Book Review: No B.S. Guide to Property Investment

 This is the first book written by Vina Ip, the blogger behind the popular property blog Property Soul. 

I have written review for her second book, Behind the scenes of the property market : finding the truths and exposing the lies of a not-so-transparent industry. This first book is quite different from her second book, which of course I find it more informative, but the statistics given in her book are already some time back, and the newer numbers are more relevant in her second book, which was recently published in 2020. 

This book published in 2014 shows you an introduction of the property scene in Singapore. 

The book consists of a total of 11 Chapters. 

The first Chapter is about Building wealth through property - and it lists reasons of why people would buy property, be it for living, investment, passive income etc or a combination of both. Based on the different reasons, it would influence your property decisions, which the author will show you how and the steps to take. This is particularly useful if you are buying your first property. You can set your goal and the action steps to follow. 

The second Chapter is about Common Property Myths and Truths - that most people believe or most property agents tell you. She will debunks the myths based on facts and show you the common questions that most people have, including whether you should buy or rent? Or whether you should buy a Freehold or leasehold. In my opinion, this chapter is quite informative as she showed with statistics on information that I did not know and is useful in helping me make decisions on property purchasing. 

The third Chapter is about New Launch Property Traps - in this chapter she showed you why it is better off buying a resale rather than a new launch. A resale condo, you can get to know and see the house in the real thing, even the neighbourhood and surrounding, you get to see touch and feel it. In new launch you get to see what the developers would like to show you, and the real result might not be what it is like in the showroom. Well I would have to say it is up to an individual's preferences. Her points stated are of course valid, but some prefer to be first owners of the house because everything is totally new. You will not need to worry what happened in the house before you etc. I would say it is totally up to an individual's preferences. 

The fourth Chapter is about Landmines Beneath Get Rich Quick Opportunities - in this chapter she highlighted warnings of buying overseas properties which you need to take note. I am not looking to purchase any overseas properties, especially during this period of Covid, thus this chapter might not be relevant for me. But it gave me a overview of what it is like and how people have been buying overseas properties. 

Chapter 5 is about Common Mistakes in Property Investment. She showed the common mistakes that new buyers make and what we can do to avoid making the same mistakes. Whether you should really buy property as a "savings plan" or "Sell 1 buy 2"? She will gave her takes on these strategies. 

Chapter 6 is about Profiting from the Property Cycle. In this chapter she show how it is possible to profit from the property cycle and how to avoid buying at the highest point. It sounds like stocks (to buy low and sell high). Read it on how she does it. 

Chapter 7 is about Working with Property agents and she show you the tricks they used. She show you what you can do to tell if the property agent you engage has really your interests at hand, or is it only for their own interests. This is useful even when you are trying to rent a property or rent out your property.

Chapter 8 is about Buying, Selling and Renting Strategies. In this chapter she will show you the strategies she take when she buy, sell and rent houses. These strategies are useful which I should have read before I made my first property purchase. Should not just trust my property agent fully. 

Chapter 9 is about Secrets of Successful Property Investors. In this chapter she shows you how to make a good property purchase - its location and the factors that make it a good property. 

Chapter 10 is about Where is the market heading. In this chapter she shows you about her views of the future of the property market, and why we should not always trust the media for the source of the property news - because they always paint the property market in a positive light  and she showed several evidence to back it up. And that the Singapore property market is also influenced by the demand and supply - with ageing population, low birth rate, and foreign property buyers. I think what she said  over here makes sense but as the economy is always changing, she wrote the book in 2014 things have already changed now in 2021. The ageing population and low birth rate is still relevant but there are other factors to consider -- due to Covid and increasingly more are working from home. 

Chapter 11 is about My Property Stories - In this chapter she share her stories on her property purchases which is insightful and we can learn from each of it. 

All in all it is a really good book and I am grateful that she is willing to share all these valuable information to first time amateur and noob property buyers like me, so as not to kena cheated by property agents who have rich experiences. I would recommend this book to all who want to buy properties, whether is for staying or investment. 

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