December 4, 2014

The one with the unexpected house...

// Sorry I was 33mins late for today's virtual date. Slept late and cannot wake up thanks to the rain. Let's change to 12.13pm tomorrow onwards ok. (Auspicious timing for me hahah)

So the latest from HDB is the BTOs and Sale of Balance Flats right? Itchy fingers I have, I also go and look see lah. For Baobei and I, we have no hurry to get a place since we have rooms at both our parents' place but somehow having our own place seems so appealing (esp with my 5 year plan going to kickstart next year). Anyway Baobei has no preference in the location as long as he gets a bike that he loves to get him anywhere in Singapore. Yup, that's our compromise. So he gets to pick the next bike while I get to pick the location of our house.

I need these things when come to house which I ever blogged here:

  1. Big space/Spacious (more than 104 sq m)
  2. Convenience (to get to every part of Singapore)

So I have narrowed down to 2 places I foresee my kids growing up- Bishan or Serangoon. Both places have old houses (read: 4A) which means it meets criteria number 1 and I know for the fact that it will cost me $10 from my house to town if I were to cab (read: cab) that meets criteria 2.

Long story short, I saw this 2 units in Bishan that were up for grabs, however we were only interested in 1 which is near the Salvation Army that is 104 sq m big. We actually went down to see the exact location and unit:




"This one not our house yet lah. Tak boleh feeling feeling gitu,"
when I asked Baobei to pose. Boleh acting what Baobei! ):





What we love about this place:
* Spacious corridor 
* Great location (left is 4 bus stops to Bishan MRT, right is to AMK and Thomson)
* There is My First Skool like 2 blocks away (read: childcare)
* My family doctor is like a bus stop away (or can walk about 5 mins)
* One immediate neighbour only

Haha, I sound very makcik but let's roll with this first okay?

What I don't like about this place:
* House number: 06-444. You all know my obsession with odd numbers but 5 and no even numbers but 0 right? So I didn't like the # but Baobei was "it's ok."

Sounds too good to be true right? Yes, this is an old flat. Well actually it was build in 1992. So why is this under Sale of Balance Flats since that usually applies to BTO houses where people last minute cancel or it was not sold when the project was launched? These old houses were 'repurchased' by HDB meaning if let's say someone finds it hard to sell it in the open market or migrating/have a private housing already, they sell it back to HDB. Similarly these houses are also 'repossessed' back meaning if you cannot pay your flats after a certain period of time (HDB is more kind than banks), they take it back.

So the downside is we will not know how the inside of the house looks until we take the key. So god knows how long the unit has been vacant and what was done to the house by the previous owner. Which means it may costs us a lot of money because this only means renovation. Asyik duit duit duit. HAHAHAIS.

But we had plans to just buy the unit and then slowly do up the house while still staying at my parents, which seemed like a good idea and I had become like those girls who stalk the HDB websites to check the number of applicants (which was 11, including us, when it closed on 1st of December. So if you happened to be one of the 10 well I hated you but we are cool now ok) while Baobei rilek jack but he also warned me to not get attached to the house.

Until when I checked how much loan we were able to get. Kakak said that first timers we get 30k grant and if we stay near parents (within 2km) we get additional 10k. So we really harapkan the 30k because this means a lot to us. Oh, I forgot to mention that the house costs 424k (pause to telan air liur). So if we can minus off 30k, that means the house costs less than 400k right? 

Wrong.

I kept wondering why the system kept prompting us to pay 37k cash upfront upon the key collection from HDB so I gave up reading their not-answering-my-questions pages and called them up. Easier right? Get the answer straight away.

When I got off the phone, I was appalled by the whole housing system. I was too speechless but eventually I went on a rage and called Baobei, then talked to Mama and then we decided to forgot this house. Why?

