Throughout my real estate career, I handled quite a number of transactions. I have been walking on the ground everyday and negotiating with both buyers and sellers on houses at different stages. I usually advise my clients that the golden period for peak performance in price is the first 10 years of property lifetime. If owners holding on to the property for too long, it will bring 4 inevitable ripple-effects.

Recently, I happened to have a consultation session with a family who hoped to be like their friends who had the opportunity to sell their HDB and move into their dream private property. After I did all the sums based on all the current figures, sadly I had to tell them it is hard to be achieved unless CPF and Cash on hand is unusually large.

Singapore government have been announcing a series of new policies in boosting the demand for resale HDB. There is an increase in CPF grants for first time buyers of resale HDB flats, this will indirectly increase the budget of home-seekers during their home hunting. Therefore, a boost in demand for newer HDB flats especially those have recently attained their Minimum Occupation Period or those flats within first 10 years.

Executive Condominium (EC) concept was first introduced in the year of 1996 as a public-private housing hybrid to cater to the sandwiched income group with salary ranging from S$12,000 to S$16,000 (income ceiling). ECs are designed and built to look like private condominium by private developers. Despite paying much less premium, EC owners get to enjoy similar lifestyle with condominium facilities such as 50m lap pool, jacuzzi pool, kids pool, aqua pool, tennis court, badminton court, function room, games room, BBQ pits etc. ECs are usually priced in the range of 15% to 25% cheaper than private condominiums as ECs are administered under HDB and ECs are considered subsidized house.

Team marketing is not a new concept. However, many sellers / owners do not know the differences engaging single salesperson to handle the marketing process versus engaging a team to do it. Since I have been approached by many during the consultation sessions to explain the differences, in this post, I will discuss in great detail what team / partner marketing is vs solo marketing. Selling a home can be a very emotional and stressful experience. It’s important that you are comfortable with the professional(s) representing your best interests.

If you are selling your property (HDB / EC / Condo) in the resale market, it is highly likely you will be approaching real estate professionals / realtors to assist you in the marketing of the property. Engaging a realtor is usually a viable option if you are always busy with full plate. Nowadays realtors need to wear many types of hats and need to have knowledge of financial planning, timeline planning, legal advice, marketing strategies, social media management, customer relations, crisis management and many more skills to handle complicated transactions. If you are selling your MOP fulfilled property (HDB / EC within 10 years), you will not have to worry about having to market the property, screen enquiries, conduct viewings, involve in negotiations which is a very long sale process.

Regardless you are upgrading to EM / EA / EC / Private Property, there are some considerations you have to take into account in the timeline planning. One wrong move can end up with no roof over the head or consume all the hard earned savings.

In Singapore, most couples have the opportunity to choose to live in subsidised Build-To-Order (BTO) flats or Executive Condominiums (EC). Because BTO / EC are heavily subsidized, it does seem to make sense for owners to sell in the open market at much higher market price and upgrade to condominium. Upgrading to a condominium is considered a rite of passage for some aspiring Singaporeans. But is it smart or dumb move to sell their property right after MOP or is there actually golden time period to sell it then upgrade without any stress?