I'm enticed by Mickey Mouse flat race
By Sylvia Toh Paik Choo
IN THE real Chinatown of old, multiple families lived elbow-to-elbow in cubicled quarters upstairs of shophouses.
A family of nine, parents and seven children, would hunker down in cramped spaces the size of your maid's room today.
Cockroaches and mice were part of the decor. All the tenants shared one bathroom and toilet in the 'kungsi fong'(communal housing).
Those living conditions were by circumstance, never choice.
So the recent news about under-300 sq ft apartment dwellings selling like hot kueh did add a furrow to my already raised eyebrow.
To want to go from mice-infested to Mickey Mouse flats (as they have been dubbed). Nostalgia for a long lost past? (Won't the mice be hunchbacked?)
Or is this lately considered another form of upgrading?
Investment, not liveability, a savvy wag informed me.
But why invest in a home that may be bigger than a breadbox but smaller than a broom closet?
As the friend said, it is not for you to move in, but to let out.
Bingo, inclusiveness!
I too, the small man, can become a property owner (no matter the size, I'm not sleeping there). Location!
Value! Wait up, you crazy property race you, I want to join!
Ah-so, suddenly visions of Japan-style living, I began to see the light of the rising profitable sun.
Each in his very own personal locker, to retire to at the end of a long hard day.
Roof-in-transit
Say, buy a clutch then, and rent them out to expats and long-stays, they'll pay a wad of dollars for the roof-in-transit.
A friend of a friend has done exactly that, put down one and a half million for a coop in a very good area and is now collecting $3,000 a month from a transient.
Everybody's happy - the flat owner, the tenant, the tenant's company (cheaper than hotel bill). Everybody, I expect, but the serviced apartment people.
Most of us have moved on, from bunk beds in shared rooms to our own individual space.
Surely living in a mini-flat (named for Minnie Mouse) will rear problems of its own, like the sensation of having the walls close in on you'
I remember when I received the keys to my four-room HDB flat, took one look at the shape and floor acreage of the bedroom, and went right out and bought two palm trees.
Tearing down one wall, I could then string a hammock between the trees for a bed.
Compared to Mickey Mouse habitability, my humble abode is three times bigger. Difference is, the 30-sq-m man's lot is private and may come with amenities of pool and gym and barbecue pit.
Unless of course those are also dwarf-sized.
This article was first published in The New Paper.
By Sylvia Toh Paik Choo
IN THE real Chinatown of old, multiple families lived elbow-to-elbow in cubicled quarters upstairs of shophouses.
A family of nine, parents and seven children, would hunker down in cramped spaces the size of your maid's room today.
Cockroaches and mice were part of the decor. All the tenants shared one bathroom and toilet in the 'kungsi fong'(communal housing).
Those living conditions were by circumstance, never choice.
So the recent news about under-300 sq ft apartment dwellings selling like hot kueh did add a furrow to my already raised eyebrow.
To want to go from mice-infested to Mickey Mouse flats (as they have been dubbed). Nostalgia for a long lost past? (Won't the mice be hunchbacked?)
Or is this lately considered another form of upgrading?
Investment, not liveability, a savvy wag informed me.
But why invest in a home that may be bigger than a breadbox but smaller than a broom closet?
As the friend said, it is not for you to move in, but to let out.
Bingo, inclusiveness!
I too, the small man, can become a property owner (no matter the size, I'm not sleeping there). Location!
Value! Wait up, you crazy property race you, I want to join!
Ah-so, suddenly visions of Japan-style living, I began to see the light of the rising profitable sun.
Each in his very own personal locker, to retire to at the end of a long hard day.
Roof-in-transit
Say, buy a clutch then, and rent them out to expats and long-stays, they'll pay a wad of dollars for the roof-in-transit.
A friend of a friend has done exactly that, put down one and a half million for a coop in a very good area and is now collecting $3,000 a month from a transient.
Everybody's happy - the flat owner, the tenant, the tenant's company (cheaper than hotel bill). Everybody, I expect, but the serviced apartment people.
Most of us have moved on, from bunk beds in shared rooms to our own individual space.
Surely living in a mini-flat (named for Minnie Mouse) will rear problems of its own, like the sensation of having the walls close in on you'
I remember when I received the keys to my four-room HDB flat, took one look at the shape and floor acreage of the bedroom, and went right out and bought two palm trees.
Tearing down one wall, I could then string a hammock between the trees for a bed.
Compared to Mickey Mouse habitability, my humble abode is three times bigger. Difference is, the 30-sq-m man's lot is private and may come with amenities of pool and gym and barbecue pit.
Unless of course those are also dwarf-sized.
This article was first published in The New Paper.
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