Property Stories

Touring Hillview Garden Estate: A Freehold Landed Estate In Upper Bukit Timah With Prices From $3 Million

It is notoriously difficult to find an affordable, freehold landed house (or even a reasonably-priced leasehold landed one!) in Singapore, especially in Bukit Timah, which has many GCB enclaves. Hence, when I saw a freehold landed house listing at around…

• 12 Feb 2022
• 10 min read
• 0

Touring Opera Estate: The Remaining Affordable Freehold Landed Enclave

It’s been quite a journey touring all the 5 estates on the “cheapest freehold landed estates in Singapore” list. For those who are new, here’s a list that I’ve visited thus far: Macpherson Garden Estate Sembawang Hills Estate Thomson Garden…

• 22 Jan 2022
• 9 min read
• 6

Touring Thomson Garden Estate: Where You Can Find A Freehold Landed Home For $2.8 Million

Not far away from Teachers’ Housing Estate and Sembawang Hills Estate is another of the “cheapest freehold landed” enclaves in Singapore, Thomson Garden Estate, where there are about 480-500 houses depending on which property portal you visit – you can…

• 15 Jan 2022
• 9 min read
• 0

Touring Sembawang Hills Estate: An Affordable Freehold Landed Enclave With A Hawker Centre

If you didn’t already know, only 5% of Singaporeans live in a landed home. Hence, it’s almost everyone’s dream, and ambition to live in a landed home. I’ve covered a fair few in my cheapest freehold landed estate series so…

• 3 Jan 2022
• 10 min read
• 0

Touring Teacher’s Housing Estate: The Cheapest And Most Spacious Freehold Landed Estate (D26)

In today’s short attention span world with many different things vying for your attention, those who want to stand out have to resort to certain “tactics”. So if a property ad wants to get the attention of property hunters such…

• 26 Dec 2021
• 10 min read
• 0

Touring MacPherson Garden Estate: Possibly The Cheapest Freehold Landed Estate In Singapore (Under $2.5 Million)

MacPherson Garden Estate is a small cluster of landed houses whose claim to fame is being amongst the cheapest freehold landed enclaves in Singapore. This is, of course, why I decided to hop over and tour the area and its…

• 15 Dec 2021
• 9 min read
• 6

An Introvert Buys Property: Getting Prepared To Pull The Trigger (Part 4)

Every journey has to end. And sometimes, as poet T.S. Eliot wrote, it’s not with a bang, but with a whimper. And I certainly felt like whimpering when I made the decision to buy my flat. I’ve read countless articles…

• 11 Dec 2021
• 5 min read
• 0

An Introvert Buys Property: The Ones That Got Away (Part 3)

Buying property for yourself is not just any #treatyoself purchase – you’re imagining how your life could be better. That’s what makes letting go properties you like much tougher, because you’re passing on a version of you that could’ve been….

• 5 Dec 2021
• 7 min read
• 0

Touring Pasir Ris By The Sea “Freehold” Condos For Under $2 Million (And Above 2,000 Sq ft!)

A while back, I wrote about freehold waterfront condos at Balestier (most waterfront properties in Singapore are 99-years leasehold in nature). The feedback from my Mom, who grew up in the area, was: “What river? It’s a big drain!” (Fact…

• 30 Nov 2021
• 8 min read
• 0

An Introvert Buys Property: Finding A Property Agent To Trust (Part 2)

As a self-professed introvert, I’m used to doing things on my own. But after months of fruitless solo property hunting, I finally conceded that I needed a property agent. It was just after Circuit Breaker ended in 2020 when I…

• 24 Nov 2021
• 7 min read
• 5

Touring Sembawang Waterfront Landed Homes + 9 Landed Living Costs To Note

Last week, I headed over to explore the waterfront landed homes at Pasir Ris. In short, I concluded that they are close to nature, have a beautiful waterfront but are a tad crowded (at least the nearby beach and park…

• 22 Nov 2021
• 10 min read
• 0

An Introvert Buys Property In Singapore: Going It Alone (Part 1)

Buying property can be daunting, and more so if you’re single. And even more so if you’re an introvert. In my mid-30s, I felt it was time to take a deep breath and dive into the property market. The government…

• 13 Nov 2021
• 4 min read
• 0

An Early Morning Tour Of Pasir Ris: Landed Houses By The Beach Under $2.9 Million

When you watch property videos on YouTube or Netflix, beachfront houses are always portrayed as the creme de la creme in real estate. I’ve always thought that we’d already destroyed all the beautiful waterfront landed houses in land-scarce Singapore –…

• 11 Nov 2021
• 9 min read
• 4

8 Freehold Waterfront Condos In D12 (Balestier/Toa Payoh) That Won’t Break The Bank

If you’ve been following my series on affordable waterfront housing (which so far has spanned from HDBs to condos and cluster houses), you might have noticed that the vast majority of waterfront housing in Singapore is 99-years leasehold in nature….

• 6 Nov 2021
• 6 min read
• 0

3 Reasonably Priced Waterfront Condos In North Singapore (D28 Seletar/Yio Chu Kang)

In my first article on affordable waterfront condos and cluster houses in Singapore (which looked at condos around Jurong Lake and West Coast), a kind reader left a comment asking me to do the same for North and East Singapore…

• 31 Oct 2021
• 7 min read
• 0

A Single Homebuyers Journey During Covid-19: How I Bought And Built My Own Home

The Singapore property market is known for being tough on single homebuyers; and it’s especially hard to find an HDB flat as a bachelor. Nonetheless, some home buyers do manage to build their ultimate bachelor pad, with a bit of…

• 22 Oct 2021
• 14 min read
• 0

4 Affordable Waterfront Resale Condos In District 19 For More Scenic Views

Did you know that globally, waterfront views are priced at a 40% premium? But apparently, because Singapore is an island, waterfront views here are priced at just a 7.7% premium (all the better!). Bear in mind though, this was a…

• 17 Oct 2021
• 8 min read
• 1

A First-Time Homebuyer’s Journey: Review Of Waterview Condo + Bedok Reservoir x Tampines Quarry

Last week, I started my journey in search of the best affordable waterfront development in Singapore with a viewing at Waterfront Isle (boasting lovely facilities and sweeping views of Bedok Reservoir). As you can probably tell so far, I’m the…

• 23 Sep 2021
• 8 min read
• 0