1st Apointment with HDB

Today, wife and I went to HDB Hub at Toa Payoh at 10.30am for our first appointment. Finally, after two months of wait. We walked out $15k lighter as we had to pay upfront cash for the COV. We signed so many times that my signature was going haywired.

The 2nd and final appointment would be around 12 January 2010. Hurray, finally I am going to get the keys in the middle of next month and start renovation. Now, I need to go evaluate the renovation quotes and decide which contractor I am going to use.

Floorplan of my maisonette

My flat sold!

Yesterday, the buyer came over with his wife and we had a chat for two hours. The flat was sold for $350k. He left a $1k deposit and will come up with the $4k when someone puts a deposit down for his flat. We will give the leather sofa to him as we can't move it out of the house unless we dismantle three of the wooden beams at the doors. Finally, done deal.

Our first appointment with HDB for the flat we purchased in Pasir Ris is on 1 Dec 2009 at 10.30am. We will need to come up with $20k to pay HDB.

Arrival of the first interested buyers

Today, I was teaching class the whole day. Ended the class at 4.50pm. Today, Joseph advertised in the Straits Times. I saw the brief three line ad.

I called him during lunch time and he told me that two groups have made an appt with him to view my flat at 3pm and 3.40pm.

After class, my wife called. She told me that 3 groups came to see our flat. First was an Indian family and the third one was a couple from China in their 30s. She told me that the couple had made us an offer for $330k.

I called Joseph at 7 plus. He told me that the Indian family was also interested as their agent called to indicate their interest. Now, he is waiting for their offer to top $330k.

Floor plan of the Maisonette

Last night, Joseph came over to collect the HLE letter from me. The total approved loan amount is $558k. But, I don't need that much. Jo said he will arrange the first appointment at the end of Nov 2009. We will have ten days after the 1st appt to pay HDB the COV. The second appt will most likely be at the end of Dec 2009 or early 2010. After the owner had handed over the keys, we will need two months for renovation. So, most likely, the move in date is around late March, just like this year when I moved into my current flat. Move house twice in a year. Haha.

Jo will advertise my current flat in this Sat, 12 Sep 2009 newspaper. Our valuation for this flat is $308k. I am asking for COV of $50k because of the renovation money I had poured into it.

HLE loan application

I applied for a HLE online and faxed over to HDB the required documents on 27 August 2009. The HDB officer called me up on 1 Sep 2009, saying that they will require me to fax over my wife's e-payslip from June 2008 to May 2009 as well. I thought they only asked for 3 months e-payslip and that was what I faxed over. Their rationale is that that they wanted a breakdown of my wife's basic pay and flying allowance which the CPF statement did not provide.

I wrote an email to Cathay Spore base manager and asked for her help. This lady is totally unhelpful at all. She told my wife that if everybody asks to retrieve their e-payslip, she will be very busy. She said that she was a property agent last time and she can write a letter from Cathay stating the income for the period stated.

I checked with HDB but that will not suffice. They needed the e-payslip or else a letter from Cathay detailing the breakdown of basic pay and allowances month by month. My wife asked her again and she refused to do anything for us.

I was really fed up with this kind of working atitude. How much of a role model is she to the rest of the colleagues in the office? How did she get promoted to be the Spore base manager in the first place? This must have been a fluke!

My wife told me she saved some e-payslips for 2008 in her old NEC computer. I took it out and was so happy to see the e-payslips. But alas, I was not able to burn the info onto a disc, the USB port was not working, the wireless connection did not work and the computer rebooted at least 20 times in the one hour that I tried to retrieve the info. I gave up. I took the hard disk out and went to buy an external casing at Challenger store for $45. Ouch!!! That's expensive!!! Tears almost came down when I came home and printed it. Finally, mission accomplished. All thanks to that extremely unhelpful manager in Cathay.

I faxed the additional documents to Cathay the next morning (4 Sep 2009). I called up the HDB officer and she promised to expedite the process for me as I told her that it is urgent. Now, I can only pray to God that everything will run smoothly from now on. So, help me God. Amen.

Photos of the Executive Mansionette

Looking around again!

I usually receive a lot of junk mail in my letterbox and I never bothered to read any. By chance, about one month ago, I was reading one of the property agents leaflets and I was quite surprised that the EM around Serangoon North was selling for around $420k. I was very tempted to upgrade and thus began my quest for a EM. I contacted an agent selling an EM in Blk 119 and the selling proce was $415k with COV of $35k. I went to take a look at it and was very tempted. It is about 146 sqm and about 60% bigger than the 4 room unit that I am staying in now.

As my wife works in Changi Airport, Serangoon North is not really that convenient for her. So, I started looking for an unit in Yishun or Khatib. I went to HDB's resale website listing the prices of units transacted in the last few months and they were even lower, all less than $400k. Now, that is a hell of a good price. I called up one of my previous GRLs and he started the ball rolling by looking around for me.

However, due to the condo craze that was going on for the last three months, the selling price of EMs have also risen considerably. I was quite shocked that most are asking for $30k COV and the valuation were also higher, around $450k. I was disappointed that I was not able to seize the opportunity and buy an unit six months earlier when the prices were much much lower and COV was virtually zero.

I discussed with my wife and I preferred an EA but she prfers an EM as there is more privacy. I settled for an EM in the end as it resembles private housing more. My agent took us around to look at the EAs in Khatib but they were asking too high a price and I was not ready to spend that much money.

