ST : 30 years and counting

Mar 6, 2010

30 years and counting

Location, amenities and friends are the reasons these home owners, who have lived in their flats for more than three decades, are staying put

By tay suan chiang

The HDB resale market is hot but for some home owners, selling off their homes for a quick buck is not on their minds.

Among them is sales executive Claudia Woo, 31, who has lived in the same three-room HDB flat all her life. She lives with her retiree father, her assistant teacher mother and her brother, who is a civil servant.

The Woos bought their flat in Henderson Road for slightly more than $13,000 in 1974. Today, the flat is worth about $310,000. Despite this, the family has no plans to move.

'This area has great amenities - we have two wet markets, and both Redhill and Tiong Bahru MRT stations are nearby,' says Ms Woo. 'Getting to town is also easy, so we have no plans to shift.'

An HDB study showed that nearly one in 10 flats transacted last year involved homes that were owned for less than three years. In 2006, these accounted for only 6 per cent of all transactions.

Last month, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong urged Singaporeans to treasure their homes and not use them as an easy means to make a quick buck or settle a debt.

Speaking at a Chinese New Year dinner, he said: 'Property is for people to buy to live in, not for speculating.' He also added that home owners can pass their flats on to their children.

Housewife Tan Lee Lee, 65, plans to do just that. She moved into her four-room Ang Mo Kio flat 25 years ago. Her youngest son, Bryan, 33, is still single. 'I won't sell the flat so I can give it to him eventually,' she says.

Life! meets four home owners, who each have been living in the same flat for more than 30 years, and finds out why they have no plans to move out.

taysc@sph.com.sg

Hip Holland Village is her 'kampung'

Who: Madam S.H. Khoo

Age: 63

Occupation: Retiree

Lives in: Four-room HDB flat in Holland Drive

Bought it for: $15,500 in 1974

Now it is worth: $440,000

Length of stay: 36 years

It is just a stone's throw away from the hip and happening Holland Village, but for Madam Khoo, home feels 'like a kampung'.

The divorced retiree lives with her son-in-law's aunt in a four-room HDB flat in Holland Drive.

'Most of the neighbours have been living here for more than three decades, and we all know and look out for one another. I don't want to move because I like the kampung feel of the area,' says Madam Khoo.

'If I had to move, I would miss my neighbours most.'

She had previously been living in a three-room flat in Tanglin Halt and moved to Holland Drive in 1974 when she needed more room.

Her two grown-up children moved out when they got married.

Despite spending more than 30 years here, Madam Khoo is still staying put.

'The area is quiet. You can hear the birds chirping in the evening and it is very accessible,' she says.

Her flat was upgraded in the late 1990s and she got a bigger kitchen.

It takes her 15 minutes to walk to the nearby Bouna Vista MRT station and it takes about 30 minutes by bus to Orchard Road.

Her grandchildren who live in Holland Road are a five-minute cab ride away.

She adds that shopping for groceriesis also a breeze as there is a wet market nearby, and supermarkets FairPriceand Cold Storage are both within walking distance.

The area used to have a cinema that has since made way for a shopping mall. Holland Village has also become noisier at night, but Madam Khoo does not mind.

'I've grown to love this place and can even walk around it with my eyes closed,' she says. 'I'm definitely not selling my home for now.'


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'I've grown to love this place and can even walk around it with my eyes closed'

Madam Khoo who has lived in her Holland Drive flat for 36 years


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Kitchen big enough for 16 people

Name: Madam Ger Hui Luan and Mr Koh Min Chai

Ages: 70 and 76

Occupation: Housewife and general worker

Live in: A three-room HDB flat in Ang Mo Kio Avenue 10

Bought it for: $17,000 in 1979

Now it is worth: $290,000

Length of stay: 31 years

For the Koh family, the annual reunion dinner on the eve of Chinese New Year is a rowdy affair. About 16 adults and children squeeze around a dining table in the kitchen, enjoying a steamboat meal.

'It can be a tight squeeze but we all enjoy it,' says Madam Ger. 'My kitchen is big enough for all of us. If I moved into one of the newer flats, we wouldn't be able to do this.'

The family moved into the flat in 1979 from a one-room unit in Aljunied. 'It became too small as we have four children,' says Madam Ger. Their three-room apartment in Ang Mo Kio provided the family with much needed space.

Today, the couple's three married sons have moved out. Their only daughter still lives with them. The couple, who have been married since 1956, use one bedroom, while daughter Guek Liang takes the other.

'When I was taking care of my grandchildren a few years ago, Guek Liang's bedroom was big enough to fit six of them,' says Madam Ger. 'Nowadays, bedrooms are so small.'

It is not just because of the spacious flat that the Kohs have no plans to move out.

