Recently, I am totally flat out. This article is not about investment but just a personal update on our property journey. We are busy packing stuff and getting ready to move house by the end of May 2023! This is a major project. See the below image to understand I have a shelf full of books. I am a hoarder of physical books when I have not read most of them. Sometimes I have read them and forgotten what I have learned from the books. This is the before-packing photo.
I spent the long weekend across 1st May completing packing the bookshelf into 14 boxes. When you want to move house, compare your quotations among at least 3 movers. I had a video call with Shalom and the salesperson told me that they are charging by number of items. The competitors are charging a number of lorries and special handling costs such as the dismantling of bed frames and mounted TV. It just does not make sense to do business with Shalom. Maybe the salesperson needs training. This is very likely to be a converted customer that calls and is ready to be converted but turned off by the way they sell their moving services.
While packing, I found a lot of small little items, including a travel itinerary which brought back lots of fond memories. I think in life the memories make this life worth journeying. It is not the end point but the process or the journey that matters.
Recall this post when we sold our matrimonial house and bought a resale private property which all happened in December 2022. End up we did not stay in the newly purchased property. Mrs does not find the place convenient to travel to her workplace. Then you may ask, “Why in the first place she wants to buy that place?” We got sold by the property agent, she ferried us to and fro with her car. We should have taken public transport to and fro to feel what’s it like during the peak and off-peak periods. This is another lesson learned. Maybe we can contribute an article on “lessons learned by a regretful buyer” to Stacked Homes. Anyway, a happy wife is a happy life. It is my fault, I never bring her on the actual BMW way. BMW stands for Bus MRT (train) and Walk.
What should we do then?
I made a few trips to the new house in March and April. I fell in love with the house. It is simple and nice. It will make a very nice place to stay in. I do not regret buying the house at all, I like my purchase. That’s the reason why we buy in the first place. To bring convenience for everyone, I was searching frantically for a rental unit near the children’s school while trying to market this unit out for rental.
We were fortunate to find a tenant who signed a 3 years tenancy agreement with us. We found a unit that was slightly more expensive than HDB but comes with all the facilities that we can enjoy. We arbitrage the rental income with the rental expenses. There was a positive cash flow of S$500. However, less S$350 for the maintenance and sinking fund, the net cash flow is S$150. There is a monthly mortgage cost of S$5,700. You can work the sums. There are risks in this. Like all things, it comes with risk. What if the tenant breaks the lease? We are thinking of refinancing after 2 years, the mortgage interest should be lower then, and we should reduce our net of-pocket expense. It cannot be too drastic as well, because a weak rental market may cause the tenancy agreement to be forfeited.
We rented our unit to a coliving company. We have all the wishes for them to prosper and thrive. They turn our 4 bedrooms into 6 bedrooms.
What’s next?
We are excited to move into an old rental unit. We don’t know what the next 2 years will entail but we are ready for the adventure. The new location means new things to do and new things to explore in the neighborhood.
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