Singapore Expats

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Let me try and answer this from the point of a bored expat with nothing better to do this morning.

1. You say this is a quesytion for locals but you post on an exat board - brilliant

2. You say "HDB require(s) (sic) us to produce evidence of marriage on resale completion date - yet you cannot do that - DUH

3. Ideal date for ROM? - unless from an organisational point of view what can be ideal about any date, and don;t come with any crap about lucky numbers

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Then how about this. HDB rules are pretty straight forward. AND they are written by Singaporeans so you, as a Singaporean should be able to understand them. I understand them (I'm only a PR) and my wife understands them (She is Singaporean). What's there that confuses you? You are allowed to do exactly what it say to do. You need to produce your ROM or you can forget it.

It would appear that your projected ROM date is not so ideal then. If it was ideal then it would happen BEFORE the most important purchase so far in your life. Maybe you want to go back and get a second opinion from the astrologer & marriage bomoh!

Of course, if you are over thirty-five and single and it's only a 3 room flat then you can buy it as a single.

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maybe you should post your question to sammyboyforum instead.

Thanks for the suggestion

Hey durain, you reading my mind or what? I had actually typed that into my original replay yesterday and at the last minute deleted it!

lootster, did you bother to read the Title of this Site? Did you, perchance, see the types of units this real estate portal handles? Why would you think that there were expats who would be in a Singaporean citizen's shoes and buying a flat over off'n their parents?

I'm probably as close as you will find, an Expat married to a local who actually bought an HDB flat (ksl has also bought on as a PR as well I think).

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Yes, there are many singaporeans on here. But the vast majority never read anything other the the Beauty Forum and the Airline Forum. Don't you think a Singaporean Heartlander type of forum would have a better statistical chance of producing what you were looking for?

Percentage wise, locals make up a very small minority here, and those who want to do what you are trying to do has to be an even smaller percentage that that.

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There are many things about the locals we just can't understand. Oh well!!

Lootster, if you're buying the flat from your fiancee's parents, why the hurry of the paperwork and payment? Ideally, be married and SURE first before making one of the biggest purchase of your life.

This forum may not have the audience you'd want for responding to your questions. And please, more humility when asking questions and seeking responses.

I am looking into trying to buy a resale flat and I am a PR with a Singaporean wife. I currently own a house in the US which I will be renting out since the housing market has tanked and I can't sell.

Based on what I read on the hdb website, we can not qualify for an hdb loan if we own private property in or outside of Singapore. Does this mean I am unable to buy a flat? I really don't want to be throwing away money renting and there is no way I can afford a condo.

I have also heard if I go with a bank loan the down payment might be 20% instead of 10% from HDB and have a higher rate which I can't afford.

Thanks,

Steve

Stoven, as SMS said, no one is really sure how HDB is going to find out you own private property in the US (tell them you'd love to own govenrment subsidized housing in the US instead of private but there's no HDB there!).

Private housing loan rates in Singapore are very affordable at the moment (a Malaysian local bank just came up with an insane package from which I'm sure they are losing money) and often substantially lower than the HDB 'concessionary' rate. Anyway, ni case you haven't checked it out, full eligibility criteria for a HDB laon:

http://www.hdb.gov.sg/fi10/fi10201p.nsf ... using_Loan

Assuming you are somehow able to get round the whole 'owning overseas private property' thing, you may also be eligible for a government grant of 30k towards your purchase. Eligibility criteria here:

http://www.hdb.gov.sg/fi10/fi10201p.nsf ... ant_Scheme

However, the details of your situation are sketchy and it's hard to tell what you can or cannot do based on your information supplied.