Our Dilemma

Well... I dun know where to begin...

Baby and I are trying to get a place and have been looking for a little crib that we can call our "home"... Though we have been to a few freehold condo, like Costa del Sol, the Bleu, Riveria, The Montage..... realistically, we have only applied for The Premier and have also taken a "number" for Seng Kang after the recent Walk-In-Selection (WIS) by HDB. Obviously, the Premier is our first choice, and if by luck of teh draw, we didnt get the ballot of the place, we would have to settle for SK....

But the thing is, ballot result for the premier will only be out at end Nov, BUT we would have to book for SK (if we so decide to do so) this coming thursday - 16 Nov. Well, it seems as it is, we have 2 choices
1 - To apply for SK... or
2 - give up SK and wait for The Premier

This is currently the hand delt to us...

1 - Apply for SK.
No Money No Talk - An exec unit (if we ARE apply for SK, we are going for Exec unit, nothing else....) cost about slightly more than 300k. We have enquired about a housing loan, and it seems that if the price of the place falls around that range, both our CPF contribution should be able to comfortably cover for the loan repayment, without having to top up cash monthly.

In addition, we can save maybe about 2, 3, even 400 dollars of CPF monthly without having to commit them. In the future, when we so decide to sell the place, we would have some CPF in our account, on top of whatever we can sell the house for.

Planning for our Future - With the place going at 300k, there is a better chance for the place to be sold at a higher price in the future. Currently, SK is not very well developed yet, and I reckon with more young families settling there, DEFINITELY lobby groups will be formed to push for better amenities and infrastruture. That will jack the price of the place higher in the future.

When we wanna sell it in, say 5 years time, we would have some money in CPF (having not committed all our monthly contributions), and having sold the place at higher than 300k, we can afford a better place, and maybe, something like The Montage (freehold), or the Bleu (freehold!) would be realistic. Something that, at the end of the day, belongs to US, after 99 years and not the government....

SIZE Matters - SK Exec units are slightly bigger, at 130 sqm, though the layout is a little.... querky... but I reckon if we can employ partitions or false walls smartly, we can overcome that.

Location, Location, Location - Its near nowhere! To be honest, we hadnt really explored the place, but frolm what we have witness, there arent much malls, not a lotta coffeshops. I dun think there is a swimming pool. There is only an egress/ingress route to TPE/SLE.... sure jam in the morning... Its so inaccessible to anywhere...

First Impression - The flats that we have viewed, the paint on its walls are peeling off. And it dun give us the homely feeling. In anycase, our number is 2739, there are only like 1000+ plus on offer... I reckon by the time it reaches 2739, and the 2,738 people didnt oick the unit that we chose... something is really wrong...

2 - Give up SK and wait for Premier
Our First Home - Whatever we chose, it'll be our first home and we wanted it to be perfect. We wanted something NEW, not something built in 2001, unsold for the next couple of years because ON ONE wanted it.

Size matters - The largest unit is 113sqm, and the corner units that we are eyeing on are 109sqm... But, as before, I think if we can decor it smartly, it shouldn't be that obvious...

Money Talks - With our current combine CPF contributions, to purchase the most expensive unit, we would have to pay 1,4k per month, i.e. we would need to fork out about 100+ in cash, having expanded all our monthly contributions. Thats not a problem for now, but just worried of not being financially flexible in the future... in addition, in the event that one of us loses our job, then what... will we still be able to afford the monthly installment for the premier?

Selling the place - with the place going at 450k, I dun think we can sell it for very much higher, and the freehold condo dream might be... well... a dream... heck lah.... no free hold condo so what.... when we die, we prob wont have anything for the kids, and they can learn to be indenpendent like their mummy and daddy...

9 applicant/1 unit - For every unit in the Premier, there are 9 applicants vying for it.. But that was BEFORE the WIS exercise... hopefully, the number would have dwindled down significantly as majority of the applicants have gone for SK/Punggol/Hougang...

Location, Location, Location - Its Tampines... everthing is there... its near the central... need me to say more?

Premier No More? - It would be an interesting situation if, after we gave up the SK and wait for the premier... and if the ballot results is not in our favour, we would end up without a place... well... guess by then we would have to settle for re-sale...

TOP date - The premier's TOP date is third quarter 2009, compared to SK, which I think... we can move in pretty soon.. that means after we get ROM at the end of this year, we would have to wait for 3 years before we hold our customary wedding. My mum is a little... concern about what the rest of the people will say about me, that I cannot afford a place after marriage and have to stay with her baby's parents.. hello.. not I want... If it helps, i will pop by the construction site to buld the premier with them, just so it can be ready earlier... can my dad "wait" for so long?

Decision, decisions, decision....

Before baby left for phuket, we have decided that we will hold out for the premier... thats what we wanted. whatever happens in the future... its all conjecture and postulation... as the saying goes... when the river flows from the mountain and into the river, there will be fishes... (go figure...)

what would you do?