Kim Tian HDB #8 - Our HDB Second Appointment

We gotta our house keys on my BDAE!

Timing just nice right?

This day was also the auspicious day for the 'open door ceremony'!

See us tugging our barang barang for our new house.

Pic above: The logistics personnel 

Pic above: Arrival at Toa Payoh HDB Hub

Pic above: HDB insurance purchase and waiting for our queue number to be 'called'.

We are on time! Unbelievable? haha...

Professional Francis reached earlier than us, but seller was late.

So we went up to 2nd level to purchase the Etiqa Homeowners Enhanced Insurance 

(inclusive of fire insurance) first.

See the scanned doc below for more details.

Pic above: Details of Etiqa Homeowners Enhanced Insurance 

Pic above: Receipt for the 5 years insurance policy

After purchasing the insurance, we went down to 1st level to wait for seller

while Francis went to get our queue number.

Ok, our queue number is 8032, in case any friends interested to buy 4D.

My mum bought it on that following Saturday, but never win leh.

So while waiting....

Pic above: Trying to act not excited... haha

Seller was still not here when it's our turn.

Not sure whether she was having a last minute change in mind, don't want to sell to us?

Strangely, during our HDB inspection visit, she asked us a few times whether we wanna forgo the unit.

Said we first timers may be disadvantaged due to the new HDB rules.

But we were told by others maybe she regretted selling?

As she has just upgraded to private property, but the new HDB rules disallowed people with private property to buy resale HDB unit? Hmm... dunno...

Francis later told us that she was caught in a meeting.

Pic above: Getting keys for new house!

We met Derek again, our friendly and smiley HDB officer.

He doesn't frown when i snapped here and there too.

He was busy calling the seller's representative when we reached.

Pic above: Final Resale HDB Agreement

 

Yes, and we finally gotta our keys!

Most most expensive purchase in our life so far!

Thereafter, we immediately headed back to our new house.

We arranged for the utilities person to come, scared we may miss him.

But too bad, it was raining really heavily, so had to drive slow.

It was heavy rain on our HDB first appointment too!

Pic above: Heavy rain when leaving HDB Hub

Pic above: Opening door of our house first time

We didn't catch the utilities guy in time.

So we arranged for him to come the next day,

coz we need electricity for a mini alcohol party. hee...

Nevertheless, 'Mr Nice Guy' managed to on our water source

after some DIY tips from the PUB officer on phone.

Wah! Expert!

To share with future home-owners, our expenses during our HDB second appointment are:

1) Etiqa Homeowners Enhanced Insurance for 5 years = S$375.5 (Nets)

2) Pro-rated Property tax (Oct-Dec) = S$52 (Cash)

3) Agent fees

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Esparina Excutive Condo - Piece of gold?

Some friends have been sharing with me about this new EC project 

in Seng Kang near Buangkok MRT - The Esparina Residences.

(Credit: h88.com)

Some quick facts:

-      Modeled like a spa resort home, blending comfort and luxury. 

-      With a variety of condo facilities. Comes with 7 thematic spas (not sure what that is), as well as a lap pool and the usual condo facilities (gym, tennis court, function room, bbq pavilion).

-      All within 3 minutes stroll to Buangkok MRT station.

-      Average $750 psf 

Developer:  FCL Compassvale Pte Ltd (JV of Frasers Centrepoint Homes & Lum Chang Grp)
Location: Compassvale Bow (District 19) near Buangkok MRT station

Tenure: 99 year leasehold w.e.f. 2 June 2010

Expected TOP | Vacant Possession: 1Q2014
Expected Legal Completion: 1Q2017

Payment: Normal Progressive Payment Scheme

Status: Executive Condominium (HDB eligibility conditions apply)
Site Layout: 9 residential blocks
Building Height: 18 storeys
No. of Units: 573 units with full condominium facilities

(Credit: esparina.com)

(Credit: h88.com)

Indicative price range from main website:
2 bedrooms 829 sqft  ~S$600-700k
3 bedrooms compact 1001 sqft ~S$750-800k
3 bedrooms + utility 1066 sqft ~S$800-850k
3 bedrooms dual key 1152 sqft ~S$850-900k
4 bedrooms + utility 1367 sqft ~S$950k-1.03M
4 bedrooms dual key 1464 sqft ~S$1.05-1.1M
Penthouses 1690 to 2583 sqft ~S$1.15-1.3M

Penthouse sounds tempting! Somemore with condo facilities!
So nice and relaxing...
Hmm... but S$800k for a 3 bedroom in Seng Kang worth it???
At least it's very very near to MRT. :)

Saw the below rules on the main website too. Does this applies to all HDB flats, DBSS and EC or just Esparina?

