Condo vs hdb

[ohana]

Hi experts, I need expert advice.

I have 2 property agents telling me that ..
1. It is worthwhile to buy a condo as it appreciates. My HDB flat will depreciate once it reaches 30 years.
2. The monthly mortgage payable is a hefty 5.5k and they told me it is forced savings. This excludes maintenance fees of 400 bucks.
3. Condo will enbloc and it is definitely an investment gain.I feel




While I know these are sales pitch to convince me to buy a condo, may I know how true is “ forced savings?”

I am considering waterfront series..as it is near to kids sch, near my parents and just beside my fav downtown mrt- easy to commute to Tampines central and work. Do you think this property has “ investment value”?

They also say that in the even I can’t pay the mortgage, I can activate my cpf to pay. As much as possible I should not use my cpf to pay for the property as the interest is high.

 

[Falafell]

Im not an expert but these are my personal points

At the end of the day, there are btos at good locations and condos at poor locations. Hence I feel it really boils down to location location location. One strong perk of a condo is always the fact that you can sell to foreigners and that theres no 5 year MOP unlike btos.

Some questions to think about for each project:

1) Is there a future transformation plan for the area you are looking at? This i feel is the most important aspect (Eg. New MRT station, Upcoming Mega Mall, New Park, Future Malaysia 3rd Link???) These depends on the URA Master Plan.

2) What is the accessibility & amenities of the project? (Not near Highway? Got MRT? How long to go to CBD? Got Mall anot? Must walk far to reach MRT?)

3) Whats the rentability of the surrounding area? Near large business nodes?

4) Got good primary schools nearby? (1km/2km vicinity) This is the reason why clementi is so popular?

5) What is the Margin Gap for this project you are interested in compared to the other surrounding properties?

 

[Dixon.]

Can enbloc != Will enbloc

 

[Forever84]

Which agent tell u will enbloc 100% deserves to be fired

Anyway, 5.5k, for me, mortgage at current interest, preferably to be between 10-15% of household income in order to minimize exposure and risk from being over leveraged.

Locale being near tampines actually doesn't sound v prime to me

Anyway, HDB will go down over 30 years, condo also can , it's just that we saw a massive boom in condo prices over last few years which may not repeat again and that covers the depreciation of many owners of older developments.

It's like retarded bankers who doing my mortgage can tell me take board rate because it is stable and bank haven't revise for last 10 years or what shite, please the interest so low, revise what.

 

[ohana]

Haha, good replies here. Thank you so much.

I don’t want to be conned by the property agents

 

[yoongf]

Look at the price index for 'private non-landed'. Is the uptrend intact?
Some say yes, some say plateau.

https://www.srx.com.sg/price-index

 

[WC32890]

Hi experts, I need expert advice.

I have 2 property agents telling me that ..
1. It is worthwhile to buy a condo as it appreciates. My HDB flat will depreciate once it reaches 30 years.
2. The monthly mortgage payable is a hefty 5.5k and they told me it is forced savings. This excludes maintenance fees of 400 bucks.
3. Condo will enbloc and it is definitely an investment gain.I feel




While I know these are sales pitch to convince me to buy a condo, may I know how true is “ forced savings?”

I am considering waterfront series..as it is near to kids sch, near my parents and just beside my fav downtown mrt- easy to commute to Tampines central and work. Do you think this property has “ investment value”?

They also say that in the even I can’t pay the mortgage, I can activate my cpf to pay. As much as possible I should not use my cpf to pay for the property as the interest is high.

I'm not sure about "forced savings" but if you are talking solely about appreciation then of course private is better. Just think about the shitloads of money every country is printing right now to flood the market like a money Tsunami. You don't have to be a rocket scientist to figure sooner or later those moneies will find its way into property esp for a place like Singapore.

 

[NiShiZhu]

Hi experts, I need expert advice.

I have 2 property agents telling me that ..
1. It is worthwhile to buy a condo as it appreciates. My HDB flat will depreciate once it reaches 30 years.
2. The monthly mortgage payable is a hefty 5.5k and they told me it is forced savings. This excludes maintenance fees of 400 bucks.
3. Condo will enbloc and it is definitely an investment gain.I feel




While I know these are sales pitch to convince me to buy a condo, may I know how true is “ forced savings?”

I am considering waterfront series..as it is near to kids sch, near my parents and just beside my fav downtown mrt- easy to commute to Tampines central and work. Do you think this property has “ investment value”?

