3 room or 4 room HDB resale

[Lensman]

Just quality for my single's apt.

i am unsure if I should be looking at a 3 room (S$160k+) or 4 room ($210k+) .

If asking about $$, based on 30 yrs loan tenture, both are within my reach. The latter would be a slight strech.

Greedy side of me is to get a 4 room lah. May be i can rent out a room or 2 to supplement my loan (but it is not part of my financing plan).

On the other side, I wanted to finish off the loan ASAP. Dun like owning something for so long, like a never ending tai-ee-long repaying.

The delima are :

a. 3 or 4 room ?

b. wat would be a reasonable location that are not at a premium (ie valuation + cash top up) ?

- currently staying in Queenstown area with my parents

c. Would be sensible NOT to take the S$11k grant ? This was recommended by one agent and it puzzels me.

d. Would it be sensible to take the max loan and top up with spare cash along the way to shorten the loan (and interest payable) period

any comments to this thinking and search process would be helpful.

 

[Del_CtrlnoAlt]

Just quality for my single's apt.

i am unsure if I should be looking at a 3 room (S$160k+) or 4 room ($210k+) .

If asking about $$, based on 30 yrs loan tenture, both are within my reach. The latter would be a slight strech.

Greedy side of me is to get a 4 room lah. May be i can rent out a room or 2 to supplement my loan (but it is not part of my financing plan).

On the other side, I wanted to finish off the loan ASAP. Dun like owning something for so long, like a never ending tai-ee-long repaying.

The delima are :

a. 3 or 4 room ?

b. wat would be a reasonable location that are not at a premium (ie valuation + cash top up) ?

- currently staying in Queenstown area with my parents

c. Would be sensible NOT to take the S$11k grant ? This was recommended by one agent and it puzzels me.

d. Would it be sensible to take the max loan and top up with spare cash along the way to shorten the loan (and interest payable) period

any comments to this thinking and search process would be helpful.

think u meant qualify rite... and should be qualified...

imho,

a) 4 room... the bigger the better... its imho (repeat after me...)

b) location... cheapest jurong... i think... if u wanna stay that far, or maybe its near your work place... the nearer to city, the more expensive it gets... and east coast is of greater inflation... reasonable... queenstown, maybe around bukit merah...

c) if u intend to stay for a long time in that place, then by all means take it... cos if i remember correctly, i think if u get the grant, you need to stay there for a minimum period of ?? years. and your parents can't sell that place either.

d) if u take the max loan, you are paying more interest, and interest is added and divided to the number of years you take up the loan, so every month you pay a fix amount, if u pay extra to the amount, it only decreases your time to end the loan, not decreasing the interest rate or interest you have paid. (i think...)

 

[joe]

Hi there,
check with your agent.If you bought a investment from the insurance agent,check with him.How much can you afford to buy 3 room or 4 room.My advise is that you purchase a 3 room flat cos you are purchasing as a single applicant.Ask your agent to work out a finance report for you,so that you can a clear picture for you to think about it, how much can you have to pay monthly installment.

 

[joe]

if you want to stay far far away,the govement still give you 11k even you are staying near

 

[kitkat]

Looking for a HDB flat too... are there any good site where agents advertise their services ?

 

[kelccm]

Just quality for my single's apt.

i am unsure if I should be looking at a 3 room (S$160k+) or 4 room ($210k+) .

If asking about $$, based on 30 yrs loan tenture, both are within my reach. The latter would be a slight strech.

Greedy side of me is to get a 4 room lah. May be i can rent out a room or 2 to supplement my loan (but it is not part of my financing plan).

On the other side, I wanted to finish off the loan ASAP. Dun like owning something for so long, like a never ending tai-ee-long repaying.

The delima are :

a. 3 or 4 room ?

b. wat would be a reasonable location that are not at a premium (ie valuation + cash top up) ?

- currently staying in Queenstown area with my parents

c. Would be sensible NOT to take the S$11k grant ? This was recommended by one agent and it puzzels me.

d. Would it be sensible to take the max loan and top up with spare cash along the way to shorten the loan (and interest payable) period

any comments to this thinking and search process would be helpful.

a) If you don't intend to get married or live with your parents, then I think a 3 rm would be better. If you intend to stay long term, and eventually start a family or stay with your parents, then 4 rm would be better.

b) Any of the western or northern estate furtherest away from the city. Eg. Jurong West, Woodlands. Check out the average valuation here

c) If you take up any HDB housing grant when buying resale flat, you will have to pay back the grant if you want to buy new flats later when you get married or sell before you have stayed 5 years. If not, you will have to continue to buy resale flats. I think your agent feels that getting the grant will tie you down, especially when situation can change rapidly for a single.

d) My advise is that if you intend to use CPF housing loan to pay for your flat, then go for the max loan period. Because CPF housing loan right now is only 2.6% per annum, which one of the lowest interest rate around as compared to any other kinds of loan. So it make more sense to slowly pay off your CPF housing loan, and quickly pay off whatever other loans you may have. Bank housing loan usually offer around 3% interest rate, but they may add other forms of flexibility, so do take note of that and plan accordingly.

