Quote: lowpp - 2010-04-14 2:09 PM

My family is living in a 5-room HDB flat. It is not my dream house but it is definitely something that we can afford. I took a loan from HDB and have been paying for the flat using my CPF funds for the last 10 years. There is still a remaining loan period for another 15 years. I now agree that owning a house is a liability and not an asset.

When we decide to buy the flat, we did not work any plan, we just head down to HDB, pay for the registration fee and submit the application form. We were told that we will get our flat within 5 years. A year after moving in, we encounter financial difficulty. My husband’s business was ceased due to bad debts. Before that, we have depleted our savings and chalked up huge credit card debts. Then a double blow to us, I was made redundant in my company and was jobless for almost 3 months. We have no savings and piles of debts to pay.

The difficulties we met were unforeseen. We did not make plans financially. Luckily for us, we had help from friends and family and we were finally able to repay our debts.

I would like to share with you that buying a HDB flat instead of a private property and using my CPF funds to service our mortgage payments was our best decision.

My advice to all future home-owners is to work a financial plan before you decide on the house you want – be it a flat, a condo or a landed property. IMHO, a house is just a roof over your head, buy what you can afford.