Living in JB

[gskalra]

Simple. For the years that you have paid your insurance, if you stop paying, you can actually have a certain amount back. In the case of an insurance loan, you are borrowing money from your own pocket. Pledging your insurance cash value as your collateral assets. In this case, you will still have to pay your monthly premium, plus the insurance company charge a certain amount of interest from you until you have fully paid up the principle loan.

In my case, rather then having lost the opportunity to invest, while keeping the cash value with the insurance company for no interest for the rest of my paying life, I took up an insurance loan to place a deposit for the house. But I still intent to pay off the insurance loan and keep the insurance for old age. So I use the rent that I have collected from the HDB flat to pay it off.

Its just a matter of shifting money from pocket A to pocket B. (From insurance to house.)

May I add that the interest u pay for the loan against ur insurance policy cash value can be in the region of 8% per annum. As rightly mentioned by Cathy, after taking the loan, try to pay off this loan as soon as possible otherwise, the end sum can add up to quite an amount. Having said that, this approach is preferred to taking a cash advance from ur credit card (which can be as high as 24% per annum) : )

I will have to look into this and weigh the options. Thanks a lot.

 

[cathylmg]

From the experience of my own property (inter terrace Golf HH), the gross rental seems clearly insufficient to cover the cost of the monthly instalments based on a 80% loan quantum and 20year loan tenure.

Enough to cover the monthly interest and miscellaneous costs, but at currently transacted prices for resale properties and rentals I see being asked, it's hard to see how the landlord can avoid needing to come up with money to cover the cost of ownership.

The people who bought a few years ago, sure. The people buying now? Not such a sure bet.

Of course condominium yields are better, but I am not familiar with those in that area.

Why don't you drag it into 30 years loan repayment period instead? This way the rent will be able to cover your monthly loan repayment whereby saving your monthly income for another house. Year down the road you may even decided to sell the second house to fully pay up the first one. :P

 

[DREAMorACTION]

Suspect it's due to the age factor?

Why don't you drag it into 30 years loan repayment period instead? This way the rent will be able to cover your monthly loan repayment whereby saving your monthly income for another house. Year down the road you may even decided to sell the second house to fully pay up the first one. :P

 

[ODYSSEY]

NTUC charge 5.5% per annum while Manulife charge 6.5% per annum. IMHO, Borrowing from NTUC is just a about 1% higher then from a bank in Malaysia. Plus you don't have a log-in period.

Good move : )

 

[ODYSSEY]

Suspect it's due to the age factor?

No la, Teck is not so old haha. He knows what he is doing.

 

[ODYSSEY]

News like this make my blood boil. You mean the Singapore Police Force still cannot eradicate youth-related gangs? What have they been doing?

Six young men who are believed to have assaulted an 18-year-old victim in the vicinity of East Coast Parkway (ECP) were arrested by the police.

The male victim was found with multiple bruises and abrasions on his face after the police received a report of an assault at 10.22pm on Christmas Eve.

Preliminary investigations revealed that the incident was not gang-related and the victim had been assaulted by a group of youths after a staring incident.

On Dec 25 and 26, the six suspects, whose ages range from 15 and 17, were arrested in the vicinity of Marine Terrace and Eunos Road. Investigations against the suspects are still ongoing.

Under the Penal Code, those convicted for an offence of Rioting shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to seven years and shall also be liable to caning.

Acting Commander of Bedok Police Division, Superintendent Jarrod Pereira said: "Police will not condone such lawless and violent behaviour. Perpetrators of such crimes can expect to face the full brunt of the law, regardless of their age. Parents should exercise parental control on their children especially during this December school holidays. The children should be advised to avoid any confrontation and seek assistance from the Police if necessary."

Can't blame them. Nowadays the forces are run by young scholars that lack the depth of experience and are mainly still wet behind the ears. What they learned are based on theories and books. OOps....

 

[Gemini]

Hi, festive greetings to all bros n sis

Just collected the keys to my new house in JB n planning to stay there b'cos my daughter is MY citizen n will be enrolling for pre-school once the renovations are completed in few months time. B'cos the visa is for 30 days stay in MY, my question is, can i stay in JB before the due date is up n return to SG and proceed back to MY on the same day for another 30 days n so on throughout the year. Will the MY customs impose any restrictions, for eg. like the number of days a SG citizen can stay in MY?