Do visit the HDB website to get more info. If not, bombard your agent with questions to fully clear your doubts. They do have to work to earn your comission right??:bsmilie:

 

[Ah_Seng]

I think your agent probably advised you not to take the grant becos if you do, there is a resale levy to pay if you sell your flat in future. If i'm not wrong, the resale levy is higher than the grant. You might wanna check the HDB website.

Any agent here can advise? Err...in case i'm wrong lah......

*Sigh*......i just hope the govt can lower the age limit for singles to buy flat.....still must wait 4 years.....

 

[kelccm]

Looking for a HDB flat too... are there any good site where agents advertise their services ?

Check the classified. There are always loads of property agents advertising. If not I can recommend my agent to you.

 

[Ah_Seng]

Actually, kelccm is rite in a way.

If you take the loan at 2.6% interest and use your funds to invest, you might be able to reap the difference in profits.

Must state i'm not those investment guys.....:bsmilie:

 

[kelccm]

Oh yeah, investment. If you have not invested your CPF ordinary account before, you may want to consider investing a portion of it before you buy your flat. Because even though HDB states that you only need to put in a minimum of 5% of your flat's price when using CPF for downpayment, HDB will still use up all of your OA for the downpayment. So usually that means you'll have no more $ in your OA after purchasing your flat.

But if you have invested a portion of your OA before that, at least you have that portion for that extra flexibilty and of course to potentially earn back some interest. And IF in the future, you find yourself retrenched or unemployed for an extended period, you can put back your invested funds back into your OA and they can help to continue to pay for your CPF housing loan for that period of time. At least to tide you over till you find a new job.

 

[Lensman]

thanks for the kind advice.

I was thinking aloud on 2 grounds :

a. Take a 3 room, take max loan period but aim pay off the loan as soon as possible. To be debt free and less prone to any "jobless" senario.

After that, recharge bank account and aim for the 2nd property for investment & retirement income. I know it is wishful thinking, but it is still a possibility.

b. Take a 4 room and really stay put for good.

After that, recharge bank account and aim for the 2nd property for investment & retirement income. But seems like the 25% jump in prices will make this target even harder to achieve.

One last thing, how to find out if a property is a target of the "tai yee long" ? Last thing I want is unexpected visitors who repaint your door 3 times a week.

 

[melvin]

Just quality for my single's apt.

i am unsure if I should be looking at a 3 room (S$160k+) or 4 room ($210k+) .

If asking about $$, based on 30 yrs loan tenture, both are within my reach. The latter would be a slight strech.

Greedy side of me is to get a 4 room lah. May be i can rent out a room or 2 to supplement my loan (but it is not part of my financing plan).

On the other side, I wanted to finish off the loan ASAP. Dun like owning something for so long, like a never ending tai-ee-long repaying.

The delima are :

a. 3 or 4 room ?

b. wat would be a reasonable location that are not at a premium (ie valuation + cash top up) ?

- currently staying in Queenstown area with my parents

c. Would be sensible NOT to take the S$11k grant ? This was recommended by one agent and it puzzels me.

d. Would it be sensible to take the max loan and top up with spare cash along the way to shorten the loan (and interest payable) period

any comments to this thinking and search process would be helpful.

a) If 4 rm is within your means go for it! As u said u could rent out the other rooms to help ease your installment.

b)the more economic location would be in yishun where u can get some of the 4rm model 's' for a range of $170k - $185k. normally u got to have some cash on hand to pay for the cash above val. n for 4rm $10k - $15k cash are normal.

c)Why not have the $11k housing grant by CPF, applicable to citizens onli. That means u r buying the flat at $11k lesser! What is it that is puzzling u?

d)Depending if u are using hdb loan u will have to wipe out your CPF OA. If bank loan u will have the option of wiping out your OA or nt!