They also say that in the even I can’t pay the mortgage, I can activate my cpf to pay. As much as possible I should not use my cpf to pay for the property as the interest is high.

Hehe, what u intend to buy? 5.5k mortgage per month quite high leh.

 

[ohana]

Wow thanks!

I want to buy a 4room unit .

Very siong leh, that amount.. hard to swallow

 

[NiShiZhu]

Wow thanks!

I want to buy a 4room unit .

Very siong leh, that amount.. hard to swallow

5.5k quite siong honestly.
Mine also 4 bedder but wasn’t that high.
Guess your quantum is higher than mine.

Plus maintenance, easily hit 6k.

 

[OneMantou]

Not an expert ... Tho u might want to consider following:
What is the expected investment % gain after minus the costs like total mortgage paid to bank (til expected enbloc or whichever point u want to sell) including interest, and related fees for full redemption of remaining amount?

Do u think enbloc happen first , or foreclosure happen first?
Given ur dependents and seeming like the property is also for own stay, are u able to support it in the duration u want to stay in?

What's ur exit plan? There are some materials in YouTube analysing property for own stay vs for investment. The perspective is different.

Edit to add:
Assuming it's for own stay until the kids grow up and move out .... Ur condo is very old by then. There are newer developments for buyers then. Or stay a few years then move out and then downgrade to HDB, there are certain timeframe to dispose ur private property.

 

[ohana]

That is very good advice!

Yes it is for own stay, till kids grow old .

Pro of the condo
- beside mrt
- reservior view
- near to my in law and kids sch, I can fetch them after school.

Cons-
Slightly smaller than my executive apartment
Hefty monthly mortgage payment.
The capital appreciation may not cover the interest paid, stamp duty..etc.

State of current place.
- my executive apartment is going 30years old
- not very accessible , usually have to buffer 30mins to the interchange. ( walk to bus stop, wait for bus, travel to the interchange)
- big space.

 

[bigherosg]

Depends all how much u earn. If u earn 10k after minus 5.5k risky, earn 20k no problem. Which condo cfrm enbloc? Still so many upcoming projects n so many not fully sold. Which developer will take the risk... buy a EC stay long become private, if need cash after 5yrs can sell.

 

[Emo_Rhino]

Hi experts, I need expert advice.

I have 2 property agents telling me that ..
1. It is worthwhile to buy a condo as it appreciates. My HDB flat will depreciate once it reaches 30 years.
2. The monthly mortgage payable is a hefty 5.5k and they told me it is forced savings. This excludes maintenance fees of 400 bucks.
3. Condo will enbloc and it is definitely an investment gain.I feel




While I know these are sales pitch to convince me to buy a condo, may I know how true is “ forced savings?”

I am considering waterfront series..as it is near to kids sch, near my parents and just beside my fav downtown mrt- easy to commute to Tampines central and work. Do you think this property has “ investment value”?

They also say that in the even I can’t pay the mortgage, I can activate my cpf to pay. As much as possible I should not use my cpf to pay for the property as the interest is high.

I stay near the waterfront series.
look at historical price charts of waterfront series. It should be stagnant from 2012 till now. are you ok with that? imagine u buy at 2012 and hold till now? Note you still have to pay interest and monthly fees and you could have earned 2.5% in CPF.
if you are ok with that and it is just a place for staying then go ahead.

 

[NiShiZhu]

My fren was a lucky HUDC enbloc owner along Bedok reservoir area and after that he used the money to buy baywater 3 bedder in 2005/2006.
Price appreciate and until 2012, it became stagnant.
What the above bro said was true. However, he is quite lucky, he has been renting out his unit for more than a decade. In between, there is no gaps in finding tenants.

 

[ohana]

Definitely not ok with stagnant price. I see the nearby clear water is at 900+psf, 10 years old and didn’t appreciate too

 

[drkcynic]

These days it's not worth paying so much for a new launch for own stay. You are sitting on alot of money stuck.

There are alot of better options in the resale market for own stay. They are cheaper and you will get much bigger spaces too.

 

[ohana]

Noted. Thank you everyone!

 

[Okuhida]

Definitely not ok with stagnant price. I see the nearby clear water is at 900+psf, 10 years old and didn’t appreciate too

The Clearwater is not 10 years old, lease commenced 1997 so about 20+ years. Waterfront series is about 10 years younger and right next door so based on Clearwater it is a good gauge where Waterfront prices is heading in the next 10 years.

 

[ohana]

Sorry, typo, it shd be 10years older.