10/24/2012

Force to take drastic measures



Mr Tan’s monthly income is $8k and his wife is $7k. Pretty comfortable income for a young couple. They also have a nice saving of a few hundred thousands which they will need for raising a family, the unplanned hospital bills, children’s education and retirement. They are thrifty and very careful with their money.

They could cough out everything to buy a cheap private apartment. But it will mean that they will have to start saving again, and it is going to be slower as the mortgage repayment is going to be substantial. Being prudent and prepared for the vagaries of life and how misfortune can strike, the Tans are not comfortable to squander all their nest eggs at a go for a private property as they are barred from buying HDB. They are still renting a small room from a PR.

Mr Tan has decided that they should get a HDB flat to start a family of their own. In order to qualify, Mrs Tan would have to quit her job temporarily to be eligible to buy HDB based on just one income. The difference in savings from buying a HDB instead of a private apartment is so huge that it makes economic sense to do so. Mrs Tan could do some private tuition for the time being or some part time jobs.

This is the only logical and legitimate way to beat a silly system. The Tans and many other professionals would have to take such drastic measures because the system is so unyielding and dead set to rob them of their hard earned savings. Why should these people be forced into such a situation?

29 comments:

agongkia said...

Live within our means.S$8 K is alot to me .I am sad to see many young couples wanting to earn more and neglect their duties as children.
Getting married is to get a wife to take care of our parents or grandparents,to produce children and to educated them.Taking care of house chores,cook and give the husband a good massage after a hard day work.
We have turn into a society where everyone only want more income,stay away from parent once married and neglect their love one with both working.Those with high income should not compete with those low income earners.
Wife should give up the job and care for her in law instead .

Anonymous said...

Yes, I regretted that I did not do the sma when I was younger then.

patriot said...

Agongkia has given us an invaluable wisdom tat was a common practice in the past.
After modernization or westernized and more educated, Singaporeans have become pragmatic and worse, very materialistic.
From the Leadership to those they ruled and inculcate, most have gotten greedy, self serving and soul-less.

patriot

so1trg said...

I don't see anything wrong with that legislation. Why is someone making 15k a month competing with a family making 3k a month for subsidised housing?
If they make 15k a month, they jolly well be able to afford private.

Else like what you suggested, have a single income to buy the HDB. Btw, HDB will access your past 6 months to 1 year income, so better quit 6 months to 1 year ahead of purchasing your subsidised housing.

PS: If having a 15k salary and hundreds of thousand in saving still worried about survival in Singapore, that's being paranoid.

Anonymous said...

Nowadays, HDB rules keep changing everyday like our underwear.
But I always thot that you can always buya resale HDB flat without any income ceiling?

PS:
Still think HDB flat belongs to you?
If yes, then how can HDB impose an income ceiling on you for the purchase of HDB flats?

Anonymous said...

"If having a 15k salary and hundreds of thousand in saving still worried about survival in Singapore, that's being paranoid."

It's the smart thing to do.
It's becoming more common. I know of at least 3 couples with the same mindset. They don't trust PAP will look after Singaporeans.

Anonymous said...

The rules make the gahmen's (especially Mr Khaw's) calls for prudence by the young hypocritical and hollow. Here is a couple who would perhaps like to save for their future children's education and willing to sacrifice and yet the rules force them to be extravagant on something which is not their priority. It is THEIR choice but they have NO choice where the rules are concerned. Or are the rules implemented/retained to allow more foreigners to come in?

Anonymous said...

They have combined income of 15k and still complaining and wants a subsidised flat? The Singapore middle class is the most selfish. People like them should be asking themselves how to help the less fortunate and not ask for more handouts.

Anonymous said...

The Singapore housing market is almost a government monopoly.
All flats belong to HDB.
90% of land in Singapore belongs to the government.

Only 10% of Singaporeans own their own homes (private property).
We have one of the lowest home ownership rates in the world @ around 10%.

