The Resale Room: Engaged? Your Fiancé's HDB Could Cost You

Hey! I'd love to hear your thoughts, send me a voice note.A single buyer walked in ready to purchase private. Profile fits, budget's there, the deal looks clean. Then one question changed everything: are you engaged? Turns out her fiancé has an HDB that hasn't cleared MOP — and now they can't keep both. The problem was never the product. It was the package around it.In this episode of The Resale Room, Harvey Chia is joined by co-hosts Teng Tan and Viv Yeow to unpack the property pitfalls that catch out buyers and sellers who don't know what they don't know. Not hypotheticals — real cases from the team's own recent deals.The panel works through the traps that hide in plain sight: the engaged buyer who has to give up one home or the other, the unapproved staircase that stalled a deal at inspection, and the road line reserve that quietly eats into a landed home's value. Harvey breaks down why he still bought a house with a road line in front — and how working the numbers backwards made it good value anyway. Teng shares how the 15-month wait-out rule collided with a client's Malaysia property to sink an HDB purchase. And the team gets into why HDB asks so many questions while private buyers get no checklist at all.The throughline: most people only ask whether a property will make money. They forget that getting to that decision carries a stack of rules, timelines and consequences they've never had to think about. What you don't know rarely stops the deal outright — it just makes it painful. The fix is having someone in your corner who's seen enough case studies to spot the pitfall before you're standing in it.This isn't a podcast of knowledge. It's a podcast of deal-making.Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests. The discussion is intended for informational and entertainment purposes only. While the insights shared are based on personal perspectives and experiences, they should not be taken as professional or financial advice.A team from SRI Pte LtdAgency Registration Number: L3010738A