Buying into a lifestyle, is it worth it?

Buying into a lifestyle, is it worth it?

A lot of projects and estates alike are buying into the lifestyle now. From having projects with amazing facilities to creating interiors that give off the minimalistic luxurious vibes, all private projects now come with much better art direction, from the theme down to the facade and the inner workings of the unit itself.

There are of course homeowners, especially HDB homeowners who raised such a question with me, asking if it’s worth it.

“Worth it meh? I can take the money to renovate my HDB and make it look as good or even better than the condo”

“Condo so chor and so small now”

Today I would like to address some of these issues faced by homeowners.

Living bigger in a smaller space
We don’t like spaces? Especially in HDB flats when we can chunk things into the storeroom that goes unnoticed for years. The storeroom has become the infamous junkyard of the house when we ran out of space to squeeze stuff in. Unworn clothes that we subconsciously hoard, amongst other things that we can’t bear to let go.

With smaller spaces, we are forced to be more stoic and start behaving more objective. From clearing out things to contesting which items deserve a space in our high PSF home. And as funny as it sounds, it isn’t that bad of a chance to Marie Kondo our home (and lives) afterall.

Status
Face it. It’s the status, the title and the luxury of living in the condo that one always adores. The ultimate title of our SES flexes instead of the daily Instagram story of your $8 Starbucks which has become so saturated. Living in a private property gave you ownership of things like a swimming pool that you won’t use or a gym that you will never enter. But maybe one day right?

Or perhaps it’s also a great idea to invite your friends regularly for a Sunday swim or an evening workout. That’s a life hack to be in the social limelight itself…. At a cost of course.

Investment Potential
With most resale units, they have one reached the peak of their glory days and prices have stagnated. Imagine your grandparents who kept reminiscing the good old days. They are akin to the resale units that are well past their lease period and it is no wonder they are setting on such low quantum. Whereas on the other hand, the new kid in the block that flew around in skates irritating the member of the public while chatting loudly over their AirPods Pro would be the flamboyant new launch with so much more room to grow.

Even in regards to both of them, it doesn’t take much to guess which would make you more money. With the latter being so much more sought-after in the market.

It’s so much clearer when we humanise the property just so we could see the difference in age. But it is what it is with most properties. To even freehold projects which looked like they were falling apart.

Now, who won’t like the latest iPhone?

The Opportunity Cost
Adding on to what was bought up in our discussion earlier, a better investment instrument would also mean that they would give you much better returns. Each property has its own functions and there is definitely a price to buy when you are buying into something cheap, just that it’s not financial… now. But in the future definitely.

Now I’d like to ask you to take a moment to yourself and ask which stage of your life are you at? Do you see yourself staying for the long run? Or do you see yourself selling the property and using that appreciated price tag to give yourself more resources to elevate your life?

There’s definitely no right or wrong answer. But that’s something to seriously consider.

Lifestyle Lifestyle Lifestyle
You could have the best ID but you could never change your whole HDB flat. You’ll still have that unsightly stairway landing or you’ll always still have to walk through your neighbours’ invasive plants that don’t know their boundaries everyday. The familiar creak of the lift and the fading analog red lights could never change even despite the renovation.

This is where you don’t not judge a book by its cover applies. You could put a Ferrari engine into a Toyota (My apologies), but if you pull up right beside a full-on Ferrari, everyone (perhaps including yourself) would mistaken or believe the roar of the engine came from that Ferrari.

This is also why Disneyland spend tons of money to really recreate the whole space to immerse people into their narrative. And that’s how a private project would always be better than doing that.

At the end of the day, the lifestyle narrative definitely comes at a price tag, be it putting you in the social limelight or to be living in this elevated space yourself. You can never deny that there are some luxuries or poshness that some projects could really give, from its overall aesthetic right down to the facilities or its private lift.

Why look for ways to downplay your quality of life when you can look for ways to upscale your quality of life?

For the sake of yourself and your loved ones even, I’d learnt that the latter could just be the better option and the answer to living a happier and more fulfilling life.