This is the view from my window. In the year of 2011. Far ahead is the reservoir, and the country club. We love this view. We love our home. By year 2020, there will be a new highway – North-South Expressway – smacked right in front of our home. More than 800 square meters of our condo is going to be acquired by the government. Freehold or not, it doesn’t matter. We don’t own our land in perpetually. Screw this. I know which party not to vote in this coming election.
It is somewhat depressing, of course. For years, people living up north have put up with the highest cost of traveling. I have to drive through three ERP gantries (our version of manual-electronic toll system) to go to work in the city via CTE. And two ERP gantries to return home. Is CTE congested? To be totally objective, the rest of the highways during peak hours are just as congested. It is hard to imagine that in a small country like Singapore, we need so much space for cars. If our government is seriously thinking of building more roads to solve the traffic situation, I would propose building more cycling lanes. Perhaps covered cycling lanes. But wait. We do have a system in place to limit the number of cars on the road. What happens to that? Our government really needs to drop the mindset that building highways is a mean to make money. There are only that many cars we can accommodate in our city center, regardless of how many highways we have and how smooth they are. I am not sure if the government has thought about that.
It seems rather coincidental that on this somewhat depressing day, I am being assigned to help out a wealth management project. It is the content that strikes me. What is my dream? How do I envisage my home to be? What about my family? Looking at the content, I daydreamed at work. I think by 2020, I shall move out of my beloved home, away from that highway, which I have not signed up for. A home that I thought I would happily retire in. Once that thought of a new home got seeded into my head, the next question is: How do I get there?
All of a sudden, I feel as though I am back into the money making mode (a rather debt free life kind of soften you, I reckon). Maybe I do need to demand a promotion and a pay rise. Maybe I do need to hunt for a job or a role that has a better career progression path.
When I was young, my father in Hong Kong used to tell me that outside our home was the harbor, where he was used to fish. Along came the land reclamation and a highway built right next to our apartment. Then came the noise, and the pollution. I left Hong Kong because I prefer somewhere less crowded. Looks like I am back to square one.
Er, yes, the COE system allows perfect control of the car population, but if the Govt was really interested in maximising revenue, it would *reduce* COE allocations — recent statistics show that reducing the quota has increased the price of COEs and drastically increased overall revenue! So it is not true that the over-allocation of COEs was for the purpose of raising revenue collections.
Thanks for dropping by. You may also wish to take into account that there is a heavy car tax for every car sold before COE. Also, more cars on the road means more ERP revenue.
Recent price jump is due to the abrupt drop in the supply of COE. And any such change would for certain cause a shockwave due to backlog fulfillment.
Oh No, this is a tragedy. I once live next to a highway and I can tell you it is a health hazard. I do understand what you mean by back into money making mode. When we think we could sit back and enjoy life a little longer something like this came up and destroy it.
I hope you find a place you would want to retire in soon. Good luck and my best wishes.
JoV – Thanks! Maybe I shall move to UK eh? 🙂
Fortunately, there is still time. 9 years is quite a while away. We can time our purchase during a downturn. Who knows. This may work out better for the family.
Now, why am I thinking of retirement so soon … hahaha.
It could be that I have some foresight? Remember I said you should retire in Fraser’s hill? If you want to keep the current place is fine, timing for a downturn also means your current place will be on sale on a downturn price.
Please think about moving to UK! Ask for job transfer. 😉
JoV – Ah! I remember our dialog on retiring in Fraser’s Hill!
If we are getting a new home, our current one will be kept as rental. True. During an economic downturn, the rental market too goes down. But so long as we can hold our assets, that should be OK.
Job transfer to UK eh? If I do go to UK, I wish to do something different from what I am doing today 🙂
Move out of a business city or a metropolitan city, there is always short of space in cities like that, regardless of the country you are in. I know Singapore may be far from being metropolitan but it is a very vibrant city with a lot of outdoor activities, so people commute to get to where they want to be. When there is demands, there will be supplies. Well, at least the Singapore gov’t try to supply. Unlike some country, when there are demands, the gov’t sing “complain complain go away, never showed your face again…..” 😀 Oh well, I am talking nonsense. Hope you will brighten up. You have a couple of years to find a better place to live.
J – Singapore is indeed a city with an improved level of vibrancy over the decades. Recently, there was a newspaper article revealing that the government collects billions of dollars from car users a year. And that money is then used to build public transportation infrastructure. I am not sure if our government is overdoing it. What they should focus is how to further improve the public transport system. Efficient as it may be today, it still take quite some for people to commute for those who need to change bus and train.
Anyway. Unlike Hong Kong where the residents can protest publicly, we Singaporeans would accept all government decisions as they are. And move on.
Heh!
Singaporean is not as “accepting” as the Malaysian when it comes to the gov’t decisions but still a very obedient bunch. 😀 It has to do with the history and systems I suppose. I do agree with you that sometimes the gov’t focus on the wrong thing. I mean there are ERP, COE, weekend car program, etc all in the attempt to control the traffic on the road and now they are building highway into the city (if I read your post correctly)….it is sending a very mixed message to the people. Does that mean the programs have failed?
