You may have heard of how some home buyers, when collecting the keys to their prized apartments, were left disappointed when their units turned out to be much smaller than the show flats had seemed.“When you go into the show flat and everything is very nice, sometimes you get distracted and mundane details like storage space does not cross your mind,” said Ngee Ann Polytechnic real estate lecturer Nicholas Mak.
“Mirrors ca be a sense of space”
Here’s what to look out for so that you don’t get cornered into a shoe box when you collect your apartment keys.
1. Mirrors
Arguably the fairest of all interior design tricks, mirrors are used liberally in show flats to make units look bigger with reflections creating illusions of spaciousness. Unless you’re ready to install mirrors in the same fashion, remember to rip these off from the walls of your dream apartment.
2. Glass walls
Some developers install glass walls in show flats to create an illusion of space between two rooms, particularly between the living room and the nearest bedroom. These glass walls typically have a label on them saying something along the lines of “This is a partition wall”. Ask if the unit you’re eyeing will also have these glass walls or they may well be the standard concrete walls instead.
3. Planter boxes
As their name suggest, these are for your leaves and shrubs – even though they may be factored into your overall floor area. Those nice big pebbles you see covering the planter boxes at the show flat are purely for aesthetics, it does not mean that you can flatten out your planter box to make it part of your living space. The construction of such boxes does not allow for you to stand on them.
4. Fixtures
Look for fixtures such as wardrobes, desks and other storage spaces in the bedrooms. If they are not present, you would need to mentally adjust the available space by imagining what you would like to put in these rooms.
“Sometimes, there is just enough room for a single bed and one desk or a small cupboard,” noted Mr Mak.
Some developers may also offer you fixtures (such as taps and sinks) of a “similar quality” as those you see in the show flat. Ask specifically what you are going to get, but remember that answers may not be forthcoming as the developers may not have finalised the supplier contracts yet.
5. Furniture
Some developers spare no cost in doing up their show flats so the furniture you see in those units may well be custom made. Remember that some apartments can be too small for most ready-made furniture. Also think about whether there is enough walking space after you put in the furniture.
6. Personal items
Human beings typically move into an apartment with personal baggage, or may accumulate knick-knacks with time. There may be shelves of books, boxes of toys or bicycles. These take up space in an otherwise spar tan show flat. Remember to imagine your personal things in the unit.
7. Floor plan
To achieve maximum efficiency in land area usage, some apartments, particularly those on small plots of odd-shaped land may feature irregular or odd-shaped apartments. While unique, remember that most furnishings are designed for square or rectangular rooms. Think about whether such offbeat apartments would be practical for you.
As an increasing number of projects also try to sell you apartments with open areas such as balconies and terraces, find out how much of the total floor space do these areas constitute and consider how often you would be using them before signing on the dotted line.
Finally, it is also important to find out where the unit’s floor area starts.
Cushman and Wakefield Singapore managing director Mr Donald Han said that “while most units start from the door, some projects include the space between the door and the private lift because it’s considered your personal space as well”.
“Some projects would even include the private lift shaft into the floor area,” he added.
Source : Today – 24 October 2009
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