Following my last post regarding renovation tips, I got a few enquiries on the comparison between interior designers and contractors. Most people would be more familiar with ID because they have showrooms or are located at shopping malls for walk in enquiries. For contractors, it's always word-of-mouth because they don't publicise their services to end customers and mostly do projects for businesses and even IDs.

To get everyone more familiar with both terms, I am listing the differences here.

I have not blogged much about renovation and wedding preparations mainly because I started this blog after I was married. So there is a big chunk of information missing and I would like to catch up on that. This post comes because many of my friends kept asking me these questions and so, I think sharing this will benefit more people in time to come.

I really did paint my own house

There has been many articles on this discussion and I have been researching on it time after time. Each time I wanted to be convinced to change but I was not. So I spent some time organising my thought process and would like to share them with you here.

I had a chat with a friend recently and I brought up the usual tease question that is always directed at him. “So when are you going to buy a condo?” His usual response was to give a shrug, tell people he was waiting for the right moment and share some details of condos he has scouted. His reply this time however, surprised me. In his matter-of-factly tone, he said he is not going to buy one.

A few months ago, I came across a good piece of software that helps people to see and understand data. I actually tried it out using publicly available data and the resale prices released by HDB quarterly seems like a good data to analyze. As it turned out, my output wasn't too shabby and I think it might be useful to some readers out there.

I call it a HDB resale price checker as it allows you to select your town (or estate) that you're living in and view

1. 2015 1H Stats - The latest figures, namely number of units sold and average resale price for 1st half of year 2015.

2. Historical trends since 2011 - The trend of the above two figures since year 2011. Note that the number of units in 2015 accounts for 1H figures only.

Use the selection panel on the left to start. Remember that you can select multiple towns, check which type of HDB you're looking at and adjust the time period you wish the trend to reflect. Have fun!

I have lost count of the number of times I have been told that Singaporeans who already own a HDB flat cannot buy another private property. I actually believed it until someone knowledgeable enlightened me.

Being an aspiring HDB cum private property (or properties!) owner, getting the facts right on this subject is important. If a HDB owner can purchase another private property, what are the prerequisites and restrictions? After researching the truths online via official sources, I realised there are 3 major misconceptions which I hope I can provide some insights to.