With me openly sharing my overseas property journey or any sort of real estate advice, I am the most uncomfortable about sacrificing my privacy to deliver more transparency to our readers. I love my privacy, that is beyond a doubt. But I also want to share useful information so that keen Singaporeans can make sense of my journey, avoid my mistakes, and also get a reality check that it’s not rainbows and roses on the other side of the grass patch. Many overseas property columns like to oversimplify the amount of steps required to be successful in your property purchase. Usually, they claim the path is something like this:

1. Check your affordability
2. Look at homes
3. Make an offer
4. Get a bank loan
5. Pay and sign the final paperwork
6. Congrats, you’re an overseas homeowner

And quite often, these articles claim that you can do so from the comfort of your home, without needing to fly thousands of miles and...