Photos from our ballroom hunting marathon!
Guess which is the one we chose in the end?
Thank You!!!
We've created a Wedding Site (http://www.mywedding.com/banhorngserene) with key information about our big day in September!
UPDATE: Selected wedding and honeymoon photos are all up on Facebook!
Thursday, 27 December 2007
Backlogs 06 - Ballrooms galore!
16 Sept 2007
Photos from our ballroom hunting marathon!
Guess which is the one we chose in the end?
Photos from our ballroom hunting marathon!
Guess which is the one we chose in the end?
Wednesday, 26 December 2007
Backlogs 05 - Absence makes the heart grow fonder?
16 July 2007 - 27 July 2007
Yikes! In mid July, the purple dinosaur has been called away for a course in Kuala Lumpur for two weeks! And very unfortunately, their first appointment is right in the middle of all this...
Given the high queue number, it would be unwise to postpone this appointment. Otherwise the selection for available units will be even smaller! After clarifying with the relevant people in HDB, they had assured us that only one party needs to be at the initial appointment.
Poor Hulk, she has to go make this important decision on her own for the time being.. and what was the dinosaur doing?Gallivanting Learning in Kuala Lumpur of course!
Purple Dinosaur at work:
This is NOT the purple dinosaur:
Yay! The Hulk has made a wise decision. This is the view from our new place! Like our pool and garden?
Yah right! In our dreams! Read up on this post instead! :P
Yikes! In mid July, the purple dinosaur has been called away for a course in Kuala Lumpur for two weeks! And very unfortunately, their first appointment is right in the middle of all this...
Given the high queue number, it would be unwise to postpone this appointment. Otherwise the selection for available units will be even smaller! After clarifying with the relevant people in HDB, they had assured us that only one party needs to be at the initial appointment.
Poor Hulk, she has to go make this important decision on her own for the time being.. and what was the dinosaur doing?
Purple Dinosaur at work:
This is NOT the purple dinosaur:
Yay! The Hulk has made a wise decision. This is the view from our new place! Like our pool and garden?
Yah right! In our dreams! Read up on this post instead! :P
Tuesday, 25 December 2007
Backlogs 04 - Three Long Hikes
07 July 2007 - 15 July 2007
Since it makes no sense to start looking at all available 922 units, it only makes sense to start the shortlisting closer to our appointment date. This way we only look at which are the likely units to be available. After eliminating the VERY ULU Punggol, we have about 60+ units on our list.
Trip 1:
The flats available in Hougang were repurchased flats. I guess this means that families were either unable to afford to upkeep the flats, or ran into difficulties (divorced??) and so HDB took the units back. Hougang being two MRT stops nearer to central Singapore, we decided to take a look at these units first.
Hmm.. somehow these units were not so appealing. They were low floor and had dubious origins. Some of them had front porches that were in very sad states and one even had paint splashed on the door. Needless to say, the previous owners were probably running into financial difficulties and hounded by loansharks. NO way are we going to take up units such as these. Also, in terms of renovations, it would incur more hacking and labour fees if the house is in a bad state..or done in bad taste :P
Initially we had wanted to cover both Hougang and Sengkang. Well, our legs didn't want to..
For the next trips, we decided to involve our parents in the selection process. This way we'll eliminate units that they didn't like (due to any fengshui issues or anything)..well so they can't say "I said so!". Hehehe..I'm just covering our asses *bleah*
Trip 2:
After a night's rest, we the dinosaur and hulk brought the dinosaur mummy and daddy down to Sengkang. On this day, we blazed through 50+ units, gazing from the void decks and walkways, and walking up to the front doors. Oh and can I say "AUNTIE POWER!"? Barney's mum and her friend were able to get us entry into some of the neighbouring units beside and along the same vertical sections. This means that we can actually see the layout of the units we are scouting and get some reno ideas eh? ;)
Trip 3:
A week later, the hulk family came along! Well we learnt certain "things". Like how windows shouldn't be facing bridges and so forth. At the end of the day, it's not that we are avid believers in mysticism or fengshui, but it's to give a peace of mind for our parents as well. In a way, the dinosaur is hoping that these scouting trips gives the unspoken endorsement on the units we are choosing. At the end of the day, the place we choose must be the one WE are most comfortable with.
That's why, at the end of it, we plan to come back during one of the evenings to see if the place is deserted or spooky at night :)
Since it makes no sense to start looking at all available 922 units, it only makes sense to start the shortlisting closer to our appointment date. This way we only look at which are the likely units to be available. After eliminating the VERY ULU Punggol, we have about 60+ units on our list.
Trip 1:
The flats available in Hougang were repurchased flats. I guess this means that families were either unable to afford to upkeep the flats, or ran into difficulties (divorced??) and so HDB took the units back. Hougang being two MRT stops nearer to central Singapore, we decided to take a look at these units first.
Hmm.. somehow these units were not so appealing. They were low floor and had dubious origins. Some of them had front porches that were in very sad states and one even had paint splashed on the door. Needless to say, the previous owners were probably running into financial difficulties and hounded by loansharks. NO way are we going to take up units such as these. Also, in terms of renovations, it would incur more hacking and labour fees if the house is in a bad state..or done in bad taste :P
Initially we had wanted to cover both Hougang and Sengkang. Well, our legs didn't want to..
