Originally Posted by
boroangel
Hi all,
Good evening. I would like to seek some property advice on here on our situation.
We are a Singaporean couple in our early 30s planning to get married this year and buy a house.
Currently our financial standing is:
- no other debts, no plans to buy a car
- we can put down a downpayment of 400K (100K CPF and 300K cash)
- we have about 100+K left in cash for emergency use
- our combined salary is slightly over 12K per month
- Both my partner and I have committed to putting down 5K every month and additional rental proceeds (if any) going forward into an account which we will use for further property purchase in future. This is assuming our pay is stagnant over the next 10 to 15 years and we both keep our jobs. We expect to have about 400K in cash after 5 years for another downpayment, not including our emergency funds.
I believe we might not have a chance to get a BTO even after appealing, so pretty much our choices are getting a resale HDB or a private condo (we do not wish to get an EC). Our priorities are to find a home that is near to the MRT as we do not intend to have a car, and also rent it out for the next couple of years. There is a possibility that we both might be transferred out of Singapore to work again after the next 2 to 3 years.
We both agree that our first or 2nd home will not be our dream home.
2 options we are looking at are:
1. Resale EA size HDB in Jurong near to MRT, which is also near to both our parents. (about 600K SGD)
2. Freehold condo in near to Aljunied (about 105 sq m), (1.2 million), 15 year old condo.
Our thoughts (or dilemna) are:
1. If we go for the resale HDB, we can put down 350 to 400K and comfortably use our CPF to pay off the installments over the next few years. We cannot rent out the whole HDB unit, but can only rent out 2 bedrooms.
However, this option would definitely be less risky as we do not need to cough out more cash to pay off the rest of the flat, and can use the 400K we have in 5 years time for another downpayment for a new property. By then, if we wish, we could also come up with the $ to pay off our HDB flat, or keep using our CPF to pay off the flat.
2. If we go for the condo, we like the fact
- that it is a freehold condo, that the interior is not so newly decorated (we like to remodel our own home for own stay in the event that we would like to, hence no need to buy a newly renovated place).
- it is very near to MRT too
- we can rent it out immediately.
- We intend to use the cash from our joint account that we commit 5K or more every month, to pay off part of the loan after each year.
- it will take us about another 8 years to fully pay off the 1.2 million, assuming a 4% interest rate.
Based on the above, I guess we are in a dilemna because we would like to rent out the whole resale HDB but we cannot, yet at the same time it would allow us to have a fully paid up HDB within the next 3 years, and have another 400K or so ready in 5 years time for another downpayment, without touching our emergency funds. I guess what I mean is, I think we can achieve 2 fully paid up homes (1 HDB + condo) faster than if we were to buy 2 condos in future.
The attractive part about the condo is that we like its proximity to MRT and also that it is freehold, and no restrictions on renting out.
Would really like to seek some advice from the forummers on your opinions and feedback, or if there are other considerations we might have missed out on. Thanks!