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28-12-2014, 04:00 PM
An honorable member of the Coffee Shop Has Just Posted the Following:
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Single, 30 and a home owner
http://business.asiaone.com/sites/default/files/styles/medium/public/2014/12/23/20141223_hillford_st.jpg
Tuesday, Dec 23, 2014
Feng Zengkun
The Straits Times
<div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items">Earlier this year, I bought my first home all by myself, which surprised everyone I knew.
I was 30, living with my parents, working as a journalist and had no girlfriend, not even on the horizon, to apply for a flat with.
When I first heard about The Hillford condominium in Bukit Timah, I was intrigued, and not just because it was marketed as Singapore's first condom- inium for retirees.
Unlike other private properties here with 99-year, 999-year or freehold leases, The Hillford units had just 60-year leases - maybe because retirees are not expected to live that long - and were relatively cheap.
But because the developer did not set an age floor, even young 'uns like myself could ballot for a unit - and many of us seemingly did.
4 tips on paying for your first home
http://business.asiaone.com/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/2014/08/11/01_1.jpg
http://business.asiaone.com/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/2014/08/11/02_1.jpg
http://business.asiaone.com/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/2014/08/11/03_0.jpg
http://business.asiaone.com/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/2014/08/11/04_1.jpg
http://business.asiaone.com/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/2014/08/11/05_1.jpg
http://business.asiaone.com/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/2014/08/11/06_1.jpg
http://business.asiaone.com/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/2014/08/11/07_1.jpg
http://business.asiaone.com/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/2014/08/11/08_1.jpg
http://business.asiaone.com/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/2014/08/11/09_0.jpg
http://business.asiaone.com/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/2014/08/11/10_0.jpg
http://business.asiaone.com/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/2014/08/11/11_0.jpg
When I went for the ballot, it seemed as though at least half of the people who showed up were around my age or just slightly older.
Buying my first home, as it turned out, was a surprisingly swift and very illuminating process.
From learning about the opportunity to putting down the deposit to securing a bank loan, the whole process took just about two weeks.
In the meantime, my friends and family's reactions to the purchase were... revealing.
"Oh, thank goodness," my mother said. "I was starting to worry about you."
I wasn't sure if she was worried about having to share a home with me into her old age, or that I would end up a sad, lonely male version of a spinster (also: isn't it kind of sexist that there's no word for a male spinster?).
My sister's response, after her congratulations, was worse: "You got so rich meh! But you dress like a hobo!"
She later clarified that she meant I had relatively few clothes in my closet.
To be fair, my friends were also surprised that I had saved enough money, and they were not without reason.
Before I started working, I was a financial mess.
17 things debt-free, financially happy people do
http://business.asiaone.com/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/2014/02/11/01_0.jpg
http://business.asiaone.com/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/2014/02/11/02_0.jpg
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http://business.asiaone.com/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/2014/02/11/04_0.jpg
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http://business.asiaone.com/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/2014/02/11/08_0.jpg
http://business.asiaone.com/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/2014/02/11/09_0.jpg
http://business.asiaone.com/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/2014/02/11/10.jpg
http://business.asiaone.com/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/2014/02/11/11_0.jpg
http://business.asiaone.com/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/2014/02/11/12_0.jpg
http://business.asiaone.com/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/2014/02/11/13_0.jpg
http://business.asiaone.com/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/2014/02/11/14_0.jpg
http://business.asiaone.com/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/2014/02/11/15_0.jpg
http://business.asiaone.com/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/2014/02/11/16_0.jpg
http://business.asiaone.com/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/2014/02/11/17_0.jpg
When I was doing my national service, the thrill of earning my own money for the first time led me to gamble - heavily - on football to try and multiply my pay.
I ended up owing several thousands of dollars in total to some of my closest friends, which I eventually returned in instalments after I came to my senses.
I had thought my lies about why I needed the money were convincing, or at least plausible. Apparently not.
I cleaned up my act after I returned home from overseas undergraduate studies to start working, but it seemed the general view of my difficulties with money had stuck.
More sobering than that, however, was my own ambivalence about buying the condominium unit.
10 ways to stop yourself from spending money
http://business.asiaone.com/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/2013/12/27/01.jpg
http://business.asiaone.com/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/2013/12/27/02.jpg
http://business.asiaone.com/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/2013/12/27/05.jpg
http://business.asiaone.com/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/2013/12/27/04.jpg
http://business.asiaone.com/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/2013/12/27/11.jpg
http://business.asiaone.com/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/2013/12/27/10.jpg
http://business.asiaone.com/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/2013/12/27/12.jpg
http://business.asiaone.com/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/2013/12/27/14.jpg
It was exciting - and very satisfying and empowering - to sign the house and bank loan contracts.