The secret ambition of the Pro Alien Party is to sell property at the same high prices as Monaco.
Hence we have Formula 1, casino, tax haven for the rich and etc.
Just like Monaco.

Read about Monaco here.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monaco

Monaco became very famous because of the beautiful actress Grace Kelly who married the then Prince of Monaco.
We in Singapore of course have our Mdm Ho Ching.

Anonymous said...

Singapore middle class should stop asking the govt to help you keep up with the Jones. If you are going for vacation every year, choosing to give birth in private hospitals instead of kk, worrying aboutt whether to get the next iPhone, wondering whether to buy condo. You are doing ok. Stop asking govt to give you handouts, or asking govt to tax the so called richer guys to allow you for your luxuries. The lower income need handouts. Not you. And stop beating the system to take away places in HDB flats from the low income. Don't always ask what others can do for you.

Anonymous said...

Can't believe people still say HDB flats are subsidized.

The flat belongs to HDB.
So the cost of the land should not be included in the cost calculations.
The cost of construction is between $150K-$250K per flat.

Quite frankly, since the flat belongs to HDB, the real question we need to ask is;
Why am I paying 99 years of rent in advance to the HDB?
Is this fair?
How can this be subsidized when we are not shown any proof from the government?
Don't tell us the HDB flats are subsidized. Prove it.

Anonymous said...

"And stop beating the system to take away places in HDB flats from the low income."

If the government do not know how to build sufficient HDB flats for ALL Singaporeans, please privatize HDB and get completely out of the property market.

Anonymous said...

It's the Singaporeans who subsidizes HDB.
HDB owns the HDB flats.
Then why must citizens pay e.g. 35% for the lift upgrading?
HDB as the woner should be paying 100% of the lift upgrading cost.
Don't believe me?

Ask any condominium owner.
When the entire condo replaces the old lifts with new lifts.
Can the landlord of a rental condo unit ask his tenant to pay 35% of the cost of the lift upgrading?

HDB got the cheek some more to tell us they are subsidizing us 65% of the cost of lift upgrading.
When it is us who are subsidizing HDB, 35% of the cost of the lift upgrading.

Anonymous said...

Another example of Sinkies subsidizing the government.

Remember Punggol HDB flats.
For more than 10 years, the flat dwellers live there without much amenities.
But because the citizens are staying there, the population boosted up the Punggol land values thru their HDB flat transactions.

And the government enjoyed a boost in their land holding values in Punggol because of the "national service" performed by the HDB flat dwellers.

And now, the government can sell Punggol land at higher prices to property developers.

And the private property developers are also reaping the benefits by selling condos there at prices of around $1,000psf.

If I'm wrong, I stand corrected.

Chua Chin Leng aka redbean said...

The middle income is the most abused and pathetic group. They are wage earners, employees, did not inherit any wealth, no multiple properties, only their jobs to depend on.

And they are screwed left and right by govt policies, force to over consume to pay people's big salaries and leaving themselves with nothing much. And to go and hang a millstone of $1m or above mortgage is asking for trouble if one party loses his job.

The people must be given a choice on how to spend their money and their own lifestyle. It is not a crime to be thrifty. It is a crime to be mean, like mean testing.

It is prudent and wise knowing that a terminal illness could break whatever savings in the banks and not to squander your savings away because the govt dictates it to be so.

Silly Sinkies are living a perilous life and happily going about it without knowing how they could be hit tomorrow.

patriot said...

As usual, am impressed with the commonsense and logic that is always found at tis blogsite.

Missed Botak Matilah, without him here, much less fun now.

patriot

patriot said...

Oh,

it is Matilah Singapura
tat i miss.

patriot

Anonymous said...

The more educated they are, the sense of 'anxiousness' is stronger - be whether employment, future and even the state security.

At the same time, these are the groups that will remain 'mobile' and are able to unplug and leave the country for good.....

Anonymous said...

