5 room HDB BTO flat
I came across a blogger in The Finance SG and felt compelled to blog down my thoughts. Apparently this blogger and his girlfiriend had purchased a 5-room HDB BTO flat but had difficulty forking out $4000 cash for the balance downpayment. He is still a full-time student and has no income.
Lack of integrity
After reading his article, I can only said this blogger has no integrity at all. He bragged that he managed to fool the HDB into delaying the signing of the agreement lease for many times. This is because he don’t have the cash to pay the balance downpayment and has to depend on his girlfriend’s year end bonus and use her CPF savings to pay for it.
To me, this fellow don’t deserve the flat at all. Obviously he don’t have the financial capability to afford the flat, so HDB should have given the flat to more deserving applicants. In fact, I wondered aloud how in the bloody world did his Housing Loan Eligibility got approved? The couple’s monthly income is only $2400 and this guy is still studying. Either HDB is not doing their due diligence or this blogger is telling half truth.
Self-denial and overestimation of ability
One of the blogger’s readers pointed out that if he cannot even afford $4000, he has no business buying such a huge flat. Of course he denied and claimed he can afford it. To me, this blogger don’t know what he is doing. We Chinese has a saying that goes “If you don’t have such big head, don’t wear such big hat”. It is good to have dreams and goals in life. But it is not okay to overestimate your abilities and overstretch yourselves. Furthermore, this fellow has no job, no income. Even if he managed to secure a job and has an income for the monthly housing instalment, he still have to plan for wedding costs and etc. Its not simple as he thought.
Towards the path of bankruptcy
I have seen too many couples splitting up before collecting their new house keys. Many of them had their CPF monies forfeited by HDB. I can see this happening to this blogger too. I mean if I were his girlfriend, I would have looked down on him too. Cannot even fork out $4000 cash and has to leech on her CPF savings. It is not a sin to be poor. I came from a poor family too. But you should be realistic and buy an affordable house and live within your means. Given his lousy financial planning, how to have a decent wedding for his girlfriend?
Judging from his past article, this blogger is no saint. He tried to game the bursary system before. And now he tried to beat the housing system for his selfish gains. So I hope his girlfriend will leave him for good. Teach him a good lesson in life and let him realise his mistakes.
Magically yours,
SG Wealth Builder
don’t be too hard on him.
he probably need to understand the true of life and happiness, and not simply FF.
I suppose this real life example is hopefully a wake up call to him, which I’ve sent him.
http://www.heavenaddress.com/Dr-Richard-Teo-Keng-Siang/424153/379719/content
worse still, did you read how he cheated the bursary money? He can afford the money but he went to cheat money and the needy people suffer!
Actually, do not understand why he is blogging about his ‘shameful’ actions. Can only think of the following motivations:
1) He does not find them shameful and thinks he is very smart. Yikes!
2) He is deliberately courting bad press so that more will read his blog and he can earn more from advertising revenue.
3) He is financially savvy but not media savvy?
Of all three, I think number 2 is the most likely. To each his own I guess.
This person is blogging about his exploits and feeling proud of them? Seems like a bad apple.
Worse, his blog is listed on TheFinance? The owner of TheFinance, Derek, might want to consider doing something about this.
The irony is that this chap list his total networth to about S$55k on his blog. I don’t understand why he cannot cough up the $4k.
Yeah, I do agree that his integrity is a bit in question when I read about how he took advantage of the bursary system. Sigh….youngsters nowadays…….
there are some people who strives & thrives on beating the system, legally or not. He is just one of them. Not much different from those who would avoid putting a coupon for their parking or put one that is of a later time.
anyway, how did they managed to scam HDB ? Well, false declaration is punishable by jail time.
Asset rich but low in cash flow?
Don’t think so. You go and read his monthly portfolio. He maintained several bank accounts each contaning more than $4k.
I think he just want to have his cake and eat it too.
Hi Greatsage and AK,
I believe the blogger is just sharing his own experience and is not trying to encourage people to do the same. Nevertheless, I will contact him to clarify.
Thanks for bringing it to my attention.
In the last 5 years in Singapore, being prudent has no advantage because the prices of houses and cars are rising faster than your savings. So the blogger may be the smarter person even though the way he did so is not so ethical.
However, there will definitely come a time when the prices of property will crash and these speculators will be burnt but until then, they are the ones laughing all the way to the bank.
Thank you all for your comments. I have surfaced this unlawful act to HDB and leave it to them to investigate.
His lack of integrity is a real call for concern especially when he says that he is looking for a job in the banking sector.
smart Alex but also a crook (may be a mini Madoff in making??)
Hi,
I believe I am the one that you are talking about. I know what I am doing and I can easily afford the $4k downpayment but I choose not to. I am a full time student so naturally I wouldnt have income now. However, I am on my way to securing a job even before I graduate next year and our combined income will guaranteed be at least $6,000 based on my degree class. I am aware of my financial situation and a 5 room flat is easily affordable given my conservative projected combined income in 4 years when I start paying for the monthly installments. My HDB loan got approved because my eligibility will be reassessed again in 2016/2017(you should read it up on HDB website). My goal is to achieve a net worth of $200,000 by age 28 and it’s definitely feasible if you read my blog. If $200,000 isn’t enough for wedding and a house, I don’t know what else is. Furthermore, downpayment will be deducted from the HDB ordinary account. You should include the details when talking about the flaws of my financial planning. It’s fairer to use numbers to justify your stand rather than just personal attacks and angst. Given that you’re a middle aged guy with a daughter, I believe you will understand what mutual respect means. Lastly, cool down and stop being angsty by something that you read on a blog. Life is short.
Cheers
hey there,
you’re so poor that the only thing you have is just money