about Agent's Fees. In case di kayo aware, most victims kasi are Expats na walang kamuwang muwang sa tunay na kalakaran ng rentahan at ng mga ibang greedy Agent's dito.

Halos 2 years na rin ako sa Singapore pero last week ko lang nalaman eto through a friend.

If you want to look for your own place to rent either HDB or Condo, the best place to do your research online is http://www.propertyguru.com.sg/

I've always thought na once you engage with an Agent. Automatic magbabayad ng Agent's Fee and there is no way around it. Yun pala you will only pay Agent's fee if

1. You found an agent and you asked him/her to find you a place
2. If lease is 2 years and the rent is less than $2500

So technically if you find a place on Property Guru you don’t have to pay any Agent's fee since they are representing the Owners.

A week ago my partner and I found a place on Property Guru. We called the agent and we asked if we could view the place. The next day we viewed it tapos paalis na kami she called us to say na the owner accepted our offer at pwede na kami magbigay ng cheque deposit.

Nagtataka ako sa dami ng Agents na tinawagan namin, lahat sila nagtatanong "Are you aware that you have to pay commission?". Ako naman si engot, oo lang ng oo. Kasi yun ang alam ko.

Habang inaayos ng Agent yung Letter of Intent bigla may sumulpot na isa pang agent. Asawa daw nya at yun daw ang Agent ng Owner. She was from ERA by the way, the Agent called us to sign the agreement which states na she will be representing us and we have to pay commission blah blah blah. We signed it kasi nga di naman namin alam.

"By law" daw someone has to represent the Owner and someone has to represent the Tenant. So bale asawa nya ang Agent ng Owner at sya ang Agent namin. This is a lie! As potential tenants you can approach the Owners Agent directly and you don’t have to pay a fee.

So since she was charging us for Agent's fee for representing us kahit na she's representing the Owner na plus the rent was over $2500, ibig sabihin she will pocket the money and it won't go to ERA.

Cheeky right? Double commission - Easy money! La naman sya ginawa since kami nagpakahirap maghanap ng place online. We signed up for 2 years so more or less Agent's fee would be just under S$3,000 including GST! Ang laking pera sana na denggoy niya sa min.

After nakausap ko friend ko I checked with ERA straight away. I asked to talk to someone sa Legal Department. Tapos I reported the Agent. They were so quick, they investigated tapos after 20 mins they e-mailed me. Ang subscription daw sa Property Guru is mahal so minsan 2-3 Agents share this. So pinag didiinan nila na hindi daw yung Agent ang Owner's Agent.

Hello! Mukha nya at number nya ang nakabalandra sa Ad no! Hmph! 

Tapos ang sabi pa ERA will waive daw the Service Agreement Fee and neither party will pursue the matter. KAPAL! Panong waive e di nga kami dapat magbayad. So I replied to them and l laid all the facts. As of today, they are dealing with the matter daw internally and they thanked me for my invaluable feedback.

Anyway, ERA assured us na the the lease will go smoothly and to contact them if in case we do encounter any difficulties.


Ngayon if you see a place online tapos you viewed it tapos di mo nagustuhan, pag nag offer sila na they will find you another one according to your requirements – walk away. Kasi not knowingly you are getting na their services to represent you and you will have to pay the Agent's fee.

Sorry medyo magulo ata pagka kwento ko. But if you guys encounter this sort of situation let me know so I can explain it over the phone. Personally it took me a while to get my head around it.

[chinkee]

^ I think this is a case of dual representation or misrepresentation... sis, do you have the Name cards/Business cards of the 2 agents? You can report it directly via CEA (www.cea.gov.sg), Although it is a good step that you reported to ERA, pero syempre kakampihan nila yung agent nila diba..

also nga pala, I also work for a real estate company but IT department nila ako.. and have little knowledge with regards to these matters but hope that i can help you and also other sisses out there about real estate in sg..

I've always thought na once you engage with an Agent. Automatic magbabayad ng Agent's Fee and there is no way around it. Yun pala you will only pay Agent's fee if

1. You found an agent and you asked him/her to find you a place
2. If lease is 2 years and the rent is less than $2500

Though this are the guidelines kung magbabayad kayo ng agent's fee. It does not hold true all of the time.. Some scenarios it may not be the case is..

You may opt to not pay for the Agent's Fee if (unless gusto mo siya bayaran)

1. You asked an agent to find you a place to rent and monthly rent is less than $2500 but yung nahanap ng agent is a direct owner/landlord..

2. You asked an agent to find you a place to rent and the monthly rent is greater than $2,500 (Private Property/Landed)... even if the agent engages/cobrokes with another agent...

In this aspect I think since you just called the agent thru propertyguru.. then hindi mo kailangan magbayad ng service fee.. pero did the agent asked you na kailangan mo magbayad?

also mga sis pala, please be attentive dun sa details sa propertyguru.. if my nakalagay na "Already Co-broked" that means 2 or more agents na silang nag aadvertise nun and maghahati hati sa commission if in case... and "Co-broking Available" may mean na exclusive for that agent to market yung property na yun.. although sometimes syempre hindi nakalagay or nag bbluff lang sila.. at least be this as a guideline...

"By law" daw someone has to represent the Owner and someone has to represent the Tenant. So bale asawa nya ang Agent ng Owner at sya ang Agent namin. This is a lie! As potential tenants you can approach the Owners Agent directly and you don’t have to pay a fee.

While it is true that someone has to represent the owner and someone has to represent the tenant.. hindi naman ibig sabihin nun na kailangan mo magbayad ng service fee - refer to my #2 above...
You can really report this to CEA kasi pinaikot nila yung rule na "No Dual Representation".. Sabagay kasi magasawa sila kaya separate entity yung nirerepresent nila..

anyway, ayun eto lang muna maeexplain ko.. HTH

[icee_star]

Hi mga sis, medyo di ko naintindihan. Sa dalawang lipat na namin palaging sa propertyguru ako nakakahanap. One year contract lang then half month agent fee lang binabayad ko.

You mean pag sa propertyguru nakahanap hindi dapat magbayad?

[chinkee]

^ hi sis, it depends, hdb ba yun.. usually hdb babayaran mo talaga ng service fee since usually rent is less than $2500..

and add ko lang pala, these are new regulations from the CEA, i think effective lang siya this year (or end last year)..

[yapeegurl]

Hi karla! nakakalokang experience naman iyan.. and si passport mo medyo complicated... ang pinaka ayaw ko pa naman sa embassy or any govt body for that matter ay paiba iba minsan ang advise nila..

karla, so pending pa din ba ang case nyo with era? what happened to your money? naibalik ba?

medyo naguluhan din ako sa rules but napansin ko nga na kaya pala walang siningil sa amin na agent's fee nung nag renew kami this March 1 siguro kasi dahil dyan sa rule na iyan.. i am not sure but we gave the agent less than 200 or 100 lang ata para sa pag gawa ng contract lang.. and that's it.. our rent for our 3bedroom unit is 2.3k