The House-Hunting Series [i] - Seeking The Dream Home

I hope you enjoyed The Nuptial Series (read them here) when I was planning for,  and preparing for my wedding between 2015 to 2016. The series detailed our research and hunt for wedding photographers, the proposal, wedding venues, wedding gowns, leading right up to the Big Day, and even what to expect of married life.

The series was followed by The Honeymoon Series (read them here), detailing our honeymoon - how we planned it, who we engaged, what to prepare for the long trip, and the actual tour across Europe and Dubai, UAE.

1 year into the marriage, we began our house-hunt, that's when I began writing this House Hunting Series, sharing the process of selling, securing and moving into our new place. I hope you find this short series of real life experience useful in your own hunt for the dream home as well. Have fun reading!

Like most couples in Singapore, our first matrimonial home was a Housing Development Board (HDB) flat right after marriage - ours was a comfortable, mid-floor, spacious flat located in the West of Singapore. I wanted a brand new home for us, before we started our own little family, so the house hunting began.

1. WHAT TYPE OF HOME TO BUY?

There were so many choices to choose from - a brand new Built-To-Order (BTO) flat, resale flats (which gave us even more choices, including "endangered" housing such as maisonette, jumbo flats etc), Executive Condominium (EC) flats, or a private Condominium unit.  We tested waters a little here, assessing our options based on income, CPF savings, cash savings, and bank loan available.

I am not a fan of anything that's 2nd-owned or "pre-loved", so that eliminated our options of resale flats or resale condominiums. It helps to have some kind of filters, of course, so that we can be more focused on our search.

2. WHAT TYPE OF HOME OWNERSHIP?

As we currently have an older HDB flat, we weighed our options for the new home. Would we be able to retain this flat for rental purpose while we purchase a new private property? Or do we sell this flat for cash proceeds to fund the new dream home?

3. WHERE TO MOVE TO?

Because there were so many choices for us to choose from, so many newly-launched projects as well, we spent some time visiting show flats to understand each project better.  We also went to HDB website to check on the newly-released BTOs and Sale of Balance Flats. On top of that, we also visited newly-TOP condominium units where existing owners had no intention of moving in. These exercises helped us a lot so we knew the type of amenities, facilities and layout etc we could choose to have, both within and around the new dream home.

However, we did have a dilemma - to remain in the West or to move to the East? Most of our family members have moved to the Eastern part of Singapore, so it would make sense for us to move there to, to be closer to families. But most of the new EC flats (during the time we were hunting for our dream home) were located in the Western part of Singapore, or at least, the North-western areas.

4. TIME-FRAME

What was the time-frame we gave ourselves to move? That was also an important consideration for us. If we could afford to wait for 3-4 years, then a new BTO flat or new Condominium project would be ideal for us. I wanted us to start a family within these 2 years, and to be honest, I hated our current flat because it had been used by his family members for 15 years prior to me moving in, so it was, in a way, "second hand". 

With that, we further eliminated new BTO and Condominium launches, and focused on the pool of newly-TOP Condominium units where owners were not looking to move in. We also decided to focus on the East of Singapore, for that matter. This made our house hunt a lot easier, as I concentrated on fixing viewing merely for projects that obtained TOP between 2017 - 2018, but were listed as "brand new" and "not lived in" by their respective agents.

5.  SPOTTING THE DREAM HOME

We more or less determined on the exact project we wanted to move in, because of its resort-like theme, and there were about 5 swimming pools in the premises. We made offers on a couple of units, and got a top floor with lush greenery views! 

If you are buying a Condominium (be it EC or private), what are some factors to consider?

• size and layout of the unit
• location and views of the unit (i.e. far from main / side gate? Pool view but do many people pass by your ground floor unit? Are you facing BBQ pits? Etc)
• developers' reputation and past records (i.e. are projects by them deemed "problematic"?)
• pricing, of course
• facilities within the condo premises (swimming pools? gym? tennis courts? KTV? squash courts? billiard? what do you need?)
• amenities around the condo location (food centres? shopping malls? MRT station? nearby construction sites? good schools? etc)

6.  SECURING THE DREAM HOME

The next few weeks were a blur of visiting the conveyancing law firms, signing agreements and other paperwork, getting the bank assessment and loan secured, etc.

For bank loans, do check out different banks and their rates. Some offer fixed rates throughout, whereas others offer floating rate options. You can talk to a range of different loan bankers to share these information with you, or engage a Loan Broker who has access to all the banks and can help you take care of the comparison.

We also settled the mortgage insurance just in case something happens to one or both of us. This is VERY important - especially if you have young children (wouldn't want to leave them homeless, would you?). 

Of course, now we also had to start selling the existing HDB flat, and shop for furniture for the new home.   

Stay tuned for The House-Hunting Series Part 2 and Part 3 for these details.