The smarter they are, the clearer they see what is installed for them. They would not be daft to be treated like daft Sinkies. They can see better than the daft Sinkies of the dangers coming.

Anonymous said...

I agree that Sing has the lowest home ownership in the world (about 10%). HDB is actually renting not selling to the people. The best is for this couple to quit Sing and go somewhere.

Anonymous said...

Why not couple buy a HDB resale flat instead?

Chua Chin Leng aka redbean said...

Why pay more and accept the policy of being treated worst off than new citizens?

Many new citizens are single income earners and qualified to buy HDB and making a quick profit from Sinkies that were disqualified and had to buy from them when they decided to sell. The policy exploits the Sinkies to benefit such new citizens.

Anonymous said...

Anti citizen policy!

Ⓜatilah $ingapura⚠️ said...

Solution to lending money to cocksuckers who need it to buy expensive houses:

1. Lend them any amount they need

2. Securitise the debt into bonds and sell to big institutions like banks, insurance companies and Temasek

3. As the market goes up, encourage the cash-strapped cocksuckers to refinance at lower interest, and take out "equity" from their over-priced and rising home.

4. Issue these fuckers with more debt in the form of credit cards and lines of credit.

5. Securitise the consumer debt and the mortgages.

6. To spread the risk out even more, create derivative securities on the debt-based "assets".

7. In collaboration with trusted ratings agencies, rate these securities AAA.

8. Encourage CPF members to "invest" in these AAA securities.

9. Sovereign wealth fund, Temasek, can lend support to this by buying large tranches of these "guaranteed safe" AAA securities.

Then everyone can own homes regardless of the price of those homes.

No money? No problem. Price too high? There's an easy solution. Need a new car to go with that new over-priced home...Relax. You can have everything all at once.

Got financial engineering?

The said...

/// I agree that Sing has the lowest home ownership in the world (about 10%). HDB is actually renting not selling to the people. The best is for this couple to quit Sing and go somewhere.

October 24, 2012 6:50 PM///

You forgot there are also a lot of 99-year leasehold private properties - not just HDB.

Many countries in the world have leasehold properties and some are 70-year, 50-year or even 30-year. So, no way Singapore has the lowest home ownership.

Just wonder why some smart alex always think he has stumbled into an earth-shattering truth about non ownership of HDB flats. Too clever by half.

Anonymous said...

A 99 year leasehold property is NOT the same as an HDB flat.

You own that piece of property for 99 years.
Your children can inherit that 99 year leasehold property.
You don't need HDB's permission to rent out your 99 year leasehold property.
You don't need HDB's permission to use it as a business address.

You can't do any of the above with an HDB flat.
Because you don't own your HDB flat. HDB is the owner/landlord.
So you always have to get HDB's permission.

Singapore has the lowest home ownership rate in the world at 10%.
Singapore government has the highest home ownership rate in the world at 90% through its HDB scheme.

Anonymous said...

Having to live in a Public Housing Property in Singapore, is one of the most sickening thing one has to endure. Either on a so-called purchase or rental, there are many conditions to adhere to. Even renovation is not as easy as private property.

Other than those mentioned by commenters, living in landless house is never fun. Car parking is quite a problem.

And most Singaporeans have no choice. We have to live in them, but it is definitely not the first choice.

patriot

Ⓜatilah $ingapura⚠️ said...

patriot,

Thanks for your kind expression of interest at the rubbish I write here.

I'll be back sporadically -- in the process of moving back to Bangkok -- very fucking busy. "Busier than a Pinoy at Lucky Plaza on Sunday"


Apparently those Thais (and Thai-based farangs -- western tax fugatives) lost so much money during the Red Shirt riots and then the floods. However good times are slowly returning for them, and they have enlisted my services, talent and expertise yet again.

Anyway, now I have responsibility to adhere to a contract. Lucky I can take some time to also have some fun. :-)

Got Ping Pong Show?

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