By Jessica Cheam

The wait lasted nearly half a year.

Since I exercised the option to buy my first new home some time last August, I had eagerly awaited the day I could move in, pop open a bottle of champagne and bask in the smell of my freshly painted walls.

That day finally arrived just in time for New Year's Day - the beginning of a whole new decade - and I was understandably excited.

But just before and after The Big Move, I was besieged by a phenomenon I had never thought about: post-purchase cognitive dissonance (PPCD).

I'm not making it up, really. Cognitive dissonance is defined as a condition of conflict or anxiety resulting from one's actions. And PPCD is when, after buying something, you feel that an alternative would have been preferable.

In fact, you go through a rationalisation process in your head, questioning all the factors that made you decide to buy the said thing, and wonder if it was all one big mistake.

You see, in my quest for a spacious, affordable home somewhere in the suburbs, I had bought a 99-year leasehold apartment.

I surprised myself because I have traditionally been on the side of freehold property in the freehold versus leasehold debate.

I know the typical arguments for both sides of the case but I never gave it much thought till I became a home buyer and the cold, hard, facts were staring me in the face.

I had started off looking at freehold properties but, when it came down to dollars and cents, I realised that the difference between a freehold and leasehold apartment of the size I wanted was more than $150,000 and it made a big difference.

I took the plunge.

Today, my 1,650 sq ft property has 85 years left on its lease. After spending every penny my other half and I had on renovations and furnishings, we were thrilled the day we moved in.

Everything was gleaming and it felt good that we owned everything we saw.

But this lasted only a few days.

Acutely aware of the new depths my bank accounts had plunged to, I was overcome by an attack of PPCD during lunch with my mother one day while shopping for cutlery.

Mum, I asked, did I make a bad move sinking all my money into a property that will take me 30 years to pay off? And at the end of 99 years, would be worth absolutely nothing?

Also, given the price I'd paid for the property, is it likely that I could even break even on costs if I wanted to sell my apartment a few years later?

I was panicking, and convinced that nobody would buy my apartment when I want to sell it. I would incur a huge loss on it - something I wouldn't be able to live down as a property reporter.

In an attempt to alleviate the symptoms of my PPCD, I spoke to some property analysts for an objective assessment of my choice to invest in a leasehold home.

This is the list of factors to consider that I eventually came up with:

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