More than 3 months since the last entry. 

Since then nothing much had happened. Got excited and started looking at furniture, then it fizzled out for a bit coz to be honest, there’s a long way to go. Basically just scrolling through telegram groups on renovation picking up some ideas here and there, stuff to look out for, and other useful tips (like the fact that it’s important to engage painter early, coz they are apparently very well booked). 

It’s only towards the end of August when things started picking up again. Went to look at furniture at a couple of places which caught my eye - my social media apps didn’t fail to pick up my newfound interest on all things renovation, furniture and mattress related and bombarded me with ads everyday so it’s almost impossible to not click. Did see a few promising items though, but by now the bigger question is what I can fit into the house.

There is no denying that the living/dining area is a bit too cozy, so furniture choice is heavily reliant on dimensions - which I didn’t have on hand. Also the place is severely lacking of storage space if I don’t use the common bedroom as one, so furniture choices typically incorporate additional storage e.g. storage beds, storage sofa, more shelves if I can help it. The latter will definitely need space which I wasn’t sure if I had. 

So decided to text the agent to ask if owner could share floor plans (the ones I had didn’t have dimensions) and she told me to get from MCST -.-. Persisted and asked if I could go up to the unit to take a look if it’s convenient. Though she eventually did answer my question and told me owner had move out, had a baby last week, and this week might not be a good week for me to visit coz her mum is in hospital. I don’t know if I am not being compassionate enough but I don’t really buy everything she says - I never did. But just played along and told her I’ll check in with her again another time. 

Which turns out to be one week after. This time she ignored me completely lol. 

Persisted. Texted her again the next day with an innocent “You may have missed my message yesterday” and I guess even she can’t worm out of it anymore and helped to check with owner (my intention was more for her to be around rather than disturbing the owner - I had always assumed that she didn’t really want me to meet the owner). And turns out, in a bout of spontaneity owner’s only free slot was the very next morning. Figuring that it’s now or never I duly dropped everything on hand and agreed. 

And turns out she had to be in hospital so in the end it’s just me and owner. Which was a wonderful opportunity actually, with no agent interfering. I got all the measurements I need, had a chat with owner even though in my excitement there are some things I forgot to ask - like condition of the appliances which could have been a casual question. Owner himself was cool and told me if I needed to come up again can always ask and he’ll try to accommodate (though we stop short of exchanging numbers, shame, maybe I should have tried but figured it’s better to go through agent. Make her work!) 

So with measurements I had a much better idea. For instance I now know I definitely could do with a king bed with space to spare for a dresser if needed in future. Common bedroom config need to play around with a bit to fit the bed in the direction I wanted. The type of sofa that I can accommodate, the dining table I can buy. And how little space I had for my displays unless I get creative, which may be quite disappointing. 

It also gave me a good preview of the minor reno works that I need, with the place already stripped bare. Funny how you really only see this when the place is in this state. The fresh coat of paint is a must. Some of the power points are in kind of a odd position that I may need to engage an electrician to do a bit of rewiring. Decisions, decisions. 

So it was a super productive day! Though todo list is now longer than ever hahah. Fingers crossed everything is smooth sailing. 

23/9/21 

4 days of my Sketchup journey. 

With dimensions on hand I wanted to be able to visualize the space and my potential furnishing, so sketchup it is. Quick tutorial on Sunday night (finally putting the link from KJ to good use having ignored his assignments last time), and stayed up on Monday night to get started - got the perimeter and internal walls up though it’s a bit dubious, especially the external walls haha. Tuesday night started to play around with downloading 3D models to put in - getting the hang of it after a while because they don’t snap into place as easily (probably I didn’t do everything right when building the model) and only managed a couple of items like TV, sofa and the beds. Partly also because the variety of models aren’t great, or maybe I wasn’t looking close enough. 

Wednesday, got so excited that I actually worked through all the small pockets of time I have during day time - post lunch, pre-gym, post-gym etc. Most of the things that needed a decision are in, and things definitely looked a bit cramped in the dining area so really gotta be smart with furniture choices. 

Thursday, filled up the remaining furniture items - built up the master bathroom during lunch, common bath before gym, and other miscellaneous items, including common bedroom which is another point of interest coz it’s a bit tight too seeing that I wanted to squeeze in a decently sized study table too to make it a bedroom cum study - so another place where I needed to be smart with furniture choices. 

Model completed and all in all, doesn’t look too bad! Though sketch up lags like hell regularly (maybe all the 3D models I placed are catching up) but really gives a good idea on what to expect. 

More furniture shop visits this weekend!

Trip to the lawyers office to hand over the cashiers order for the remainder of down payment. 

