By RACHEL CHAN

ONCE the Boyfriend announced his intention to buy our nuptial home in a Design, Build and Sell Scheme (DBSS) development, admonishments from friends started pouring in.

Why not buy a large Build-To-Order flat on the cheap instead, a friend said.

So what if it's located nearer to a military training ground than an MRT station? The flat will be so much cheaper, you can buy a car with the difference in prices, the well-meaning buddy reasoned.

Of course, the reasoning completely ignored the fact that you can't buy a car with Central Provident Fund (CPF) savings.

When we pointed out that we wanted to live within 2km of my future in-laws, who happen to live in a central - read, pricier - precinct, another friend suggested purchasing a resale flat in a nearby, albeit mature, estate.

Never mind that no amount of refurbishing would make up for the wear-and-tear it has weathered for the past two decades, or how one would end up coughing up over $500,000 for the flat, after factoring in renovation costs.

The DBSS apartments are fully fitted, we argued, and we could get a four-room flat with our budget.

Sure, but how about getting a private apartment instead, given the huge amount you would be paying for the DBSS flat, suggested a helpful friend, who managed to buy an old condominium apartment in a relatively central area for less than $500,000.

'Cheap' condominium apartments? Don't even get me started on the interest rate banks charge on a housing loan.

So, eventually, the Boyfriend and I decided that conventional wisdom had to be forsaken in the interest of comfort.

We appreciated our friends' good intentions, which were based on the views of property experts, but the money was ours and, heck, we'd be the ones living in debt after getting the flat.

So, three weeks ago, after thinking it through for an entire night, we sealed the deal to purchase a three-room flat in the DBSS development for the sum of $394,100.

You can call us swimmers against the tide.

Yes, our definition of comfort meant being able to put aside an adequate monthly sum of money without depriving our future children of tertiary education.

But we also wanted it to mean living in a mature estate eight minutes away from Orchard Road by train, or somewhere with a similar travel time by car to his parents' home - even if our apartment was small.

I'd hardly call the 70 sq m HDB flat a dream home, but the fact that my new place is a mere five minutes' walk from the office is a dream come true.

Not having to haemorrhage our CPF savings meant we could sleep soundly in the next few decades.

Hopefully, after the pre-requisite five years of residing in our nuptial home, we would be able to sell or rent it out and move in with my future in-laws, who would like nothing better than to live with us in a large semi-detached house.

Now, that would be very, very comfortable.

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