For the next trips, we decided to involve our parents in the selection process. This way we'll eliminate units that they didn't like (due to any fengshui issues or anything)..well so they can't say "I said so!". Hehehe..I'm just covering our asses *bleah*
Trip 2:
After a night's rest, we the dinosaur and hulk brought the dinosaur mummy and daddy down to Sengkang. On this day, we blazed through 50+ units, gazing from the void decks and walkways, and walking up to the front doors. Oh and can I say "AUNTIE POWER!"? Barney's mum and her friend were able to get us entry into some of the neighbouring units beside and along the same vertical sections. This means that we can actually see the layout of the units we are scouting and get some reno ideas eh? ;)
Trip 3:
A week later, the hulk family came along! Well we learnt certain "things". Like how windows shouldn't be facing bridges and so forth. At the end of the day, it's not that we are avid believers in mysticism or fengshui, but it's to give a peace of mind for our parents as well. In a way, the dinosaur is hoping that these scouting trips gives the unspoken endorsement on the units we are choosing. At the end of the day, the place we choose must be the one WE are most comfortable with.
That's why, at the end of it, we plan to come back during one of the evenings to see if the place is deserted or spooky at night :)
Backlogs 03 - New House Hunt
17 June 2007
In June, the purple dinosaur and green mutant decided to try their luck at balloting for a new house directly from HDB. Certainly not putting all our eggs in one basket eh? (see post on Resale House Hunt ;) ). It's like going to the lottery booths. Here we paid $10 and will wait for the lottery results a month after...
For the June Bimonthly ballot for 4 room and larger units, 922 units were up for grabs. After about a month, the statistics came in at almost 5000 ballots for these units. When we finally got our queue number, we had a queue number in the low 1000's. How the process works is that from the 922 pool of units, couples will take turns to choose from the pool in the sequence of their queue number. Therefore the low queue numbers would get a wider selection (ie. better locations and floor levels) while the higher queue numbers would have little to choose from. Hmm..this means that if everyone chose a unit in the queue numbers before us, this would leave us no choice right? Well, we can only cross our fingers and wait. Hopefully some are just trying their luck for choice units and are willing to try to ballot again the next rounds.
With the queue number comes an appointment date to HDB office. On this date, the couple then chooses the unit from the available pool.
Guess how many times we actually went down to see the available units? ;)
In June, the purple dinosaur and green mutant decided to try their luck at balloting for a new house directly from HDB. Certainly not putting all our eggs in one basket eh? (see post on Resale House Hunt ;) ). It's like going to the lottery booths. Here we paid $10 and will wait for the lottery results a month after...
For the June Bimonthly ballot for 4 room and larger units, 922 units were up for grabs. After about a month, the statistics came in at almost 5000 ballots for these units. When we finally got our queue number, we had a queue number in the low 1000's. How the process works is that from the 922 pool of units, couples will take turns to choose from the pool in the sequence of their queue number. Therefore the low queue numbers would get a wider selection (ie. better locations and floor levels) while the higher queue numbers would have little to choose from. Hmm..this means that if everyone chose a unit in the queue numbers before us, this would leave us no choice right? Well, we can only cross our fingers and wait. Hopefully some are just trying their luck for choice units and are willing to try to ballot again the next rounds.
With the queue number comes an appointment date to HDB office. On this date, the couple then chooses the unit from the available pool.
Guess how many times we actually went down to see the available units? ;)
Backlogs 02 - Resale House Hunt
June 2007 - July 2007
For this purpose, being the kiasu Singaporeans that we are, we actually engaged two housing agents to help us in our house hunt.
Agent K
This was one based on a friend's recommendation who had utilised his services earlier and got a pretty good location and price for his new place just a couple of months earlier.
Agent L
A friend back from Army Days, he'll be more approachable. Since he's in the business of house transactions, we engaged him as well.
Criteria for House
Ideally, it would be good that our new place be near our parents and amenities. Amenities meaning not too far from MRT stations and places where food can be found (forseeing that we would have little time or patience for cooking).
Giving the agents our budgets and criteria, we have actually scouted for places near Jurong, Toh Guan, even up to forsaken Teban Gardens. Agent K brought us to these places. His honest advice was that the resale housing market was heating up and sellers are looking for quick gains in asking for high cash-over-valuation (COV) prices. I only blame the enbloc sales and the media limelight in the recent news that bolstered sellers' expectations. Every week or so we would read in the papers about new private AND public houses selling for record prices. Records being broken every few weeks or so..
His take on this was: for a young couple like us, with not that much cash in hand -- try to buy a new unit directly from the HDB.
Indeed, the units he has brought us to see, in our opinion, were not in very good condition, or locations, and had high asking prices.
Just to orientate you, my current place is in Jurong, while hulk stays in Bishan.
