Two Sundays ago, my editor wrote in this column about property advice his parents gave him just before he bought his first home.
He was unaware, but on the day his column was published, I took the plunge and bought my very first property with my partner.
His words obviously resonated with me: My purchase was an apartment way below $1,000 psf and under $1million, and reasonably near an MRT station by 2015.
But beyond these guidelines, I discovered that buying the first home was a lot more difficult and agonising than I had ever imagined – a process determined by so many pressures and factors.
For the longest time, the classified advertisements on Saturdays were my best friend. I zoomed in on cheap private properties because my partner and I were deemed ineligible for HDB flats (he is neither a citizen nor a permanent resident).
I pored through every single column, rang countless property agents and viewed so many apartments that one blurred i Continue reading
Lush Dream Home 