After months of intensive research on the residential property sectors, my wife and I have decided to proceed with purchasing our second property here in Singapore.
Just yesterday, we’ve submitted the cheque, went to the lawyer and signed everything that we needed to settle.
We’ve never previously thought of the idea that we’d be buying a second home, especially in an expensive country like Singapore where private property was rated the second most expensive in the world according to a report from CBRE (source article here).
Why Buy Now?
But we were bounded by circumstances, in particular the fact that we rented out our bigger units a few months back and had to move in to our in-laws place in the interim. It was never the most ideal situation for the longer term because of many reasons and soon we were on the look out for a place of our own again.
The timing of our elder son primary one registration next year also means that we needed an ideal permanent place (at least 30 months worth of stay) in order to qualify him for the “Within 1km” proximity phase for the primary school that we were aiming for.
The previously written article that I wrote on the unlocking of the equity portion is a financing option meant to fund this purchase. This is one of the strategic move we’ve decided to go with in order to avoid the absd rule for the second property. At the end, my wife and I had to split with one each to our name.
Why Not Rent First?
The idea of renting being an ideal situation is when you can get a decent long term contract as a tenant, and then use whatever excess capital fund you have and invest it at a better irr.
Personally, I don’t like the idea of renting as a tenant for the longer term because first we know we’ll be staying in Singapore for a much longer period and second the rental that we pay goes straight as an expense to us when we could have used that rent to pay down the loan and increase the equity portion over time.
Of course, this wins hands down than paying for an overvalued property which is sending your equity straight to hell.
Why Not HDB?
We’ve contemplated this option by selling our current unit and then move to a HDB now that we’ve become Singaporeans and are eligible for it.
Unfortunately, we were not able to find the right match after a few tries with the location plus value that we’ve overall considered.
New or Resale?
I’ve probably mentioned this in the last few articles I wrote but there’s no way we could find value in most if not all the new private property development that were recently launched.
To put numbers into perspective, the two new integrated development – Woodleigh Residence was being marketed at approximately $1,850 psf while Sengkang Grand Residence was marketed at approximately $1,750 psf.
Pullman Residence @ Newton (former Dunearn Gardens) was launched at $3,000 psf.
Meyer Mansion was launched at $2,715 psf.
Avenue South Residence was launched at $1,780 psf.
Even the latest and only EC launched this year for Piermont Grand @ Sumang was marketed at $1,108 psf.
Given how heated the market is for these new development, it is very difficult for us to find good value and to be frank neither can we afford to pay such a hefty price.
We went for a resale development and found a few that was good hidden gems.
Some of these units provide good value and pretty much fit into everything we were looking for.
What Are The Criterions We Were Looking For?
In my live radio air-show last month, I mentioned these 5 criterions that is important to us when looking for a home so we used the same checklist to find our ideal home.
Do note that these criterions are likely to differ for every individuals depending on the life stage cycle you are in.
1.) Location / District
We don’t drive so proximity to public transport access such as MRT and direct buses is obviously going to be important to us.
Close proximity to malls, groceries shopping and nature would also have been big plus points for us.
I do also have a bias preference towards properties that are in “Prime” location, which includes the likes of District 1, 2, 4, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 15 by my extended definition.
2.) Investment
While we look into buying this as a home for our own stay, we also wanted to double up as an investment home for any future capital appreciation.
Like in all investment, the key here is not to overpay and the reason we choose not to purchase a new development is because the price in the market at the moment doesn’t gel with us.
As part of our investment key checklist for not overpaying, we also wanted to make sure that the rental yield for the property we are buying in this development is above 3%, which I think serves as a pretty good gauge in this current climate of poor rental market.
For purpose of reference, the place we bought came with a tenancy lease with a 3.2% rental yield, which will last until somewhere early next year.
3.) Size / Floor
We wanted a good decent size of living room and bedroom and it’s incredibly difficult to find in new developments where rooms are typically very small to cater to.
We also preferred units which have good squarish lay-outs, i.e minimal wastage of spaces, minimal bay windows, etc.
I also have a bias preference towards higher floor, which usually commands higher price.
 |
| Example of Good Floor Plan Layout |
4.) Facilities / Interior Finishing
Most of the interior finishing and facilities you are getting is likely going to depend on the developer that is building the units.
Bigger names such as CapitaLand or UOL or City Development are likely to provide better facilities and finishing as compared to smaller names.