Buying another subsidised housing

If you sell Esparina in the open market, you must wait for 30 months after the sale before you can submit an application to buy:
* a new flat from HDB
* a DBSS apartment from developers
* another EC from developers

Resale Levy

You are liable to pay a resale levy of $55,000 when you buy a second subsidised flat from HDB or take over ownership of a subsidised HDB flat after selling Esparina if you bought it under the CPF Housing Grant Scheme (after meeting the 5-year Minimum Occupation Period (MOP) and the 30-month period).

(Credit: esparina.com)

Channel NewsAsia mentioned that it was oversubscribed and balloting will be this friday.
(Credit: channelnewsasia.com)
Best of luck to those friends who are balloting!

Kim Tian HDB #7 - HDB Inspection + Loo's Hainanese Curry Rice at Tiong Bahru

Last sunday, we finally completed our HDB Inspection!

With the wise assistance from 'Mr Nice Guy's parents.

    



We looked thru the HDB Inspection Checklist that i have prepared the day before,

and each of us was in charge to look at particular areas such as toilet, bedroom etc.

Thought it looks ugly to bring a list along, the seller may not like it.

The whole thing took around half an hour.

I was sooooo hungry, coz I went straight for the HDB inspection after I woke up. Haha...

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So immediately after the inspection, we went nearby for brunch!

'Mr Nice Guy' introduced to us this Loo's Hainanese Curry Rice,
he has been wanting to try it coz his friends told him that it's popular.

True enough, there was a long queue when we reached.

 Curry, pork chop, stew cabbage, hainanese lor bak... here we come! ;p

      

 

The signboard states that it has been around since 1946... means been around for 64 years!!!
It's at Blk 57 Eng Hoon St, in a quite rundown coffeeshop diagonally opposite the Tiong Bahru market.

Forgot to take pics of the food as we were toooo hungry! Haha

I like the assam sotong (squid)! Very soft and nicely cooked! Yum yum..

'Mr Nice Guy' thinks it's ok overall, he still prefers his fav Scissors Cut at Jalan Besar.

I found a video on Loo's Hainanese Curry Rice by Channel 8 排排站查查看.
Shows the yummy tender sotong. Check it out! :)

Loo's Hainanese Curry Rice
Address: Blk 57 Eng Hoon Street #01-88, Tai Kwang Huat Coffeeshop
Tel: +65 6225 3762

Operating Hours: 8am till 2pm (Closed Alt Tuesday)

Payment: Cash

Rating: Me 7/10, 'Mr Nice Guy' 6/10 (he prefers Scissors Cut at Jalan Besar)

Try: sotong (squid), stewed cabbage, pork chop, rice drenched with curry
Reviews elsewhere: Ieatishootipost, Alfredeats

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Kim Tian HDB #6 - Checklist for HDB Inspection prior to second HDB appointment

HDB's website states that at the 2nd appt "The buyer confirms that the flat has been vacated and its condition is acceptable… … After the signing of the transfer documents, the flat is legally under the buyers’ names and thus the buyers will be held responsible should anything unpleasant arise.”

As mentioned in our first HDB appt post, our HDB officer Derek has advised us to go for the HDB inspection. Thus I have gathered some info from renotalk, singaporebrides etc forums to do up a checklist, so that we know what we should be looking out during tomorrow's HDB inspection.

Checklist for HDB inspection:

1.  Any unauthorised renovation work or illegal installations?
- Any fittings outside windows
- Corridor fixtures to be "movable" at any time.

Those stuff outside house, are not allowed to be fixed (by means of screw/glue/cement, etc) onto  wall or floor…e.g. rack, pot, stand. Any hook within house is ok, but not OUTSIDE. People like to hang stuff such as flower pot/bird cage/banners outside....obstruct traffic and cause potential danger....  
- Sanitary pipes any leakage/personal modification
- Aircon /sliding/casement window safety issue

- Illegal renovation such as platform too high, boxed up of bomb shelter hole

2.   Any major cracks on the walls? Broken tiles? Big holes on the floor? If it’s visible when u sign the OTP, then seller does not have to rectify.

3.   All unwanted items removed by the seller? As you do not need to inherit any unwanted items.

4.   All the electrical lighting points are working? By switching on all the lights one by one.

5.   Test built-in stuffs to see if they are working?  E.g. instant water heater, aircon, fan, shower screen door, water pipe.

6.   Check to see if all the windows glasses are working fine by opening and closing them.

7.   All the keys to your window grills and bedroom doors are intact by locking and unlocking them.

8.   Check the ceilings and corners for tell-tale signs of water leakage:
a) 'Bubbles' in the paintwork,
b) Paintwork peeling off,
c) Wavy brown stains that forms a circle, and/or
d) Dampness on the ceiling or some crystallised water droplets.

