Our Flat-Buying Journey

Starring: 'The Architect' and 'Miss Hard-to-Please'

We decided not to enlist the help of a buyer agent while searching for the flat.
Reason being that we are not obliged to any agent and we need not receive unnecessary 'promotion' through phone.

We actually consider the parcel of flat adjacent to the in-laws.
Here are some pics of the development (linked directly from H88.com.sg).
We like this development because the exterior & surrounding landscaping look really good. However, we couldn't seem to find a flat within this estate that could provoke an emotion to our hearts. Most of the flats we viewed were either blah, or had one or more defect (e.g. overhanging ledge outside your living room window for the unit on the 14th floor).

If you like condo-look-alike appearance flats, you may want to consider this development.

Disclaimer: It's at Woodlands.Choose it at your peril.

On one faithful day, 'Miss Hard-to-Please' had a sudden craving to check out EM flats. And chanced upon this ad online:
 

The ad did not look too promising, especially since the agent did not post any photos and the $10K COV feels fishy~

Nonetheless she went ahead to book an appointment with the agent since she has never seen an EM before and did not want to miss out on a good deal even if it's too good to be true.








Appended below are the summarised emotions derived from the flat viewing:
1) 'Jia1 Xiang1 de4 Gan3 Jue2' (translated into English = Feeling of Home-coming, ie. Ipoh Kampung Feeling)
2) Big...Very Big
3) Dirty, dusty & smelly (Huge make-over need to be done)
4) Koi Fish Window, Koi Fish Sliding Door, Koi Fish Motif...1st to be hacked and go'
5) 'Oh-my...Grey Granite Floor...2nd to be hacked and go'
6) Cornice at Ceiling - so old fashion...3rd to go
7) Brown Aluminum Sliding Window Frame - 4th to go
8) No Bomb Shelter???? (see floor plan)

Despite these many concerns, we opted for a 2nd viewing and paid $1000 for the option to purchase (OTP) 4 days later.
Main motivating factor was governed by points 1 & 2.
The 10k COV was also lucrative as savings from COV can be used to hack the granite floor (which was later vetoed due to budget constraint).
*By the way, please ensure that you have your HLE letter before committing to an OTP. You can negotiate with the seller to give you an extension or post-date the OTP.

The ad was actually put up by a freelance agent who told us she is the self-made/default buyer agent.
We didn't want to jin1 jin1 ji4 jiao4 (too calculative) and have no time to do the paper work, we accepted with grace her self-appointment as our buyer agent.
To give her due credit, she did try to cut the COV to $9K (not successful) and helped to appeal to HDB on our behalf regarding the submission of ROM cert (successful, but credit goes to the helpful HDB officer as well).
* To appeal, you need to submit to HDB a receipt of your wedding banquet/ROM/wedding gown with the date of your ROM written on it. To add more oomph you should submit a letter from the JP as well.

1st Appointment with HDB
- Date:19 Feb.
- As we will be exercising the additional 10k grant for living near to parents, our parents have to be present, together with their IC and marriage cert.
- Hear say, 1st appointment is for the HDB officer to understand if we are indeed genuine of marriage (to ensure the couple are not those scam type with foreign wives to buy HDB), 

More details of 1st & 2nd appointment will be posted in due time. So keep a look out for it.

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For potential flat-buyers, surfing through PropertyGuru (iPhone app available as well) and flipping through the Saturday Classifieds could be sufficient to help you in your flat-hunting journey if you have an idea on the location and type of flat you want.

By the way, a buyer agent normally earns 1% of the flat purchase price (paid by the buyer) while the seller agent earns 2% (paid by the seller). There is a serious conflict of interest which I really don't understand (why would the buyer agent want to reduce the price for you since he/she is earning based on commission?). HDB allows you to be your own agent and they organises seminars to educate you on the necessities during flat-buying/selling.