How we sold a low-floor 4-room unit in Bishan at one of the highest records to date

Vann Lim
3 days ago
5 min read

Most sellers think a good location sells itself.

It does not — not when the lease is working against you, and not when you're stuck on a low floor.

When this family reached out to us about their 4-room corner unit at 130 Bishan Street 12, the brief was simple yet challenging: they wanted to upgrade to a private property, and every dollar of the sale proceeds mattered.

This was not a "let's see how it goes" listing. This was a "we need maximum proceeds to make the next move work" listing.

Here is the honest tension we had to solve:

The location is excellent. The lease is not. And the unit sits on a low floor.

With 59 years remaining on the lease, this unit sits past the point where many banks and buyers start asking harder questions about financing and long-term value. Stack that with a low floor, normally the first thing that gets a unit discounted in any negotiation, and most agents would have told this family to lower their expectations.

We didn't.

We sold the unit at $850,000 in April 2026.

OTP of purchase of a low-floor HDB unit in Bishan.

Our unit, Blk 130, sold for $850,000 — on a low-floor 04 to 06. Every other low-floor transaction on the street in the same 6 months capped out at $818,888.

Past transactions of Bishan Street 12 HDB

The reality of selling an ageing lease, low-floor unit

Selling a 59-year lease, low-floor flat is not like selling a fresh BTO or a high-floor unit with a young lease.

The moment a buyer sees "59 years remaining" and "low floor" in the same listing, their mental math changes:

Will my bank finance this the way I expect?
What happens to CPF usage past a certain age?
Why would I pay high-floor money for a low floor?

These are fair questions. Ignoring them does not make them go away. Answering them head-on does.

The unit itself, however, had real strengths:

4-room corner unit, 105 sqm (approx. 1,130 sqft). This was significantly bigger than other units in the same and surrounding buildings
Well maintained by a small family, simple renovation done 5 years ago
Corner layout with better ventilation and privacy than typical stack units
10 min Walking distance to Bishan MRT
Within 1km of Kuo Chuan Presbyterian Primary School, Guangyang Primary School and First Toa Payoh Primary School

It was livable, low-maintenance, and sitting in one of the most sought-after school belts in Bishan. Being in a good location does not automatically translate into top dollar, not when lease decay and floor level are the first things every buyer notices. Strategic execution does.

Bright modern living room with tan sofa, ceiling fan, track lights, play shelf, and open kitchen in the background.

Our strategy: pricing to close, not just listing to wait

Selling well is not just about listing the property. It is about executing the right strategy from pricing to closing.

1. Pricing: acknowledge the lease and floor, don't hide from them

We did not anchor on the highest historical transactions at the block. We built the full picture: recent resale prices at 130 Bishan Street 12, price-per-square-foot trends segmented by floor level, and how much of the price gap to high-floor units was justified by view and light versus overstated by buyer habit.

The lease decay and low floor are real. But they are often priced more harshly by sentiment than by actual impacts on financing or livability. Our job was to close the gap between perceived and actual discount with data, not persuasion.

2. Listing presentation: making minimal renovation the headline

A well-maintained, simply renovated unit is not a weakness. It is a cost-saving story for the buyer.

This family had renovated it 5 years ago and kept the unit in excellent condition. So instead of asking buyers to imagine tearing things out and starting over, we packaged it as: move in, minimal renovation needed, save on renovation cost and time.

For a family stretching their budget to buy into a strong school belt, that's a real financial argument, not just a nice-to-have.

3. Amplification: video ads and targeted reach

We amplified the campaign with a coordinated mix of professional photography, cinematic videography, YouTube, Instagram Reels, TikTok, and a dedicated web listing—creating multiple touchpoints for buyers to discover the home wherever they were searching.

Rich visuals, immersive videos, and targeted storytelling worked together to build familiarity, generate stronger engagement, and keep the property top of mind.

The messaging was equally intentional, speaking directly to families seeking entry into Kuo Chuan Presbyterian Primary School. By focusing on what mattered most to this buyer group, the campaign attracted attention from purchasers who valued the location above considerations such as lease tenure or floor level.

4. Conduct viewings well: 6 groups in the first weekend

With the pricing strategy aligned and the marketing tailored to the right buyer profile, the results came quickly. Notably, this lead did not come through a listing portal. It was generated directly from one of our targeted marketing campaigns, highlighting the value of reaching buyers through multiple channels rather than relying solely on property portals.

Our first viewing weekend brought in 6 groups of viewers. Each viewing was run to address the lease and floor questions before the buyer had to ask, with the financing math, the corner-unit layout advantages, and the school-proximity case laid out clearly.

5. Offer: 2 strong offers from the same weekend

That first viewing weekend converted into 2 strong offers. Having genuine competing interest is what let us negotiate from a position of strength instead of taking the first number on the table.

6. Negotiate & close: $850,000, matching high-floor pricing

We closed at $850,000, a price that matched the second-highest transaction on the entire street in the last 6 months (high floor included) and the highest price for any low-floor unit on Bishan Street 12 in that window.

But the number was never the real win.

The real win was giving this family the maximum possible proceeds to move forward into their next property, on their timeline, without leaving money on the table because a lease number and a floor level scared off underprepared agents.

Selling an ageing lease, low-floor unit at top price requires strategy

It is about:

Confronting the lease and floor issues directly instead of hoping buyers won't notice
Pricing with data, not sentiment
Turning "minimal renovation needed" into a genuine selling point
Positioning to the specific buyer profile most likely to pay top dollar
Running viewings and offers with intent, not just listing and waiting

We do this for our clients because every property has something working against it — and the number you sell at is decided by how well you execute the full strategy around it, from pricing to closing, not by which factors happen to be in your favour.