Are you thinking of having another side income other than your main income? Are you thinking of having another property other than the one that you already own? Are you thinking of having another property to help you earn your side income? Are you thinking of being an investor in Singapore’s property field? If your answer to all four questions above is a ‘yes’, then you will have to know the proper numbers and costs it takes to become a property investor in Singapore. With the booming of Singapore properties scene, you have to be sure that you are capable and have sufficient capitals before you jump into the property investor bandwagon.

Singapore property is usually regarded as the jewel in the Singapore property field, therefore, if you are capable of affording property in Singapore, it is definitely an investment worth invest in. Before you can start preparing to be an investor in the Singapore Property field, you will need to know exactly on what sort of property market that you are entering, because the value to invest in property varies across different type of properties. It is a long term financial security, a little extra cash flow or return on capital you may grow from being a property investor. There are many articles on how to become a property investor, are you ready to be a property investor,    what you should know about real estate valuation before you start being a property investor.

It is essenstial to for property buyers to always leave themselves with plenty of room for unknown costs of changes in the property market. To become a property investor, you will be required to prepare for the following 8 things, no matter what type of the type of property that you want to invest in: (1) down payment, (2) BSD and ABSD, (3) initial renovation costs, (4) emergency renovation fund, (5) agent fees, (6) insurance, (7) mortgage repayment and fund, and lastly (8) tax fees and maintenance fees.

First of all, down payment. The Loan to Value also known as LTV, is greatly dependent on the number of home loans you have loaned before and not the total number of houses or homes that you have. It is important to know that the maximum LTV ratio for a second housing loan that has a tenure of 30 years or less is 50%. As for the 50% that is left remaining, minimum of 25% of the payment have to be done in terms of cash. The remaining will then be paid from your SPF Ordinary Account (CPF OA). Then, for the third and subsequent loan, the maximum LTV is reduced to 40%.

For example, the lowest down payment for a shoebox sized unit that is priced at $750,000 is $375,000. From the $375,000, the amount of $187,500 must be paid in terms of cash. The remaining can be remunerate via CPF OA or a merging of cash and CPF OA. As for a normal $1.2 million condominium, the lowest down payment will then be $600,000 where $300,000 has to be paid in cash. A $5.5 million luxury condominium will have the lowest down payment at $2.75 million where minimum amount need to be paid in cash is $1.375 million. Not forgetting additional fees for conveyancing which would cost approximately $2,200. Another thing that you should not miss out on is the role of your guarantor. Starting from 2013, guarantors must be listed as co-owners if you are using a guarantor.

Secondly, Basic Stamp Duty (BSD) and ABSD. No matter whether you are a citizen of Singapore, buyers will need to pay SBSD on properties past the first property you own. 7% of ABSD has to be paid on the second property and 10% on the third property whereas for Singaporean permanent residents, they will have to pay 10% of ABSD past their first property. To further understand on how BSD is calculated, buyers can visit the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS) to find out more.

Thirdly, initial renovation costs. Most initial renovation costs are in the range of $30,000 as most of the loans for renovations are limited at $30,000, if not, your income of 6 months. Nonetheless, we will add in another 20% of the limited $30.000 for the initial renovation costs as most renovations plus subsequent furnishing are bound to go beyond the budget of $30,000.. Therefore, we will have the initial renovation costs of shoebox units and condominium units to be approximately $36,000.

Now, here comes the question. You will now wonder why does the initial renovation costs of a shoebox unit with 500 square feet or lesser costs around the same price as a condominium unit of, say 1,400 square feet? This is because shoebox units have a more complicated design and feature that is needed to make them stand out and appeal to buyers. For example, most shoebox units have a walk-in wardrobe despite the small built up area, as to catch the attention of tenants, which will then help the property investors to increase their possible rental incomes. As for luxury condominium units, renovation costs fees can go up to approximately $100,000 or more in terms of renovation and furnishing.

Next, emergency renovation fund. Do not underestimate the importance of emergency renovation fund as you will never know when do problems arise. Always have an emergency renovation fund of approximately $10,00 just in case one day you have to repair damages in your house such as air conditioners that is spoiled, kitchen damage, broken lock or windows and et cetera. To further minimize the cost, be sure to not take out unaffordable loans just to fix on these damages.

Not to forget, agent fee is one of the items that you should not forget. If you were to engage with property agent to look for tenant, you will then need to draw up to pay a sum of rent worth a month for fixing a tenant with 2 years lease. Also, take into account the tasks that the agent will be handling, such as negotiations and paper work. Let us say if you were to find tenants by yourself, it is only recommended to do so when you want to find the subsequent potential tenant, after you have observed the way the property agents market the property, negotiate and persuade potential tenants and dealing with paperwork.

In addition, home insurance should not be forgotten as well. Remember this, basic fire insurance is not enough. Think of the costs that you will have to bear if your tenant destroy your house. A basic fire insurance does not cover third party damage so do consider getting a more complete home insurance that covers personal accident insurance as one of the packages. This would cost approximately $240 per year.

Moreover, mortgage repayments and fund. A mortgage fund is a fund for mortgage repayment over a period of 6 months and it is held in for emergencies. Let us say if something were to go wrong, such as retrenchment, the mortgage fund will ensure you to have greater holding power that allows you to have a longer waiting time to sell your property for a better price or to hunt for another new job in order to stay away from selling them altogether.

Lastly, maintenance and tax fees. When it comes to maintenance fees, we estimate the maintenance fees for a shoebox unit to be approximately $200 per month and $300 per month for a condominium unit. As for luxury condominium unit, maintenance fees will be around $450 that is charged by the management committee, for costs such as the cleaning of swimming pool, gymnasium and repainting buildings. You should be prepared to pay all these additional costs. Whereas, property taxes are solely based on the Annual Value of the property, which can also be understood as the rental income per year from your property.  Annual Value is the estimated gross rental income of the property per year, for example,  if your rental income is $2,000, the Annual Value will then be $24,000. Do check out IRAS to find out more on tax fees.

In conclusion, an investment with a shoebox unit will require an initial sum of approximately $505,918, inclusive of CPF usage and first agent’s commission. Monthly cost will then costs approximately $2,083, including the taxes, insurance, maintenance fees and et cetera. Whereas for a condominium unit, the initial sum will cost approximately $781,510 with monthly cost around $3,241. As for a luxury condominium, you will definitely need a larger initial sum, which is approximately $2,1 million with month cost of approximately $14,366. Do bear in mind that not all investments in Singapore property field share the same amount or value as they can differ across one another depending on the types of units that you plan to invest.