The framework
The MOVE Method
Property decisions should start with understanding where you actually stand — not with a showflat. This is the order I work through with everyone, and it is the same order whether you end up moving or staying put.
Almost every expensive property mistake I have seen came from starting at the wrong end — a showflat, a floor plan, a number someone mentioned — and then working backwards to see whether it could be made to fit. This runs in the other direction.
- M
Stage 1
Map your current position
Start with what you already own, not with what you might buy.
Sale value, outstanding loan, CPF used and accrued interest, and what that leaves as cash versus CPF. Almost every upgrade that goes wrong goes wrong here — because the plan was built on the sale price rather than on the usable proceeds.
Questions at this stage
- What would your property realistically transact at today?
- What is left on the loan?
- How much CPF have you used, and how much accrued interest has built up?
- What does that leave you in cash, as opposed to in CPF?
- O
Stage 2
Outline your options
List every realistic path, including doing nothing.
Sell and upgrade, sell and right-size, hold and stay, hold and add a second property. Each one has a different cost, a different risk profile and a different set of conditions that have to hold. Naming all of them stops the process becoming a search for reasons to justify one.
Questions at this stage
- What are you actually trying to solve?
- Which paths are genuinely open given your eligibility and financing?
- What does the ten-year picture look like under each?
- What would make staying put the right answer?
- V
Stage 3
Verify the numbers
Test each option against real figures, at stressed assumptions.
Loan ceiling under TDSR and MSR, cash and CPF required on each payment date, stamp duties including ABSD where it applies, monthly commitment at a stress-tested rate, and the buffer left over afterwards. An option that only works in the best case does not go through to the next stage.
Questions at this stage
- Which of the three ceilings — loan, cash, monthly — binds first?
- Does it still work at a higher interest rate?
- Does it still work if one income pauses for a year?
- What buffer remains after completion?
- E
Stage 4
Execute with a plan
Sequence the transactions so you are never caught in between.
Sell first or buy first, the timing of each completion, where you live in between, what happens if the sale takes longer than expected, and who does what by when. This is the stage where a good decision can still be undone by poor sequencing.
Questions at this stage
- Which sequence suits your buffer?
- What happens if the sale takes three months longer?
- Where do you live between completions?
- What is the contingency, and is it funded?
Free resource
The checklist version
The same four stages as a working checklist — what to establish, what to check, and the numbers to have in front of you before you commit to anything.