We are waiting close to 6 years for our BTO🏠🏘️🏡

Yup, still waiting patiently 😊

When we just graduated, we successfully balloted a BTO project that had the then longest waiting time.

Both of us BTO-ed in Aug 2020, when the estimated completion date of our project is Q2 2026. This lead us to a total waiting time of about 5 years & 10 months for our new home.

The long waiting period was initially off-putting, as it can stall some of our life plans. However, it may be a blessing as we realised that it allows us:

✅ Time to accumulate our finances for the BTO

We were just starting our careers and are still building our savings. Back then, we only need put down 5% of the HDB cost (which was covered by the grant) through the staggered-down payment scheme as initial downpayment, and the rest of the downpayment will be paid upon key collection 6 years later.

~ 6 years of waiting means 6 years to establish a stable career, and to have cash for the final cost of the house.

✅ Slowly plan for our major milestones in life

During this period, we had/will have our

- Graduation trip (Delayed cos of Covid-19)

- Wedding

- Honeymoon

- (Possibly) Children

- Renovation

- etc

If we get our BTO early, we would need to get married and renovate our house in a short period of time.

The long time period would allow us to be able to do them one after another. Thus eliminating the stress of needing to plan many things in parallel

It also spaces out our major spendings in life, such as wedding, renovation, etc so that we would not face the financial strain at any point in time

✅ Give us time to settle down individually into adulthood

This allowed us to settle down in our adult life (i.e sorting out our basic finances, insurance, etc), and also set up our career before anything major comes.

With us being settled down and ready, we would be in the right mind to make proper decisions

However, we do have challenges that we would have to face:

❌ Finding a suitable place to stay while waiting

It is either we wait till the flat is completed (We will be in our 30s), or find a place to stay at the meantime. We chose the latter.

Due to exorbitant rental prices, this means that I would need to move in and stay with his parents. Thus being able to get along with each other is very important (and I’m thankful for being able to). Living with his parents means near to no private space, and limited space to do stuff and store our things. It is something we would have to sacrifice as we wanted to stay together while waiting for the flat 😝

💭 Having a long waiting time for BTO may not always be a bad thing for some, depending on their time point in life. It is about being able to make use of this long time properly, and being able to give in at times. We count ourselves lucky to be able to do this, and are grateful for whatever we have.

#Adulting101 #AdultingWoes #adultingthings #bto #btosg #house #inspo #OnlyInSG