This is why that certain stat board sucks...(1)

I wrote in to that certain stat board (known as XXX now) twice to make some enquiries on their procedures and other stuff. Here's some Q and A:

I wrote my first e-mail to them on 12/12/07. They replied on 19/12/07, after 2 reminder e-mails on 17/12/07 and 18/12/07.

ME:
We are writing with regard to purchasing flats via the bi-monthly sales.

We are baffled by the fact that buyers are not allowed to view the repurchsed unit/s they wish to purchase before payment of the option fee.

We are exploring the option of purchasing a 5-room unit in Punggol, and the recent bi-monthly launch has only repurchased flats for 5-room units.

We had called several hotlines with the hope of being educated of possible policies or reasons with regard to the above restriction but all that we were told was that the restriction is there because it is difficult to make logistical arrangements and cater manpower for viewing of the units, since the units are spread across the estate.

Purchasing a flat for many Singaporeans is a milestone, and a very expensive affair to be exact. Purchasing a repurchased flat without viewing is like making an uninsured gamble with our entire savings.

Much as xxx had assured buyers that they would have rectifed any defects before selling the unit. However,
- What if they buyer do not like the renovation of the unit after paying the option fee?
- What if the unit faced the undesirable west sun?
- What if the previous owner had done major renovation such as hacking of wall? I understand that buyers would be informed of such change in layout of the unit before their purchase. However, I would like to highlight that buyers are no interior designers, so how are buyers suppose to visualise the layout just by looking at the layout plan? And make a decision right on the spot?

XXX:
xxx will remove the renovation at our costs.

Interested buyers can assessed this without going into the Re-purchased flat and by viewing the exterior.

Buyers are given floor plans for new flats and Re-purchased flats. We will give them adequate time to make a decision at the point of flat selection if there are changes to the layout. If after selection, they still find the unit not in a satisfactory condition, we can consider refunding them the option fees on a case-by-case basis, subjected to approval.

ME:
Is it not possible for xxx to have an open house for the repurchased units on sale, maybe on different days for the different types of flats. Of course a cut off point of a reasonable numbers of buyers above the available number of units on sale is necessary since the chances of those later in the queue to get a flat would definately be greatly diminished anyway. Possibly buyers could be given a period of a few days to make their final decision then head to xxx to make payment for the option fee according to their queue number and allocated appointment time.

The suggestion may seem out of the box as we really do not understand the basis of the restriction. Our complains / sharing of experience may seem insignificant as I am sure many Singaporeans face the same or even more trying problems; or it could also be that we do not truly understood the rationale for such restriction, if there is a rationale behind it to begin with.

XXX:
Besides the logistic/manpower constraints, having an open house for Re-purchased flats will cause much inconvenience to the existing residents. anyway we will take note of your feedback and try it out by opening some Re-purchased units in our future launches. (I laughed my head off when I read this because they just said earlier that we can view the sun from outside the flats; meaning that they encouraged us to go on our own to view the flats, so would this not cause disturbance to the existing residents??!!)