Before the chance came up, however, I had always imagined that I would leave Singapore in my 30s, make my mark as a writer in other, more internationally well-known publications such as Esquire or GQ, and eventually shuttle between Singapore and another home country until old age forced me to choose a place to rest my feet.
Nothing about buying a condominium forecloses that future, of course. I can sell the place or rent it out while I'm overseas.
But even the act of signing on the dotted line and contemplating a 25-year- long bank repayment period was enough to make me wonder exactly how realistic my dreams were, and where my place in the world - or even Singapore - was.
What if I didn't earn enough money to pay the bank instalments? What if I couldn't hack it in a larger pond?
I still don't have the answers to any of the questions.
Buying a home all by oneself, as it turned out, was a great way to feel incredibly like a grown-up, but also not at all like one.
But it did - or at least it will, come 2017 - give me a place to call my own. And in Singapore, that's a pretty big - 37 sq m big, to be exact - deal.
There was also one response which warmed my heart.
A friend, upon hearing that I had bought a shoebox apartment, immediately said: "But what if you meet someone?"
I hadn't thought of that. But I sure am glad that someone else did.
</p>
http://www.asiaone.com/html/images/logos/st_logo.jpg (http://www.straitstimes.com)
This article was first published on December 21, 2014.
Get a copy of The Straits Times or go to straitstimes.com (http://www.straitstimes.com) for more stories.
Nine ways to invest as a family
Click on thumbnail to view. Story continues after photos. Various sources
http://business.asiaone.com/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/2014/11/10/familywealth01.jpg
http://business.asiaone.com/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/2014/11/10/familywealth02.jpg
http://business.asiaone.com/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/2014/11/10/familywealth03.jpg
http://business.asiaone.com/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/2014/11/10/familywealth04.jpg
http://business.asiaone.com/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/2014/11/10/familywealth05.jpg
http://business.asiaone.com/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/2014/11/10/familywealth06.jpg
http://business.asiaone.com/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/2014/11/10/familywealth07.jpg
http://business.asiaone.com/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/2014/11/10/familywealth09.jpg
http://business.asiaone.com/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/2014/11/10/familywealth10.jpg
Click here to view the whole thread at www.sammyboy.com (http://sammyboy.com/showthread.php?196704-Single-30-and-a-home-owner&goto=newpost).
<div>
http://business.asiaone.com/sites/all/themes/custom/a1biz/logo.png
<div class="print-content"><div class="ds-1col node node-article view-mode-print clearfix">
Single, 30 and a home owner
http://business.asiaone.com/sites/default/files/styles/medium/public/2014/12/23/20141223_hillford_st.jpg
Tuesday, Dec 23, 2014
Feng Zengkun
The Straits Times
<div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items">Earlier this year, I bought my first home all by myself, which surprised everyone I knew.
I was 30, living with my parents, working as a journalist and had no girlfriend, not even on the horizon, to apply for a flat with.
When I first heard about The Hillford condominium in Bukit Timah, I was intrigued, and not just because it was marketed as Singapore's first condom- inium for retirees.
Unlike other private properties here with 99-year, 999-year or freehold leases, The Hillford units had just 60-year leases - maybe because retirees are not expected to live that long - and were relatively cheap.
But because the developer did not set an age floor, even young 'uns like myself could ballot for a unit - and many of us seemingly did.
4 tips on paying for your first home
http://business.asiaone.com/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/2014/08/11/01_1.jpg
http://business.asiaone.com/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/2014/08/11/02_1.jpg
http://business.asiaone.com/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/2014/08/11/03_0.jpg
http://business.asiaone.com/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/2014/08/11/04_1.jpg
http://business.asiaone.com/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/2014/08/11/05_1.jpg
http://business.asiaone.com/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/2014/08/11/06_1.jpg
http://business.asiaone.com/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/2014/08/11/07_1.jpg
http://business.asiaone.com/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/2014/08/11/08_1.jpg
http://business.asiaone.com/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/2014/08/11/09_0.jpg
http://business.asiaone.com/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/2014/08/11/10_0.jpg
http://business.asiaone.com/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/2014/08/11/11_0.jpg
When I went for the ballot, it seemed as though at least half of the people who showed up were around my age or just slightly older.
Buying my first home, as it turned out, was a surprisingly swift and very illuminating process.
From learning about the opportunity to putting down the deposit to securing a bank loan, the whole process took just about two weeks.
In the meantime, my friends and family's reactions to the purchase were... revealing.
"Oh, thank goodness," my mother said. "I was starting to worry about you."
I wasn't sure if she was worried about having to share a home with me into her old age, or that I would end up a sad, lonely male version of a spinster (also: isn't it kind of sexist that there's no word for a male spinster?).
My sister's response, after her congratulations, was worse: "You got so rich meh! But you dress like a hobo!"
She later clarified that she meant I had relatively few clothes in my closet.
