Licensed Real Estate Salesperson · Huttons Asia Pte Ltd · Singapore
Practical insights for homeowners, upgraders and property investors — without the usual property-agent fluff.
Madison Heng — I work mostly with households deciding whether to move, and what it would actually cost them.
Updated for 2026Based on publicly available Singapore property data
Start here
Almost every question I get is a version of one of these. Both are about working the money out before you start viewing anything.
The same question whether you own an HDB flat, an EC or a condo. It depends on your cash position, financing capacity, CPF usage and ABSD exposure — and whether you could genuinely carry both properties if the sale took longer than expected.
The loan covers the largest line, so people assume the rest is small. It isn't. Here is every cash and CPF outlay in an upgrade, in the order you will be asked for it — the same whether you are selling an HDB flat, an EC or a condo.
Who this is for
Most people arrive here in the middle of a decision. Start wherever you actually are.
Upgraders
HDB or EC past MOP, or a condo you have outgrown?
Whether your flat or EC has served its MOP, or you own a condo and want more space or a move closer to town, the sequence is the same — what you hold, what you can borrow, and what you need in cash before any of it becomes a decision.
Start with upgradingFirst-timer buyers
Buying your first property, resale HDB or private?
The first one matters more than people expect — it sets the base for every move that follows. Same questions either way: what you can genuinely borrow, what it costs upfront, and what it costs you to keep.
Start with buyingRight-sizing
Coming up to retirement and want something smaller?
Moving from your current property to a smaller condo or a resale HDB can free up real money, but only if the CPF, the timing and the eligibility rules line up. I have helped a number of my friends' parents plan exactly this move.
Talk it through with meThe framework
Property decisions should start with understanding where you actually stand — not with a showflat. This is the order I work through with everyone, whether they end up moving or staying put.
Map your current position
Start with what you already own, not with what you might buy.
Outline your options
List every realistic path, including doing nothing.
Verify the numbers
Test each option against real figures, at stressed assumptions.
Execute with a plan
Sequence the transactions so you are never caught in between.
Latest
About Madison
I started writing because the same questions kept coming up, and because the answers people were finding online were either too generic to be useful or written to sell something. The gap was not information. The gap was someone willing to sit down and go through the numbers for a specific household.
So that is what this site is: the explanations I would give you in a first conversation, written down properly, with the reasoning shown rather than the conclusion asserted.
What I have learned from sitting with homeowners is that the expensive mistakes are rarely about choosing the wrong property. They are about starting the process in the wrong order — falling for a unit first, then working backwards to see whether the numbers can be made to fit.
Free consultation
Tell me what you own and roughly where you stand, and I will work through the numbers with you — what your place is realistically worth today, what you could comfortably carry, and whether the move makes sense this year. No charge and no obligation, and if the honest answer is to stay put, I will tell you that.
Tell me what you own, roughly where you stand, and what you are weighing up. I will map out the realistic options and the numbers behind each one.
hengmadison.estate@gmail.com · No obligation, no listings sent to you afterwards.
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