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First Home in Singapore


Like many other Singaporean, at theage of early twenties, I am planning to purchase my first home. At this stage,I am at a cross junction whereby I will have to choose what type of home I needto go for. Since I am not rich and I do not want any external assistance(borrow money from parent), private property is definitely out. One will not beable to feel sense of achievement by asking for parent or relatives’ help.
 
Looks like I am going for public housing (HDB) then. Filtering EC and DBSSwhich I can’t afford, I still have to decide on how many flat rooms of HDBflats I am going for: studion / 2 rooms / 3 rooms / 4 rooms / 5 rooms / EM. By the way for thosewho are not familiar with Singapore public housing, 3 rooms flat doesn’t mean flatwith 3 bedrooms and 5 rooms flat doesn’t mean flat with bedrooms. On top ofthat, there are several models for resale flats. For instance there are model A4 rooms flats, model S 4 rooms flat, etc. They are varies in term of size, 4rooms flats are usually bigger than 3 rooms flats and 4A flats are normallybigger than 4S flats. Nonetheless, new flats are typically smaller than resaleflats. As a result, new 5 room flats might be smaller than resale 4 rooms flat.Furthermore, buying a resale flat can move-in in short period and leverage onexisting owner’s renovation whereas buying a new flat you need to wait for 2-3years for new flats to be built. In addition, there are flats which are withinwalking distance to MRT station or several bus stops away from MRT station. Theprice difference for this is approximately SGD100K. Facing so many options, whatwill be your choice and why?  

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  1. MSAPersonalFinance26 August 2012 at 16:50

    My choice will be 4A HDB flat.

    Based on my understanding, 4A HDB flats is the biggest model of 4 rooms HDB flats. Sometimes, it can be bigger than new 5 rooms flat. On top of that, I am at better advantage in term of medical subsidy, government payout, renovation, service & conservancy charges. In addition, I am also having 1 master bedroom & 2 common rooms which are quite similar to 5 rooms flat case. On the other hand, 3 rooms flat may be too small in size and I will feel dizzy living in such a small space.

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