Yes, I have housemates. But by embracing minimalism and optimizing the space, it’s totally feasible to find happiness and reduce your rent. This article is specific to Singapore, but the principles can be adopted for other locales.

Willingness to do that work is essential, but this kind of situation is particularly great for:

Before I go into the specifics of how to snag this deal, let me bring you around my five square meters (55 square feet) room.

How Did I Do It?

For the past ten years, I’ve shuffled between rental apartments every other year. I’ve had the opportunity to try many different approaches to find what works best when it comes to saving on rent.

I’ve put together five of the most impactful things I did to grab this room at a steal. Ready? Let’s go.

1. Rent the whole unit, not just a room

The way to do this is to become the primary renter. Then, find housemates to rent the remaining rooms. By being the middleman and dividing a complete apartment into individual rooms, I can lower prices by:

• Cutting out a portion of the real estate agent’s gains by performing their duties such as listing the place, sourcing tenants and consolidating bills
• Adjusting the price tag of each room and gaining bigger leverage to bargain with the landlord, since I’m representing all tenants
• Widening the selection, as opposed to restricting the search to individual room rentals and studio units

I know what you must be thinking — is it even legal for a tenant to rent out to another tenant? Yes, as long as every single person living there is registered with HDB. If it’s a private condo or apartment, registration is not required. Part of the work is investigating these legalities in your own city.

Do I need to live with flimsy room partitions? No, as most homes in Singapore have been designed and built for the traditional nuclear family with at least two bedrooms. This means space has been equally divided into bedrooms with direct access to shared areas.

As in any situation with living with another human being, it is essential to explicitly communicate expectations and personal boundaries with roommates, ideally before the move-in. The most important topics to talk about are cleanliness, noise, and visitors. Renting isn’t a short-term decision, and any false expectations will create painful and massive regrets down the road.

2. Give up what others aren’t willing to

Renters want the same few things: convenient location, fewer housemates, larger space, breezy window view, air-conditioning, and new furnishings.

If you want to pay an exceptional price, you’ll have to give up some of the things that come with a normal price. The more you’re willing to let go and the further away you’re able to deviate from the norm, the cheaper the rent can get. It all goes back to supply and demand.

For me, I shaved off disproportionate amounts of rent by letting go of:

• Space: My room is less than half the size of the average room in Singapore (11.5 sqm). It wasn’t a big compromise for me to downsize into five sqm, as I’ve been moving around and living minimally for the past decade.
• Stigma: There’s a negative connotation associated with staying in a room described as a “utility room” or a “maid’s room”, and I’ve gradually learned how to be less affected by it.
• Something else I considered doing was to pick a not-so-glamorous but centrally-located neighbourhood such as Geylang or Rochor. This was a possible option I could be open to because Singapore, after all, is one of the safest countries in the world.

It’s easy to overestimate how much we think we need, especially if we base it on what others have. It’s natural to overcompensate today, just in case we need more in the future. However, it can also be tempting to sacrifice creature comforts on impulse, so we get this deal done.

All of us have different tolerance levels, so it’s worth taking time to decide on what truly is a dealbreaker to you. Just like how Marie Kondo popularised the idea of questioning the joy that each item brings, I also questioned if each feature of a house brought me joy.

What I realised about myself is that I’m an outdoor type of person. I spend very little time at home, as I was constantly out and about exploring (mostly for food, because I can’t cook for nuts). Every quarter, I would go abroad to visit my folks or to see the world. Hence, no amount of indoor space was going to satisfy me, and any attempts to find an apartment that would quell this propensity to wander will be futile.

What I’ve found is that this solution is particularly great for:

• Self-aware people who can differentiate their personal luxuries from necessities, and
• Minimalists.

3. Look for potential and make the space shine

When viewing a property, keep in mind that what you see is not what you’ll end up living with. Spaces can be transformed and furniture can be switched up. It may take some creativity to jazz it up, but it can be done.

Tiny spaces like mine are fragile. With only a little clutter, everything can suddenly feel chaotic, cramped, and unpleasant. With a blank slate to start with as my room came unfurnished, I had to intentionally make these few design choices to make the most of every centimetre:

• Installed a casement air-conditioner which attached to the window. This turned out to be a lifesaver during the lockdown heatwaves.
• Bought furniture with an open structure, such as the frame-only wardrobe, so it visually took up less space and allowed light to pass through.
• Selected all furnishings to be in white so they could reflect more light, making the room feel brighter and larger.
• Planned upwards by staggering objects at different heights; keeping the bed on ground level allowed me to use more shelving.
• Intended every object to perform multiple functions (bed doubles as a sofa) and easily gets out of the way (table has felt pads underneath).

At first glance, these purchases added up towards a big sum. But sourcing them second-hand, deducting its resale value, and spreading the initial cost across the entire lease duration proved to me that, overall, it was cheaper to self-decorate, and these were good investments.

You’re a step ahead if you have an eye for how to reimagine and maximise space. It also helps to be a deal hunter who can snap up undervalued items or a deal maker who can sell high on second-hand marketplaces

4. Negotiate with your best foot forward

Landlords in Singapore are typically within the same age group as your boomer Asian parents, and they have similar expectations of you:

• That you are financially reliable to pay rent (even better if you’re a lawyer or doctor).
• That you are a responsible type who will take care of the property.
• You have a high potential of sticking around for a long time.
• It is a harsh reality that landlords here often look for people with similar demographics to themselves.

It’s not enough to tick as many boxes as you can here, but you’ll also need to subtly flex the credentials you do have in all communications with agents and landlords. The best opportunity to do so is during face-to-face viewing, so dress and speak appropriately. When it’s time to talk money, negotiate with confidence.

Luckily for me, I fit into all the requirements above and was able to grab a 10% discount off the listed price, dropping it below the area’s median rental.

So, this type of housing situation is particularly feasible for sweet-talkers who can warm the cockles of the landlord’s heart. Regrettably, individuals who belong to the social groups of the majority usually have an easier time of it here.

5. Start searching early to evaluate more options

I was on the lookout for two months before my move-in date, and I sieved through hundreds of listings before I chanced upon my unit. Going through a large volume of properties was advantageous as:

• It sharpened my senses to quickly and accurately value property so that I can secure a good deal instantly while others are still thinking about it.
• I dealt with different agents simultaneously to understand the different types of agents and fee structures.
• I had great alternatives in my back pocket, giving me greater confidence to bargain.

Hunting for a good deal while working full-time, on top of packing your belongings, can feel very overwhelming, so I used a simple and objective checklist to run through my shortlisted listings. That included factors such as travel time to the office, number of housemates to share common areas with, and presence of the landlord.

Another neat trick was to save search links so I could browse listings without having to recreate my preferences each time. Once I’ve tailored a search with my filters selected and sorted by most recently posted, I saved the link as a bookmark. Here are the links I used: PropertyGuru, 99.co, Carousell, FB Marketplace, and FB groups.

You’ll be great at this if you’re a strategist who plans in advance or if you have flexibility with move-in dates. It also helps to be a savvy shopper who is diligent with browsing and comparing listings.