We're Down But Not Out

Source : The Electric New Paper, January 28, 2008

OTHER MATURE INVESTORS:

EVEN during his retirement, he is making quite a substantial amount of money by dabbling in property.

At one stage last year, Richard, a retired businessman in his 60s, owned seven posh condominium units in prime districts.

As property prices shot up, he sold off half of his property assets and made a profit of close to $1 million within six months.

He then channelled his windfall into shares and bought a new property, hoping to make more quick profits.

Unfortunately for him, the property market started to slow down after he put down his cheque of $50,000 to secure a brand new three-bedroom apartment in the west.

Said Richard, who wants to keep a low profile and spoke on condition of anonymity: 'I was hoping to make a quick profit by selling the property within a few months. Many people were queuing up for a unit and thought I could sell it to those who didn't manage to get one.'

SLOWING DOWN

But before Richard could start marketing his new apartment, the property market started to slow down.

He said: 'The property market is interlinked with the stock market. When it's hot, people rush in to buy, all wanting a share of the pie.

'But once something looks not quite right, these people also rush to sell off whatever they have. In the case of property, they stop buying.

'These people see that share prices are dropping, so they think that property prices will also drop.'

Afraid that he would suffer bigger losses later, Richard decided to withdraw from the purchase of the new condominium unit and forfeit 25 per cent of his deposit.

That came to about $12,500.

He still owns four freehold apartments.

NO RUSH

Another retiree, who wanted to be known only as Mr Wong, does not feel the need to rush to sell off his properties.

The 60-year-old, who invested mostly in apartments in the east, said: 'I believe that Singapore will continue to experience steady growth. We have our integrated resorts and F1 race to look forward to.

'Also we are well-prepared this time, even if recession is to hit the US.'

Mr Wong also suffered losses in the stock market recently, but he declined to reveal his losses.

He said: 'I am a conservative investor who does not gamble with money that I don't already have. So I am still fine.'