Buying A Home Soon? 4 handy tips

by Si jie LIM January 9, 2018, 8:00 am 129 Views

In US, there is the American dream. In China, there is the Chinese dream. In Singapore, there is also the Singaporean dream. For many of us, the Singaporean dream is to have a home which we can call our own. But owning a home in Singapore isn’t as easy as it sounds. After all, Singapore is the most expensive country to live in the world.

Condo picture — Buying a completed Condo or a New Launch (building-under-construction) condo?

Image Credits: Condominium, anhnhidesign, Creative Commons, Pixabay

If you want to buy a home, then here are four tips that you better keep in mind. These will come handy in helping you achieve your Singaporean dream. Look for a good property agent on iCompareloan’s panel to assist you.

1. Don’t Take It Easy; Do The Required Property Legwork And Research

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With a minimum occupation period of five years, your family will need to stay there for at least five years. While five years is not a long time, it is not short either. Thus, you need to spend effort in researching on the area that you want to live in. You don’t want your family to regret on your decision for the next five years of your life.

You can start your research from the common factors like location, floor level and floor area. Where would you like to live in? E.g. a place that is a 30-minute commute away from your workplace. Do you prefer high floors or low floors are equally appealing to you?

But the research shouldn’t just include the common factors like location, floor level and floor area. It should also include features like home structure, interior design and essential household items.

When is the best time to buy a property in Singapore.

2. Staying Within Your Budget

Buying a home is a huge commitment, both financially and mentally. Like every other purchase that you make, there is a possibility of you and your other half straying away from your budget when you see your “dream” home. When that moment comes, remember what you read here.

At that point when you first saw the home, it could be your “dream” home. But if your budget cannot afford it and you forcefully purchase it, it will turn no longer be your “dream” home. It will turn into your nightmare.

For a 4-room flat, the average housing price is $470,000. To afford it, you and your spouse will need to earn at least $3,800 a month each. This excludes the 10% down payment that you have to pay. If you are thinking of an executive condominium (at least $1,000,000), your combined income will need to exceed $12,000. This doesn’t include the 20% down payment for the condominium.

So, before you make a decision on impulse, think of the consequence of straying away from your budget. The best is to understand what is your Home Loan Affordability Limit and plan your finances accordingly. Ask for a Home Loan Report (TM) from iCompareLoan.

3. Make Sure You Aren’t Overpaying by checking With 99.co, Propertyguru, EdgeProp, iProperty and PropQuest

As a soon-to-be property owner, how do you make sure that you are not overpaying for that piece of property you are eyeing? While there is no foolproof way of doing this, one logical approach you can take is to compare the price of your property against the price of similar properties in your vicinity.

Using this approach, you can have a systematic and fair comparison of the cost of housing in the neighbourhood that you want to buy. If you find yourself paying a much higher premium for a property, you need to start asking yourself why. Is it because the place is newly furnished, and you are willing to pay a premium for it? Is it because of the unique view that only this unit has? Or is it because of the close proximity to your parents’ or in-laws’ place that no other unit offers? But if you find yourself having no answers to your own questions, then you know that you are overpaying for a unit that doesn’t stand out among others.

There are a few ways you can do the comparison. One way is to arrange for property viewing with numerous sellers and their agents. However, in today’s day and age, this is time-consuming and inefficient. Instead, you can leverage on websites like 99.co and propertyguru, which helps you compare properties offered across a particular area efficiently.

Related: ULTIMATE GUIDE TO PROPERTY INVESTING IN SINGAPORE or if you are buying a new launch, Read Property Buying Guide – Building-under-construction condos.

4. Getting The Right Mortgage

Buying a property and getting a mortgage comes hand in hand. If you are planning to buy a home, you will need to get a home loan (or mortgage) to finance it. As Singaporeans, we want to make sure that we are getting the best deal for everything, be it property, interior design or even home loan! This is because the right home loan can help you save a sizeable amount of interest payment.

But here comes the difficulty. With so many packages offered by so many banks in Singapore, which one should you settle for? Unless you are a mortgage specialist, this might not be an easy task for you. So, why not get the right people to do it for you?

iCompareloan has a loan comparison portal that allows you to compare loans easily. Not just that, iCompareloan also has a team of dedicated mortgage consultants to help you get the best deal.