Any bros or sis who has experience or knowledge in the above situation, please enlighten me on it. Your reply will be much appreciated. Have a cheerful n prosperous New Year to all.

 

[DREAMorACTION]

Oh I don't know. Just guessing mah .... I think tech is gonna use broom to hit me when he sees this post ... Sorry Da Ge

No la, Teck is not so old haha. He knows what he is doing.

 

[pasture8]

i am sure some brothers and sisters are familiar with this chinese forum:

http://cforum.cari.com.my/viewthread.php?tid=2163855&extra=page=1&page=1

It is on Nusa Idaman

 

[wuqi256]

My apologies Crystal, forgot to wish you happy birthday. Wishing you all the best and a good start in Johore.

 

[wuqi256]

Bros, there were many many factors i left out when making the move to Johore, i couldn't have kept waiting until all the sums are done, all the Ts & Cs ticked and checked off before i came. If i really did that, 3 years, later, i would still be in SG, still deciding, deciding and deciding.

The world is filled with dreamers, the doers are those who dared to act upon their dreams.
As for the dreamers? They are still dreaming. Dare to dream but dare to act too.

This weekend i may have friends and relatives of friends who will come by, they are starting to act on their dreams. I will make an exception for them but i think after this one, i really have to "close shop" A bit tired and health not so good i think.

 

[wuqi256]

Bros who put in turbo or a combination of NGK spark plugs, plug cables, MegaRaizin or especially Powercharger, K&N air filters, Pivot 3 Drive(can save on 3 Drive if you look for Mr Satu Malaysia), etc please do remember to change your brakes and tyres regularly especially with the increase in power or response times. A bit of getting used to the better response, wife was actually scared of driving her 2 cars when she tried them after we were done. Have to get her used to her new toys especially that car for her birthday like i promised.

There are lots of fake ones but the Megaraizin and especially the Powercharger seriously thumbs up. Powercharger not so good for cars under manufacturers warranty though but once warranty over, Powercharger all the way. Only here can i mod (legal and non ah beng) my cars to my hearts contents.

 

[wuqi256]

Ok the rumours i hear are:

1) Singapore will develop a "Suzhou Industrial Park like" project in Gelang Patah called Geylang Industrial Park
2) Malaysia and Singapore will co-develop a reservoir at Kota Tinggi because Bedok Reservoir is too contaminated and Kota Tinggi has many natural waterfalls

Geylang "Wellness" Park you mean? Some element of truth in this because CID has been raiding Geylang non-stop since 1-2 years ago. This time its quite obvious they want to eradicate Geylang altogether, maybe to prepare for the Geylang Wellness Park in Gelang Patah?

Funny rumours but some may have elements of truth in them. Friends of mine will say Geylang Wetness Park but i digress.

 

[pasture8]

28/12 , Today I am 1 yr older Liao, am so glad that I bought a house in jb as a present to myself.
As I was sitting at mac this afternoon, am feeling very gd n observed e ppl around me. I never feel so eased before , no need worry my iPad or valuables will be snatched etc. If I am in sentosa , I won't dare to walk around or use my iPad openly.

Happy Birthday Crystal

 

[cathylmg]

I heard the developers had a close door meeting with gov officers that the new IM will include SG and KL in their master plan. Maybe it will not be all about Johor.

Let me make a guess. Is it the possibility of a high speed rail?

 

[LeMans2011]

Not always clear... sometimes it may be the surname that carries the actual weight...

I think at that time:

President - Wong Kok Siew (has since passed away)
MD - Tay Siew Choon (this guy will always leave a meeting halfway saying he needs to see Ho Ching)
CEO - Yeo Ning Hong
Chairman - Ho Ching

 

[gskalra]

Bros, there were many many factors i left out when making the move to Johore, i couldn't have kept waiting until all the sums are done, all the Ts & Cs ticked and checked off before i came. If i really did that, 3 years, later, i would still be in SG, still deciding, deciding and deciding.

