Sunday, January 04, 2009
1st Flats Viewing - 3rd Jan'09
Met Hubby after work today at my place's coffeeshop for lunch at 1+pm, thks to Cammie & James who gave me a lift back. =) We were to meet the agent at 2pm at blk 910, so had a quick lunch. A lot of questions popped out in my mind: Would the agent be nice and friendly? Would we get good/ideal units? Would we have to fork out a lot of cash?
Was feeling kindda excited also as it feels like another step into our future now that we are really looking for flats. It kindda felt strange when we are telling strangers that we're planning to get married but yet a bit shy/blissful, hehe. More weird when someone haven't propose, lol. Just kidding lah.
The agent was a malay lady who was quite nice, phew. The first unit was horrible, terrible and in a very bad condition. Though it was 10k below valuation, we have to top up 10k cash ebcause the owners need the money to pay the agent. We were told that they're selling it cos they were downgrading. Things I didn't like abt it:
1) I did not like the decor, design and the painting.
2) There were many unwashed dishes and pots in the kitchen and sink which lead to a smell and many flies!!!! *horrified*
3) The house was not maintained properly - The ceiling of the both toilets reveal the metal thingy and floors were dirty and dusty.
4) They hacked down one of the walls to make the living room bigger.
5) The female owner was unfriendly, a sore to the eye and totally bochup.
6) The moment I stepped into the house, I didn't feel like viewing most of the flat. I had those "eeeeeeeee" feeling and told Hubby I really hate the unit.
If we buy that unit, I think the whole place have to be renovated and a lot of works have to be done cos it was that bad.
We moved on to the 2nd unit at blk 853 which was on the 5th/6th floor. The family were moving out cos they were upgrading (they had 2-3kids). Valuation was $325K and they were asking for $6K COV (Cash Over Valuation) which was pretty reasonable. It was so much better compared to the previous unit but some tiles in the kitchen had those hairline cracks and would have to be replaced. The female owner was friendly and saying the neighbours are nice people as well which was important to her. I think that's important also, imagine neighbours who quarrel, play mahjong, make a lot of noise etc everyday. Their agent damn funny, say don't have to worry about loansharks. He told us there were a lot of amenities nearby and don't have to worry abt afternoon sun. Though it wasn't hot, it was a bit stuffy actually. They also had this display thingy at the living room which I don't really fancy, so that had to be removed as well if we took this flat.
The last unit was at blk 708 and I think/feel that was my ideal home. It was on the 14th floor, windy, the decor/reno was nice and bascially move in condition. They were moving out cos the husband had retired and they were moving to a condo. The lady owner was a Korean housewife (she's a Singaporean citizen now) and friendly. We only have to change the doors and maybe some re-painting if we want. But.... valuation was $364K! That was actually kindda quite above what we were looking for. But the flat was really, really nice and had that warm, cosy home feeling. I simply fell in love with it. Moreover, they have a small balcony! When we were leaving, I asked the agent how much they were looking at for the COV and she told us it was VTO (View To Offer). So far, they have not got any offers yet because we're the 1st viewers!
On the way back, me and Hubby discussed and we both love the house and decided to offer 8-10K. I called Mummy and we went home to tell Mummy about the house and for her opinion. Mummy also said she think we have to offer 10k at least if its so good, but she wanted to view the flat also. After checking with the agent, we would be viewing the unit on 4/Jan at 11am. The owners were asking for $15k actually not sure if they will accept our offer. $10K is actually more than what we were ready to fork out as we wanted to have spare cash for simple reno and furnishing. That would almost wipe out most of our savings.
Now I really, really hope that the owner would accept out offer or maybe even go lower (maybe 8K?) and that mummy will not screw up anything. Hope I will have some beginners' luck as well. I know its kindda soon after viewing 3 units only, but it was really nice.
Pls pray hard for me and wish me good luck!
Brenbren at 9:00 AM
