| SHE does not mind working seven days a week just so she can call herself a property investor. Mrs Ho, who lives in a four-room HDB flat in Potong Pasir, works as an accounts executive but come weekends, she doubles up as a ticket seller at the Singapore Turf Club. In all, she makes barely $3,000 a month, while her husband, who is a civil servant, earns about $4,500 a month. Yet the couple could save enough to buy not one, but two condominium apartments.  | | --Joyce Lim | They are both for investment. Together, the two apartments are valued at more than $1 million. While the couple could borrow from banks and use their CPF savings to finance the purchase, it's still a case of 'buy first, think later'. Mrs Ho, 49, who has two children aged 23 and 9, admitted that she has not thought about other expenses that they will have to foot, such as the property tax and maintenance fees for the two condos. She reckoned that her family may have to 'struggle a bit' if the property market goes downwards. Fortunately, as both condominiums are still being built, she does not need to pay any monthly instalment now. And like other investors, she hopes to take advantage of the booming property market and cash out on her investment. If she can't sell, she plans to rent them out. Mrs Ho first invested in a studio apartment at City Square Residences at Kitchener Link last May. She and her husband paid $424,610 for the 53 sq m freehold property. Today, her apartment can easily fetch more than $460,000. The last transaction for a studio apartment at City Square Residences, completed in April, was $459,000. Mrs Ho was initially apprehensive about buying a big apartment. So she bought the smallest one at City Square Residences. She said: 'I was scared. It's such a huge investment after all and it was our hard-earned money. 'My husband and I have been working for so long, so naturally, we have substantial CPF savings. 'We feel that it's safer to invest in properties than shares. We don't know much about shares.' Mrs Ho is no expert in properties either. But her self-imposed guideline is that she would invest in only freehold projects. 'After I bought my first condo, I started reading the property news. And when the Government announced the future integrated resorts, my husband and I thought, 'Why not invest in another apartment?' And a bigger one this time.' So in May this year, the couple put a 20 per cent down payment on a 95 sq m apartment at Intero at Potong Pasir. When the Leicester Road freehold condo was launched, the developer was selling the 48 units at about $620 psf each on average. It has 44 three-bedroom units priced from $639,000, and four penthouses starting from $914,000. Mrs Ho paid $678,000 for her three-bedroom unit. 'I like Intero because it is near my flat. And since it is a three-plus-one-bedroom apartment, I have the option of moving into it.' PLANNED CAREFULLY She said she and her husband planned their second condo purchase carefully. 'Our HDB flat is fully paid for and we are debt-free. 'If there's ever going to be a sudden property slump, we will sell our condos and continue living in our flat,' said Mrs Ho, who paid $77,000 for their flat more than 20 years ago. Their flat is currently valued at about $270,000. She added: 'My elder son is 23 and he has started working. If my husband and I can't manage the loan repayments, my son can also help to pay for them. 'Our plan is to let out our apartment at City Square Residences. 'We won't sell unless profit's good, like $100,000.'
CASH-OR CPF-RICH THEY are called 'specuvestors' because they are half-speculators, half-investors. Mr Michael Lee from Ivy Lee Realty said this new buzzword is used to describe those who have the means to hold on and wait for the right sales price because they are cash- or CPF savings-rich. Gone are the low-cash risk-takers, observed property agent Dennis Leong. 'Specuvestors' are usually in their late 40s and 50s.
DO YOUR SUMS OR YOU MAY GO BUST JUST five years ago, Mr Tan, who declined to give his full name, paid close to $1 million for his freehold three-bedroom apartment in the east. Today, he is lucky if someone wants to pay $700,000 for it. Despite the current optimism in the property market, not all home investors are rejoicing because, like Mr Tan, the value of their investments is still in the negative terrority. So property consultants advise potential buyers to do their sums carefully before they jump in. For instance, they should check whether they have sufficient cash or funds in their CPF to keep up with the instalments, should the banks suddenly increase their rates due to changes to the economy. Mr David Cheang from HSR Property Consultant said: 'I had seen clients who went bust and had to declare themselves bankrupt because they couldn't service housing loans.' 'They suffered more than 30 per cent in loses. During the last property boom, many buyers jumped onto the bandwagon without doing their calculations carefully. 'They'd believed that they would definitely profit from their properties.' | 