9.   If it is an old estate, needs to take note things like the toilet lower window glass needs to be those types which had embedded wire mesh in the glass panels.

      (eh, I don’t really understand this part, will ask ‘Mr Nice Guy’ tomorrow.)

Reminder/ To-do list:

1.   Ask agent Francis about utilities account. When to apply for electricity, water supply and renovation permit? Fire insurance?

2.   Check whether the house has charms or talismans currently?

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Kim Tian HDB #5 - Auspicious Date to "Open Door"

Mummy said that based on Chinese customs, we should have a simple ritual ceremony on an auspicious date to open our house’s door for the first time after collecting our keys.

Heard from friends that they also do so. Thus we reasoned out that it's best we just follow accordingly for “peace of mind” and good luck. Huat ah! :)

How to select auspicious date and timing?
Auspicious dates and times are usually selected by either consulting
* chinese geomancer,
* chinese monk,
* temple official,
* fortune teller,
* chinese calendar, or
* chinese almanac.

We went to consult a lady geomancer today. Mummy gave us the address, said her friends and friends’ children also go to this lady geomancer to select auspicious date.

She’s a very patient and nice lady in her 50s, can only speak mandarin.

We previously went to consult her on our solemnization date, thus she already has our birth dates.

I actually wanted to take some pics, but Mr Nice Guy said it’s disrespectful. So no pics loh! :(

What to expect?

A)  First, she chose a suitable auspicious date and time according to the ‘Tong Shu’ (The Chinese Almanac) based on our birth dates. This date is for “Open door”, “Earth-deity thanking ritual” (‘Xie Tu’) and ‘Dong Tu’ (move the ground literally, means commencement of renovation).

B)  Then she wrote down the items that we need to get for the ritual. This is to pay greetings to the earth-deity as the new owners for wealth and happiness.

Pic above: Geomancer's list of items to prepare

               Translated in english, items include:

                  1. 1 'Fa gao' 发糕 (means prosperity cake)

                  2. 5 Oranges

                  3. 1 Pineapple

                  4. A bunch of banana

                  5. Joss sticks

                  6. A pair of candles

                  7. Joss papers

                  8. Tea leaves

                  9. Sweet – for good fortune

                   (read it somewhere coz God of Fortune loves sweet stuff.

                    Just like during CNY, people also put sweet stuff to invite God of Fortune.)

C)  She also advised after the ritual, we need to sprinkle a mixture of rice and salt at all corners and cannot sweep it away for 3 days.

As both of us dunno anything about the custom, we asked a lot of questions on the procedure, what to say for prayer, the facing direction of the ritual, how to arrange the items, when to do what etc.

Wah, I must say she’s super patient. She explained in details to all our questions, while I quickly scribbled on a paper. Seeing how lost we were, she even write another note on what we have to say when we offer prayers to the earth deity.


Time and cost?

The whole session took around half an hour.

She does not has a fixed charge, but accepts ‘angbow’ (red packet) instead where you give an amount to your ability and liking. We have previously given her a red packet when we consulted her on our solemnization date. Mummy said this time gives $12 so we just followed suit.

What we like?

She’s very warm and not the kind to ask you to buy this and that. Very friendly and patient as she knows we are first timer buying flat and we do not have a single clue, she takes the effort to explain the ritual in details to us.  Also, she does not charge exorbitant fees to choose an auspicious date, I heard my friends paying $100 or more to choose a date. Also, she said if we have any further questions about the procedure, we can give her a call. Very nice! :)

Cons?

She can only write and speak Chinese, so there may be things that we don’t understand from her note.  But when we asked her, she will immediately tell us what’s the word etc.

Found some other recommendations online on moving house... for those who may be interested:

1.   Don't move house when there is a pregnant woman in the family, or at least the pregnant woman should not be at the scene on the day of moving.

2.   At the day of moving, say good things, and avoid any dispute.

3.   Organize a 'house-warming' party for lunch or dinner; the presence of guests would bring favourable 'Yang/Sheng Qi' to the house.

4.   There is no need to move 'everything' in at the appointed date.

5.   Any charms or talismans at the old house should be properly disposed off.

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Kim Tian HDB #3 - HDB First Appointment: What to expect?

Some of my friends have asked me questions about the first appointment, so this is a continuation to my HDB First Appointment post.


1. What are the procedures on our HDB first appointment?
• Our agent Francis has arranged us and the seller to meet him at the first floor.
• Francis got a queue number for us.
• Waited for around 15 mins before the customer front desk called our queue number. We went forward together with the seller and Francis.
• The seller verified their documents first, then our turn.
• Customer front desk allocate us to a HDB officer on the first floor.
• We waited for almost 40 mins till our queue number was called again to go into a room on the first floor to meet the HDB officer.
• Seller and us went into different rooms.
• Nice friendly HDB officer went through our financial plans with us, explain the resale procedures, and fix the completion date aka 2nd HDB appointment. We then signed many documents.
• Thereafter Francis brought us up to level 3 to pay the COV + Conveyancing fees + Caveat Fee via cheque or nets.


