I first met Adam & Leona back in 2009 when they contacted me through my flyer.
Here’s 3 pictures of us (one of my oldest clients) over the years since we first met that has supported me in my property business. We recently met up over dinner to catch up on old times. ( look how young we were back then!) 😄😄
I met Adam and Leona about 10 years ago when they wanted to sell their 5rm flat in Compassvale Street.
They wanted to change to a location nearer to town or east side due to their children’s school admission. Leona was also expecting her 3rd child ( Xavier who is 9 years old now) when they engaged me to market their property.
They interviewed a couple of agents and decided to choose me as their realtor as I did some market research and advised them on a reasonable selling price.
It was unlike other agents who simply quoted them an unrealistic selling price just to clinch their deal.
I managed to sell their Compassvale flat and they shifted into their 5-room flat in Kim Tian with their parents.
The Move From Kiam Tian HDB Flat To Private Condo
They have a family unit of 7 people which includes their parents and children.
For this 3-generation family, having enough space would be an important factor.
5 years later – their family has grown bigger in size and the kids required their own rooms and they needed more space.
They called upon me and engaged me again to sell their 5rm flat in Kim Tian.
However, this flat which was in a prime location and only 5 years old – faced a tough challenge in getting it sold due to one obstacle – their neighbour.
Adam and Leona’s flat is without a doubt in move-in condition and had a good facing.
But the immediate neighbour pose an obstacle to us – they were a messy neighbour with plenty of disused items placed outside their house.
I managed to convince them to inform the neighbour to clear the items as most potential buyers commented on the hazards idling outside their unit and it’s an eyesore to potential buyers from giving and offer for their unit.
After the neighbour cleared the items outside the corridor, I got a buyer for them!
Next, I went on a search to find them a resale condo with enough bedrooms to accommodate their growing family.
From the Idea of Resale Condo To New Launch Condo
They considered buying a resale condo at first.
After scouting around Tiong Bahru and the vicinity – unfortunately none of the units they saw suits them as either it requires major renovation or too old.
So I bought them to see a new condo at Commonwealth Towers 4 bedroom unit which was about to TOP soon.
They liked the place and after comparing the price between a new condo and resale condo – they decided to purchase one on the 35th floor!
Eventually, they made a decision to buy a new launch condo instead – a building that was still under construction.
Here are the numbers:
- Sold their 5-room HDB at Bukit Merah upon MOP at $845k
- Cash Proceeds $500k
- Total CPF (Returned + Existing) = $655k
They then proceeded to:
- Purchase 4-Bedrooms Condo at District 9 at $2.2 million
- 5% Cash = $108K
- 15% CPF = $434K
- Monthly Cash Installment = $4.6K
Buying a New Launch Condo
The transition from their Kim Tian 5-room HDB to the new condo was not an easy.
We faced many obstacles such as the:
- upfront cash required
- getting the bridging loan
- planning carefully to avoid ABSD
- planning the temporary accommodation
- most importantly, we need to carefully structure and plan the use of CPF funds and cash proceeds to be channeled to their condo purchase
This definitely required a lot of coordination with the HDB completion process and the private developer scheduled payments to be made.
After much brainstorming and efforts and careful management – we finally successfully cleared the hurdle!
However as the building was not completed, they had to rent for 6 months.
But it was a good buy as it was:
- less than 5-mins walk to Commonwealth MRT
- the keys collection was in 6 months’ time
They decided to buy Commonwealth Towers as they preferred its layout.
Queens Peak which is located nearby as well was not chosen as they felt the layout was not ideal for them.
Capital Appreciation of Commonwealth Towers
When they first purchased their Commonwealth Towers unit, it was priced at $15XX PSF.
Currently in 2019, units has been sold at prices as high as $19XX PSF.
The takeaway from this was – be open to other alternative choices when the financials don’t make sense. They quickly decided that prices of the resale condos didn’t make much sense and proceeded to other options.
In this case, they were flexible enough to wait for 6 months at an alternative accomodation while waiting for their new home to be completed.
Seeing them stay there happily and seeing their kids (Nicole , Ashlyn and Xavier) growing up – I became from a stranger to a realtor to a close family friend with them.
Cheers to many more good years ahead!