9 posts tagged “hdb”
I really must take my hat off to Chiauw. She wasted no time and was at HDB Branch Office at 9 am this morning. Instead of dealing with the Technical Officer, she requested to meet with the Head of Department instead. I guess, it was about getting an approval immediately so that our renovation will not face with more hiccups. Our primary concerns:
01. Levelling up MBR and MBR Toilet floor, or with minimum drop,
02. Installing minimum height false ceiling all throughout the house and not affected by HDB floor-ceiling limit,
03. Boxing up all the huge sanitary plumbing pipes inside the two toilets.
I was surprised that she managed to get the Head to come down to the site for personal inspection. At 11.45 am, together with the Head, she went through the design engineer problem and got him to approve our ideas. We learned that the previous contractor and owner didn't hack the floor tiles but instead just did an overlay. Doing so, it raised the floor height higher.
We managed to get the approval for false ceiling all throughout the house except the toilets. Also, an approval to level the floor of our MBR and MBR toilet was given. Well done, Chiauw!
I don't think we can get such a service should we have engaged an Interior Designer. With Chiauw, we explored every possibilities and not compromising our dreams for Reiki Sanctuary. We just want a clean look all throughout the house.
Chiauw met us after her meeting with the Head and we were back to the Drawing Board - for the rest of the afternoon and ended at about 6.30 pm. This time, it was getting too technical - she was educating us about inlay and outlay, flaming floor tiles for the shower areas and few other things that we were not so interested. When Chiauw left, we had bad headache and refused to think about the renovation for awhile.
Chiauw is workaholic. At 10 p.m., she dropped by again to ask us few more questions.
For the next few days, these are works that will be carried out:
01. Levelling and screeding of the floors
02. Waterproofing test for kitchen and MBR and Guest toilets
03. Laying of sanitary plumbing pipes
Here is the final layout for the socket outlets - there are 52 points all throughout the house. We are trying to do away with extension cord/power extender in the future. Basically, we want a tidy wiring system and that each home appliances and other electrical gadgets have its own dedicated socket.
As HDB does not allow conceal wiring, it is important to lay the wires carefully. Chiauw promises to work very closely with the electrician and to 'hide' as much of the electrical wiring. We will be using white Legrand Mallia series:
For Lighting Switches:
For Cable and Telephone:
For Socket Outlet:
It will be nicer and neater if only we can conceal the wires and to use this socket:
*Sigh*, unfortunately, we have to settle with this type of double socket:
At 4 p.m. today, we are [supposedly] the official owner of Block xxx, Jurong East Street xx, #05-xxx. It ends the house hunt, it closes the resale transaction .. and a new day has come.
The meeting with the HDB officer was a jiffy - in about 15 minutes, it was all over. We walked out of the officer's office with a bunch of keys but left HDB Hub empty handed. We had to return the keys to the sellers and requested that they have to hand it back to us on 28th June. We also mentioned that we want to start renovation from 23th June onwards.
Ah, a rather crissed crossed crashed of dates - fact is, we do not wish to wait any longer. I felt somewhat awkward - a lack of ease and unhandy, having to delay the possession of the flat. It's like you-have-it-yet-you-don't and leaving you with more anxiety.
On a lighter note, the sweetest thing the sellers did was to hand me the bunch of keys clipped in a key chain with a big letter 'K'. They have bought the key chain as a gift. The wife smiled as she passed it to me, 'this is meant for you'. I wasn't aware of it till her husband showed me the word 'kind' inscribed and fits snugly at one corner. It touches me and it makes me harder to rush them on their renovation and to get them to move out earliest possible.
After they departed, we had a little argument with the house agent. He insisted that we should pay him the commission today. Geez, it really spoilt my mood. First, we have not received any official invoice from his company. Second, we told him that we will only pay half of the commission and will pay the remainder when we get the keys. He got quite unreasonable citing that his 'duty' has now completed. He was, obviously, angry.
We decided to give in as we didn't want to spoil such a nice day.
Somehow, it makes me a little restless ...
In an unusual way, our completion date transpired via a telephone call rather through an official HDB letter. I have been religiously checking on 'My HDB Page' - an online HDB e-Services, for the last few days and there is no indication that the resale complete date has been scheduled. The last check at 5 p.m. still showed the same old status where the resale application has been approved.
What's a synchronicity! Yesterday, I was checking with another friend who applied for resale flat and he had been scheduled for the second appointment mid next week. His 1st appointment with HDB was two weeks after ours. He received an official letter from HDB about three days ago. That is, supposedly, the standard practice - buyers/sellers will be notified at least a week in advance.
At about 5.45 p.m., I received a call from Mr Wong - the seller's agent, informing me that HDB has scheduled the resale completion on Monday, 9 June. Surprise! Surprise! Surprise! A check at our mailbox showed no letter. Ah, and within an hour from my last online check, the status has changed.
Ah, and as the excitement settled, it brings sadness too. Suddenly, everything about Hertford becomes large - the air, the space, the wall, the ceiling, the smell, the noise, the light - each of her energy reaching out for attention. The missing-you feeling intensified and I just have to cry for her, again.
Ah, decided to check the resale status online and saw this good news:
Geez, just can't wait to get things started.
Law of Attractions and Vibrations - yes, that is what all our life evolve around. What you think about is what you become. And, what we truly seek, is what we will get.
Making that calculated choice to be in Jurong East - we relied only on our priorities but unknown with the unexpected twist of luck, brings along with a piece of good news as announced by the National Development Ministry. We didn't expect that Jurong East would "undergo a transformation that could propel the estate to the forefront of the suburban property market" as reported in Sunday Times April 13. It makes our choice a good investment for our future.