The world is filled with dreamers, the doers are those who dared to act upon their dreams.
As for the dreamers? They are still dreaming. Dare to dream but dare to act too.

This weekend i may have friends and relatives of friends who will come by, they are starting to act on their dreams. I will make an exception for them but i think after this one, i really have to "close shop" A bit tired and health not so good i think.

In my situation, how will i get it done. I need a year to get the downpayment in order. Plus there is a need for extra cash. Any ways I can work it out faster?

 

[curiouscat]

One thing they really need to do to improve connectivity is to make taking the taxi much easier. They should licence Singapore and Malaysian taxis to be able to go point to point between Singapore and Johor. They can put on whatever licensing requirements they want - to assure quality and get whatever taxes, etc. they want.

It would be better if it was open - but if they want to put on restrictions like these special taxis must stay in their home territory or travel between the 2 (for example a Singapore taxi can't pick up someone in JB and deliver them to a different JB address).

I really can't see what interest is served by not allowing point to point taxis. All it does is make it a pain to travel by taxi between the 2 cities. Fine, if they really didn't want to deal with each other 20 years ago, then this system made sense. But if they really wan to encourage cooperation and easier connectivity they need to fix this situation. The next thing is to stop having such huge jams - this is a matter of efficiency measures.

I don't see any evidence the capacity of the infrastructure is the issue. It is possible it is, but I am skeptical. It seems more likely more effort needs to be placed on operating in ways that do not allow jams. Start posting the backlogs of each mode of transportation on a web site with historical data showing the times to get through at both links on both sides. Then show they are serious by taking actions to continually drive down any spikes in wait time.

These are the types of actions that show you are serious about results. Taking about tunnels seems to me, more about showing you are spending money and making contractors happy that a huge, expensive project is being promised. I really can't understand how a very expensive tunnel makes sense. You could probably add bridges in 2 new locations for the price of 1 tunnel. I can understand why tunnels would make sense if for example we were taking about something near the Singapore CBD where you have to retain every inch of expensive land. Other than a tunnel being cool I really don't see the point.

A few announcements rumoured to be:

1) Easier access and connectivity between two countries such as a third link.. or expansion of the current causeway or MRTs etc etc. Even got SBS buses running 2nd link into Nusajaya from Singapore.
2) Sporeans living in Iskandar do not need passport to enter or leave Spore and Iskandar.
3) An exclusive high-end residence and taman in Medini owned 50-50 by both T and K. Can pay by CPF.
4) Singapore to be part of Malaysia. Lee Hsien Loong will be DPM. PM Najib salary will be S$300,000 ( from S$10,000 currently )

 

[curiouscat]

People like to liken the JB-Spore relationship to Shenzhen-HKG... for me, I prefer to think of it as Taiwan-China.
Two sovereign nations, working ever closely together, need not be a bad thing for everyone (ok ok, 60% or 40% may disagree...)...

Just my rambling 2c thots.

Hmm, well China doesn't agree that they are 2 sovereign nations :-(

You are right that the 2 sovereign nations adds some unique issues. But I think HK and Manhattan are good examples to look at. I think you lose a great deal of the essence of the comparison when the Singapore match isn't a city. Singapore needs a larger space to grow economically valuable enterprises (just like HK and Manhattan do). Taiwan can go internally to Taiwan and trade externally. Singapore is also partnering with Indonesia. They know they need space.

Taiwan and China's relationship I think is different. And if we carry that too far is it Malaysia that wants to re-absorb Singapore? :-) You are right though, that we must factor in the 2 sovereign nation situation when thinking about how this will play out. There are some really small nations in Europe, there is probably something to learn in what they have done with neighbors (hopefully people in the government of Malaysia and Singapore are doing that).

 

[curiouscat]

Singapore taxis can go to any destination in Johor to drop of their passenger provided that they pay an annual fee of S$1k. IMHO, they must have a similar scheme to offer their own taxi drivers?

How do I call for one of these taxis when I am in Singapore? I always thought you had to go to Queen Street to catch the Malaysian Taxis.