Though this unit is a repurchased (or when in open market it is called resale) unit by HDB, it will still be considered as a new flat. Under the new flat scheme, there is no such thing as 30k grant for first timers. I knew that it applied to BTO scheme but I didn't think it will apply to old houses. To be fair, we will not get a house as cheap as 424k in Bishan and the 30k is to help us to fight the prices in the open market. But hello? Where am I going to find the money to get the key? Then I no need to buy fridge (read: SMEG haha) is it?

To make things even worst (pls don't get me wrong, I am VERY thankful but it just sucks to be in our shoes right now), our combined income exceed 5k which means NO GRANT AT ALL. Satu sen also tak dapat. Absolutely none. Which means to say if we ever decide to buy from HDB, our budget is

Maximum loan by HDB + our combined income = cost of house we can buy

WAIII HDB!!! SO KEMUT. HELP US LEH!

I had a harder time to say goodbye to the flat because I had big dreams for the house haha, but guess what lah friends! Yesterday I was at Li's place to hangout with her since she is popping out sometime this week or early next week and I was having this house talk with her (best person to talk to because she got married first, got a house first and now preggers first so this woman is full of wisdom for me haha). At the same time I was having a conversation with myself in my head (happens all the time but I am not crazy though/yet) and said if I really want the grant means 2 things:
  1. Open market
  2. Stay near my parents
Since Serangoon was 1 of the 2 options, I found a house online that is looking for a Malay owner and is Malay owned (which means if we do get this place, I can take my time to renovate pasal tak geli what). Gave the agent a text (who is also Malay haha so happening ah this little Kampong Melayu of ours) and we have set an appointment to view the house!

SAYYY WHUT!

From being so sad to not being able to afford the house in Bishan to having a glimpse of hope at staying across my parents! Which means in the future I can drop the kids at my parents' place and pick them up and walk home. Best kan? 

The plus points to note about this particular house we are looking at:
  1. 105 sq m
  2. Malay owned
  3. 40k grant in our pocket
  4. 7 minutes walk to my parents' place
  5. Serangoon (Circle line and NEL)
So this finding house is giving me a huge headache but the fun kind. It will be freaky if I were to say it is more fun than the wedding HAHA but house is forever leh. I can't wait to start haunting every ID in Singapore and start shoving the blueprint in their faces! I am just excited, that's all.

Anyway I will keep you all posted with the house once we have viewed it with both our parents! I am not looking forward to the application of HLE (already in the midst of it) because it is too tedious (I have to download Baobei's one year's worth of pay slips) and taxing. But anything for our house lah ok.

Since we are in no rush, if both parties can't agree to the price then we can also look for another house. But I am hoping for this one though so let's all put our hands together and hope for the best ok! And we can forget about Bidadari BTOs (or any BTOs for that matter) that we first wanted to apply (which is opening next year. Hantu scared of you'alls ok) since we will not one cent out of gahment.

Okay til our next virtual date tomorrow at 12.13pm (Haha nampak sah this janji Melayu very strong ones)

7 xoxo's:

  1. Hi babe!

    HLE is actually quite straight forward, don't be intimidated by it. Just submit the forms they need and that's pretty much it. (:

    Also, just keep in mind that the grant can't be used to pay COV. So you still need some amount of cash on hand.

    Good luck!

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    1. Hey babe,

      Currently, most houses does not require COV. With the resale houses going down as more people prefer BTO, it is a buyer's market. But I will definitely keep that in mind!

      And yes, it is very straight forward. HAHAH it is just leceh/tedious.

      xo

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  2. hi babe, tk silap the blk 254 bishan is a malay owner also before this.

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  3. i tinggal sana in the 22nd storey. hehe. tak silap before this was this warna radio dj named TG. (not sure if i got that right. haha, sorry)

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    Replies
    1. Ouhhh we could have been neighbours for awhile but we won't be buying from HDB directly since there are 0 grant from them. But thanks for the update! Whoever gets it, is very lucky! (Well the other 10 people who ballot for it!) xo

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  4. Looking reading your blogspot! Thanks for sharing!
    Anyway how do you start planning & saving for marriage? I have not yet, to save :(

    ReplyDelete