Property · The journey
Every property decision I've made, in order, with the real numbers. Not a highlight reel. The full story, including the one that went sideways before any of the gains.
Property is one tool. I've used it well. But it isn't the whole game. Equities, options, business: it all works together.
$130k · 2nd top floor corner · First marriage
Went to ex-wife
$409k · High floor corner · With Sylvia · TOP 2017
~$400k unrealised · selling ~2027
Midview City · first at $748k, next two at $768k, below market
>$540k realised, all sold at a profit
$724k + $45k levy · 44th floor corner · TOP ~2029
Not selling. Ever.
~$2.05M · 2-bedder + study · TOP ~2027
Holding. The retirement asset.
Property 01 · Went to ex-wife
I'm not going to gloss over this one. A lot of property write-ups start from the first win. Mine doesn't.
My first property was bought during my first marriage: a 3-room BTO in Yishun for $130k. That was a lot of money to me back then. Looking at the number now, it seems modest. That's exactly what time does to property in Singapore. I picked a 2nd top floor corner unit, the same instinct I've had every time since.
The marriage didn't work out. When we annulled it, the flat went to her and her new husband. That was the right and fair outcome.
I walked away with nothing from that property. But I was young, I had no dependants, and I had time. The reset wasn't comfortable. It also wasn't fatal. If you think you've missed the boat because of a difficult chapter in your life, you probably haven't. Time and discipline get most people back on track.
The real starting point
Not from wealth. Not from an inheritance. One failed marriage and a property that went with it. Everything after this was rebuilt from scratch, with Sylvia, with better decisions and more patience.
Property 02 · Held, selling ~2027
Started fresh with Sylvia. New family unit, first BTO application together. The rationale was brutally simple: we wanted as much space as possible for as little money as possible. In 2014 Punggol was one of the cheapest BTO locations in Singapore. We took it without overthinking it.
Unit selection was never gut feel. It was analysis. I read floor plans carefully. I look at the site plan: orientation, what's blocking the view, where the morning sun hits, which stacks get cross ventilation, what's going up on the adjacent plot in five years. Corner units almost always win on that analysis: more windows, better light, no shared walls on two sides, better airflow, often a wider layout. High floor for the view, the quiet and the resale premium. We got a high floor corner in Punggol, exactly what the analysis pointed to.
We moved in in 2017 and hit MOP in 2022. By then the estimated resale was already north of $800k on a $409k purchase. We've never been in a rush to cash out. The plan is to sell once we move into the Continuum when it TOPs, probably 2027. Settled first, then sell. Not the other way around.
The analytical edge
Every property I've bought, from the Yishun 3-room to the 44th floor in Queenstown, has been a high floor corner unit. That's not luck. It's the result of spending serious time on floor plans, site plans and surroundings before deciding anything.
Most buyers look at the showflat, think about the bedroom count and move on. I look at the site plan: which blocks are closest to the road, which stacks face the MRT tracks, where the afternoon sun hits hardest, what's going up next door in five years. I compare the floor plan of every unit type: where the aircon ledge lands, which units have a bay window eating into the living room, which have a usable bomb shelter position. Then satellite view, then I walk the area.
Knowing a unit in forensic detail does two things. You pick better units, so you live better and resell better. And it tells you when to hold rather than chase: if you understand exactly what you own, you don't panic-sell when the market softens. You wait.
Property 03–05 · All sold
Between 2017 and 2025 I bought and sold three industrial units at Midview City. All were bought for real business use: Vivre Activewear needed space for operations and stock. All sold at a profit, the last two at record prices in the development.
Industrial worked because the units paid for themselves. I wasn't paying rent to a landlord for the same space. I owned the asset, ran the business from it, collected rent when I didn't need it, and the property appreciated on top.
Units 02 and 03 were the real find. Comps were trading around $880k and I got both at $768k. That doesn't come from luck. It takes being in the market, moving quickly, and not needing time to decide.
My rule on selling: I don't exit because I'm tired of holding. I exit when the price is the kind of number history looks back on as a local peak. Both units sold at record prices. That was the signal.
Property 06 · TOP ~2029, never selling
There are things in life money alone can't buy. A 44th floor corner unit in Queenstown with a view that genuinely takes your breath away is one of them. You need the ballot to go your way. You need to be eligible. And you need to pick the right unit while standing there under time pressure with a queue number in your hand.
I've stayed in five-star hotels with worse views. When it's done, this flat will have a view you can't put a price on, and I never intend to find out what that price is, because it's not for sale.
I applied while Punggol was still under MOP. Second-timers must meet MOP by the application closing date, not the ballot date, and the closing date landed in exactly the month Punggol hit MOP. Eligible by the closing date. Not by much, but enough. I was watching the calendar.
Property 07 · Holding
Freehold was a deliberate choice, not a nice-to-have. HDB runs down to zero over 99 years. A freehold condo doesn't. When I think of this as a retirement asset, generating rental income in 20 years or sold at a good moment in retirement, I want it to still have full tenure value. Freehold keeps that option open for good.
D15 is a location I believe in for the long term. East Coast has a character that doesn't go out of style: the beach, established amenities, and residents who stay because they genuinely like being there. Supply is constrained. Demand is durable.
The 2-bedder plus study is intentional too. Small enough to rent out efficiently. Comfortable enough for us to live in between the Continuum TOP (~2027) and Ulu Pandan Banks TOP (~2029). The plan is clean: Continuum TOPs, we move in, sell Punggol, wait two years, Ulu Pandan Banks TOPs, move there, rent out the Continuum as retirement income.
One property you live in and love. One property paying you while you're retired. That's the end state.
The bigger picture
Over a million dollars in gains from property: industrial profits, unrealised gains on Punggol, and assets still compounding. The home for good (Ulu Pandan Banks) is sorted. The retirement asset (the Continuum, freehold) is in place. Together they give me a permanent home I love and something that pays me in retirement.
Everything else, equities, options and business income, sits on top of that base and funds the life I want to live now.
Could we have bought landed? If we stretched, yes. But I've lived in landed before, for nearly a decade. Sylvia and I talked about it, and landed just isn't us. We're high-floor, big-view people. A good view does more for daily life than a garden and a driveway ever did. And landed maintenance never stops: a few thousand here, a few thousand there, every few months.
The theory is simple: minimise unnecessary outflow, let assets compound, and put capital into things that return more than a bigger house you don't need. Property is a powerful tool used with discipline and patience. But it's still one tool.
My own account of what I did with my own money. Not financial or property advice, and I don't take commission on anyone's purchase. HDB rules change: check the current ones with HDB before you decide anything.