Jeff! Lim turns self-improvement guru, and turns to writing a "Rich Dad, Poor Dad" perspective article on the HDB matter
WELCOME, my fellow minions!!! (bahh, harr, harrr!!!) Join with me, as i analyze for u, the ups and downs of a HDB house ownership in Singapore.
In the property "market" of Singapore, is a house (note: define "house" as synonymous with "HDB flat" here) really an asset??? or a liability???
Consider this: SO WHAT if ur house is daaamn expensive??? Can u afford to sell it (a portion of the monies derived from the sale will be given back to the gahment, btw) for another house??? So u sell ur old damn expensive house... for another damn expensive house. So big deal. What has really changed with the situation down here??? Nothing much - except that u just perhaps gave away a portion of ur money all over again - and are back at the receiving end of another financial burden again. Was it even worth selling away the old house in the first place for this??? (Consider - all houses are expensive - but some houses are just simply more expensive than others). Go figure.
But supposing! Let's just suppose.... that instead of letting everybody keep their houses for as long as they like, eeeverybody is forced to have to sell their own HDB flats every... oh, i dont know, say... 99 years or so??? What will happen then??? ("This is the way, we churn the market, churn the market, churn the market! this is the way, we churn the market, so earrly, in-nn the morn' 'nin!!!")
Probably the most concerned person about the price of a house in the market will be the newlywed. Do newlyweds get fantastic prices??? Nah. They get a fantastic financial burden for the rest of their lives. This makes them ohh-soo-want_to_have_sex_in_their_own_house (in_order_to_alleviate_their_suffering [after the weddingring]) so-that-they-will-bring-another-financial-burden-into-the-world. Yeah, that's it. That must surely be the waayy forward, for the next century for Singapore. No Wonder we dont we need any encouragement from the gahment to have more sex, or have more babies. Wonder Woman would never have made it in Singapore - there's just too many wonders going on around here liao.
Or consider this - who cares about the price of a house, actually??? You want to live without a house in Singapore??? Yeah, right. The streets are safe; everybody must be flocking to the streets by now.
Have u read "Rich Dad, Poor Dad" recently, btw?
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I reproduce the following post from the SDP "Rhetoric vs Reality" page (scroll down all the way to the bottom) -
Rhetoric Versus Reality
Doubling your assets - or debts?
The Rhetoric
[Jeff! Lim: and in other news, the price of water will be raised steadily, so that in 20 minutes' time, everybody will be worth twice as much in terms of the water that they currently have in their body. All citizens will be allowed to hold the water in their bodies for as long as they want - subject to a 99-minute limit (after which they have to voluntarily give a portion of the water back to gahment, .. and get newater from the gahment) by law. This initiative has proven very popular with the domestic population, who "just cant enough of it", and realize "just how good it is"(tm) that they will be able to hold on to such valuable assets for the limited-but-gracious-time that they have been given by the gahment. All HAAAIL the wisdom of the ol' gahment!!!]
The Reality
In the property "market" of Singapore, is a house (note: define "house" as synonymous with "HDB flat" here) really an asset??? or a liability???
Consider this: SO WHAT if ur house is daaamn expensive??? Can u afford to sell it (a portion of the monies derived from the sale will be given back to the gahment, btw) for another house??? So u sell ur old damn expensive house... for another damn expensive house. So big deal. What has really changed with the situation down here??? Nothing much - except that u just perhaps gave away a portion of ur money all over again - and are back at the receiving end of another financial burden again. Was it even worth selling away the old house in the first place for this??? (Consider - all houses are expensive - but some houses are just simply more expensive than others). Go figure.
But supposing! Let's just suppose.... that instead of letting everybody keep their houses for as long as they like, eeeverybody is forced to have to sell their own HDB flats every... oh, i dont know, say... 99 years or so??? What will happen then??? ("This is the way, we churn the market, churn the market, churn the market! this is the way, we churn the market, so earrly, in-nn the morn' 'nin!!!")
Probably the most concerned person about the price of a house in the market will be the newlywed. Do newlyweds get fantastic prices??? Nah. They get a fantastic financial burden for the rest of their lives. This makes them ohh-soo-want_to_have_sex_in_their_own_house (in_order_to_alleviate_their_suffering [after the weddingring]) so-that-they-will-bring-another-financial-burden-into-the-world. Yeah, that's it. That must surely be the waayy forward, for the next century for Singapore. No Wonder we dont we need any encouragement from the gahment to have more sex, or have more babies. Wonder Woman would never have made it in Singapore - there's just too many wonders going on around here liao.
Or consider this - who cares about the price of a house, actually??? You want to live without a house in Singapore??? Yeah, right. The streets are safe; everybody must be flocking to the streets by now.
Have u read "Rich Dad, Poor Dad" recently, btw?
=====
I reproduce the following post from the SDP "Rhetoric vs Reality" page (scroll down all the way to the bottom) -
Rhetoric Versus Reality
Doubling your assets - or debts?
The Rhetoric
Every Singaporean who owns a flat can double his value in today's terms within the next 15 to 20 years. In other words, in the next 20 years, we can make everybody worth twice as much, at least.
- PM Lee Kuan Yew, National Day Rally, 1990
[Jeff! Lim: and in other news, the price of water will be raised steadily, so that in 20 minutes' time, everybody will be worth twice as much in terms of the water that they currently have in their body. All citizens will be allowed to hold the water in their bodies for as long as they want - subject to a 99-minute limit (after which they have to voluntarily give a portion of the water back to gahment, .. and get newater from the gahment) by law. This initiative has proven very popular with the domestic population, who "just cant enough of it", and realize "just how good it is"(tm) that they will be able to hold on to such valuable assets for the limited-but-gracious-time that they have been given by the gahment. All HAAAIL the wisdom of the ol' gahment!!!]
The Reality
Wealth of Singaporeans shrank by $26b in 2001. Falling property prices and stock prices were the main culprits.
- Straits Times, Aug 28, 2003
The average Singaporean worker would have a staggering 75 per cent of his assets locked in housing upon retirement. By the age of 62, he would be classically cash-poor and asset rich. His CPF savings would generate a paltry income, barely enough to cover subsistence.
- Susan Long, Straits Times, Feb 5, 2003
This post is not sponsored by anybody, but by your author's own precious time, special effort, and hard work.
2 HaHaas:
hey, u're welcome back anytime man! :) Do feel free to comment more - i would be interested to hear what u have to say.
HDB scam. Yah lor, ppl say wah can sell HDB at high price compared to price when they bought it but WTF? Unless they stay with their sister or parents or brother at their own flat after that? Yah, totally agree, still must buy new and expensive house oso wat after that. KNN debt trap.
The Void Deck
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