On 27 August 2009, my agent Joseph took us to look at an EA in Yishun and two EMs in Pasir Ris, I liked one of them very much. The current owner is Malay and they are asking for $485k. The valuation is $450k and COV is $35k. I came back that night and discussed with my wife and she too like that place. We went back on 29 August 2009 to take another look during the daytime and the flat is close to amenities like coffeshops, supermarkets etc.

I called Joseph that night and asked him to further talk to the owner's agent for a lower COV. Joseph called me back on 30 August and said that the owner will settle for a COV of $25k. I gave Joseph a cheque of $1k for an option to purchase while I proceed to apply for the HLE from HDB.

Some pictures of the unit in Pasir Ris.

27 March 2009

We moved on Friday, 27 March 2009. There were so many things to pack and so little time. I spent about a week to pack everything. Total of 16 boxes and half of them are my books and files. 

The mover said they will come at 2 to 3pm but they only showed up at 5pm. I was quite pissed because that left me with very little time to unpack my daily essentials for sleeping that night. Everything reached my new place at 7pm. We went down for dinner and the unpacking begins. The living room was literally packed with boxes by me and my gf. Luckily the sofa has not arrived or else there would not even be space to walk around. 

When I started unpacking, that was when I realise the nigtmare starts. There was so much stuff and I had to find a place to put everything. It took us about a week to unpack everything. 

In the afternnon, just before I left for the new flat and while waiting for the movers to arrive, memories of me staying at 24 Wan tho Avenue started to flood my mind. Some good memories and some bad. Ultimately, I have been staying there for almost 28 years. I have posted some pictures of my last moments in that house.

10 March 2009

Today, John went with me to NACLI to pick up my 50" plasma TV, rice cooker (thanks, Dubey), two pairs of sports shoes, TV mounting bracket and ironing board.  He also picked up the 37" LCD TV from my house. We went straight to my flat. The mounting bracket (meant for the 50") cannot be used as it is too big. I will have to get a new one from Carrefour as they also sell the Palladine brand. The carpenter came this afternoon and fixed quite a number of things. He drilled a hole in the TV console in the MBR for the wires of the TV to pass through. He mounted the hooks for the curtain retainer, mounted the clocks. However, the Buddha carving that I bought from Bangkok is mouldy and damp when I opened it. The newspaper used to wrap the carvings flaked and mould had started to grow on the carvings. I had wanted to mount the carvings in the living room but looks like I may have to throw the carvings away. I was thinking maybe I should buy some sandpaper and sand it myself. Then, I will bring it to any furniture shop and ask them to lacquer it again. I quite smart, huh? The electrian also came and moved the dining hall lights a bit outwards. He fixed a wireless doorbell given by the lighting company.

The wall paper was done up later in the afternoon. It is white in color and somehow I think that it is not that obvious and blends in quite well (maybe too well) with the surrounding walls. So, I am not too sure whether the $700 for the wallpaper is well spent. Still struggling inside. I finally locked up the flat using the new lock and not the number lock that was used previously. There is simply too much stuff in there for me to take the risk now.

The moving company brought 30 boxes for me today. I had to pay them $2 deposit for each box. They will charge me $230 to move all my barang barang over to my flat. Quite ex but anyway, I won't be moving anytime soon. So, just have to let them earn. The date for moving is set on 27 March 2009.

4 and 7 March 2009

4 and 7 March 2009

4 and 7 March 2009

Today, I went over to take a look at 1.30pm. The delivery for the mattress, dining table and the papsan chair is scheduled for today. The dining table came first. After setting up the dining table, I discovered that the dining table lights are not aligned to an optimum position. I will ask the ID to shift it. Next came the mattress, bedframe and headboard. The mattress is massive and it looks really weird with its 40cm thickness. Nevertheless, I think it will the most comfortable bed I will ever get to lay on.

We went to Joo Chiat Shopping Centre at about 4 plus. I read from Renotalk that there is a shop called Ling Carpets that sells quality carpets for a reasonable price. The shop is in fact not in the shopping centre but located in a shophouse next to it. We paid $250 for a shaggy carpet that is beige, brown and chocolate in color. The carpet is sponsored by my gf's little sister. Thanks.

We went to People's Park Shopping Centre to source for a package tour for my honeymoon. We stopped by ASA and found one of their Taiwan 7 day tour package reasonable. We will extend another 3 days iin Taipei and stop by HK for another 3 to 4 days before heading back to Singapore. That will be a total of 13 to 14 days for our honeymoon in late June to mid July. I am looking forward to it. 

The pictures taken are a collection of what I have taken today and on 4 March.

1 March 2009

Today , we went to People's Park Complex hawker centre to buy curtains. We decided to opt for ready made ones as the customised ones will cost at least double to triple. We chose golden color for the cutratins in the living room which is full height. For the two bedrooms, we chose brown color as it is important for the curtain to block out sunlight effectively and brown should do the job.

Damage= $300 (sponsored by gf's two sisters)

Haha... ain't it good if they sponsored the carpet as well???

We hauled the curtains and curtain poles over  to the flat as my gf wants to look at the renovation progress.

27 Feb 2009

27 Feb 2009

27 Feb 2009

27 Feb 2009