doodbug

Hi mysweetlittlethings - I am not familiar with the pri schs at Clementi as I plan to send my kids to Fairfield, which is my alma mater. But from Clementi Ave 6, Nan Hua is 150m away or something. When's your 1st appointment with HDB? I am not sure whether you can walk from Sunset to Clementi MRT. I don't consider Ave 6 walking distance to MRT also actually....I would think a comfortable walking distance is within 500m.

ice-cream - daily scoop!! yumdelicious!! and rockys pizza double yum!! sunset's great really. and exclusive.

hi mysweetlittlethings, don't hack the rooms above - harder to sell in future getting keys only in oct - signed otp only last month. will get to take pictures then! shifting end of oct as well.

Hi, I need alot of rooms because I have one daughter and one son, and one domestic helper. So the utility area is for my domestic helper. And I need a study too - so am using the dining area as a study - two large L shape tables and have moved the dining table to the corridor from kitchen to living room, which is very wide with the staircase against wall configuration. Which is why for me I couldn't consider a "criss cross" staircase unit. This is also the reason why I much prefer the 2nd generation EM layout, with a large square balcony as it gives the flexibility of using balcony as area for domestic helper to sleep and yet we have one other extra full room in the 1st level.

Hi Mysweetlittlethings, I like your unit size! And the GREAT thing about your unit is the fantastic layout of the common toilet on level 2. The other EMs in the 1985/1986 generation have the silliest common toilet layout (like mine). The only thing that that I like better about the traditional EMlayout is the staircase layout - the unit looks more spacious if the staircase is against the wall. Other than that, great unit! Is your utility area big enough to convert to a spare room?

congratulations! on being such a happy owner! Really i hardly see people so excited and happy over their purchases. I wasn't over the moon over my purchase, more relieved than anything else, haha. you know, the bonus of having a 3/4th level maisonette is that the ceiling is very nice and high on the 4th level there is a difference comapred with other non top floor EMs I made an offer for a 680k for a Toh Yi walk up level 3/4 EM - one of the reasons was that even with the false ceiling on the top floor, the ceiling was so nice and high and a ceiling fan looked great! the rest of our ceilings are about 2.7m or so top level at least 20cm more I believe. congrats congrats congrats!

Hi Myswweetlittle things, hey 667k is not a bad price cos the owner marketed that united for over 700k not too long ago! Which is why I didn't see the unit. BTW, is it a 3rd level walk up unit? i don't know the details but for hdb, i know i am weird but i favour 2nd/3rd level unis especially now that i have a young daughter and a domestic helper. somehow feel that it is safer that they don't have to take the lift with strangers. okay i know i sound crazy but i was really quite scared of taking lifts when i was young..... and if the window grilles are already installed and are to your liking, you do save alot of money! My favourite is the walk up 3rd level EM Except that you have to consider what happens when they do lift upgrading - hopefully doesn't block your view or end up being some obtrusive dunno what. btw, sunset way maisonettes are unique in they have many different types of layouts, many are not the traditional EM layouts that we know- the whole estate has so many permutations of EM layouts - almost feels like an EM experiment - though those EMs are called 5 room maisonettes (probably because the 4th room isn't really a room like in the 1st generation EMs). Your layout looks good. some of the sunset staircases are very strange, the staircase cuts the living/dining area i.e. the criss cross design rather than alongside the wall. of course the alongside the wall one is better - which yours is. which school will you be sending your kids to? how old are your children? mine are 3 and 4.

congratulations!!! quite a few nice corner EMs suddenly came out on the market at the sunet area. i like the white white look! in fact i am painting my entire living dining area white - ceilings cornices and walls haha moving in oct....we appealed for hdb to speed up the completion process and it was successful. lukas - think we were in the clementi EM market round about the same time - your #4 at blk 201 valuation was 575k yah? i didn't get to view the unit - i got unit at blk 206 instead.

Sounds quite out of this world to me....I definitely won't commit but as chronograph said, willing buyer willing seller. Is the condition of the house good? Actually, if you are noise sensitive, better to get Sunset of Toh Yi than Blk 206, as I realized that the maisonettes facing the temple, those above 4th storey, the bedrooms and dining room will get the MRT track noise as well as it is almost parallel to Commonwealth Ave West. The 2nd flr units are okay as it is blocked by the short side of the block.....

All the best! Let us know!

