Choosing a primary school for your child.

Reader:
i need your self talk about my situation. My only child, a girl, will be P3 next year, likely she will have a chance to attend the good primary school like RGPS or NYPS...after GEP selection by the end next year. 

However she feels dizzy whenever sitting inside a public bus or school bus... from my home BTO to these schools takes 1 hour by bus and i don't wish to own a car due to not enough budget. 

So I thought of buying a tiny condo 300~500 square ft due to up to $750k max budget in early 2019.

So where can i find such a tiny place which is nearby these schools and also within my budget?

Many thanks and wish to hear your self talk soon.


Tania Cheng from Guangyang Primary School.

AK:
The prudent thing to do is to go to a school nearer to your current home.

I have blogged about how we have to be prepared to spend quite a bit of money having children, especially in a country like Singapore. 

Trying to give the best to our children, it is important to draw the line somewhere. 

Somewhere? Where? 

Alamak. Don't ask me. I blur.

Related posts:
1. Have children and retire comfortably?
2. Married with children and retire at 44?
3. Why do I choose to stay in a condo?

To rent or to buy: Rule of 15 revisited.

Reader:
My bf and me are both PR. And the topic of housing is always a big question mark to us.

Both of us is not eligible to buy BTO, unless one of us convert to SC and this option will take longer time (apply SC, BTO...)

We are not married yet, so not eligible to purchase resale HDB flat.

My bf and his brother in law invested in a shoebox apartment in Singapore. So, even if we marry, we are still not able to purchase resale flat untill he dispose the shoebox apartment.

We have discussed buying a private condo under my name. This option is the most expensive, and also create financial stress.

We also thought to leave Singapore so we can have our own house without much hassles.


AK suggested that the reader considers the Rule of 15. For those who don't know what I am talking about, take a break from reading this blog and read this first:

To rent or to buy: Rule of 15.

Now, this rule really isn't a rule. It is more a guide which encourages prudence for anyone who believes that having a healthy positive cash flow is more important than having lots of assets and little or no positive cash flow.

In Singapore, considering the Rule of 15, a BTO HDB flat is the best choice. 

A 4 room HDB flat in CCK could probably fetch about $2,000 in monthly rent and the BTO price tag is probably less than $300K. So, to rent would be silly as the monthly rental would pay for the flat in 12 years or so.

Buying a shoebox apartment in prime district 9? A price tag of about $1.2 million would not surprise me. A monthly rental of $3,000 is about right. It would take more than 33 years for the monthly rental to pay for the condo.

Of course, in both scenarios, the assumption is that the properties were fully paid in cash without taking a housing loan. Yes, interest rates are going up and it will add to the cost.

We have to consider that it is also more costly to own a condo than a HDB flat in more ways than one.

To be fair, compared to some other places in the world like Hong Kong, Singapore is still relatively cheap. 

Years ago, Anita Yuen and her husband made the decision not to buy a property in Hong Kong but to rent instead. Why?

In order for them to buy a property in Hong Kong, they must believe in the Rule of 130.

What is the Rule of 130? 

If you have read my blog on the Rule of 15, you would be able to figure it out.

Related post:
Rule of 15.