If you buy a flat that is already 30 years old, and you want to sell it in, say, 10 years, unless there is a
property boom at that time, the odds of getting out of it, what you put into it may be slim. A lot of things come into play here though when looking at HDB flats.
It is obviously in a mature estate if it's 30 years old. This usually means good amenities in the vicinity with good transportation links as well. PLUS!
If it's already 30 years old, then the estate most likely has already had lift upgrading and possible estate upgrading as well. This one is a double edged sword. So PLUS and MINUS
Currently HDB prices are still on the high side - good for owners like me.
MINUS
Of course there is the 3 year rule before you can use it as investment property - PLUS or MINUS depending on how you look at it.
The double edged sword one........
If the estate is already 30 years old AND has had already had lift upgrading AND estate upgrading then I doubt very seriously that you will get what you paid for the unit as it will only have less than 60 years left on the lease. You will be hard pressed to sell a flat that old on the open market for a profit or even. However, if you buy BEFORE the LUP or MUP programmes then your odds of making a few bob are good. However, be advised, as PR's you will have to pay a much higher "Cost" for the lift upgrading than citizens do (probably in the neighbourhood of 6K). If there is a future MRT station slated to be built in the near future then that will also help boost the resale value of the property.
Basically, that is what I did though. I bought a resale flat for 333K (spot on valuation - no COV) when the market crashed after the '97-98 Asian financial meltdown. I bought right as the market bottomed out in Jan '09 and put probably around 20% down in cash plus the various subsidies that were available to me at that time and mortgaged the rest through HDB on a 14 year mortgage that was only a couple of hundred less per month than my current rental payments at that time. This did not help cash flow but I figured, based on when I bought, that I would get "at least" what I had into it (including interest paid) when I sold and could even make a dollar or two if I was lucky. Basically, it allows me to save an additional amount equal to my former rental or basically my housing costs are nil here. (3 more years & it's mine!)
Of course saying it's mine is a misnomer anyway as you are only leasing it!