J – It is a mixed signal, for sure. Last year (and the year before I think), our government miscalculated the supply and demand and oversupplied the10 years Certificate of Ownership (COE) to the car owners. Car price went down really low. Congestion became one of the problems (still is). A few months ago, the government dropped the supply of COE abruptly and the car price rocketed. A Japanese medium sedan car can easily cost more than US$100,000.
Many protested. So instead of rectifying the mistake in one year, our government spreads the drop in quota over 3 years. On top of that, new underground train system is built and we should be less reliance on using cars. In that sense, the signal is that there shouldn’t be that many cars on the road, as before. And more people should use public transport, now that it gets better.
In the same time, we are widening highways, building more viaducts, and now, adding a major highway. Is this a mixed signal? I think so.
I feel for you brother. I really do. This is one very real case that tells us as citizens, we really do not have much say over our fates, even when we paid for freehold premises. And in Singapore, there are few avenues to seek help from. However, to me it is always better to be debt free than to have a long term debt, highway or not. If you really do move, I hope you consider various factors and move only when you find a better place at a reasonable cost. Personally if I were in your situation, I will consider getting a new place and renting this current one out.
Mark – Thanks for your thought, bro. We don’t have much say over our fates, you are right. I am glad that we are free to vote, at least.
Yes, I enjoy being debt free. Life is so much less stressful. But I like your strategy of renting out and buying a new one. We shall see. It may not be that bad. I may need to call upon your contacts to build us some really good windows to block off the noise!
Ah? The condo space can just be acquired by government like that?? Without any consultation or compensation? No need to seek agreement from the flat owners? :O
I think if this is the case in HK, the flat owners will gather together on hunger strike or on demonstration…. 😛
Hmm… so sad to hear that… Should you sell it at a higher price now before a lot of people know about it… 😛 Viewing from another angle, I feel that people in SG are crazy about the accessibility of their home. Who knows? The price may go up instead. :>
Anyway, there should be new condo project in Seng Keng West. Will keep in view for you… hehe… 😉
Lora – Apparently, our government can acquire land for redevelopment purposes. There is no consultation. But there will be compensation. I don’t expect a lot because there are so many units in our condo.
I am pretty sure that if this happens in Hong Kong, there will be demonstration to voice out the unhappiness. Singapore doesn’t work this way, unfortunately.
There is still time. 2020 is still far I guess. Seng Keng West eh? Ha ha ha. Very near to your new home eh? 🙂
Your photo reminds me of a question that I thought yes i should direct it at you!
What DSLR are you using!? I am using a 8 pixel point and shoot digital camera. After seeing some pretty nice fishes in water/ close up food shots/close up ppl shots by DSLR, i am thinking of getting one. But a DSLR is rather bulky, and when i travel on my own, not only do i have to carry it myself, but sometimes i do want to get strangers to take photos of me for me.. so DSLR might be problematic?
But i have been using my casio for say 3, 4 yrs and sometimes the shutter speed isnt that ideal. i feel that i can take nicer photos if i have a better equipment (though i think skills make a difference too). Plus i might be going europe w my family this july! So i thought i shd get a new/better camera haha.
I thought of what i use it for, and its mostly scenery, scenery + ppl. I do take shots of food but i hadnt quite fallen in love with those professionally done/good enough for mag publication food photo. Shd I get myself a DSLR (any recommendations?) or say a better camera body with lens (overall less bulky than DSLR but can still achieve equally high quality photo?) ?
Sorry for the long list of qns!
oh i got another qns opps.. can a point and shoot camera take photos with focus say on food/small insert and the background is blurred? Cos it seems like this is what i want to be able to do but i am not sure if i am restricted cos of my equipment or my skills haha
Si Ying – It is often hard to achieve what DSLR cameras do best (like blurry in the background or bokeh as photographers would call it) with a point-and-shoot camera. And photograph is a hobby and you would need time to read up and master. I am more than happy to walk you through the how-part in person if you do get a DSLR one day. Because it is so much easier to show you.
I use a Nikon D700. I would strongly recommend a Nikon DSLR. Their camera bodies are backward compatible to all the old lenses. Canon may be technologically more advanced. But quality-wise, I don’t think it makes a difference if we are learning.
Nikon has some smaller DSLR too. It all comes down to your budget. Because you will need to get the body and also the lenses. DSLR is in more bulky. Also heavy. I am OK with that. I know friends who don’t. I am OK because I know to get the quality I want, there is no other ways.
To be honest, I wouldn’t be too concerned whether or not if strangers can use the DSLR to help you take a photo. Getting the setting done is the easy part. You can set up your camera before passing it to others to help you take a photo. The hard part is for him or her to get the composition right. That way, it makes no different between a DSLR or a point and shoot.
Do feel free to keep the questions coming! I am more than happy to answer.
Si Ying – You seem to have less than half a year to master a DSLR for your family trip. I think you have to make a decision fast 🙂