5.) Proximity to Good Primary School
The proximity to a good (not necessarily top 10) primary school ranks number one on my wife’s list.
She has a peculiar preference towards some of the primary schools that we want our kids to go to so our search was narrowed to incorporate this criteria.
From an investment viewpoint, it can also double up as an unique selling point should one day we decide to rent out or sell this unit.
Added Bonus (Not Crucial But Important)
6.) Freehold vs 99 Years Lease
The freehold status is always going to be an added bonus point if we get it though we did not put this as a priority.
In this era of limited land space, it is likely more than not that a collective sales will happen in the future should the property is located at a unique/growing location.
7.) URA Master Plan (For Potential Enbloc in future)
I also like to refer to the latest master plan guide and changes to the land planning space at URA Space.
Some buildings are approved for an upgrade from 2.1 to 3.0 thus increasing the likelihood for an enbloc potential in the future.
Conclusion
We started the lists with about 8 different units after the first round filter.
After we visited all of them, we’ve managed to filter down to our final 3 units, out of which one became our choice.
I’d put this down as one of our important milestone that we managed to hit this year despite the setback we’ve had earlier in the year.
Never had we thought we’d be moving to a new home by this time last year but circumstances took us to a path that we didn’t think of.
Thanks for reading.
If you like our articles, you may follow our Facebook Page here
uncle168:
you should buy 4-rm hdb resale flat with cpf so when u go bankrupt the bank cannot sell your hdb
now u cash out house A to pay for house B
soon u will end up homeless if u can't rent out house A due to the end of the wework economy where startup bleed to death to gain market share that will never see the daylight of profits to pay the interest for your reverse mortgage on house A
dividend warrior buy 2rm bto use cpf S$100K nia, at least when all his reits collapse with weworks he still has a home
you should aim to be debt free with a family and buy back your netlink trust which has sky rocketed since you sold instead of trying to time the market
nobody can time the market consistently
eventually it would destroy u as a investor becomes a compulsive gambler
keekeekee
Hi Uncle
Your mouth really stinks leh 🤣 but thanks for the concern.
Hopefully the words doesn't get to bite you instead yah, stay safe 🙂
Herbal Penis Enlargement product is 100% guarantee to Enlarge and get a better ERECTION ,
the reason why most people are finding it difficult
to enlarge Penis is because they bedlieve on medical
report, drugs and medical treatment which is not
helpful for Penis Enlargement . Natural roots/herbs are the best remedy which can easily Enlarge your Penis permanently
Contact Dr Olu via Email : [email protected] or via WhatsApp : +2348140654426 for Natural root and herbal remedies put together to help you get Enlarge and Erect healthy.
Thank you.
Hello everyone..Welcome to my free masterclass strategy where i teach experience and inexperience traders the secret behind a successful trade.And how to be profitable in trading I will also teach you how to make a profit of $12,000 USD weekly and how to get back all your lost funds feel free to email me on( [email protected] ) or whataspp number is +22999290178
Hello everyone..Welcome to my free masterclass strategy where i teach experience and inexperience traders the secret behind a successful trade.And how to be profitable in trading I will also teach you how to make a profit of $12,000 USD weekly and how to get back all your lost funds feel free to email me on( [email protected] ) or whataspp number is +22999290178
uncle168:
was right about m1 (privatisation), best world (fake china sales) and mm2 (financial engineering with no operating cash generated) @ hwz ssi 🙂
u happy can oredi
keekeekee
3 claps for you for getting right 🙂
So what did u actually? N u did a divorce?
3.2% rental yield is it gross or nett? if it's nett can you share the breakdown cause i'm interested to know.
Hi
It's a gross and sorry the breakdown is rather sensitive so won't be able to share openly the figures here.
May I ask which district did u buy?
Hi Ken
You can drop me a private message on this.
Hi Brian, dropped u an email last week, but haven received your reply yet:)
Good Luck B. hope your boy appreciates the effort 😀
Thank you 🙂
Hello B
Congrats on the purchase, although I must say there is a fair amount of risk you are taking on by using a 2nd mortgage. We have 6 props in SG, and our latter buys were almost 70%-100% cash funded. Anyway, I am sure you know what you are doing, and think of it as a home and not an investment. I have only bought places that I can imagine myself living in.
All the Best
Anon Andy
Hi Andy
Thank you for your well wishes.
I actually took an equity loan earlier so this purchase is fully funded. Well, there are inherent risk in every investment but I think it's a calculated one which I've prepared both mentally and financially. I hope there isn't major flaws with the execution.
