I grew up thinking that investing in properties is the best thing since sliced bread. I had a front row seat to the drama unfolding. My parents, both civil servants, sold their first HDB flat for four times the original purchase price after ten years. They upgraded to a condominium which also doubled in value. They were beneficiaries of the asset enhancement system and firm believers that one can never go wrong owning properties. Singapore is land scarce, my mom would say. We only have so much land and there is only so many more houses we can build. Besides, many of the richest people in Singapore invest in properties anyway. If they are doing it to get rich, why not us? While it is true that appreciating asset prices has enabled many Singaporeans to upgrade their social economic status, there are also many who have gotten side-tracked in their investment journey when they bought the wrong property. And to say that the...