To be fair, my friends were also surprised that I had saved enough money, and they were not without reason.
Before I started working, I was a financial mess.
17 things debt-free, financially happy people do
http://business.asiaone.com/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/2014/02/11/01_0.jpg
http://business.asiaone.com/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/2014/02/11/02_0.jpg
http://business.asiaone.com/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/2014/02/11/03_0.jpg
http://business.asiaone.com/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/2014/02/11/04_0.jpg
http://business.asiaone.com/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/2014/02/11/05_0.jpg
http://business.asiaone.com/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/2014/02/11/06_0.jpg
http://business.asiaone.com/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/2014/02/11/07_0.jpg
http://business.asiaone.com/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/2014/02/11/08_0.jpg
http://business.asiaone.com/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/2014/02/11/09_0.jpg
http://business.asiaone.com/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/2014/02/11/10.jpg
http://business.asiaone.com/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/2014/02/11/11_0.jpg
http://business.asiaone.com/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/2014/02/11/12_0.jpg
http://business.asiaone.com/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/2014/02/11/13_0.jpg
http://business.asiaone.com/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/2014/02/11/14_0.jpg
http://business.asiaone.com/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/2014/02/11/15_0.jpg
http://business.asiaone.com/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/2014/02/11/16_0.jpg
http://business.asiaone.com/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/2014/02/11/17_0.jpg
When I was doing my national service, the thrill of earning my own money for the first time led me to gamble - heavily - on football to try and multiply my pay.
I ended up owing several thousands of dollars in total to some of my closest friends, which I eventually returned in instalments after I came to my senses.
I had thought my lies about why I needed the money were convincing, or at least plausible. Apparently not.
I cleaned up my act after I returned home from overseas undergraduate studies to start working, but it seemed the general view of my difficulties with money had stuck.
More sobering than that, however, was my own ambivalence about buying the condominium unit.
10 ways to stop yourself from spending money
http://business.asiaone.com/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/2013/12/27/01.jpg
http://business.asiaone.com/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/2013/12/27/02.jpg
http://business.asiaone.com/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/2013/12/27/05.jpg
http://business.asiaone.com/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/2013/12/27/04.jpg
http://business.asiaone.com/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/2013/12/27/11.jpg
http://business.asiaone.com/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/2013/12/27/10.jpg
http://business.asiaone.com/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/2013/12/27/12.jpg
http://business.asiaone.com/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/2013/12/27/14.jpg
It was exciting - and very satisfying and empowering - to sign the house and bank loan contracts.
Before the chance came up, however, I had always imagined that I would leave Singapore in my 30s, make my mark as a writer in other, more internationally well-known publications such as Esquire or GQ, and eventually shuttle between Singapore and another home country until old age forced me to choose a place to rest my feet.
Nothing about buying a condominium forecloses that future, of course. I can sell the place or rent it out while I'm overseas.
But even the act of signing on the dotted line and contemplating a 25-year- long bank repayment period was enough to make me wonder exactly how realistic my dreams were, and where my place in the world - or even Singapore - was.
What if I didn't earn enough money to pay the bank instalments? What if I couldn't hack it in a larger pond?
I still don't have the answers to any of the questions.
Buying a home all by oneself, as it turned out, was a great way to feel incredibly like a grown-up, but also not at all like one.
But it did - or at least it will, come 2017 - give me a place to call my own. And in Singapore, that's a pretty big - 37 sq m big, to be exact - deal.
There was also one response which warmed my heart.
A friend, upon hearing that I had bought a shoebox apartment, immediately said: "But what if you meet someone?"
I hadn't thought of that. But I sure am glad that someone else did.
</p>
http://www.asiaone.com/html/images/logos/st_logo.jpg (http://www.straitstimes.com)
This article was first published on December 21, 2014.
Get a copy of The Straits Times or go to straitstimes.com (http://www.straitstimes.com) for more stories.
Nine ways to invest as a family
Click on thumbnail to view. Story continues after photos. Various sources
http://business.asiaone.com/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/2014/11/10/familywealth01.jpg
http://business.asiaone.com/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/2014/11/10/familywealth02.jpg
http://business.asiaone.com/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/2014/11/10/familywealth03.jpg
http://business.asiaone.com/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/2014/11/10/familywealth04.jpg
http://business.asiaone.com/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/2014/11/10/familywealth05.jpg
http://business.asiaone.com/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/2014/11/10/familywealth06.jpg
http://business.asiaone.com/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/2014/11/10/familywealth07.jpg
http://business.asiaone.com/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/2014/11/10/familywealth09.jpg
http://business.asiaone.com/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/2014/11/10/familywealth10.jpg
Click here to view the whole thread at www.sammyboy.com (http://sammyboy.com/showthread.php?196704-Single-30-and-a-home-owner&goto=newpost).