Don’t Use Cold Hard Cash To Pay BTO Downpayments — & Other Things TikToker Nicole Liel Learned About Getting A BTO At 25

Even if you’re not among Nicole Liel’s 176K TikTok followers scrolling through her hilarious, candid TikToks fraught with chaotic energy, you may know the 25-year-old influencer from last year’s National Day Parade as a spectator who declared her love for HDB on national TV. Yes, she was the one who, when asked what she’s grateful for in Singapore, thanked HDB “for giving me a BTO queue number!”

Nicole’s BTO journey has progressed, and she’s since secured a five-room Built-To-Order (BTO) flat in Yishun with her boyfriend. She recently shared on the You Got Watch YouTube channel about purchasing a BTO flat in Singapore as someone in their early 20s, alongside her best friend, Sheikha Alsagoff. The latter is a 25-year-old project coordinator who has secured a four-room Sale of Balance Flat (SBF) in Tampines.

Nicole admitted that she had previously tried several times to get a BTO and SBF flat, but was unsuccessful. However, her most recent attempt turned out to be successful and she signed the lease agreement and paid the downpayment for her home in February.

While she still lives with her family while her home is being built, Nicole ]revealed more about the initial stages of her BTO journey in the video.

Firstly, it’s all about managing expectations, says Nicole, who said that she initially had a “long list of demands” for her dream home, such as a top floor unit, unblocked views, proximity to main roads and expressways.

“But realistically, I really don’t want to wait [long for a BTO flat]… I want to move out ASAP because I want a big house,” she elaborated. “As long as it didn’t have an obvious dealbreaker, I was willing to compromise.”

And Sheikha’s on the same page too. “Yes, everyone has a list, but you list out what’s most important to you. We had to manage our expectations ’cos we wanted [to get the flat sooner],” said Nicole’s BFF, who applied for an SBF for this very reason.

But if there’s one biggest takeaway to learn from Nicole’s BTO journey thus far, it has to be managing administrative and money matters. It’s something that the influencer, who also owns a lash business, has no qualms about admitting that she got wrong. She’s even self-deprecatingly admitted in a follow-up TikTok that it was “stupid” on her part. So what happened exactly?

Nicole and her boyfriend were scheduled to sign their lease agreement and put down their downpayment of $30,000 at the HDB office in February. They planned to pay by card but realised the night before that there was a spending limit on their cards, and it would not cover the full sum. 

“My limit was $9,000 and the downpayment was $30,000! And I had just changed my phone so I couldn’t log into my bank app to raise the credit card limit, and my boyfriend couldn’t either,” she lamented.

“[Our appointment] was on a Sunday so all the banks were closed. And no one told me you had to get a cashier’s order [from the bank]!”

The couple finally managed to pay by maxing out both their debit cards, withdrawing cash from the ATM, and also had some help from friends, including Sheikha.

“So my friends had to transfer us [money]. Oh, wait, you had transfer us!” she exclaimed, turning to Sheikha. 

“And I had to get another friend to Paynow me. Honestly, shout out to Leah (TikToker @mizchiefmagikk) — sister just gave me $9,000 like that.”

Nicole explained that what she should’ve done was to get a cashier’s order from the bank (“so you just need one piece of paper, not one whole stack of $50 notes”), but did not do so because she didn't know about it.

Watch the full episode on You Got Watch here:

Nicole also followed up with more details about her experience in another TikTok: