Buying Property? Wait for Special Deals, Shhhhh……

This is dedicated to those who have just been offered special deals. I receive these special deals all the time. A good friend said, ‘please do not tell anyone. I have this special deal from my friend’. I asked, is her friend the developer of the new development? The answer was negative. Her friend had the offer from another friend. Great. Special deals which would normally start with the developer went to the developer’s close friend, and that close friend told another of his close friend and that other close friend told my good friend. Wow, this is really a special deal. I am not sure how many units are under this special deal but if there are limited units, based on the chain of communication, I think the special deal should already be over. If there are still units available, it meant the deal is either not really special or perhaps the number of units are way too many which then defeats the purpose of a special deal in the first place.
Apologies. I am very sure if you happen to know the son of the developer, perhaps he may be able to give you special discount and if you happen to be a vendor, you get associate discounts which normally is around 5%. I do get these associate discounts on and off. However, to ask me NOT to share with anyone and telling me that it is a special deal which is not open to public yet, I would normally say, ‘no thanks.’. To me, if I am the developer, my most main concern is to finish selling the development. I would not be in the market to offer special deals to make my friend, their friends and their friend’s friends richer through these special deals. No pun intended. If you are the developer, would you just want to sell quickly or would you try to offer special deals to everybody? Including many whom you would not know anymore since it’s your friend’s friends’ friends?
Even if the special deal is true, think objectively before accepting them. One example, do your own research. Is the price per sf offered to you really special versus the area or is the price special compared to the actual launching price next year? If the price is really lower compared to current prices at the area, then I think you may want to consider the special deal. If however that special deal is already priced similar or higher than the current prices but the developer tells you that once he launches, the prices would be even higher, I normally say no to such deals. Remember the current property prices? Well, the higher priced ones are already under pressure under current circumstances. It’s also harder to sell, especially the perceived to be too high priced ones.
I told my friend, if she has done her research and felt that the special deal is indeed a special deal, please proceed. It’s ok, I will let this special deal pass this time. Perhaps one day when one of those developers I am close to offers me a really special deal, I will accept. That day has yet to come and I am still waiting. Haha.
written on 2 Nov 2014
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