18 | August | 2009 | Lush Dream Home

HSBC has offered a new home loan that pegs interest rate to the three-month Singapore Interbank Offered Rate (Sibor), plus a spread of one percentage point.

The rate will be applied throughout the loan tenor and is valid for both completed and uncompleted properties with a loan size of at least $300,000.

There is no lock-in period, which is how long you would otherwise be tied to the bank and which allows it to penalise you if you decide to redeem your loan early.

HSBC’s new loan offering comes as interbank rates are expected to remain tepid in the short term, especially as a speedy economic recovery is not on the horizon.

In comparison with the bank’s current Sibor- pegged ‘loyalty’ home loan package – which charges spreads of 1.3 points for the first year, 1.2 points Continue reading →

Rental scam targets potential tenants

Posted on 18 Aug 2009 | Comments Off

Michelle Jonasson-Jones, a Silver Spring, Maryland-based property agent, cautions potential tenants about a rental scheme making the rounds online that has caught the attention of the FBI.

Ms Jonasson-Jones said that she has had her listings for rental properties ’stolen’ and relisted under a different name and a lower price, usually on Craigslist. The impostors send prospective tenants an ‘application’ and ask for their personal and financial information.

They tell prospective renters that the owner is working overseas and is unavailable to show the house.

‘It used to be they were scamming the owner; now they’re scamming the tenants,’ she said.

Wendy Dufford, an intelligence analyst for the FBI in Columbia, South Carolina, wrote an article for the bureau’s website after the South Carolina Continue reading →