Why we got a private condo for our first home

Hello zesties its beeen a while since I last posted, but hubby and I just got married and also moved home and its been such a fun ride!!! We have been so happy planning and enjoying these two milestones together, and today we just wanted to share, why private ?

Disclaimer: this is merely our opinion and the decision making came because of our priorities and views on a house ❤️ I felt that a house was a top priority to me, higher than even the wedding, and anything else, travels etc, I always wanted my own home, so I could start a life with my husband 🥰

In SG, there are only a few options when it comes to buying a house, at least to the best of my knowledge!

1. HDB BTO

Sadly we were not one of the lucky ones who got their units at first try and was not able to get even at our 5th!! 😅 3xBTO, 2xSBF 😭

Looking back this was actually a blessing in disguise because I don’t think I could wait 4 years or more, and probably would not have enjoyed staying at lower floors which were for the SBF at 3rd and 5th! I used to stay in a HDB at the 6th floor, and while I loved the trees which were so beautiful and fresh, I always wanted to have a view that I could enjoy and unwind with after a long day❤️

2. HDB Resale

During the time that we were house hunting, it was COVID 😭 and the property prices were INSANEEE, we tried a lot of places, and were always so close to closing cause we loved many of the homes, but we were held back by the ROI 🥺 4 rooms at Punggol were selling at 750k 🙃 and the nicer units were at 800k, we were SUPER DEPRESSED 🥹

We knew our eventual home would be a 5-room size and above because of how many hobbies I had and also the number of kids we wanted, so we were thinking; how could we even sell at the price we bought, say 5 years down the road, where nobody in their right mind would spend 800k for a 10year old house 😭

We spent a year house hunting in the resale market and met several agents, who did plant the idea of a condo, but we were just kinda rejecting it 🤣 (cause we thought it would be too much for our life stage)

3. EC

Simply put, our income was not at the level 🥲 we weren’t earning $14k to $16k so we didn’t qualify for the application at all. And plus no new ECs were launched.

4. Buying over my parent’s place

This was a pretty good option tbh, but something about staying at the same place I had been for 20 years held me back as I did want a change of environment, and it was just better for my parents to leverage the market and sell as much as possible for their retirement ❤️ I didn’t want them to give me a discount and sacrifice their own plans, having sacrificed a lot for me already growing up!

They did manage a small bidding war for their unit which gave them a significantly higher closing for our block (compared to units sold before) and even closed w COV which was unprecedented in my area 🥰🥰 so happy for them heheheheh

5. Finally AFTER 1.5 years of struggle, we settled at the idea of a private condo!

The journey of house hunting for private was not easy as well, with many things to consider, here are just the top few, and why we were so blessed with with the final decision of Normanton Park ❤️

- Type: normal vs integrated, we loved the idea of integrated as it meant a mall just downstairs our home and great for stay home days, however, an integrated does not necessarily mean it was going to be a mall-like establishment, many of the integrated condos actually end up having more beauty services than food etc, so you must choose wisely! We did fall in love with Pasir Ris 8, a beautiful condo with Pasir Ris Mall to boast, but sadly it was out of our budget as the units we desired were their larger units and we were rather late to purchase, so by the time, the PSF was up to $1.8k for the smaller units from $1.5k at launch

- Location: OCR vs CCR, a hot debate that we didn’t really bother with, both our work and desired locations were mostly OCR, and places were looking at were initially Punggol, Tampines, East Coast (Marine Parade), and it was more of whether the condo (its showflat, layout, lifestyle) sold us or not

- Financing: We definitely had a tight budget, but were surprised to find that it was easier to loan for a private condo than it was for HDB, and we ran calculations and showed funds to the bank for a higher loan. Additionally, we also realised that as we were paying out more cash (due to the lesser CPF we had), it was actually somewhat an advantage and more preferred to be used in the purchase of a condo vs HDB (more educational stuff in the next post educated by my amazing agent ❤️)

