Buying now?

[revhappy]

Hello everybody,

This is my first post. I am a foreigner working here on EP. Been here since last 1 and half years and planning to be here for mayby another 5 years.

I would like to buy a house so that I could save on the rent. Currently staying in a 3 Rm HDB in AMK rent is 1800$. But I am not a PR yet so cannot buy HDB. I am thinking of buying a condo. 1st question is can EP holder get 80% loan?
2nd I have only about 100k with me. So max I can buy a condo costing about 600k.

Can you guys please suggest will it be a good decision to buy now and hold for 5 yrs? Also which condos will be the best for investment? I am ok with anywhere in the north or east of SG. But not the west. I think Melville park is the cheapest 2 bedroom condo I have come across. What do you guys think about it?

[Geylang OKT]

Hello everybody,

This is my first post. I am a foreigner working here on EP. Been here since last 1 and half years and planning to be here for mayby another 5 years.

I would like to buy a house so that I could save on the rent. Currently staying in a 3 Rm HDB in AMK rent is 1800$. But I am not a PR yet so cannot buy HDB. I am thinking of buying a condo. 1st question is can EP holder get 80% loan?
2nd I have only about 100k with me. So max I can buy a condo costing about 600k.

Can you guys please suggest will it be a good decision to buy now and hold for 5 yrs? Also which condos will be the best for investment? I am ok with anywhere in the north or east of SG. But not the west. I think Melville park is the cheapest 2 bedroom condo I have come across. What do you guys think about it?

Hmmm.... your preference dictates that you are most certainly an Indian national

Melville Park is 99LH and more than 14 years old but is ok, lots of expat Indian crowd there and near to IBM and another large IT company (I forget the name). Are you an IBMer?

[revhappy]

Hmmm.... your preference dictates that you are most certainly an Indian national

Melville Park is 99LH and more than 14 years old but is ok, lots of expat Indian crowd there and near to IBM and another large IT company (I forget the name). Are you an IBMer?

Haha, You are right bro I am Indian. But my preference is not mainly because lots of indians there. I work at Credit Suisse in Changi Business Park. I am more keen about Melville park because when I search in Propertyguru for 2 bedroom condos below 700k, Melville park and Woodgrove are the only condos that come up. Once I also saw regency park. Considering that the rental yield is 4% and mortgage interest rate is less than 2%, will it make sense to just buy a condo? Worst case if I need to leave SG due to retrenchment I can rent out the condo for 2k+ and monthly installment is less about 1.7k. What do you say?

[Geylang OKT]

Haha, You are right bro I am Indian. But my preference is not mainly because lots of indians there. I work at Credit Suisse in Changi Business Park. I am more keen about Melville park because when I search in Propertyguru for 2 bedroom condos below 700k, Melville park and Woodgrove are the only condos that come up. Once I also saw regency park. Considering that the rental yield is 4% and mortgage interest rate is less than 2%, will it make sense to just buy a condo? Worst case if I need to leave SG due to retrenchment I can rent out the condo for 2k+ and monthly installment is less about 1.7k. What do you say?

Hmm... Bro, all I know is that Melville Park is very popular with the indian expat community. You can indeed fetch good rentals there ($2.4k to $2.9k fully furn) Also, several owners with the same profile as you have already bought the Melville Park units a few years ago and rented out to their fellow compatriots. Their purchase prices then was around $360k to $420k

Definitely not discouraging you, but you may want to consider scenarios such as if the interest rates will drastically rise upwards and a potential housing glut if the foreigners have to leave in droves.

Wish you all the best.

(ps - take propertyguru prices there with a huge dose of salt). This website is essentially an agent's website and you can knock off quite a bit from their published asking prices.)

[Geylang OKT]

Looks like you are an EP P1 holder too

[mantrix]

You should look for 2 bedders under 800k in propertyguru. They usually mark up the prices by 10-30% in some cases and 800k can definitely be bargained down to 700k, especially in the slow market now

[DC33_2008]

You can go to streetsine.com to check the latest transaction. It will shed some light on the $psf.

[KC76]

You should look for 2 bedders under 800k in propertyguru. They usually mark up the prices by 10-30% in some cases and 800k can definitely be bargained down to 700k, especially in the slow market now

Wah, I didn't know one can bargain for so much. Thought the most 30-40k off the listed price v good liao. Cos I noticed that most of the units (not this dev) is listed at 30-40k above last transacted price in streetsine.

[mantrix]

Wah, I didn't know one can bargain for so much. Thought the most 30-40k off the listed price v good liao. Cos I noticed that most of the units (not this dev) is listed at 30-40k above last transacted price in streetsine.