Hello B
Good point, and in that case, you only still have one mortgage and are likely cashing in on unrealized profits in part from your first residential prop to help fully fund the 2nd purchase. Not a bad move. But since I am 50 or thereabouts, I would rather take less risk and reduce risk, except for the equity markets, where I am still holding very large positions. But when I was in my 30s – haha I was up to my eye-teeth in debt leveraged funded property purchases. LOL.
All the Best
Anon Andy
Hi Andy
At some point, I want to be in your position, taking less risks and then the allocation towards the fixed income and more stable play will come in a higher percentage. If I had the choice I'd probably choose to be like you, but I guess this alternative is a skewed play because of our current circumstances which will definitely change (we can sell the house later) once our kids are more grown up/us getting older.
So you did a de-coupling on your current property?
Decoupling is a strategy couples can use, think it should result in lesser stamp duty than having to pay for the additional absd.
For us, we didn't have to decouple because we bought using only one name in the first place.
Hi, I really like to read your article. Thanks for all the useful advice.
Here's a interesting article to share with you all…..
https://fiftharrowinvestment.blogspot.com/2019/10/keppel-corp-pheonix-rising-thank-you.html
The floor plan even looks in regards of Feng Shui Rules very good to me. I have noticed in the newer developments that the layout is so bad which causes a lot of issues for the household members. Just tow things from my 30 second observation from the floor plan:
1. No missing sectors = good
2. Bed position,kitchen location (Stove) also good
3. Keep the "WC" door at the front door closed all the times
4. I would have a look at the star energies for each sector to enhance your wealth, health, and study (kids) energies
Long time reader, all the best 🙂
https:www.fengshuibalanz.com/fengshuitips
Hello! Samantha here, I dropped u an email last Monday. Would like to know more about the property you've purchased as I would like to do the same myself. 🙂 Hope to hear from you soon!
Good strategy bro. with the low interest rate, it is time to get a private property and flip it in a few years.
Thanks for the great write-up. I enjoyed reading it. I have some questions on the article and hope you can shed some light on it.
a. You mentioned "rental that we pay goes straight as an expense to us when we could have used that rent to pay down the loan and increase the equity portion over time." i have learnt from other blogs that the rent is not necessary an expense especially in this market of low rental. Let me give an example, a $1m condo asking for a $2,500 rent, annual rent is $30,000 which works out to 3% yield. If you didnt fork out the $1m but invest to get 3% returns, you will receive 30k annually and this means you stay at the rental flat for free. Your $1m is still intact!. In addition, by not owning the property, you save on maintenance fees and property tax. Would you agree with this argument?
b. you mentioned about your rental yield of 3.2% for the new flat, I read somewhere that this is the gross rent. After deducting maintenance, property tax, income tax, agent fees and also potential periods of vacancy, would the rental yield drop significantly?
c. "Some buildings are approved for an upgrade from 2.1 to 3.0 thus increasing the likelihood for an enbloc potential in the future". Can you share some examples of this, i have likewise been trying to find these potential sites but have not been able to find. An expert told me that in reality URA has not increased the plot ratio of any property for a long time (like more than 30 years). URA only increase the plot ratio of land that belongs to the govt, and any private land that will increase the plot ratio will be after enbloc and application to URA, and developer has to pay extra for the plot ratio increase. And this is usually on sites that are near MRT or key nodes. If URA changes plot ratio of an existing property, then these owners will suddenly get a big windfall and surely this could lead to a lot of unhappiness. There are past enbloc properties that some say are due to the increase in plot ratios, and these seem to be very old properties of more than 40 years. I am really unsure of this, so if you could share some examples of existing properties that have increased plot ratio by URA in the recent past, that would really be great.
Hi Anonymous
If you could drop me a private email I would gladly share those information you asked. Just don't feel like replying in this public forum space for some personal information.
My hobby is reading blogs and articles because I love it when I gain another useful information that can add into my brain, I just want to tell you that when I'm reading your work, for me it was a real good job! I suggest if you want direct supplier just ask me.
This comment has been removed by the author.
You certainly did it well! First off, I want to recognize your work, this was really nice! I like the style of your writings! When you have time, I want to share with you this retail market if ever you need to buy something.
LOANS AVAILABLE
Do you need Personal, Business Cash Loan, Unsecured Loan, Get unsecured working capital ? We Have Loan Programs Tailored For any Profile apply a loan with us today to Satisfy your Business Needs.
