Acquiring our own house was not part of our plans for 2023, but given how 2023 unfolded, it turned out to be one of the best decisions we have made. We are now home owners of a 4-Room HDB flat after collecting our keys at the start of 2024! 🥳
The Motivation:
When Icai was diagnosed with cancer in July 2023, many of our plans changed. Our initial intention to migrate to another country had to be re-evaluated. Instead, we concluded that it would be more prudent for us to remain in Singapore for the foreseeable years.
With long-term of staying in Singapore in mind, we prayed about getting our own house for the reasons below:
1) Monthly Cost
Remaining in Singapore for a long period without owning a house is becoming increasingly expensive due to the continuous rise in rental costs. Since we began leasing our current unit in 2021, our rent has surged by almost 30%, and we anticipate further increase when we renew our lease this year, 2024. Crazy to think that our current rent is still below market value.
Icai has also stopped working since the start of the year, to focus more on her recovery and to take care of Hopesie full time as well.
Having our own house would enable us to utilize our CPF to cover the mortgage, ultimately lowering our monthly cash expenditures.
2) Need for More Space
As Hopesie grows older and becomes more active, we find ourselves in need of additional space for him (ofcourse more space for Icai and I as well). Our current residence offers minimal room for him to run or play around.
Furthermore, we aspire to homeschool Hopesie, and to facilitate that, we require more space for various home activities.
Icai also plans to focus on creating crafts and hopefully turn it to a side-hustle. We needed more space for her crafting materials.
Answered Prayer
The process of getting a house in Singapore can be quite tedious, especially if you do not get an agent. As we decide to start the process alongside working full time, while going in and out of the hospital for chemotherapy and medical check ups – it is easier to just delay and do things one at a time. Thankfully, God orchestrated everything for us, from our house wishlist (location, floor level, layout, distance, etc.) to the agents (of the house seller) and suppliers (interior designer, etc) we are working with – everything just fell into place with so much grace and peace.
Instead of this whole process being an additional burden for us while Icai go through chemo, it actually became therapeutic for her to plan and design our future home. It gave her something to look forward to, an escape from all the side effects of her treatment. God’s ways are really higher and better than ours, we found a house that is relatively near our current place – which makes it easier for us, especially for Icai (who loves to be hands on) to visit our house from time to time during renovation.
Financially, if we were to buy a house months or years before, we would probably not have the same peace of mind. This season has brought us financial blessing in ways we couldn’t imagine. God truly is always on time.
We are thankful to God for allowing and providing for us our own house. It’s truly a miracle how it happened. From the moment we submitted our intent to buy to HDB to the key collection, the entire process took us just 4 months. Additionally, God blessed us by crossing paths with individuals who significantly eased this journey for us.
More on our experience (timeline) in buying our HDB home in Singapore in another blog post.
