Back in 2011, Cs & myself had ballot a DBSS unit in Yishun, Adora Green. I was still studying while cs just started working. I grew up in Yishun, and most likely I am going to stay in Yishun for entire life. When there is a launch of Adora Green, I thought probably thats the nearest plot of land that new flats are going to build near Northpoint. I suggested to Cs if we should try ballot to secure a good location unit after seeing the showflat, cs has agreed to ballot. We are pretty lucky, we manage to get a number on our first try. (I do have friends that couldnt get a decent ballot number to shortlist for BTO, dont give up, there is always hope)
During the time, DBSS were built by private developer and manage by the HDB. It is known that the quality is better than BTO but of course, it come with a price tag. Always wanted to stay big house, but when you are really paying them, think about your needs rather your want.
In my opinion , owning bigger house with more space for accumulate dust and making cleaning even more tiring. You dont use the space but you are actually paying them. So, we consider for the smaller units. I think 2 bedroom is probably a starting right size for couples, so we secured a 3 room unit @ 358,000, and it actually comes with a big balcony. We eligible for the grants that government are offering during that time.
- First timer – 30,000
- Near parent – 10,000
- Additional housing grant – 15,000 (for low income) Since I still schooling, we are consider lower income group, encourage young couples to plan early if you already decided on your lifetime partner
We were serve by an ERA agent for our purchase of Adora Green, and there was plenty hipcups such as missing of documents etc. Didnt had a good impression of property agents, their objective oriented to close deal but the after service was bad.
Nevertheless, we collected our keys in Nov 2013, the flats are early than expected. I wrote in to request for deferment as our initial intend to get married in year 2015. Deferment was granted but we need to proof marriage cert so we booked on 3 Sep 2014 to ROM. We only shift in after our chinese customary in the year of 2015.
We engage mo8vic to renovate our house, because Adora comes with furnishing, we do not need to do much works compare to BTOs. We spent 12k on renovations, and 7.5k for all the lighting and furnitures.
Times fly, and in the year of 2018 our adora green has reaches its MOP known as minimum occupation period. We are now eligible to sell our unit. Our Initial plan was to buy a small unit, and in future to own a second property (private) and rent out our dbss. However, with the government changing of new policy, our goals have to change too. As the tax on second property is way too high, unless you are rich else, normal worker like us is not worth to pay for the additional buyer stamp duty. So we are in a mist to consider of upgrading, and we are actually looking out New EC, such as criterion and the signature, timing wasnt right for us. They sold out 6 mths before adora green gets MOP.
I really like the location of Adora Green. It is just less than 10 mins walk to northpoint if you cut across the yishun pond. At the back, there is a new Yishun Park Hawker, in fact right below adora green there is a child care centre and Rasa Rasa eatery. Very convenient, further up, Yishun Safra is just about 5 minutes walk. Khoo Teck Phua Hospital is located 10 mins walk from adora green.
After 5 years, adora green has reaches its MOP known as minimum occupation period, we are eligible to sell and we thought it could be our opportunity for upgrading. See my next post on our journey of upgrading.