cleong

Here's what I am doing: • Usual hacking and demolition of the entire place as renovations done by previous owner was 25yrs ago Flooring • Marble (living/dining/utility) • Parquet (upstairs) • Homo (kitchen/3 toilets) • Slate (balcony) nt sure whether there’s wall tiles Stairs • Parquet (entire stairs) • Glass with stainless steel bars for railings Glass with wooden posts • Partition to create a store below Windows / Grills • Entire house Carpentry • 3 2 rooms wardrobes (6 panels type so a bit bigger than usual) • Altar • TV console • Vanity cabinet (2 toilets) with corresponding mirrors with hidden cabinets behind • Boxing of pipings in 2 toilets Doors / changing of frames • Solid Veneer (main/3 bedrooms/utility/2 toilets) • PVC (kitchen toilet) Slide and fold type • Fixed glass panel for 1/3 of balcony opening. 2/3 folding glass doors Full width folding glass doors in aluminium frame (6 panels) • Glass opening for kitchen (1 fixed panel with glass door) • main gate Lbox / False ceiling • 3 bedrooms (L-box) • Living/dining/foyer ( combi of both) Reconstruction • Extension of MBR to the void so that the room becomes bigger I'm not sure you can build into this void, you should check with HDB • Re-positioning of 1 bedroom door to make the room bigger • Recess area at kitchen toilet to store washer and dryer (kitchen toilet becomes smaller but still enough for shower, inclu ventilation window above the door for the toilet) I'm rebuilding the toilet and shower here. • Purchasing recess area to create a small foyer at entrance • Re-positioning of utility room door with ventilation windows above the door Kitchen • As seen in 3D pics. With black “Indian Galaxy” granite top and black glass backsplash (similar layout to yours just simplified) Electrical Quotation • Rewiring • Sockets • Usual points (scv, ceiling fan, aircon, telephone) • Switches etc Painting • Plastering (entire place) Toilets • Glass shower screen for 2 toilets

I have the exact same floor plan configuration and am currently doing renovation. I see some commonalities between yours and mine, but I'm aiming to keep my final quote including electricals below 50k.

I bought my EM with an eye towards futureproofing for our future family expansion, be it kids, or parents coming to live with us. Value appreciation would be ideal, but was not a deciding factor. With newer HDB flats, you simply get barely enough for your essentials, while in an EM, with your basic items, you actually get a feeling of spaciousness. I'm getting renovation quotes of around 50k, estimating 20-30k worth of furnishings. When all is said and done my EM would owe me very near 600k. If I sell my EM it would be because I'm migrating. 1. Cost of rewiring depends on your number of lighting and power points. One quote est. 2 power points per room was $2500. 2. If you're referring to roofing over your balcony with a frame and roof tiles, yes, but you need to get approval.

I'm told that if they can't get it up in the lift, they're going to charge me by the number of floors they'd have to lug it up by?

Hi, I've bought a king sized bed but realize that the lifts in my block of flats is never going to fit the mattress in. I live on the 12th floor. What are my options? Thanks.

The highwater mark of practical and attractive HDB design would be the late 80s early 90s flats that were built in areas such as Bishan, Tampines, Pasir Ris, Bukit Batok. I remember Tampines actually won an international award for livable housing design. Those flats themselves were large, square and well laid out. The estates show good variety of high and low blocks to break the monotony of high density living. Sad to say, we don't see that anymore. When I was in the market for a resale flat, these were the generation of flats I was specifically looking for.

The EM I bought is one of these in-the-red sales - he told me he bought it in 1996 one year before the 1997 crisis at 520k. I bought it at 480k. He had been waiting for the market to upturn to a level which he felt he was able to bear the loss.

The prices have already shot up in the past months from the moment the location of the megamall was announced. They tell you that it "will" shoot up to encourage you to buy now, but the prices are already high, probably higher than they should be. Check the HDB resale index for that area to gain an insight on recent pricing. Don't just go on asking prices that you see on the property websites. They're all speculative. Lor Lew Lian's a bit further away from the NEL and Circle line, and probably also because the flats are older designs?

Depends whether the house is in move-in condition or requires renovation? Its kind of like asking, I bought meat at the market for $5, is it expensive? Maybe you bought a tray of frozen chicken wings. Maybe you bought wagyu marbled premium Japanese beef. If you don't specify, no one knows enough to comment.

You got enough cash to pay 65k COV, renovate and furnish the place? Or is it in move-in condition?

Yes, bought a unit in Serangoon. No idea what the plans are at the en-bloc-ed units but it should be similar to what happens at other HDB estates undergoing en-bloc, either its sold as BTO or HDB builds apartment blocks, but with higher population density. I had viewed one EM at Teban Block 51, I think it was 10th floor, some months back. The EM here are the cheapest in Singapore by a big margin, next cheaper lot is at Jurong West/Woodlands area.

