Faith Story by Jo-Hanna Ho
I have been praying for a home of my own for many years now. However, I couldn’t apply for a loan with the salary arrangements then.
Last year, I heard about the government’s first home buyer scheme that could allow a 100% loan and stamp duty waivers up to age 40. So I felt the urgency to start looking for a place to purchase before the deadline of 2 years ended and in March, I spoke to some amazing Skyliners who started looking out for places for me, as well as to help me navigate the process of purchasing a place. The evaluation didn’t look good because I didn’t meet a lot of criteria to be able to get a loan approved.
At the end of the year, God orchestrated changes to my salary arrangements, so I was able to apply for loans. Praise God, after getting re-evaluated, I could apply for a decent loan so this was no longer an obstacle.
A year later, the government announced the discontinuation of the first home buyer scheme. I was a bit disappointed, but I knew there would be alternatives still. As I researched in the next few months, I found another government initiative to allow first home buyers to get up to 110% loan, inclusive of all the additional fees that are involved in purchasing a place. This was one of my major hurdles in this journey because I did not have enough savings to cover a deposit as well as all the fees needed to purchase a home. I was also concerned about the stamp duties, but God led me to a news article saying that the government was waiving stamp duties for first home buyers until the end of 2023.
Beginning from March of this year, I started viewing apartments, though none seemed to be appropriate.
Then in May, along with some amazing Skyliners, I went to view an apartment. I am so blessed to have a great community of Skyliners who came alongside to help and to give both wisdom and counsel. When I first stepped into the apartment, I didn’t immediately have the feeling like “This is it!” but I liked a number of things about it. It didn’t have some of the things I wanted and was praying for, but due to the advice of these amazing Skyliners, I was open to consider it further. I only had two days to decide – someone else wanted to view the unit, and was keen to purchase, but I was given first priority.
During the next two days, much time was spent seeking prayer, seeking counsel from my family and from people I trust, as well as personally coming before God to ask if this was the right place. No one came back to me with any negatives as they prayed about it, and God brought to mind a few things as I sought Him:
In Oct 2021, someone had given me a prophecy about a place of my own with a few criteria. This place met almost all of said criteria. The one criteria that didn’t fit possibly might be because it hasn’t happened yet.
Aunt E also often said that because we are office staff, our lives tend to reflect the same situation as the church, and through this season of transition to SkyArena, I realised that I’m the third in the team to be transitioning to a new home.
Because of these, I decided to go ahead to purchase this apartment. I managed to get the loan under the government scheme at my main bank, and praise God, I could just about afford the monthly repayment after considering my monthly expenses.
This is still very much a journey of faith as once I get the place, there’s more fixing work to be done, and much costs involved to furnishing it. But God has used precious Skyliners who are also transitioning to new homes to bless me in this journey.
Right now I’m in the season of waiting on the process, just as we’re also waiting on SkyArena, but I know God has His timing, both for me personally, and for the church. It’s going to be an exciting and hectic rest of the year, but we need to wait, to trust, and to do what we need to do now to prepare for the future.
All glory to God!
Jo-Hanna Ho