In an ideal world, we can all sell our existing flat, take the sales proceeds, and move into a new Executive Condominium (EC).

But it's rarely as simple as that: besides the issue of financing and down payments, there's the simple fact that we still need a roof over our heads, while the EC is being built.

Here are some possible solutions if you are thinking of upgrading to an EC:

First, we need to take a look at some important financing issues

If you previously used a bank loan to buy your HDB flat, you can skip this section; you probably know most of this.

If you used an HDB Concessionary Loan to buy your flat however, read this first.

Back when you used an HDB loan, you were able to borrow up to 90 per cent of the flat's price or valuation (whichever is lower). The remaining 10 per cent could come from a combination of cash or