I'm currently staying in 412 till the end of the year when I up sticks to Serangoon. Been here since the estate came up. This area was previously prawn farming ponds. The reason why there's so much more FT in Teban is because Sheng Siong and NTUC, and also because the workers dorms are in Penjuru. My block got a few units that are rented out to FT, both PRC shipyard and Cycle & Carriage mechanics as well as Indian shipyard workers. The current shopping centre in Teban is quite underutilized - the two food courts upstairs were suffering poor business a few years back, at one of the coffee shops, the main tenant had to resort to multitasking and running other food stalls because he couldn't find tenants to run these food stalls to provide enough variety for the food court.

Recently one high floor 5 room at Block 413 was listed for 380k. 121sq m I think.

Lately there's been tiong chias like WRX and Civics dragging down West Coast Road late at night. I live just down the road a bit. You probably just need to inform the TP to crack down on them.

You will continue to suffer from relatively low valuation for the property until the industrial area, or the workers are zoned away from the residential blocks in the estate. Your wife/kids may not feel comfortable if they come home late at night and walk past groups of loitering workers, some of whom may have had a bit to drink. Weird odors can sometimes be smelled in the air, it can be somewhat dusty/polluted compared to other areas, e.g. Marine Parade. If the watersports facilities are as good as Bedok Reservoir, then you'll expect pretty good appreciation. But with the foreign worker/industrial area element in the picture, it might just counteract each other. Business hub is probably too far to matter - and areas like Jurong East and Clementi enjoy better connectivity to the Business Hub than Teban Gardens will.

That area has got many foreign workers in the neighbourhood. But in front of your flat PUB is in the process of building watersports-related recreational facilities. So the potential is there. But in the short term, the neighbourhood is the reason why the valuation is low. It is right on the fringe of Penjuru, a pretty large industrial estate, has got large trucks driving past your balcony, and is not near to MRT station.

Hi, what's your loan principal and interest rate like?

Bought mine at North Ave 1 for ~30-odd k COV.

Depends on many factors, but location is primarily the factor. Flats in the central region have been en bloc-ed like Redhill Queenstown and Toa Payoh. But there's old flats of the same generation that didn't get en-bloc-ed. For example, several blocks in Holland Drive have been en-bloc-ed but for some reason two old point blocks have been left standing among the recently completed new blocks. Buy old unit, you also unsure whether to do it up nicely or not. Otherwise your $50k renovation lasts 2-5 years only, before it gets razed to the ground.

I like this layout. One in Serangoon Central went for about 628k plus. The plus point is that the unit is very bright because you get quite a lot of windows.

Curious, which area, how much valuation and COV?

Yes is the same unit. When prices are on the uptrend, reporting last done prices especially the COV component would push prices in an upward spiral. For the agents, who work on commission, the higher the prices the more their commission, of course it serves their interest to push the price as high as the buyer is willing to fork out.

More of concern is the proximity to workers hostels in Penjuru as well as the high proportion of foreign workers actually living in those few blocks. The reservoir view is fantastic, the air quality isn't too bad, but I don't like the neighbourhood's transient workers lounging about in the evenings and on weekends.

I eventually bought mine at Serangoon North Avenue 1, valuation 445k, paid 35k COV. Mine's the typical EM configuration, bigger floor area but very common design. In terms of PSF mine would be cheaper, seeing as we both paid 480k but mine would be bigger. However Serangoon North Ave 1 is not as close to MRT as Hougang Ave 1 is. Overpriced or not, you would probably need to peg it against the full size EMs in your area. I'm not sure if we both viewed the same unit - it was a corridor unit at Blk 111, that week I viewed, the lift upgrading was just completed and opened for use. We did like the resortish feel of the place but the asking COV was so high it left us no money for renovation.

Viewed a 3rd floor unit there before at Blk 111. The floor area is smaller than typical EM, it is called a 5 room maisonette. I think it is 130-140 sqm, can't remember. They're also pretty old, late 70s flats if I recall. The loft style roof is a nice feature, it makes the place feel airy. The configuration is split floor - from the entrance, you descend one flight of staircases to go to the living room and kitchen. Ascend a flight of stairs up from the entrance you go to the upper floor where there are three rooms. There is only one toilet in the master bedroom. The occupants of the other two rooms have to go to the kitchen for the other toilet. The unique configuration of the unit commanded a high price which we weren't prepared to pay. I recall the asking price was $50 or 60k COV when the valuation was $440k. The upper floor units are slightly bigger than the ground floor units due to the extended balcony.