Yesterday, I collected my keys to my enbloc replacement BTO flat from HDB.
Yup. Its like Aladdin of the Arabian Nights... Old lamp change new lamp.
With new 99 year lease to boot! Sweet! (Fake American alert!)
Which also means I am totally debt free now.
Time really flies when we are having fun! Let me re-introduce you to this post I wrote 9 years ago:
My Aim Is To Have My Cake And Eat It
1. Taking a 30 years loan does not mean I have to pay and pay bank interests until 30 years.
I've repaid this housing loan 12 years early.
Its does feel better to negotiate from a position of strength.
Rather this than to go to the bank with cap-in-hand to ask for an extension due to pay cut or retrenchment because of Wuhan virus circuit breaker...
All because you wanted to have the shortest bank loan to save on the bank interests. Or so you thought.
If only life would always go according to your plans (I hear god laughing in the background)...
2. Do you remember the missing dollar puzzle?
I got a case of it with my enbloc compensation...
a) I paid $125K for my existing HDB resale flat.
Except for a few extra thousands in cash for real estate agent commission and legal paper work and all that jazz, the initial deposit and subsequent bank repayments all came from CPF deductions.
b) Got Singles grant of $11K, and enbloc grant of $15K from HDB. They were used to offset my current resale and enbloc BTO replacement purchases.
c) The enbloc compensation for my resale flat is $398K. I used it to purchase my enbloc replacement BTO for the same amount at $398K (That's the sacrifice for 3 room top floor with balcony).
d) HDB used my $398K compensation to first repay my outstanding bank loan (initial loan at $100K). Then repaid CPF for the withdrawals and accrued interests that I've used to pay this bank loan for the past 18 years.
e) I was pleasantly surprised when HDB told me I will get cash $102K???
Got advanced $35K cheque yesterday, while the balance will be given to me 4 months later when I surrender my existing 3 room resale flat back to HDB.
Eh? Nani?
Math is not my forte.
I thought compensate $398K, buy $398K; no earn, no loss. That's that!
I mean CPF restored to as if I've never used it to buy property. All the accrued interests gotten back.
So where did this extra $102K came from???
Initially, I thought its from the $11K and $15 grants, but that only explained $26K of the $102K...
For a moment, I thought I had my cake, and ate it:
i: CPF restored as if I never used it all for housing.
ii: Got a brand new fully paid HDB 3 room flat.
iii: And got extra $102K out from thin air!?
LOL!
Then I figured out.
I'm dumb.
But lucky!
P.S. I'll update my HDB 99 year lease journey when I age 65. There's a few options open to me:
* Sell remaining lease back to HDB since I got no dependents (That's if I l still love the outstanding view and location after 12 years. Then again, I'm a man whore...)
* Downgrade to 2 room but still located in Queenstown (I love Queenstown!)
* Move to ulu new HDB estate but still stick with HDB 3 room (The new Tenah estate looks interesting. I need my gaming and trading room)
* Move to ulu new HDB estate and downgrade to HDB 2 room for seniors with 35 years lease (Old oredi, can't game or trade anymore...)
No matter which option I choose, that would mean since age 35 onwards, I've lived "rent free" until I die.
And I've got every cent back from the $125K I've paid for my current HDB 3 room flat to kick things off in the first place!!!
Who's afraid of 99 year lease again?
That is why I poked the young girl who "over analysed" when she did her exercise on whether to buy or rent.
When rent is lower than the monthly bank repayments of a 30 year bank loan, RENT!
When rent is higher than the monthly bank repayments of a 30 year bank loan, BUY!
