First Timer Home Buying Tips

Whether you’re single or when you and your spouse decides to move into a new house together, it marks a new beginning and lifetime achievement unlocked –  Buying your very own first home. Buying a home is a huge commitment, you wouldn’t want to get frustrated during the process of getting the key to your house. Whether you’re buying a home in Malaysia or Singapore, you do not want to waste your precious time and paying for a bomb!  You should always check your comfortable financial abilities zone to support your first home like a 3-room condominium in Bukit Batok or  2-room Condominium in Petaling Jaya. Well, today I’m sharing some tips for first time home buyers who’re interested to get a property in Singapore.  With this useful tips, it will help you get through the process of buying your very first home. *wink*

Consider your finances

First thing on the list should be preparing a budget before starting your house buying j ourney. It all depends on the quality of every individual’s finances situation. You might easily get distracted from the huge amount of money needed to spend just to buy a house. Fret not, because all you need is to plan your finances to the comfort of you’re able to commit that is income relatively. Usually, first-time owners tends to over analyse everything will end up suffering when the interest rates go too high beyond their control.

Do ensure your Total Debt Servicing Ratio (TSDR) is at a comfortable line by ensuring your mortgage servicing ratio is at most 30 percent of one’s gross monthly pay. Anything that is more than 30% would be considered burdening, it is the proportion of mortgage payment against the household income. Not forgetting the loan tenure as well, it is crucial to calculate the tenure, you wouldn’t want to work till the age of 65 years old and still paying for your house at that age. Hence, it is not advisable to service your loan up to 65 years old.

Location Hunting

Location is definitely important, select a desired location to suit your own convenience, accessibilities and lifestyle. Research is the keyword to understanding what’s the neighbourhood got to offer.  Take a walk and explore the neighbourhood of your choice. For those who are opting for Build To Order flats (BTO), it seems like the hotspots are Bidadari, Punggol and Tampines. Though most of the designs these days could easily passed off like private condos but does the location or neighbourhood fulfil your needs and wants? Is the area’s distance to MRT within the proximity? How about supermarket, school and bus stops? Are they easily accessible? You wouldn’t want to stay in remote area and hailing Uber or Grab each time you’re heading out. Even staying in a condo in Bukit Batok,  you can easily get around with three MRT lines within one or two stations away. Do you know buying a house near MRT stations drive the property price higher? Click here to check out which neighbourhood suits you.

Costs and expenses involved

You might be shocked when the bill comes to you with an additional costs or expenses needed to bear. To avoid this scenario, check for hidden costs that’s being charged during the transaction or during the dream house build up. Other costs like buyer stamp duty fees, property taxes, property valuation reports, property agent commissions or even home or fire insurance fees. All these charges are nowhere near the renovation costs when you’re considering to buy a resale property. To have a better clarity of your budget, get your sums properly calculated and checked before agreeing to anything. Work closely with banks to get your loan assessment done which helps to determine your loan and monthly mortgage costs. By keeping the estimated costs and expenses inline , you will get lesser heart attacks.

Future value

Not having a good foresight at your property value tends tomake you lose out when you want to sell your property. Although, in general, property prices will rise in future (hedging inflation, of course) but there are some matters you will need to deliberate about. Let’s say you are offered a higher price of your HDB flat and upgrade to a condo with a slightly higher price which means that you will not profit much from your transaction as you are upgrading. However, if you are downgrading, perhaps you may gain some profit. How about rental? Well, if your HDB flat is still under the Minimum Occupancy Period (MOP) tenure, it is a no-no to rent out as a unit. Why? It’s because a house owner has to reside in the house for at least 5 years. Unless, you are single and you have extra rooms you would like to rent then it won’t be an issue. However, if you’re renting out the whole condo unit or private property, you’re earning some passive income without worrying the MOP regulations.

Buying a house is an exciting life event and a great learning process. However, if research is not done properly beforehand, you may end up feeling frustrated and exhausted from the application or buying. Thus, always research and check around with your peers on your desired unit. Don’t be afraid to ask around even though you have zero knowledge. Hope this tips will be able to help you out!