The Republicans, who strongly oppose the administration's plan to use a technique known as "scientific sampling", had sued to have a "full enumeration census" conducted and the Supreme Court subsequently ruled that it must be done.

`Enumeration' essentially means distributing the census questionnaire to each and every household and requesting that the completed forms be returned. Those who do not return the forms are visited by `enumerators' to personally obtain the missing data from these people.

The Census Bureau has maintained that relying solely on this method is not only expensive and obsolete, but also inaccurate. Thus, it introduced the proposal to supplement enumeration with`scientific sampling'. This method involved gathering information directly from a random portion of the population and attributing it to a large group of people who had not been questioned. The system is quite similar to that used in public opinion surveys, and according to the Clinton administration, this was a more accurate way to get a head count. The bureau said that in the 1990 census, some 4.4 million people, mostly minorities and immigrants, had been undercounted. Congressional Republicans fear that such a sampling technique can add to the census rolls persons who traditionally vote Democrat. Thus, they believe this could result in the Republican Party losing seats.

The Census Bureau now has to hire and train more enumerators, as well as process more paperwork, buy more advertising and lease more phone banks, among other things. It also requires the opening of more local census offices and necessarily keeping them open for longer periods. According to the Census Bureau, sans the sampling method,enumerators will have to visit the homes of 16 million more non-respondents.

Collective sales in Singapore

Thanks to positive sentiment and rising prices, Singapore property consultants have of late been swamped with calls from owners wondering if the time is right to try and revive collective sales in their estates, reports Business Times.

As a matter of fact, the market is expecting the first deal to come through anytime now, but owners must be realistic about asking prices.

For one, property consultants say owners cannot expect the same kind of prices that were achieved during the mid-1997 peak. Since then, land prices are estimated to have gone down some 40 per cent. Although the terms `collective sale' and `en bloc sale' have been used interchangeably, Terence Tang, head of investment sales at Jones Lang LaSalle, says there is a difference between the two. In both cases, all units in a building may be up for sale. But while an `en bloc sale' may only involve one seller, a `collective sale'suggests that different owners of the individual units are banding together to sell.

Talk to property consultants and they'll tell you that everyone seems to think their apartment block is in a great location and offers excellent redevelopment potential. This isn't always true, of course. The first thing to check is the number of units in your development versus its land size. If there is a lot of land taken up by large open spaces and car parks, as compared to the built-up area, then the redevelopment potential is higher. In addition, a land area of at least 20,000 square feet will make your effort worthwhile, says Tang.

Secondly, if your building is really old and run-down and the cost of upgrading is prohibitive, then there might be a collective sale potential, as the total value of all the units may be less than the land itself. A third major factor is the possible re-zoning or improvement in plot ratio of your property, as prescribed by the Master Plan 1998. The master plan comprises 55 DevelopmentGuide Plans (DGPs), which divide Singapore into planning zones, and specify in detail the uses permitted for land within each zone. Plot ratio dictates the maximum amount of gross floor area that can be developed on a piece of land. Knight Frank director Tay Kah Poh cautioned that the plot ratio has to be seen together with any special planning controls that may exist over the property. Such controls, which take precedence over plot ratio, may include height restrictions or a requirement that the development consist of a mix of landed and high-rise housing.

Of course, one thing that helps in a collective sale is if your property is really in a prime district where there is demand for land and is located near MRT stations and other amenities.

Once you're convinced that your property has good collective sale potential, establish a sales committee of no more than three like-minded persons as representatives. Then call in the experts. It's always good to engage a reputable property consultancy. Theagent/consultant will value the land to see how much each owner can get as opposed to selling units individually. An indicative valuation may not cost you anything, but there's a charge for a formal valuation.

Naturally, the agent would want to be retained as the marketing agent till the sale is complete. If so, the agent will be paid 1 per cent of the selling price; the consultancy fee is usually waived. But if the sale isn't successful, the agent may ask for a certain fee to cover expenses. Such expenses may be absorbed in the 1 per cent fee if the deal goes through. The sales committee will work with the property agent to interest everyone in selling their units collectively. Those who agree will sign a sales agreement. The agent will also find out how many owners object to the sale, why, and how these objections may be overcome.

By now, the sales committee would have appointed a lawyer to draw up the collective sales agreement, outlining terms such as the basis of sale, minimum sale price (or reserveprice) and distribution of profits for all owners to agree on. Lawyers' fees would come to a few thousand dollars per unit.