This article is part of a series that shares my journey to becoming a homeowner for the first time and will be among the final posting of the series.

If you regularly follow up on HDB renovation articles on Facebook and other websites, you wmay come across the costing as well. It is known that the overall cost of just renovations and furnishings less furniture and appliances could easily hit SGD 50,000 or more (even more if you are going to hack walls and do more exotic work!).

Readers of my blog may know through my posts that I bought and live in a resale flat. We were very fortunate to come across a unit that is kept in good condition. This saved us a lot on cost as it meant no hacking work and no spending on tiles. Additionally, my wife and I opted to keep the home simple and cosy....