SEMI D, CONDO or HDB??

[snowy76]

Hi all, I would like some advises. For a combine current income of $8K plus is it advisable to go for the first option Semi d? Prefer not to stay in a HDB due to bad experiences with Noisy and inconsiderate neighbours above. Hubby said if choose to stay in Condo, may as well stick to HDB as same problem may arise. Semi d have more privacy and freedom in terms of gardening and pets owning. However, we are both afraid that we might not be able to afford it in long run. May I know the initial cost involved, interest rates for private property housing loan as well as approximate monthly instalments etc in order to maintain the house? We are not in a hurry for a decision yet, still searching for options. Anyone can share their experiences?

 

[benceltay]

Hi, I think the very first thing you should do is to check and attain a budget. This can be determined by checking your CPF, current funds available and your income. You should start to speak to a banker regarding your financing limit and monthly repayment amount. Typically, at an interest rate of 3.5%, a rough guage is about $450/mth per $100,000 loan, based on a 30-yr repayment period. This amount may vary quite a lot with the rising interest rates. After you have set a budget, you should have a clearer picture of what properties you can start to look at.

 

[slbjen]

Agree with Ben ... it's more than looking at what you earn to make a decision. If it is landed housing you are after, why not start with a terrace or corner-terrace ?

With landed property, need to factor some spare money for repairs and some can be quite costly (eg) roofing.

But you are right in that landed housing offers that extra privacy and personal space (eg) your own parking and garden for pets.

 

[snowy76]

Oh ya looking at terrace.. Din noe there is a big diff in price btw terrance n semi d haha... Other than monthly instalments do we need to pay for other monthly fees? How often do we pay Property tax etc???

 

[benceltay]

For landed properties, there are lots of hidden cost. It is usually not easy to estimate how much you will eventually spend every month. You will have to take care of necessary repairs as and when they arise as well as to maintain different parts of building, both interior and exterior (including garden and fences). Property tax is billed annually but can be paid through giro by installments monthly through the year. For inter-terrace, you will be looking at at least $700k to even $2.5M depending on the land size, house condition and different locations. This is a big investment and involve great risks of the fluctuating property prices over the years. You can check out useful information on the CPF website on owning a house. Most important is to buy a house within a comfortable range rather than to stretch to your limit.

 

[cha_alex]

and not easy to sell landed as limited market....

 

[slbjen]

Impt to talk to bank to find out how much u can loan and if the mthly repayment is a comfortable sum. As Ben said, dun stretch it to your very last dollar. Do take into consideration the stability of both your income.

Property tax varies depening on value of house and is paid yearly (like income tax) and can be mthly install.

There is no other mthly fee (unlike condo maint charge) except that all repairs will be borne by yrself.

yes - between inter-terr to corner-terr to semi-d and to detach .. there is price differential and also depends on location. A small inter-T in bt.timah might be the price of 2x semi-d in areas like seletar or sembawang etc. Then u also see a diff when u buy brand new and one that is 5-10 ys old. Pros and cons in new or resale.

I bought a resale and had a great time doing it up .. lotsa hard work but fun. If i had bought brand new, there'll be (a) limited things I can do/change and (b) it will be costly and (c) it'll be a waste of money to do so since it's new.

But my new neighbour bought their house brand new and spend $$$ to redo alot of things in the house ...

 

[snowy76]

Anyone has income btw 8k to 9k staying in terrance or semi d and still coping? Btw Both of us are in our mid 30s, civil servants, have no children, but owns a car tho...Any similar cases?

 

[buttonsjackr]

Hi snowy76, my husband and I have recently shifted into a single storey semid and we are in a similar situation like yourself. We are both in our mid 30s, have no children and own our own cars. So far, it's been ok. We have chosen to stay in Sembawang and not central, chosen to retain the house as a single storey, reno was confined to doing internal changes and our lifestyle has not changed much. Previously we were staying in a 5 rm HDB before we moved. I guess, it's a matter of location, your budget and your savings for the future.

 

[snowy76]

Hi cheng,
May I know how much did you pay for your semi d? Will we be granted full 30 yrs loan or less? Is a budget of $900K and below too high?
Thks alot!

 

[slbjen]

Snowy76, the location, land size, build-up and condition of house will determine the cost of house.

Asking 900K is enough is asking 100K can buy car ? The answer is yes and no. Yes - you can buy most Jap/Korean and some Conti cars but No if you wan to buy BMW/Merc/Jaq etc. See what I mean ?

900K - Yes if you looking at suburban areas outside D9, D10 or maybe D11 ? In D28, u can prob get (a)a good condition I-terrace, (b) a not-so-good condition corner-T but most likely diff to (c) a semi-d.

Adding on ... possible reno cost (over and above $900k):
(a)$30-50K and (b)$50 - $100K and (c) ???

In D15 (Siglap) area, $900K might have thought very limited choice of very small I-Terrace only.

So quite tough to answer yr question unless u can limit the variables.

Loan - 80% of purchase price over max 30 years or 65years old whichever comes first. That is, if you are now 35yo, then yes 30 yr loan ok. If you are 40yo, then only upto 25 yr loan.

Dun forget stamp duty, legal fees and other misc cash components.

 

[fionaallen]

For HDB flats and EC for example, if the combined income is more than S$8K and S$10K respectively, you cant get the goverment grant of at least S$40,000. I believe the objective of the govt grant is to encourage younger people to get married earlier and to help ease and aid them in affording a house faster.

For mi and my HB, our combined income exceeds the government rebate bracket, so it's really no point for us to get a HDB flat or EC. Thus we went straight for a condo. That said, there are some people who doesn't mind not getting the government grant and choose a HDB or EC.

 

[ace14]

sorry to hijack this thread...but what makes u think that landed will be quieter? some landed facing main road while some near schools. anyway, if neighbours are the ones that is the problem, be it where u stay....it can be a nitemare regardless of the type of residence.

 

[ace14]

just to add.... the infamous Joo Chiat neighbours staying in landed property is a good example.

 

[mikko]

hi

Personally I don't believe in stretching myself all the way to service my house loan. When I got my matrimonial home - an EC, my hb and I were relatively young and we stretched our houseloan to 35 yrs. Ended up - every month abt half the payment was for interest.

We got smarter with our second home, cut down the loan repayment period to 10 years (Of course our combined income is much higher compared to when we first got married), interest payment is much lesser. Recently sold off my condo unit cos of good market price.

For my next home, I intend to either pay off everything in full or get a minimum loan. Financial freedom is very important to me. I would rather be debt free than to be tied down to a property - esp if u still have to service house loan at the age of 60.