It depends on the quantum and area - areas with high speculation tend to mark up their prices more (eg prime districts, d12 etc) while those like Melville will be somewhat lesser, but definitely you can still find good bargains (eg 800k to 700k) - make an offer, hold, and when they don't see that many viewers and start to panick (before market gets worse) and you pass cheque to agent, everything comes together and you'll have a deal


The magic cheque that you pass is the ultimatum and that is when agent will really fight on your behalf

[KC76]

It depends on the quantum and area - areas with high speculation tend to mark up their prices more (eg prime districts, d12 etc) while those like Melville will be somewhat lesser, but definitely you can still find good bargains (eg 800k to 700k) - make an offer, hold, and when they don't see that many viewers and start to panick (before market gets worse) and you pass cheque to agent, everything comes together and you'll have a deal


The magic cheque that you pass is the ultimatum and that is when agent will really fight on your behalf

Cool! I guess I am really a greenhorn compared to lao jiao.. HAHA.

Thanks for the advice. Digress a little, do u think its time to bargain and load a unit now? Say in mass market dev?

[Geylang OKT]

Some of my friends bought their units at Melville Park at around $400k for a 2 bedder a couple of years ago. If the transacted prices really move to $800k I will definitely alert them to sell!

[revhappy]

Thanks for yours suggestions, bros.

I am on EP P2. Monthly sal 6.5k.

Melville park for 400k!.Even last year in June the prices were 500k on propertyguru. Really missed the boat. But, nowadays 2 bedroom HDB that is 30 yrs old are going for 300k++.

Another option I have is I could apply for PR early next yr and and hope to get it by middle or end of next year and then buy an HDB. But I am aware I will need to stay there for 5 yrs. Which I think I can stay as long as my job is good.Really confused which option to take.

[rattydrama]

It depends on the quantum and area - areas with high speculation tend to mark up their prices more (eg prime districts, d12 etc) while those like Melville will be somewhat lesser, but definitely you can still find good bargains (eg 800k to 700k) - make an offer, hold, and when they don't see that many viewers and start to panick (before market gets worse) and you pass cheque to agent, everything comes together and you'll have a deal


The magic cheque that you pass is the ultimatum and that is when agent will really fight on your behalf

Now that the developer are moving into mass market condo, I guess the owner may not be too willing to negotiate :-)

[rattydrama]

HDB should be the first house. You can get quite good size at good price and there are many choices for selection.

You can rent out your extra rooms to collect extra income.

Thanks for yours suggestions, bros.

I am on EP P2. Monthly sal 6.5k.

Melville park for 400k!.Even last year in June the prices were 500k on propertyguru. Really missed the boat. But, nowadays 2 bedroom HDB that is 30 yrs old are going for 300k++.

Another option I have is I could apply for PR early next yr and and hope to get it by middle or end of next year and then buy an HDB. But I am aware I will need to stay there for 5 yrs. Which I think I can stay as long as my job is good.Really confused which option to take.

[DC33_2008]

This is especially so for those bought 5-10 years ago. Garment is looking at this and may release more measures to curb this.

HDB should be the first house. You can get quite good size at good price and there are many choices for selection.

You can rent out your extra rooms to collect extra income.

[dragonred]

Thanks for yours suggestions, bros.

I am on EP P2. Monthly sal 6.5k.

Melville park for 400k!.Even last year in June the prices were 500k on propertyguru. Really missed the boat. But, nowadays 2 bedroom HDB that is 30 yrs old are going for 300k++.

Another option I have is I could apply for PR early next yr and and hope to get it by middle or end of next year and then buy an HDB. But I am aware I will need to stay there for 5 yrs. Which I think I can stay as long as my job is good.Really confused which option to take.

Since you are not PR, your downpayment will be 30% of the purchase price. Also, you are better off buying a FH apartment, near amenities (including within 1 km of a primary school). Or, wait a year and go for a HDB.

[revhappy]

Since you are not PR, your downpayment will be 30% of the purchase price. Also, you are better off buying a FH apartment, near amenities (including within 1 km of a primary school). Or, wait a year and go for a HDB.

Thanks dragonred, I was doubting whether EP holders can get 80% loan. If I can't get 80% then, yeah buying property is out of scope for me until I get my PR. I hope prices remain steady untill then and dont run away

[kingkong1984]

Need 2 pr to buy right?

[mantrix]

Now that the developer are moving into mass market condo, I guess the owner may not be too willing to negotiate :-)

Depends on your agent too...some 'exclusive agents' may have been marketing for so long that they 'sianz' already and will suddenly turn doomsayer and convince seller that this is the best price

[rattydrama]

Depends on your agent too...some 'exclusive agents' may have been marketing for so long that they 'sianz' already and will suddenly turn doomsayer and convince seller that this is the best price

offer cheap cheap and see who will get into the hook.. clever buyer as well..... well you never know... and I think it is still better than buying 4D.....

[revhappy]

Since you are not PR, your downpayment will be 30% of the purchase price. Also, you are better off buying a FH apartment, near amenities (including within 1 km of a primary school). Or, wait a year and go for a HDB.

I just checked with DBS and they said that EP holders staying in SG can get upto 80% loan of the property value.

I am planning to go ahead and apply for in principle approval for a loan, lets see how much can I get

[mcmlxxvi]

I just checked with DBS and they said that EP holders staying in SG can get upto 80% loan of the property value.

I am planning to go ahead and apply for in principle approval for a loan, lets see how much can I get

Good luck and keep us posted - good to know also... thanks