'This area is very convenient,' says Madam Ger, who heads across the road to the wet market on alternate days to shop for groceries. The avid cook whips up dinner every night.

There is a bus stop at the foot of the block with direct buses to Ang Mo Kio Interchange, Bedok and Chinatown.

From her airy living room, Madam Ger can see Bishan in the distance.

What used to be grassland in front of her block is now an industrial park, with low-rise flatted factories, but she does not mind.

'There is no noise or fumes, and the factories don't block my view,' she says.

Her neighbours on the same floor are also long-time residents. 'Only two families have moved out.'

She says that 'some residents in this block moved out and ended up moving back here again, because they miss the area'. She adds: 'There is really no need for us to move.'


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'Some residents in this block moved out and ended up moving back here again because they miss the area'

Madam Ger, who has been living in her Ang Mo Kio flat for 31 years


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Their flat has a sea view

Name: Madam Chan Ah Loi and MrTok Kin Guan

Ages: 68 and 67

Occupations: Housewife and general worker

Live in: A three-room HDB flat in Clementi West Street 1

Bought it for: $17,300 in 1979

Now it is worth: $270,000

Length of stay: 31 years

Madam Chan and Mr Tok are certainly doting parents: When their children wanted a home with a view of the sea, they obliged and the family moved into a three-room flat in West Coast with a sea view.

Previously, they lived in a one-room flat in Bukit Merah.

'We moved also because there wasn't enough space in that small flat for three growing children,' says Madam Chan.

Mr Tok adds that 'this location is ideal as there are schools nearby, so the kids did not have to travel too far to study'.

Two children have married and moved out. Their eldest daughter, who is single, lives with them.

Besides the availability of schools nearby, the couple are staying put because of the area's amenities.

West Coast Park and Clementi Woods, which are within walking distance of their home, have proven to be popular with the couple, especially Madam Chan who heads to Clementi Woods for daily walks.

She also goes to the wet market across the road every day to buy groceries and to chat with her neighbours at the hawker centre. If she needs some cool respite, sheheads for West Coast Plaza mall just next door to 'enjoy the air-conditioning'.

Her only complaint about the location is that there is no MRT station nearby. The nearest, Clementi, is a five-minute bus ride away.

There are direct buses to Chinatown, Orchard, Bugis and Bedok, which the couple find useful.

As for that sea view, it became partially blocked when in 1993, a residential block on top of what is now West Coast Plaza was built. 'Now we can see only some parts of the sea,' she says.

Still, the couple have no plans to move. 'I find it troublesome to get settled into a new area. I'll have to make new friends again,' she says.

Her immediate neighbours are also long-time residents. Only one family has moved out.

She is hoping that eventually 'one of my children can live next door'. But it does not look like that will happen any time soon.

'We are so comfortable here that no one wants to move,' she says with a laugh.


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'Now we can see only some parts of the sea'

Madam Chan on how her view from her West Coast flat has been affected by a residential block that was built in 1993


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Her first and only home

Name: Kervis Ho

Age: 39

Occupation: Administrative executive

Lives in: A three-room HDB flat in Toa Payoh

Bought it for: $7,000 in 1969

Now it is worth: $320,000

Length of stay: 39 years

For Ms Ho, home has been this three-room flat in Toa Payoh since the day she was born.

In her childhood days, her mother, together with seven children, would sleep in one bedroom. Her late father had the other bedroom.

'It was indeed a squeeze,' recalls Ms Ho, the youngest in the family. The family lived in rental flats around Singapore before moving here.

Since 2004, she has been living on her own. Some of her siblings moved out when they got married. Her divorced mother lives with another single brother in Kallang Bahru. Her father, before he died, transferred the flat's title deed to her.

Though she finds the kitchen and toilet too small, she likes the flat's location as it is opposite Toa Payoh Central. 'Sometimes I cycle to FairPrice supermarket across the road or exercise at the nearby sports complex.'

Getting to town is easy, too. It is about 15 minutes by car. She can also take direct buses or the MRT.

About half of the neighbours in the same block arelong-time residents. 'They're mostly aunties and uncles,' says Ms Ho. 'We've known one another for a long time.'

Once, she left her keys in the door and went out. Her neighbour called her about it. 'She kept the keys for me for the day. We trust each other,' she says.

The flat was upgraded in 2003, when an extra room was added at the back of the apartment. But it was the renovation that MsHo had done in 2004 that she is most proud of.

Gone are the old cement flooring and messy cables. For $10,000, she put in new tiled flooring and gave the flat a fresh coat of paint. 'You can't tell that this is a 41-year-old flat,' she says.


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'In the future, I may pass it on to my nieces and nephews'

Ms Kervis Ho on her plan for the flat, which was given to her by her late father