Actually had been feeling unsettled for a while because it felt weird not doing anything at all on this front. Supposedly I don’t have to do anything, but it felt strange to not be involved. Also I haven’t heard anything from CPF coz I don’t want a scenario where there is a delay in disbursing or something and I had to fork out cash for the CPF portion temporarily too (even though I kinda budgeted for it too but it’s tightttt)? So shot an email to lawyer early Oct, just to check in if everything is fine. 

Prior to that I have even been monitoring URA transactions and it was only around mid Sept when I found my transaction recorded, which probably meant that lawyer lodged caveat (maybe it was done early, but the records were only updated later). Then one fine day I tried logging into INLIS and found my record too, which kind of assured me that the whole thing wasn’t a scam LOL. Then around second week of Oct I also received a notification from SLA that the bank had lodged a caveat too, coz after all my property is mortgaged to the bank. 

And as if nudging had an effect, lawyers office sent a letter updating me on the balance that I had to settle during completion. Basically the balance 20%, minus the CPF amount, add miscellaneous things like the portion of maintenance fees and property tax that the current owner had already paid in advance. CPF wasn’t a concern at all coz of all these maths happening in the background concerning buying and selling of property involving CPF board, sellers bank etc. which my brain hurts every time I try to process it so nvm.

Had to google how to buy a cashiers order coz how many times do people actually do this? Lawyer’s secretary giggled when I asked, and she just told me to go to a bank and do it, with some basic info like i can get it on the spot without much lead time needed. Googled a bit, and decided to go back to UOB to do it, so that’s another bank account balance wiped out sigh. Essentially it’s like a mega cheque la which gives people assurance that it will not bounce because the amount is immediately deducted from your account when the cashiers order is issued (as opposed to cheques). 

So arranged to visit the lawyer's office to pass it to lawyers secretary, at an ungodly hour of 8am coz I smartly scheduled to go back to office on the same day to exchange my expired staff pass. It’s also when I realized that what I really should have been concerned about is an inspection before handover, because the next time I see the unit, if it’s in a shittier condition than when I last saw it (fingers crossed it isn’t), well I can only suck thumb. But only realized this after the visit and figured it’s 10 days to handover, I can’t do much anyway. Let it go and hope for the best. 

Some other nuggets of info that I learned during the visit include the fact that I only get three access cards instead of five, so lawyers secretary told me I have to write to condo management to cancel the rest. Guessing the owners alr handed over the keys and access cards to the lawyer and this was documented, they probably lost the cards along the way. Thinking back why is it my responsibility to go and cancel the lost cards anyway? But whatever la. (Update: I ended up not doing it anyway coz I got too busy/I still don’t think it’s my job).

Also got lawyer’s secretary to help me check condo management email/contact so I can start applying permit for renovations beforehand. Not difficult I suppose and she got back to me with the info before I even reached home from the visit. 

So next - completion. Which is still at 530pm and I am not sure why actually. Probably they need to settle with current owners before that, but she did mention that if they settle earlier they will let me know I can come down earlier, but I already applied for the whole PM off anyway. Don’t think I’d be able to work anyway lol. 

1/11/21 

Completion day! 

Was so busy in the morning that I actually didn’t realize that nobody confirmed the time with me, until lawyers sec called close to noon to tell me it’s still at around 5.30pm. Which wasn’t quite what I had in mind because I planned to drop by the MA office after my visit to the new place to submit reno form, and MA office would have closed by 5.30pm. So I decided to move that part to the front lol. Even though in my mind I am not officially the owner yet, I don’t know if MA office recognizes me as the owner but apparently they didn’t ask too many questions and took my cheque, updated resident info on their end, and introduced me to the app for condo matters (“oh there’s an app. Interesting”). 

Hung out at a cafe to pass time, turns out I didn’t need to wait too long coz by around 4pm, lawyer’s sec called and said “they are on their way back” (if I heard correctly) and I can come over anytime. So maybe they had to go to the seller’s lawyer’s office to get the keys? Then wouldn’t it be easier if everybody can just agree to meet at a common place jeez. 

Anyway. Headed to the office, the whole process was just very quick and business like - keys handover, signed an acknowledgement, lawyer’s sec informed me that they had reached out to the MA office to inform them of transfer, passed the keys and access card and car decal over, then some last words on my loan obligations. And that’s basically it. 

I think there’s some excitement in there somewhere. Like, wow! I am a homeowner now (and owing lots of money now). My relationship with loan is more like, it’s an amount I gotta pay every month not unlike the rent I am paying now, so I feel like it’s not too different. My mum congratulated me lol but I guess my excitement had really waned off since June hahah. 

Or I think I was just really preoccupied with my very long to do list, including a whole lot to be done at the place itself in preparation of my sprucing up works. So went straight to my new place (conveniently, there’s a direct bus from Toa Payoh, my all time favorite town) for the second time that afternoon. I think there are definitely some surprises which are not quite pleasant, though not anything that cannot be overcame - details in other posts. 

So that’s the end of this chapter of the series (a very short chapter lol) ! Off to the next.