i always have an issue with claims of "near mrt" or "5min walk to mrt". generally, such claims on brochures or coming out from an agent's mouth are guaranteed bullsh1t. i saw a brochure claimed "2min walk" from Parc Centro to mrt, i just have to lol. 2min will get you from your unit's door to the 1st floor, if u're lucky.
as a general rule, multiply by 2to3 whatever minutes they claim it takes to walk to mrt. because how they measure is assuming that you start from the edge of the site to reach the edge of the mrt walking in a straight line without traffic at the speed of the world record fastest walker. so legally it's still "Walk", not run.
best to do your estimation how long it will take to get from your unit to the mrt platform.
and "near mrt" will be the gimmick going forward. why? take a look at the planned MRT expansions. which part in sg for the masses will not be "near mrt"?
/end of ranting
sorry just hate the games developers are playing.
It's a simple trick which even you would use.
If you go for an interview, you would "sell yourself" to your future employer on how good you are. Who in the right mind would sell himself badly?
Everyone will have a bit of a sales element in him/herself. As a buyer you just have to do your own checks. If you depend on what you hear and don't go and check for yourself, your interests is at stake not others.
Coming back, I think we all know what developers and agents advertise. For a property near to MRT, it is a selling point but a deterrent to some.
I have a car, I don't need a condo near to MRT. It is of course a selling point to be near MRT. But if I buy something near to MRT and have to pay $100-$200psf more, to me its foolish.
Take for instance a 1000sqft condo at $150psf more. I pay $150,000 more for same size. My rental price would probably fetch $300-$500 more per month than another unit which is further away from MRT.
Give it $500 more per month which works out to $6000 more per year>
$150,000 / $6000 gives us 25 years.
So if I pay $150,000 more for a condo near to MRT, it would actually take me 25years to recover this $150,000 extra. On top of that, I am paying interests on this $150,000 more, just because I want something near to MRT.
Seriously if I am a tenant, I wouldn't even be bothered whether this condo is near MRT. I am only interested whether a condo nearby is much cheaper in terms of rental, though I walk a bit more. That's my take on investing in properties.
Nowadays I look at properties which are slightly further away from MRT, not that far. There will surely be a property nearer to MRT that pushes the prices upwards which in turn makes my property which is further away appreciate as well, (and I don't incur that much on interests)
