Before Going for Resale Flat Viewing
Just want to share my experience, if you are planning to buy a resale flat, before you contact any seller or agent, get the Housing Loan Eligibility (HLE) letter from HDB or Letter of Offer from bank first, this is because according to HDB, buyer is not supposed to make an offer without the letter, but even if you go ahead and make an offer, I doubt the seller or agent will believe you, ultimately black and white speaks louder than anything.
And there are agents who will first ask whether you have the letter, if no letter, they will ask you to apply first, those who are nice will tell you nicely, I heard some don't even bother to entertain you if you don't have the letter, bad attitude though.
Anyway applying for HLE is free and according to HDB, it takes about 2-3 weeks, but I got it in 3 days, as for bank loan, not so sure, someone who knows please feel free to leave a comment.
And also for HLE letter, you can choose soft copy or hard copy send to your address, I choose soft copy and it ended up useful because when submitting the resale application, you need the loan information, so I emailed to my agent and he submitted for me, and you can print it out anytime you want, and you don't have to wait for HDB to send it to you.
Do your calculations properly and know how much you can afford to offer, also take note that for flats with lease lesser than 60 years, there is a limit on how much total CPF you can use for the flat purchase, including loan repayment, also note that housing grant will also expend your limit, for example you can use a maximum of $130K on a flat, you got a $15K singles grant, now you are left with $115K, which means after you use up the $115K, every month you MUST pay by cash. You can calculate here.
And also, before making any offer, check the recent transactions for the unit and get a rough idea of the prices to help you decide, you can find this information using this HDB service, you don't want to end up having to top an unexpectedly large amount of cash, but you also need to have some spare cash just in case, also considering the amount you need to pay for renovation and furnishing after the purchase, try not to loan too much, personally I don't loan, just slowly renovate and stock up, but ultimately it depends on your financial situation, everybody is different.
Happy house hunting!
And there are agents who will first ask whether you have the letter, if no letter, they will ask you to apply first, those who are nice will tell you nicely, I heard some don't even bother to entertain you if you don't have the letter, bad attitude though.
Anyway applying for HLE is free and according to HDB, it takes about 2-3 weeks, but I got it in 3 days, as for bank loan, not so sure, someone who knows please feel free to leave a comment.
And also for HLE letter, you can choose soft copy or hard copy send to your address, I choose soft copy and it ended up useful because when submitting the resale application, you need the loan information, so I emailed to my agent and he submitted for me, and you can print it out anytime you want, and you don't have to wait for HDB to send it to you.
Do your calculations properly and know how much you can afford to offer, also take note that for flats with lease lesser than 60 years, there is a limit on how much total CPF you can use for the flat purchase, including loan repayment, also note that housing grant will also expend your limit, for example you can use a maximum of $130K on a flat, you got a $15K singles grant, now you are left with $115K, which means after you use up the $115K, every month you MUST pay by cash. You can calculate here.
And also, before making any offer, check the recent transactions for the unit and get a rough idea of the prices to help you decide, you can find this information using this HDB service, you don't want to end up having to top an unexpectedly large amount of cash, but you also need to have some spare cash just in case, also considering the amount you need to pay for renovation and furnishing after the purchase, try not to loan too much, personally I don't loan, just slowly renovate and stock up, but ultimately it depends on your financial situation, everybody is different.
Happy house hunting!
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