2. Documents to bring for first appointment?
• Original and 3 photocopies IC of both buyers
• HLE / Letter of Offer from bank
• Marriage Certificate or HDB Approval letter to defer the submission of your marriage certificate


3. Will seller know about financial situation of buyer since buyer has to submit income documents etc to HDB officer?
• Seller and us were assigned to different HDB officers, i.e. we went into different room.
• Seller will not know buyer’s financial status as buyer loan was pre-approved. If taking a bank loan, officer need not do a calculation for you again since it was done before 1st appointment by your banker. If taking a hdb loan, officer will meet buyers alone 1st to discuss your monthly installment.


4. Is the second appointment date fixed by the HDB officer? Can the seller / buyer ask the HDB officer to push to a later date?
• For completion, it’s normally 6 to 8 wks (HDB officer sets the date).
• But if any party wanna change date, both sellers and buyers have to agree on the date. Both parties have to draft a letter to agree on this matter.
• For our case, Francis did up a self-written letter on the spot and asked us and the sellers to sign, and ended with his signature.


5. What to expect before second appointment?
• Both Francis and nice HDB officer have advised us to go down to our future home to check at least 1-2 times prior to 2nd appointment if there’s any abnormality such as loan shark wordings etc.
• Then Francis has helped us set a date for the seller to move by then. Once the seller moved, we will have to go down to the unit to do inspection, see whether they have really moved out, took all that belongs to them, doesn’t remove the aircon etc.

We still haven’t fully figure out what to look out for during inspection. Maybe will bring mummys and daddys down with us. Haha... they are more experienced.


Will update on the inspection then! :) Hopefully no complications. *prays hard* Hehe...

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Kim Tian HDB #2 - HDB Approval Letter for Purchase

We have received the HDB approval letter for the purchase of our future home!!! :)

Pic above: HDB Approval Letter for Purchase

We are getting pretty excited as the date of completion (2nd HDB appt) draws nearer!

Oh ya, the HDB officer has reminded us to go inspect the flat before the 2nd HDB appt...

Hmm... wonders what we supposed to look out for???

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Kim Tian HDB #1 - Our HDB First Appointment

Ok, finally resume blogging AGAIN! Realised that Blogspot is actually easier for beginners like me, compared to LiveJournal. Have difficulties customizing the layout, coz i dunno how to do at all! haha..

So I'm glad that Blogspot has step by step guides :) Pls use blogspot if u r beginner too yeah

Told 'Mr Nice Guy' (BF told me to use this to refer to him on blog... haha...:p) that i be blogging to document our preparations for our solemnization and then wedding banquet, as evidence to show who did more work (ans is obvious.. ahem... haha...:p)... also to share our struggles/challenges with our dear friends ya :)

1st thing to announce - We went for our 1st HDB appointment today!

Surprisingly 'Mr Nice Guy' and I were EARLY for the appointment at 8.45am. Bet many friends who know us will be surprised (Ha!).

Pic above: Doesn't 'Mr Nice Guy' looks very awake? :p

Pic above: Raining season lately... luckily no floods.. hee :)

Pic above: Reached HDB Hub!!!

We waited for 1hr at the waiting area at Level 1 before we get to see the HDB officer!! Famished!!! Didn't have time to get our breakfast before the appointment.. But the HDB officer (forgot to ask his name) was very nice and friendly! Went thru all the documents with us clearly and gives advices etc... knowing that we are first-time buyer, he specially reminded us MUST MUST inspect the HDB unit before our 2nd HDB appointment where the unit becomes officially ours. Thumbs UP!

First appt checklist procedure and checklist here.

Pic above: Our friendly HDB Officer going thru documents with us, photographed by our SUPER nice agent Francis! 

Thereafter, Francis brought us up to Level 3 to pay the COV + Conveyancing fees + Caveat Fee. Instantly both of us felt like a pauper! If only we are able to get new HDB flat thru balloting via BTO or BOS, we won't have to go thru this scary property market hike. Lucky thing we managed to get Francis who always help to look out for us. Met some nasty and liar agents, so beware first timers who's planning or currently looking around in the resale market.

Yeah, so finally first appointment is complete. Till the inspection..

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On a side note, 'Mr Nice Guy' and I saw Richard Liu Qianyi at Jurong East Central just now. 'Mr Nice Guy' suddenly exclaimed "艺人!", I turned and saw Liu Qianyi. Guess he heard us too, and amazingly he said Hi to us. Wow... Gracious! :)

Pic above: Richard Liu Qianyi

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