Property Conveyancing legal fees

I have learnt a painful lesson from dealing with a property conveyancing lawyer and decided to write a post to educate other potential property buyers.

I had engaged a lawyer via the property agent and this is a mistake. The lawyer quoted an initial fee  of 2.5k via teleconversation without stating the full costs that were only communicated later on. The additional costs mentioned by the lawyer at a later stage were the stamp fee on mortgage and CPF processing fees aka CPF lawyer fees. On paper, one would have thought that these are reasonable fees as one is payable to IRAS and the other payable to CPF's assigned lawyer.

I was lucky to obtain additional quotes from other lawyers after speaking to bank and friend who bought same property. These quotes are inclusive of the stamp fee on mortgage, CPF processing fees and GST. Both quotes range from 2k to 2.2k. Without even considering the "excluded costs" from the initial quote of my lawyer, it's already obvious that I was overcharged. As I went through the ordeal of arguing with my original lawyer, I googled search to understand more about the CPF processing fees. I came to realise that my lawyer's fees weren't competitive and that was probably partly because she was not on the CPF and bank panel of law firms. Both CPF and banks have their own panel law firms. If you choose the same law firm to represent yourself, CPF and bank, the fees will tend to be lower since there's no need to pay any middleman fees. The problem with my initial lawyer is that she charge me a fee for her services and also pass on the costs of engaging other law firms since she cannot act for CPF and the bank.

My initial lawyer argued that her fees weren't high as all other fees were not earned by her.
However, as a consumer, I don't feel that it's fair for me to pay for all the pass on costs of engaging additional lawyers to act when the lawyer cannot act for CPF and the bank. To me, my initial lawyer didn't have competitive advantage in providing such property conveyancing services. There are so many law firms in Singapore that sat on both the bank as well as CPF panels.

A lesson learnt.. Ask for a quotation in black and white and ask specific questions on what are included in the quoted fees. It will be good to look for a law firm that sits on the panel of many banks and CPF. It will also be good to obtain at least 2 or 3 quotations before deciding. The quality of the lawyer is also important so it may be good to get friends' referral. NEVER trust your agent. You never know if they have other motives or receive any kickbacks for referring you their contacts.

Even though I was half way through the procedures, I decided to change lawyer as I didn't want to deal with a law firm who wasn't transparent and upfront. The 2 other quotes I have obtained both stated clearly what were included on their own initiative and one even stated the banks that they can represent. I had to pay some fees to the existing lawyer for the work done to date though but I feel better that way as I cannot trust that there won't be any more issues that pop out along the way.

Funny and sweet movie

I was initially skeptical if Our Times will be similar to another popular hit 那些年。I was also worried about not having a good ending so I didn't feel the urge to watch. However, after gathering reviews from friends, I decided to give it a try. And it's really good! Its so funny but yet touching and sweet. 

It's a surprise that the male lead has already found the female lead attractive right from the chain letter.

在看电影的当儿， 我也一直在想我们间是否有过未澄清的暧昧。 我希望有一天有机会像男女主角一样开心的结局。。。

“爱上你的时候 还不懂感情
离别了 才觉得刻骨铭心
为什么没有发现 遇见了你 是生命最好的事情”

Mt Cook Adventure

It's my second trip to New Zealand and in particular the South Island. Surprisingly, it did bring me different experiences. I am going to deviate from my usual practice of blogging in sequence by starting with the most memorable place of interest.

Mt Cook and the surrounding areas are really scenic with blessings from the weather god. I am glad to have seen Mt Cook and Lake Pukaki during sunny days. I was travelling from the West Coast to Mt Cook so the first lookout point that I have stopped at was the Lake Pukaki Visitor Centre. I had planned to stop here as I could also buy Salmon sashimi from Mt Cook Salmon Farm. I have read that this location gave good views of Mt Cook and hence decided to stop here. It was a great decision as I was blown away by the scenery that unfolded before me. I saw some mirror images of Mt Cook though it was a bit far away. I feel that the pictures I took was unable to convey the beauty of what we had seen with our eyes. 

Mt Cook from Lake Pukaki Visitor Centre

After our short rest at the benches, we headed towards Mt Cook. The drive to Mt Cook from lake Pukaki is another feast to the eyes. The road itself is pretty straight and rather easy to drive. 