Not that we are planning to sell and make a profit - and the time allowed by HDB to sell is after five years, but it will definitely give us a better opportunity and comfortable economic outlook for our old age. Property experts feel that Jurong East public flats have strong potential upside and an increase of five to 10 percent in the next two years. Surely, when the whole Master Plan for the estate is completed, prices would increase significantly too.
When the transformation is completed, it becomes the largest commercial hub outside the Central Business Distriction and rivals Marina Bay in size. It will outsize Tampines, now Singapore's biggest suburban commercial hub, with its size of 360ha. The transformation involves the building of new waterways, 1,000 private homes and 2,800 hotel rooms as well as the addition of 500,000 sq m of office space and 250,000 of retail space.
This is the least unexpected abundance that greets us so early with our plan to move. And, there is so much to look forward.
Ministry of National Development Plan of Jurong Lake District:
- from Sunday Times, 13 April
Some of my friends called me when they heard about this news:
"Hey, did you know about this before you bought your place?"
No. We just want to be thankful that the government is doing such thing. Indeed, we feel very fortunate. When we purchased the unit, the property market has also softened a little.
It reminds me of the time we bought Hertford too.
"Wow, both of you are very lucky!"
"It is a good move!"
Thank you. We are grateful for all these. We have made some plans for our old age and one of it is to have an early retirement. I envision that the property in Jurong East will pick up, just like Toa Payoh and Bishan, and it will make us confident to have a comfortable old age.
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We are very grateful! Thank You!
It has been a busy week. It is good to be busy too as I can, finally, not dominantly think about the new house.
It is often said that happy times come and go fast. And that, time moves quickly. But not when we have to 'wait' - it feels sooooo loooooonnnnnggggg that time just halts.
It is the waiting that one gets restless. And I am just feeling that. It makes it worse especially when I am not completely 'recovered' from the 'low' Hertford energy.
We are waiting for the day for our HDB application to be processed - and HDB is only scheduling our First Appointment next Tuesday, 29th April.
Thank God that saturday is coming - that I will be cracking my head when meeting with Chiauw again. We plan to start going out to 'feel things' - she is going to bring us to few tiles and sanitary shops.
Looking forward ..
We probably had viewed less than 10 units from about a month of hunting - all in Jurong East area when we found one that we like best. Of course, there is always Hertford but we have to move on.
We made three appointments that Saturday with three different agents. They were all a five rooms' flats either door to door or a point block unit. Strangely, we didn't actually view a 4 room flat throughout the house hunt. It was probably the price difference between them, which was not much, and to go for a 5 room would be a better economical choice.
Luck was with us. We actually liked the very first unit we viewed but didn't want to commit. After viewing the other two units, we decided to make an offer. We were told by the agent that there was already an offer made by another party. We stood firm with our Cash Over Value offer and told him to consider us.
I believe the works of the universe. It is the work of law of vibrations and attraction. We signed the Offer To Purchase that very evening with the seller and omitted the 14 days grace period.
The house plan:
- Size Area: 121sq m
- Type: 5 Improved
- Age of Block: 23 years
- Floor: 5th
- Door: East
- Balcony: North
And this is how it looks like in 3D.
As much as we wanted a fast transaction, which is normally will take three months to complete the buy-sale of the house, we were told that we needed to give the seller a month extension after the sale completion with HDB.
The sellers, an elderly couple with no children in their late 60s, decided to downgrade. To us, they made a wise decision. At least, they will have the cash to last them through. Wishing you all the best, Mr & Mrs Monteiro.
After much thoughts, and lotsa discussions, we decided that our new house should fall within these few criterias:
01. Budget
We set the price to be less than S$350K, maximum. This will give us less financial burden for our future. It will narrow down our search, but at least, we will have a clearer picture as to which part of Singapore we shall be concentrating.
02. Flat Size/Lease
To be realistic with our budget - and to hold on to our goal, we look for an old block. Newer blocks will not be cheap. We want, rather it is me who want it, a 4 room or 5 room flat. The unit has to be door to door and not along any corridor.
I guess after staying in Hertford for so long, it will not be easy for us to stay in a unit along a corridor with many immediate neighbours next to us. There is nothing wrong with neighbours. However, we are used to a quiet environment.
At the same time, I prefer to have bigger space.
A 3 rooms' flat suits our needs actually. But I want to think ahead and to live to honour the abundance in our moment now. It can be an alternative route for our future ahead.
We like the newer HDB designs with tall glass windows almost all throughout the house. There is also the extra service yard where your washing machine can be away from the kitchen area. Plus, there is the airconditioning compressor area. Well, as much as they are nice, it is way beyond our budget.
03. Flat Layout
As I conduct simple Tibetan Geomancy consultation, the layout of the flat must be, preferably, square or rectangle and every bagua is within the house. This will be a challenge hunting for the ideal one.
04. Location
After we identify our reality check, the choice for location becomes clearer. Going along with the NEL MRT track, we identify areas that we could have possibility for viewing, and ultimately the purchase.
We can choose Sengkang or Punggol and enjoy the new flats but it is, definitely, not convenient when it comes to work proximity. Prices in other estates, along NEL, are also not cheap based on the size flat that we are looking for.
Estates east of Singapore, like Tampines and Bedok, are out of the question. The next possibility is looking west - this is also nearer to work but without the MRT.
Ideally, we prefer to be in central area - afterall, we are used to it for the last 20 years.
05. The Hunt
We decide to start with Jurong East and Bukit Batok.
