Buying a HDB in Singapore

I’ve decided to share my house hunting journey in Singapore here! :)

I’m looking for flats along the Green MRT line in Singapore, with a good balance between nearness to town, good amenities, and price of course.

My maximum budget is $330,000

I’ve been to so MANY sites trying to gather information on what are the costs involved in buying a HDB flat in Singapore and I got so many half here half here… sigh..

But here’s the FULL list for Permanent Residents (PR) in Singapore!

Costs involved:

1. Amt of cash above valuation price
2. 15% of valuation price upfront payment to be deducted from CPF (if you have insufficient amount in CPF, the balance tot be paid in cash)
3. 5% of valuation price cash payment
4. Stamp Duty: 1% of first 180K of the transacted price, 2% of the next 180K of the transacted price (Can be paid by CPF/Cash)
5. Admin Fee & Valuation Fee for HDB: $260.50 cash (inclu. GST)
6. Conveyancing (Legal) Fee: $2,600 (part of which will be bourne by bank where we get the loan from, payable via CPF) Bank usually subsidizes 0.3-0.4% of loaned amount
7. Loan from Bank: $267,040 (80% loan)
8. Agent Fee: 1.07% of transacted price (inclu. GST) – this is usually negotiable
9. Home Protection Insurance: abt $200 a year (depending on your age)

Total Cash Component: #1 + #3 + #5, #8 and #9
Total CPF Component: #2 + #4, and #6

When you find an agent, you must find one who is a pro-buyer. Meaning, this agent services buyers and not sellers. The pro-seller agents are very arrogant and have this “ai-lai-mai-sua” attitude (read in hokkien).

I found one by luck on the internet. His name is Christopher and as of now, I find him very hardworking but not aggressive enough.

Oh well, we’ll see how this plays out. :) I’m bloody excited!