We checked into the Hermitage chalet. Its a small and cosy house in the valley. We could hear the sound of the strong wind clearly. All the activities and restaurants are situated in the main hotel building which was around a few mins car ride away. Its within walking distance if one wants to walk. The price of the meals in Hermitage Hotel is above average but well it's understandable given the location and limited competition. 

Mt Cook during the sunset- View from the Hermitage hotel

We went for hiking on the hooker valley route the next morning. It's a blessing that it's sunny when we hiked. The strong wind over the night and the weather forecast made me worried that we would not be able to do the hike.

View from our chalet 

Hooker Valley Hike

We started the hooker valley hike from the White Horse Hill campground which was just a short car ride from our chalet. The next 3h plus was a scenic journey. The hike itself wasn't too strenuous with broadwalks at certain sections and just a fair bit of steep slopes. It was a really windy day. The strong wind occasionally made it harder to walk. We were really lucky as rain started to pour after we finished the hike. 

Mueller lake lookout

First swing bridge

2nd swing bridge

Third and final swing bridge. Still a distance from the end of the hike  

The glacier lake that marks the end of the track . After a short rest at the benches, we headed back on the same route. 

Small ice bergs in the glacier lake

Driving from Mt Cook to Mt John observatory 

The scenic adventure didn't end as we left Mt Cook. It was initially gloomy and grey in the morning but the sun started to break out of the thick layers of clouds as we drove out to the Mt John Observatory and lake Tekapo. The blue colour of lake pukaki is so mesmerizing under the sun. We stopped by the Peter's lookout to take picture of the amazing lake. After the Peter's lookout, we headed for Mt John observatory. The GPS took us to the Tekapo canal road which was a private road that was closed half way through. We had to rely on google map to bring us back to the correct route to Mt John. However, it was a good detour on hindsight as we were brought to a salmon farm and the scenery enroute was really nice. 

Scenery during the drive to Tekapo canal road 

Tasmania Day 1 From Hobart to the East coast

Having been to some of the other major Australian cities, I decided to venture out to the Australian island Tasmania! I had seen this island been advertised in our tour packages since young so I had always wanted to travel to Tasmania.

Tasmania can only be reached via transit in some other mainland Australian cities like Melbourne, Sydney. I picked Melbourne as the transit city since I could also bring my parents to the 12 Apostles.

We arrived at Hobart around 9 plus in the morning and went to pick up the rental car at the Avis counter just opposite the airport. The small little office contained many other rental car offices. I had some issues with its Melbourne office as they were pondering whether to accept the slip issued by the traffic officials as license. Luckily, I didn't had similar issues with the Avis at Hobart! We were given a nice white Holden. As soon as we got the car, we set off to the east coast. I had booked an airplane ride over the wineglass bay.  The weather was pretty gloomy then and I was worried that the ride would be cancelled.

It was quite a long ride. We passed by many wineries and couldn't stop for wine tasting since we were rushing to get to the friendly beaches. We made some random stops for toilets and phototaking though.

Random stop along the east coast to admire the blue sea

Rainbow

We stopped for lunch at the Freycinet Marine Farm (1784 Coles Bay Road, Coles Bay, Tasmania, Australia). Coles Bay road is a long stretch of road and we overshot the destination initially. The environment  at the farm is simple but the food was really fresh and delicious!

It's the freshest seafood we tasted in this trip.

 

After the lunch, we drove to the Freycinet Air @ friendly beaches for our scheduled flight over the wineglass bay. We were pretty hopeful since the sun was shining brightly. However, we noticed a signpost "closed for the day due to weather" as we reached the destination. I tried calling the operator who told us that its too windy for the ride and requested us to call back the next day to check availability. 

It was disappointing but there was no other choice. With this sudden change in plan, I had to shift my plans around. We decided to drive to bay of fires instead. This was a bad decision on hindsight as we only reached the white sandy bay during the sunset. I didn't manage to capture beautiful pictures in the sun.

St Helens 

Moody

已经替自己洗脑了但还是胸口闷闷的。 Self fulfilling prophecy. 人应知足·。。。 我知道但还是不开心。希望成功会在不远的将来。 也希望我能竟快做回快乐的自己。