Unfortunately, Agent L could fare no better. We even went up to Sengkang area to take a look, and even then, sellers were asking for 15 - 20k COV. Seeing that we have to budget for renovations, wedding, furnishings etc etc.. This is not a favourable scenario. Here's a photo of one of these Sengkang units:
It's tall and windy with a seaview, but just beside an expressway (TPE). It's noisy noisy noisy!
For this purpose, being the kiasu Singaporeans that we are, we actually engaged two housing agents to help us in our house hunt.
Agent K
This was one based on a friend's recommendation who had utilised his services earlier and got a pretty good location and price for his new place just a couple of months earlier.
Agent L
A friend back from Army Days, he'll be more approachable. Since he's in the business of house transactions, we engaged him as well.
Criteria for House
Ideally, it would be good that our new place be near our parents and amenities. Amenities meaning not too far from MRT stations and places where food can be found (forseeing that we would have little time or patience for cooking).
Giving the agents our budgets and criteria, we have actually scouted for places near Jurong, Toh Guan, even up to forsaken Teban Gardens. Agent K brought us to these places. His honest advice was that the resale housing market was heating up and sellers are looking for quick gains in asking for high cash-over-valuation (COV) prices. I only blame the enbloc sales and the media limelight in the recent news that bolstered sellers' expectations. Every week or so we would read in the papers about new private AND public houses selling for record prices. Records being broken every few weeks or so..
His take on this was: for a young couple like us, with not that much cash in hand -- try to buy a new unit directly from the HDB.
Indeed, the units he has brought us to see, in our opinion, were not in very good condition, or locations, and had high asking prices.
Just to orientate you, my current place is in Jurong, while hulk stays in Bishan.Unfortunately, Agent L could fare no better. We even went up to Sengkang area to take a look, and even then, sellers were asking for 15 - 20k COV. Seeing that we have to budget for renovations, wedding, furnishings etc etc.. This is not a favourable scenario. Here's a photo of one of these Sengkang units:
It's tall and windy with a seaview, but just beside an expressway (TPE). It's noisy noisy noisy!
Backlogs 01 - July House Hunting
May 2007
Back in late May to June, the dinosaur and hulk started to look for a nest to stay in. In Singapore's context, you have two main options:
1) Private Apartments
Condominium projects are plentiful and come in all sorts of variety. However this is a pricier option. For our first nest, it would be financially sound to choose one that would allow us to continue to lead the lifestyle we desire without being bogged down by large loans and high maintenance fees.
2) Public Housing
In other countries, subsidised government housing usually equates to dingy, dilapidated, dull and cramped buildings in various states of disrepair and neglect. Not in Singapore. (not to overly commend the brilliant administration, but given the vast resources and legislative power the ruling party has [read citizen savings from CPF and taxes and the Land Act], it is only right that they give us housing of decent quality). Subsidised public housing in Singapore is more affordable for the masses, and minor flaws aside, is of reasonable size (comparing with the likes of Hong Kong) and quality (no glass bottles in the walls like Taiwan).
For public HDB housing, house hunters can either purchase new units from HDB directly, or purchase from previous owners from the open market as resale flats. There are some restrictions with buying new flats, and with a balloting scheme in place, you may not get the unit you desire or consider the most ideal. Obviously, with resale units, you do get a better choice of the exact location, floor level, size etc.
Alright..enough boring talk about HDB regulations and background (oh if you want to talk about regulations, I can draft pages and pages of it :P ).
Back in late May to June, the dinosaur and hulk started to look for a nest to stay in. In Singapore's context, you have two main options:
1) Private Apartments
Condominium projects are plentiful and come in all sorts of variety. However this is a pricier option. For our first nest, it would be financially sound to choose one that would allow us to continue to lead the lifestyle we desire without being bogged down by large loans and high maintenance fees.
2) Public Housing
In other countries, subsidised government housing usually equates to dingy, dilapidated, dull and cramped buildings in various states of disrepair and neglect. Not in Singapore. (not to overly commend the brilliant administration, but given the vast resources and legislative power the ruling party has [read citizen savings from CPF and taxes and the Land Act], it is only right that they give us housing of decent quality). Subsidised public housing in Singapore is more affordable for the masses, and minor flaws aside, is of reasonable size (comparing with the likes of Hong Kong) and quality (no glass bottles in the walls like Taiwan).
For public HDB housing, house hunters can either purchase new units from HDB directly, or purchase from previous owners from the open market as resale flats. There are some restrictions with buying new flats, and with a balloting scheme in place, you may not get the unit you desire or consider the most ideal. Obviously, with resale units, you do get a better choice of the exact location, floor level, size etc.
Alright..enough boring talk about HDB regulations and background (oh if you want to talk about regulations, I can draft pages and pages of it :P ).
Tuesday, 11 December 2007
Long Awaited Updates are coming!
Ok ok we're hearing the complaints. It's not really that we've been tardy with updates, but the past few weekends have been pretty occupied. Not being the types contented with just going to the popular stores and making "buy" decisions right away, we are persistent in doing the legwork to get the most out of our very limited budgets.
Hopefully, our efforts are paying off..
Hopefully, our efforts are paying off..
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