Operation;
Fast and Simple Loan
Quick Application Process
Approvals within 24-72 Hours
Optional Fee Loan
Funding in less than 5 days
LOAN SERVICES AVAILABLE INCLUDE:
================================
*Personal Loans.
*Business Loans.
*Investments Loans.
*Business Expansion Loans.
*Hard Money Loans
*Construction loans.
*Credit Card Clearance Loan
*Debt Consolidation Loan
We Offers Financial Consulting To Clients, Companies Seeking Debt/Loan Financing And Seeking For Working Capital To Start A New Business Or To Expand Existing Business.
Interested Parties, kindly contact us for additional information via
Mail; [email protected]
Whatsapp: +1 (573) 279-4038
Company Address: West Ave, Hawthorne, CA.
While having a conversation with my friends, they recommend me your writings because they said that it was really nice to read, so I search your work then I was amazed because its not only nice rather it was really a tremendous job of yours! However I would like to ask if you have already a direct supplier ?
-Jayvee
It’s been a long time since I read some blinding articles like yours! You are really compliment with this, no one makes me amazed than before, maybe I should share this with my friends, If you want to go to retail market I want to come with you.
Proven to rank page # 1 for your keywords, drive traffic, lead and sales, and help grow your business. Our result-oriented seo packages are designed to keep you ahead of the chase.
The top positions on page one get the most clicks affordable SEO service However this would probably not hold true for the vast majority of sites who do not have these vast quantities of backlinks. In these cases the on page optimization will still affect ranking and therefore still has to be taken care of.
Nice reading, I love your content. This is really a fantastic and informative post. we provide mortgage loan comparison singapore at affordable interest rate. for more info visit our website.
i want to tell the whole world of great Herbalist herbal mixture CREAM. i was unhappy ever since my girlfriend back then in college mocked me of having a small penis and weak in bed ,ever since then i have been trying to improve my sex life but all effort failed ..but it got worse when i got married ,my wife is so angry with me and Threatened to leave me if i do not find a way out and i love my wife so much, so one faithful day i was reading some comments on a blog then i saw a comment of someone testifying of how Herbalist Dr helped him enlarge his penis and Fertilize his sperm count so i quickly contacted him by his email and he got back to me and i did as he said ..to my greatest surprise i got 10 inches within two weeks of using his herbal mixture cream and now its just 3 weeks i am having 10.5 inches i am so happy now..my wife told me am so much good in bed now all thanks to OGODO herbal mixture cream for saving my marriage and disgrace. NOTE: he also cure sicknesses and diseases like
PENIS ENLARGEMENT ERECTILE DYSFUNCTION DIABETES type 1 and type 2 HERPES GENITAL WART
LOW SPERM COUNT WEAK ERECTION
BREAST ENLARGEMENT
PROSTRATE CANCER
HIV/AIDS
PREMATURE EJACULATION
LOVE SPELL AND BRING YOUR EX BACK
You can reach him via email [email protected] or WHATAPP HIM +23490440680467 You Can check his website on his Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/oogoherbalhomesolution/
Herbal medicine is the best Greetings I am here to testify how great man called Dr OMO helped me out with herbs and roots which he prepared for me in use of curing my fibroids and Getting pregnant after 8 years of trying to conceive with fibroids I takes his product (cure for my fibroid made with herbal medicine Root) for (14) days before I am to known I was totally pregnant after 2months of using dr omo herbs he also have Herbal medical for all types of diseases, and i promise him that i will tell the world about his Great job he ask me to drink from the herbal medicine before meeting my husband I did and after 2months I was pregnant thank you for your great job he can also help you if you have a low sperm count you want to convince a baby fast PCOS ,infections, swollen Legs,Diabetes,stomach ucler , Cyst, THYROID, COPD, Endometriosis, breast cancer,HIV?AID,ALS, yeast infection, Gonorrhea, Chronic Sinus, HPV low testosterone, Herpes, blocked fallopian tubes Liver parasites ovarian Arthritis, Cysts, pile, ASTHMA, Crowns and all other type of diseases,WEAK ERECTION, STRETCH MARK REMOVER , breast cancer, Parkinson's, male-enhancement Cream, BARENESS/INFERTILITY, HEPATITIS B pile, Get lost period back, stop period pain, Love spell, get your Ex lover back,Email : [email protected] WhatsApp him on +2349033505260 thank you for all your work..