Hi mysweetlittlethings, Welcome to the forum; I'm pretty new myself. There are transactions int he Clementi Ave 6 area though if you are particular about wanting a South facing unit, this means effectively Blk 201 is out (will be too noisy for you since fire station is already a concern for you) and the short section of Blk 206 is also out as it is not South-facing, and it gets main road noise as well. I think every year, 2-3 units from Blk 206 come on the market, if the HDB website is anything to go by, as it shows the trasactions for over the past year. If you do not require a unit urgently, can always wait. But if you do, then the PRC owner's asking price is not at all bad as the units for the facing you want are relatively rare. Have fun; I enjoyed my house hunting process. I wouldn't have picked Clementi Ave 6 if not because my parents and in laws live in District 5. I much prefer the Toh Yi layout and estate

hahaah yah yah i think the estate is growing old or issit fertility rate not so high in s'pore so not enough children and 5 primary schs in clementi merge into one school no more jinshan, jubilee, clementi town etc - i think all merge into clementi primary sch now. i also grew up in that area. is your groundfloor unit at sunset bigger? and issit one of the 4 storey blocks? everyone tell me the low floor unit will be very hard to sell but i still bought it any way. at most rent out in future as i think clementi is a very rentable area with NUS location stuck there forever.....

the daily scoop ice cream! yumyum. no railings won't work for me - it is a nice clean look but i got two little imps in the house.....but if just one couple, i think it is okay - wait until preggie then install railing also can i guess

L boxes are definitely the best way to solve lighting problems energy saving down lights are very cost effective plus more than sufficient lighting for reading and so no need floor lamps. actually the L box alongside window also acts as a very nice curtain pelmut and my present unit only has cornice but no L box - realize that the curtains don't look as nice without the L box haha. when i was doing my search for EMs, had the feeling, esp in the Toh Yi area, that there are alot of teachers staying at EMs! i think the 2nd generation EMs with the big service balcony has a very very very good layout - 4 full size rooms with storage area under the stairs - and i have seen people use the balcony as a room for the domestic helper - so it is like 5 rooms. the service balcony can be roofed up very nicely and it is more than enough space for a domestic helper. more rooms more flexible, though the total sq footage is the same. but no choice leh, clementi don't have this layout, unless i shell out 100k more for Toh Yi

teaching is a great job in terms of stability and pay. quite common that teachers, after 10 yrs of teaching, earn more than their spouses. the increments are stable, and fairly decent too, given that the workload stays about the same - though i must add that the workload is horrible. relief-taught for 6 whole months and lost so much weight!

thanks all for photo upload guidance - will try later. Hi Hiera, When was the valuation of units at 500k? currently valuation is between 560 to 590k. and i think for larger flats many transactions are below valuation...that's the impression i get from flipping the classified ads. but 4 rm flats all transacting at above valuation... cannot imagine at 500k valuation pp can still ask 20/40/80k COV wah..... there are only 2 blocks with EMs, 206 and 201 - 201 is super noisy and half of 206 is super noisy also, so i guess the temple facing units are hard to come by. i've been looking out for a higher floor unit but don't have leh, unless i settle for blk 201 which is very very very noisy. my unit faces the fire station... funny the seller said some viewers really DID NOT like the fact that can see the temple from his balcony window haha. Ave 6 not so bad yet - imagine i used to have to travel from bukit batok - by the time i reach ave 6 it is considered a great achievement liao, at least once you hit the AYE can start to move...haha

yah it did not occur to me how important it is to stay near expressway. nowadays the roads so jammed, though i am staying so much nearer town, getting from gillman heights to CTE entrance at bukit merah entails soooooo many traffic lights and takes an unbelievably long time at times. noticed you are staying at bukit gombak - used to live at bukit batok and over the years, wah the road bukit batok east ave 3 leading to the pie/aye - got almost impossible after a while..... bukit batok central got a couple of blocks of new EMs but prices also quite high....... how to upload photos onto this forum/this thread i mean? thanks much!

yar yar! busstop almost literally just downstairs heh. you are very familiar with clementi hehehe, yar facing the fire station more than the temple cos my unit is perpendicular to but still quite near the main road (commonwealth ave west) yah very windy so not installing aircons in living room. i always thought low floor no wind one but was pleasantly surprised! argh i suddenly craving for rocky's pizza. you see that's why sunset location good ler.

me too! oh my unit doesn't have aircon in the living room. funny never change flooring or anything like that but still some adjustments to the fittings and furnishings can still cost quite a bit hor... oh i bought 5 ceiling fans and all with light kits to solve my light problem. no L box or false ceiling cos the cornices are very ncie and i didn't want to upset them. Also in my previous EC i did L boxes and comapred with a unit without the L boxes, it really does look a lot smaller.

