How to Choose Your HDB BTO Unit

You have followed Heartland Boy’s tips on which HDB BTO project and unit type to bid for. Now you have gotten your queue number and are monitoring with bated breath as the units available for sale get whittled down each day. Not to worry, Heartland Boy is going to leverage on his professional experience in the real estate industry to give you some tips on how to choose your HDB BTO unit. He will be highlighting what are the common important factors to consider and what you should know when buying a house. Most of these factors are also reflected in a property investment course that Heartland Boy had attended.

Heartland Boy is going to use St George’s Tower, a HDB BTO project in Boon Keng, as a case study. This is especially relevant since he has already invested considerable amount of time, and money, into St George’s Tower.

Diagram 1: Site Plan of St George’s Tower (Credit: HDB BTO)

Walk the Ground Before You Choose Your HDB BTO Unit

If there is only 1 thing that you can remember from this article, it is the importance of walking the ground before you choose your HDB BTO unit. The Heartland Couple walked the ground twice, once on a weekday morning and once on a weekend afternoon. The rationale for the chosen timings is:

• Weekday Morning– This allows you to monitor how heavy the traffic is during peak hour where residents will be rushing to school and to work. For instance, you would never know Bukit Timah Road was perennially clogged in the mornings (before Downtown Line was built) until you have walked the ground.
• Weekend Afternoon – This is when house viewings by potential buyers are usually conducted. It will also allow you to ascertain whether your choice unit will face direct afternoon sunlight. More on that later.

When Heartland Boy gave this advice to his peers, some of them dismissed this as troublesome or that Heartland Boy is simply a paranoid man. Well, Heartland Boy finds it even more amusing that the very same peers would rather set aside an entire afternoon deliberating over which pair of jeans to purchase! If you are going to make the biggest investment of your life, the minimum you should do is this form of basic due diligence.

Diagram 2: Walkabout by Heartland Couple around Boon Keng BTO

Maybe it is indeed true that Heartland Boy is a paranoid man because he went for a secret walk around the neighbourhood on his own without Heartland Girl’s knowledge.

Having done your walkabout around the neighbourhood, you are now ready to consider this set of critical factors when buying your dream property.

1.Sunlight and ventilation

Singapore is a tropical country with high humidity all year round. As such, most home owners want to avoid direct sunlight shining into their units as direct sunlight can heat up their homes pretty quickly and turn them into saunas. This is often the most important factor under consideration of prospective home buyers. As a rule of thumb, choosing HDB BTO units with a North-South orientation ensures that that your unit does not get direct sunlight. For St George’s Towers, all the units are stacked in the North-West orientation, so not much of a differentiation amongst the units here. It is not ideal, but at least they are not facing West directly.

Some home owners also value natural ventilation and natural light coming into their corridors. This ensures that you get fresh air and brightly lit corridors the entire day. As an example, units of Stacks 19 and 21 in Block 26A should have natural light and ventilation all day since its corridors are not blocked by any tall neighbouring structures.

2.Height and View

Some units command a premium because of its fantastic views. During your walkabout, you may climb to the top floors of neigbouring blocks to ascertain the views. That is when a physical inspection triumphs desktop research. High-floor units of Stack 29 and 27 in Block 26B of St George’s Towers will have unblocked city views overlooking the Marina Skyline. Those owners will get to enjoy live fireworks during Chinese New Year, National Day and New Year’s Eve!

The other advantage of staying on high floors is that you generally avoid the dust, and the creepy crawlies that usually emerge after the monthly fogging of the rubbish chutes.

3.Noise and Privacy

When considering to buy a home, some home owners are very concerned about noise. This is particularly true for Heartland Boy therefore choosing a HDB BTO unit that is as serene as possible is equally important. In St George’s Towers, although high floor units of Stack 27 and 29 will command unblocked views of the city skyline, lower floor units will have to contend with the heavy traffic associated with Serangoon Road- a 4 lane carriageway utilized extensively by vehicles.

Diagram 3: Serangoon Road as shown on Google Map in September 2014

On the same note, Stack 47 will also bear the brunt of traffic entering St George’s Towers since it is closest to the only vehicular entrance.

Other than noise from traffic, home-owners may also have to consider noise generated from activities. For instance, low-floor units in Stacks 41, 43 and 45 of St George’s Towers will often hear noise at Precinct Pavilion (Block 24) arising from communal events such as RC gatherings, weddings and funerals that are typical in Singapore . Low-floor units in Stack 21 and 23 may also hear the laughter of kids playing at the roof garden and the movement of the cars at the multi-storey carpark.

Another point to note is that cars moving up the ramps of multi-storey carpark at night may shine their headlights into the windows of those units that face the multi-storey carpark. This brings Heartland Boy to another related point, privacy. Some home owners cherish privacy, so do consider the distance from the lifts to the units, as well as the distance between each stack and block.

4.Accessibility

Have you ever been into a condominium where certain stacks can directly exit via the side gate and into the nearest bus stop or MRT? The time taken to reach the bus stop or MRT between the nearest stack and the furthest stack can be a difference of 10 minutes. If you multiply this twice a day for 365 days, that’s a total difference of 120 hours in a year! For St George’s Towers, Block 25A is nearest to the MRT while Block 26A is nearest to the multi-storey carpark. So someone who drives and someone who takes public transport will obviously have different preferences!

Choose HDB BTO Unit With an End in Mind

When choosing your HDB BTO unit, some factors listed above may not be important to you. But do note that one fine day, for some unforeseen circumstances, you may need to sell your HDB BTO unit. Therefore, always choose your HDB BTO unit with the consideration that someone else will purchase your property in the future. That is because some factors that may not be important to you may be critical to others when buying a home in Singapore. Hence, it is important to assess all of the factors above holistically. If you need help to select a unit for your BTO/resale/condo, you can drop heartlandboy an email at alison@heartlandboy.com.

If you are looking to purchase or sell your home without a housing agent, look no further than Stacked Homes. The factors that Heartland boy has listed above will be helpful in your navigation across the numerous listings on Stacked Homes.

At the same time, never neglect the financing component. You can easily find out whether you can afford the dream home by trying out PropertyGuru’s Smart Refi tool for free online.