- Interest Rates: this was the big thing that many people around us kept hitting us down with. It was a red flag to them, but a green flag to me. Simply put, we desired a life together, and if interest rates were the price to pay, we would do so, together. While it was concerning, we believed that a home was more important, and we trusted the property market. I can’t tell you if its a right or wrong decision, but its ours to make, and today we are super happy at our new home (interest rates did climb post purchase, but we managed our expectations and mainly just complained a bit here and there, but never regretted the purchase!) I just pray to God and know that He will provide, and He did ! I have been paying off the monthly mortgage for over a year with no issues 🙏

- Size: with condos it is a default expectation that it will be small, but we refused to believe that we couldn’t find a 2Br+Study with a good size and price! This will also depend on what you plan to do with the unit! If you are planning to stay and have children, a small unit like this would be non-ideal, but if it is for couples w pets like us, this is more than sufficient! Also, it is a good size for rentals ❤️ 1br is even better if it’s purely for rentals though!

- TOP, MOP: TOPs were a wide range as there were many condos launched in 2020&2021, and during our house hunting there were more like Piccadilly Grand etc! So this meant that we could choose launches with a nearer TOP date for move-in!! And additionally, condos do not have the 5-year MOP, and can actually be sold 3 years after purchase date, meaning those that bought their unit in 2020 could theoretically sell their unit at 2023 to others and earn the difference 💪

THERE ARE SUPER MANY CONSIDERATIONS, which is why the whole process and purchase took us another 6 months to visit the showflats, discuss and pen down what were the most important to us, so here’s what we finally came up with!

- Balcony: we really really wanted this and it’s a luxury, yes, but so is owning your own home, so don’t let anyone say this or that about what you want. Own it 🥰

- Size: nothing smaller than 2br, as big as possible to the best of our budget

- Location: convenient, able to travel around to place quickly / have nearby food centres, HAWKER THE BEST!!

- Layout: A good layout without any strange dead corners (though tbh we weren’t very fixed on this, and weird corners could be v artsy and interesting, but ya, usually homes are rectangle or square, since developers are usually not very explorative)

- Height from ground: as high as possible, but not penthouse (eliminated this after visiting various locations and multiple considerations: drop me a comment if curious ahahah)

- Corner unit if possible: privacy and usually away from centralised rubbish bin 👍

SO WHY NORMANTON PARK IN THE END ?

Actually, I stumbled on this condo at the start but rejected it due to the strange long foyer layout as I felt it was a waste of space, BUT, only after did I realise… (next post on my favourite parts of the house !)

✅ ROI; this is actually considered our first BIG joint investment for hubby and myself, into the property market, and while yes we are staying there for the time being, we do have intentions to sell or rent in future 🥰

✅ Area Developments; There were tons of plans to develop the area, albeit in the far future, and some may say that its a gimmick or that every condo promises these, BUT, any and many developments have an impact on condo valuations, and Normanton Park has a promising future beyond the many condos we visited 💜

✅ Pricing: As Normanton Park’s developers (Kingsford) had failed to meet requirements from its past development, they were subjected to greater scrutiny for this development and only given the green light to sell most of their units upon passing these inspections, which led to increased standards of the finishing (based on what my defect company mentioned to us) and we even were able to choose from several units even though we were again late to purchase 🥰

- there was also room to negotiate and we did get a sizeable discount as we were ready w the deposit to book a unit and the developers were more keen to take our clear cut purchase ❤️

✅ Balcony & View: oh my, so gorgeous, it gave us the most beautiful views due to the elevated clearance from ground, and the fact that it situates at the top of AYE, with greenery and scenery surrounding the estate 🏡

- the balcony was also not a tiny one, which many developments scrimped on, but rather a comfortable cozy spot which is not too large that it eats up our living space ☺️

✅ Location: New environment!! We used to stay in serangoon so Normanton Park at One North / Kent Ridge area is a new place for us, and while things are definitely different here, we are enjoying it very much; the privacy and the good changes 👍 plus it is actually conveniently located near my workplace and driving to many of our favourite places is just 10-15mins away 🥰

LOOKING BACK, this home is truly a blessed journey as many things fell into place its without struggle and difficulty and made it possible 🥰 truly a wonderful Kairos moment ❤️

Follow jojuscave home journey!

- Collecting Keys to our lil cave

- Defect Journey to refine our lil cave

- Defect Rectification

- Saved $1.5k on whole house lighting!

OKAY, THATS IT BYEEE!!

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