“How big is the size of your space in Singapore?” asked an expat friend.
“What own place? I stay with my parents,” I replied.
And then there was silence, with my friend’s mouth agape.
Well I’m proud to say that soon enough, I will be moving out of my parents’ place as I have turned 35 and nobody wants to marry me yet (and maybe forever). Having decided I want to go with a resale flat option, now the biggest consideration for me is how close I want to be my parents’ place.
I’d like to believe there are several pros and cons when it comes to this decision.
Pros:
- I will be able to go over to my parents’ place whenever I want to play with my pet dog
- I get to enjoy my mum’s meals that are cooked with TLC
- Access to a fully stocked kitchen 99% of the time
- If I have kids down the road (once again – only if someone decides to marry me), my parents will be able to help with taking care of them when I’m away at work
Cons:
- I no longer get access to my helper, so I have to wash and iron my own clothes. (Yes, I can do both, I just didn’t need to do so until now)
- With my cooking skills, I may just burn my house down. OR I will lose a lot of hair as I’ll be eating too much maggi mee
- I only needed to clean my room previously. Now I need to clean the whole house!
If you’re still neither here nor there with your decision, hopefully the Proximity Housing Grant (PHG) will help with your decision. According to HDB, the PHG was introduced to aid families to purchase a resale unit to live with or close to one another for “mutual care and support” i.e. refer to pros listed above.
As I’m single (and ready to mingle), I will be able to enjoy a PHG of $10,000 should I choose to buy a flat within 4km from the HDB flat my parents stay in. As you know, every dollar saved counts seeing as hundreds of thousands are going into this flat purchase. And if you’re purchasing a resale flat as a family near your parents, you will enjoy a PHG of $20,000
So back to me. As I’m single with income of $4,000 per month that’s looking at a 3-room resale flat, I’m entitled to a singles grant of $25,000 and Enhanced Housing Grant of $7,500. After weighing the pros and cons, I made the not-so-tough decision of staying close to my family, so I’ll enjoy a PHG of $10,000 for a total of $42,500 worth of grants. KACHING! This will definitely go a long way in offsetting the costs involved in owning a house.
For the full list of grants available, do head on over to HDB’s website to take a look.
For the full list of grants available, do head on over to HDB’s website to take a look.
In the meantime, simply jump on over to SRX’s resale listing page to source for flats near your parents’ place. With the option to select areas, you will be able to find a HDB flat close to your parents’ in absolutely no time!
Source: Editorial