I am expected to post this earlier, afterall, it’s about the other major blessings that I have received just last week. So I will come straight to the point. I’ve got a new house! Ok, not really, it’s is 99% confirmed but something can still happen from now till the time I collect my keys, so I am keeping my fingers crossed.
Having looking around for a house for the past 3-4 months, the expectation between a buyer and a seller keeps getting wider. Sellers, despite the recent data release by HDB and the volatility of the US stock markets, which affected ours, are still asking for the sky. We have narrowed our search of a new house to 2 precincts, namely Yishun and Sembawang. Having lived in Yishun for the past 20+ years, it’s only natural that I prefer to stay in the same area again, what with my wife and children happily settled in schools and workplace in the area. And Sembawang because it is one of the newer towns in Singapore.
The going price for ANY flats in these areas are on an average S20K – S30K cash over valuation (COV), which some (even in Yishun/Sembawang area) asking for as much as S100K cash over valuation. Which means I have to fork out these in cash, a value I am unwilling to pay. So the search has been difficult, with my housing agent advising me against buying one now. All these while I did not consider getting a flat directly from HDB due to the S40K resale levy that I have to pay. But looking at the market now, it may not be too bad an idea to pay the levy. Imagine this, say you found someone willing to sell you at S30K cash above valuation, and though the levy is at S40K (if your 1st flat is a 4 room flat), you will as a whole pay a much lower price for the flat. A flat in the market could value at $350K now, plus the $30K COV, you will be paying $380K for that flat. But if you would have bought it direct from HDB, it could cost you $300K + $40K levy for a total $340K levy. So for a house in the same area, you could potentially save $40K that you can use for your retirement. 
And a new flat will usually be less expensive to renovate as compared to a resale flat, unless you are willing to take whatever the owner left behind. But my own experiences tell me that no matter how nice the house looked, once you move in you will begin to see a lot of faults, and unless you are willing to live with those faults, you will have to spend a considerable amount of money and inconvenience to get them fixed, or even redo them. Which is why we have decided from the onset that if we do get a resale flat, we will redo the entire house.
So in today’s market, the levy seems like a small price to pay for a new home, which is the choice we’ve made. But all the while we thought we have to wait till HDB announce for any new flats to be release for application for balloting before we can have a chance to select one. Little did we know that we are do a walk-in and select a flat straight away for flats that are ‘leftover’ from previous balloting, up to 5 months from the time it was released. And so we started to visit the flats that are available, going up to each units, looking at surroundings, checking our potential neighbours, bringing our parents, relative, children to have a look. All very elaborated but well worth the effort. When I bought my first flat, I want to make my own decision and not listen to opinions of others. I thought to myself, it’s my house, I’m getting married and I’m an adult now, why should I listen to anyone but myself. How wrong I was! Now older and wiser (hopefully), I realise it is important to listen to a wide variety of opinions from different people (especially our older, wiser folks), and digest the information and make an informed decision (with my wife of course).
So we were quite glad that our choice turns out to be their choice, and some of their reasons are what we did not think off in the first place, so it just cemented our decision. And we feel good about it. We targeted one particular unit and prayed very hard for it to be available for selection. So we went down to HDB early on Monday morning, took queue number 8, and waited, and waited, and waited. I never know I have to wait that long! And finally it is our turn to select the flat and the first thing the HDB officer told us is. Oh, Sembawang, this morning there are quite a lot of people who chose Sembawang. Our heart began to race, and so we pop the question, anyone chose the block we wanted? The reply was a unpopular ‘YES’. I prayed in my heart, “Oh God, let it not be the unit we wanted”, and so we asked, which floor? The reply is a relief to us and we quickly asked him to block out the unit we wanted. Thanks be to God, what a close shave! As we felt it is the best unit left for that block.
So here we are, 1st time owner to be for a new HDB flat (the previous one is a resale flat), excited, but is made to wait. According to HDB, we need to wait for 6 months, we send in an appeal letter and pray for the best. The next problem is how to repay the $40K, which, thankfully, we manage to get an interest free loan. How? Sorry, it’s a secret.
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