Hihi! yah, using the same paint to paint stair rail and toilet pipes hahaha. The wooden part cannot paint one, as you say, the paint won't last, which is why the previous owner spent days and days sanding the paint off to get back to woody look. But the rails are not wood so have to paint with the paint for metals. I explored the sliding door option, which is much much much much cheaper. But not practical as it will cover the switches for the lights. The alumnium or acrylic fold doors don't go with my overall look of the house wither, which is teakdy woody (aka old fashioned) and beigey granite. So the kitchen door will be the most expensive reno item cos got to build the nyatoh door frame and nyatoh fold door. the wooden folding doors are sturdier - the one in my rented apartment at Gillman Heights has exited for over 20 years and looks okay still .... hopefully this works. Cannot imagine constructing one door could be so troublesome hahaha.

Hey Sunset Way! I love Sunset Way! But the permutations and combinations of EM sizes and layouts really confounded me haha. I was so suaku - never knew that Blk 206 extended inwards - thought it was entirely facing the MRT track. You are right, I settled for low flooc because it was an unblocked view Sunset more convenient in terms of immediate amenities like food though...... Guess bo pian had to move to Clementi cos have two little kids now and they will be schooling nearby; more importantly parents and in laws stay in West Coast/Clementi and they are helping with the kids so not fair to make them commute too far I guess....so have to live with the sticker shock at Clementi.

Hi dsman, how to post picture? then i can show you what happened to my balcony - it doesn't exist any more. my layout is different from yours in that my balcony even the original one doesn't require roofing, it is not the exposed type like the 2nd generation Toh Yi type of EMs - I prefer the square balcony layout though - more rooms in the house though smaller! Hi chronograph, the granite at my side didn't need polishing. aircon is a new mitsubishi electric one installed in feb. but the grills on the stairs are the original hdb ones!! don't want to hack it so will be painting the grilles as the owner has sanded the wooden handle portion and it kind of matches the parquet. the unit had no kitchen door and that is a major expense for me as i am installing a wooden folding door - the normal swing doow is not an option due to placement of switches in kitchen and i don't want the fridge to get rammed by the door. hi decruz, flat was 565k. in fact we transacted without knowing the price!! we just agreed to transact at valuation and it took two weeks to obtain the valuation. i like the owner very much - ht was super honest and i spent half a day yesterday listening to him brief me on the house - like the 7 tel points, switches, socket points, and he honestly told me he didn't install enough cable points (though i will probably stick with wireless internet) etc. i will be painting the whole house white and the rooms orchid white. is that strange? i think white helps to make the house look bigger leh, and i prefer to use drapes and furniture to add colour. but dunno whether it is funny to paint ceiling cornice and walls all white leh....

Hi asoon88, Agree that housing prices are crazy and through the roooooof now. I believe the existing owner bought the place for 450k in 2002/2003 though he spent a fortune renovating the place. Yes, hubby and I almost fainted when the Toh Yi owner didn't accept our offer In fact the EMs @ Toh Yi are now valued at 640k to 660k. This sounds crazy but it is the first flat we viewed at Clementi Ave 6 as we'd been under the impression that all the EMs at Ave 6 (there are only 2 blocks with EMs) were facing the expressway or main road. Didn't realize that one of the blocks was L shaped and there are units that are not facing the main road/expressway. And strangely, the price is 100k lower than at Sunset (same age) and Toh Yi (4 years newer) and we found it very strange that the newer tiny 5 room flats at Clementi were already going at 500+k. So though we never really considered Clementi seriously, ended up buying the unit on the very day we viewed it. You're right though, still cannot believe the price of the flat - 500+k for a 23 yr old flat...oh well. 5 rm flats at Dover or Queenstown are costing even more. Guess no choice lah, we don't want to keep renting leh. But EM ah, conservancy plus one car park lot - almost the same costs as my previous EC conservancy charge.

sub-20 yrs from bank. we sold our previous EC to move closer to our parents and so didn't qualify for hdb loan.