So if your CPF u have is more then 20% of the purchase price then of course your loan will be smaller amount! If not enough for 20% then u got to top up with cash plus the cash above val if any.

Loan is 80% of purchase price or valuation whichever is lower! You can go for 90% loan of coz the int. rate will be higher lor....

For loan terms wise, Go for the Max loan term first, then along the way u can redeem it. Remember loan term can only be shorten but not lengthen!

 

[melvin]

Looking for a HDB flat too... are there any good site where agents advertise their services ?

The best is to look for a agent, coz they got the best network esp those from big company. If you do not have a agent serving you maybe i can help you! If u dun mind! I am from the largest real estate company in singapore

Can call me at 9743 7934.

 

[melvin]

.....c) If you take up any HDB housing grant when buying resale flat, you will have to pay back the grant if you want to buy new flats later when you get married or sell before you have stayed 5 years. If not, you will have to continue to buy resale flats. I think your agent feels that getting the grant will tie you down, especially when situation can change rapidly for a single.....

You no need to repay the housing grant but if u r getting a new flat u got to pay resale levy which is 20% for a 3 rm flat n 4 rm flat is 22.5% of the selling price!

 

[melvin]

Oh yeah, investment. If you have not invested your CPF ordinary account before, you may want to consider investing a portion of it before you buy your flat. Because even though HDB states that you only need to put in a minimum of 5% of your flat's price when using CPF for downpayment, HDB will still use up all of your OA for the downpayment. So usually that means you'll have no more $ in your OA after purchasing your flat.

But if you have invested a portion of your OA before that, at least you have that portion for that extra flexibilty and of course to potentially earn back some interest. And IF in the future, you find yourself retrenched or unemployed for an extended period, you can put back your invested funds back into your OA and they can help to continue to pay for your CPF housing loan for that period of time. At least to tide you over till you find a new job.

The HDB will be using all of your OA if onli u are using hdb loan if u r using bank loan u got the choice of not using all your OA or 5%.

 

[KNIGHT ONG]

Just quality for my single's apt.

i am unsure if I should be looking at a 3 room (S$160k+) or 4 room ($210k+) .

If asking about $$, based on 30 yrs loan tenture, both are within my reach. The latter would be a slight strech.

Greedy side of me is to get a 4 room lah. May be i can rent out a room or 2 to supplement my loan (but it is not part of my financing plan).

On the other side, I wanted to finish off the loan ASAP. Dun like owning something for so long, like a never ending tai-ee-long repaying.

The delima are :

a. 3 or 4 room ?

b. wat would be a reasonable location that are not at a premium (ie valuation + cash top up) ?

- currently staying in Queenstown area with my parents

c. Would be sensible NOT to take the S$11k grant ? This was recommended by one agent and it puzzels me.

d. Would it be sensible to take the max loan and top up with spare cash along the way to shorten the loan (and interest payable) period

any comments to this thinking and search process would be helpful.

Hi dude .. you are about 11 days senior then me ... :bsmilie:

Actually I am also intends to get either 3 or 4 room but still stay with my parents ... :devil:

The HDB flat can then convert to studio and even rent out .... but no very sure where to get the flat in which area .... :dunno: :sweat:

 

[melvin]

thanks for the kind advice.

I was thinking aloud on 2 grounds :

a. Take a 3 room, take max loan period but aim pay off the loan as soon as possible. To be debt free and less prone to any "jobless" senario.

After that, recharge bank account and aim for the 2nd property for investment & retirement income. I know it is wishful thinking, but it is still a possibility.

b. Take a 4 room and really stay put for good.

After that, recharge bank account and aim for the 2nd property for investment & retirement income. But seems like the 25% jump in prices will make this target even harder to achieve.

One last thing, how to find out if a property is a target of the "tai yee long" ? Last thing I want is unexpected visitors who repaint your door 3 times a week.

Sad to say there is no way unless u know all the 'Sharks' around in singapore.

 

[click_art]

In margaret dr,beside the Queensway sch, block 6c. Only 3rooms and 100% will be EN block... Which mean you can hav a new flat near by your parent home.

 

[Lensman]

I was eyeing that area too.

But it's valuation had shot up within the month since the announcement of the en-bloc.
By about 20 - 40K, with owners asking for 10 -20k cash. Seow $!

It is a tikam (lucky draw) thingy, if I had acted fast enuf - as usual. Then I will be laughing all the way

 

[RossChang]

me think 4 rm better... cos u must know, besides the additional rm, you also have (depending) more space in ur living rm etc etc etc... and if can rent out, why not?