S’pore woman, 23, buys Serangoon condo with money earned from business

A woman in Singapore has recently accomplished a feat that most 23-year-olds rarely come close to — buying a condominium.

Aimed to buy condo before turning 24

The woman, Min Chen, shared a video of how she became a homeowner on TikTok on Jul. 29, 2023.

She shared in her video that it all began with a goal in 2021 to buy her own condo before the age of 24.

Back then, she was 21 years old and had just graduated from polytechnic.

The clock was ticking for Min, who had less than three years to own a property.

The thing is that Min is no stranger to hustling.

Has own businesses

In one of her earliest TikTok videos, Min surprised her mother with a Louis Vuitton bag that she bought after saving up for a decade.

During that time, she juggled between school and work, and also ran a home-based bakery business, while pursuing her polytechnic diploma.

It appears that Min and her bakery business has not slowed down since that March 2022 TikTok video.

In her most recent TikTok video about buying a condo, she said: “Every day I worked really hard consistently for my business — regardless of how tired and stressed I was for financial freedom.”

Maximised time and savings

But that’s not all.

Min told Mothership that she also held multiple part-time jobs, on top of running her businesses.

For her, time is money.

“To maximise my savings and time, I never wasted an hour of my life.

I want to work as hard as I possibly can while I’m still young and strong because I always value doing something meaningful with my time.”

While Min’s guiding philosophy is to not spend more than 30 per cent of her earnings, she also scrimped and saved every penny she could.

This included giving up her social life by cutting back on social gatherings so that she would spend less money.

Sometimes she would even choose to walk up to one hour just so she could save on the dollar or so bus fare and invest it in her business.

“I always thought to myself this way — S$1 a day spent = S$7 a week, S$30 a month, S$365 a year. I was that extreme saving up😂”

Amassed nearly S$300,000 in three years

It also helped that she had a slight head start as she had started saving religiously since mid-2020 to prepare for “rainy days”.

It took her around three years to save between S$250,000 to S$300,000 from her part-time jobs and businesses before she decided that she was financially ready to afford a condo.

She put her name down and signed the papers on May 2023 and realised her dream of being a condo owner two months later in July 2023 when she collected her keys to her unit.

Rented it out

When asked which condo she bought, Min was coy and said she wanted to avoid more speculation.

Without going into too much details, she said her freehold condo is located in Serangoon.

Her unit is a 1+1 unit which means that it contains one living room, one master bedroom, another room and a balcony.

Min does not have pictures of the unit as she rented it out as soon as she got the keys.

On why she chose to rent it out instead of occupying it, she explained: “I have always believed in property investing, especially in Singapore, because of how scarce our land is.”

“Since Singapore’s property prices are always increasing, property investing is also a good way of generating passive income.”

While she did not state how much she is leasing out the unit for, she said it not only pays for her mortgage, property tax, as well as maintenance fee, but is still able to generate a “significant” profit.

On speculation

In response to a commenter, Min shared that her rent is “way higher than S$2,800/month”.

Reactions to Min’s TikTok video were largely positive and most commenters congratulated her on her achievement.

Perhaps due to her young age, a handful of individuals were suspicious of Min’s achievement and some suggested in the comments section that her parents helped to pay for the condo.

While Min chose not to respond to these commenters, she shared that she comes from an “average” background, where her father is the family’s sole breadwinner, and that she has been financially independent since a young age.

She said her parents were often looked down upon and this became her motivation to “do really well” for herself so that she can eventually support them and make them proud.

She advised others to not be afraid of hard work and failure.

“You know the saying ‘suffer now, enjoy later’? Consistency is so important. Always strive to be better than yesterday and work on being the best version of yourself.”

Watch Min’s video

@minxchen_ When I was 21, I made a goal to get my first property before I turn 24. Many times in between I doubted myself but I still stayed determine because I TRULYY believe in property investing. The biggest accomplishment from this is I didn’t need to borrow a single cent from anyone to live my dream. I worked hard and had the power to control my life. In the process, I met sooo many set backs applying for my house loan but my super hardworking agent David Goh from #propnex worked tirelessly (I havent met anyone as dedicated as him) to help me find the best bank to loan with and he found Ashley Tan from #uobprivilegebanking who truly made my experience a smooth sailing one. They are literally extraordinary 😭🙏🏻 Honestly so grateful for this experience – all of these wouldn’t have happened without them. To all self employed in SG, CPF contribution is sooo important to give us a head start 🏦 Lets keep working on becoming better than yesterday and be the best version of yourself!! #property #propertyinvesting #sgtiktok #smallbusinessowner #hustle ♬ Home – Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros

More on Min’s journey

Top image from@minxchen/TikTok