I am finally of age, the magical age of 21!

I have freedom, I can do what I like.... oh who am I kidding. I turned 35 last week and I can finally do something I've been wanting to do for ages.

I can actually buy a HDB flat.

By myself.

I dont have to be engaged or married. Neither do I have to share it with family members.

It will be mine, ALL MINE!

The only problem is, I dont actually know where to start.

Being a single buyer, it means I have to buy a resale flat.

But what kind of flat do I want to buy - a 3, 4 or even a 5 room flat?

Which areas do I like? Ang Mo Kio, Bishan, Toa Payoh? Hmm, reality check, 3 room flats in Toa Payoh already cost over S$300,000 - can I really afford these areas?

And what can I afford?

How much cash do I need to cough up to HDB and the owner of the flat? And what's all this about cash-over-evaluation - whatever that means? What if the owners ask me for a ridiculous sum of cash upfront? I mean, there are suckers out there paying over half a million dollars for a HBD flat. What hope is there for a poorly paid person like me with hardly any savings to afford anything out there in the resale market?

And when do I buy the flat?

HDB has ridiculous rules about not allowing people to rent out the whole flat if the owner owns the flat for less than 5 years.

The BF doesnt want to live in a HDB flat - and well, to be honest neither do I. We're very comfy in our rented condo. And I may move overseas at the end of next year.

So what do I do? Do I buy a flat just before moving overseas, so that the furniture in the current rented condo can be moved to the HDB flat? Which means I can rent out a fully-furnished HDB flat, which in turn means getting more money?

Or do I buy a flat in January 09, keep one-door locked (in keeping with HDB's dumb policy) and then rent out only rooms to tenants? Which means my target tenants are riff-raff or worse, students, who can only afford to rent rooms, rather than whole flats.

Sigh.

Why is it that HDB has come up with so many rules and regulations for something that we've paid for with our sweat, blood and tears?

HDB will probably answer - oh because your flats are subsidised.

Paying S$300,000 for a flat? What kind of subsidy is that?

Oh, but we're giving first-time buyers a $11,000 subsidy, they might say.

A meagre amount, with a very long string attached.

Double sigh.

I should seriously think about leaving Singapore - for good! Renounce my citizenship just so that I can get my CPF money, and with that, find a home for myself elsewhere!

And the Government wonders why so many Singaporeans are dissatisfied and want to leave -or be a "quitter", to quote one Singapore Leader.

Enough moaning and bitching, back to scanning the classified ads.

:-(