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but its "HDB appointed" valuer leh... *points my accusing finger at them again"... hahah...

we would have a real issue in future if housing keeps up the rate of increase. for example, a 4rm flat is 400k now. Median household income is 5k. Ratio of flat to income is 80 times. 10yrs later..... flat become 800k. Median household income is 6.5k (30% target increase by Govt). Ratio of flat to income is 123 times. So if one has to take a 30yr loan to repay the mortgage, imagine what will happen 10yrs later.

yeap i thought it was sensationalised by RP... haha for most 3 rooms, its 68sqm for 3NG models. There are some, which are 82sqm. Or what my agent refers to as 3.5room. Now that new 4rooms are at 85sqm, they essentially have to "upgrade" to a 4room to maintain the same (or slight increment) living space. i think for that group of people, they are facing a tough choice... SERS pays market rate for flats and sells at market rate, so i doubt there is any opportunity for profits after considering renovation and the hassle. (unless you downgrade). It would be in fact similar to you selling your flat in the resale market and buying a resale flat -> all at market prices. The high price of new flats can only be attributed to the "resale prices of similar flats nearby". The 99 yr lease factor is ignored in valuing them. Should this factor be considered, prices of many flats will go downhill. nonetheless, as you said, it highlights the problem of ever increasing flat prices which i am against as well though i techincally own a house now. A problem created by PAP, which apart from stout defending, they have no other solutions to.

i agree! And most would not have realised that as they age, contribution to ordinary account reduces. There might be a point in time when cash top ups are available. In a worst case scenario, cash top ups come at a time when you are old and face a wage cut. double wammy...

the links dun work.... *those that link to hdb website...*

hmm...? so i reckon the top up mentioned is for 3room upgrade to 5room. The example given by Marsh is around 250k for the diff between 3 and 4room. Needless to say, the choice to upgrade would of course entail an upgrade of mortgage loan. So the main complaint is...? Say given the resale market price difference of 3room and 5room is indeed 450k, buyers could have a choice not to upgrade unless HDB is not building enough 3rooms to satisfy the demand. Given old folks who live alone with no income, why would they need a 5room? Should they stick to their 3room, (yes i know its effectively a downgrade of space) they would not need to take on additional loan.

Meanwhile, the shoe cube project is underway. Got our wood, line up properly waiting to be painted: Wood seems quite good: Base coated it: Grey cubes in the making:

Picked up a tree branch from the park from the floor. Wifey has been looking for a suitable piece for a long time. "Skinned it": Details: The whole piece, 2.8m roughly:

Workers Party suggestion in my opinion is extremely hard to execute: - pricing at median income. Whose median income? - Median income of applicant, Median income of households in Singapore, Median income of all applicants?? There are endless groups of people and selection of any group opens up a brand new problem and area for debate. - Also rightfully a house next to Redhill MRT must command a higher price than one at Boon Lay MRT. In this case, do you shift up the pricing or continue to price a Redhill flat at a Jurong's price? - Assume that all flats follow the same pricing regardless of location, then we have a bigger problem of the whole Singapore going for high level flats at prime locations. Thus, making balloting a nightmare and perhaps citizens would be better off buying lottery. These are just hypothetical issues which would not surface. No PAP member in his right mind would accept a WP recommendation. Its a matter of pride and "face". Right now, MBT is the only person in Singapore defending his "affordability" of flats. Im just glad i managed to get mine already!

Not sure what people are upset about...? - compensation? - being made to move? I'm pretty sure they do not need to fork out $450k to upgrade. A 4room resale flat around that area cost like $600k with $50k COV, so total would be $650k. HDB prices new flats around the resale flat price but at at discount to SERS. Ignoring the discount, unless u tell me that a 3room flat is valued at $250k there? I enquired about prices there like 1.5yrs ago, its roughly $300K for a mid floor corridor unit. i reckon its around 380k now. So im quite sure there is a typo there. Casting upgrades aside,changing from a 3room to another 3 room gets 50k compensation. Sounds like an ok deal for me if my flat is super old with no lifts: - I would get to live in the same area, live on the other side of the MRT and closer to Clementi Mall - 50k is enough for normal renovation and to pay for movers and maybe a new TV.

this forum have many useful info for renovations. check out the tblog sections, u might find people with the same floor plan as well. Can see how they do up the house and get ideas.... but for electrical appliances, frankly not much reviews. A lot of my choices based on looks...fridge look nice then buy....haha.... i do recall that i read last time was to avoid LG air-con. And also not to trust sales people at shops totally as they may have reasons for recommending certain brand like to hit their target, boss ask them to push due to too many stocks etc.

ohh we usually just clean up after writing. But we don't change the writing everyday la....when got mood then go n change... have to deal with the dust if u want the charm of chalkboard. If we put whiteboard with marker, it just seem to lack the charm... i think for your narrow kitchen, its not that narrow la.. 2.5metres. u can still put an extendable table with wheels at the side to use as a mobile island when preparing...

hihi, my 2 cents: 1. new feature wall in living room with straight lines make the place look "longer" and neater. 2. WIW - considered having one or 2 panels of the sliding door as mirrors? the laminate in the new design is like screaming for attention, which is not a bad thing if ur wife likes it.

since u put DIY, here are some examples with the actual plan: http://ana-white.com/2010/02/farmhouse-kitchen-island http://ana-white.com/2010/10/sewing-table-small-spaces http://ana-white.com/2011/01/rolling-industrial-shelves.html Otherwise: IKEA also has some island, but i doubt can be stuffed into cabinets. Most probably just push to one corner of the kitchen when not in use. Another alternative is a "pull out island" from the under the kitchen worktop.

Spent the last weekend discussing about how to do our "shoe cabinet". After a long long discussion and taking into account of the following factors: - our walls are slanted. extremely slanted. hence building a cabinet structure would be a nightmare even if its a competent carpenter, not to mention us - cost involved to work on the project - adherence to the house colour theme We finally decided to use plywood to make "cubes" - note our cubes are mostly rectangularish. Ordered the wood and shall commence work over the long weekend. Meanwhile, we still need to do up our common room, which will be a study/reading/sewing/storage room. We need a table and would probably get a plywood cut to size. Not sure if i can convince baby to do this square table instead: i think baby's original idea was to get a rectangular table and the setup should be somewhat like this. Though the panel may not be chalkboard.. My plan for another side of the wall - reading area would something like this. Instead of sofa, it should be bean bag with the other tyre table.

i don't think can remove ba. should be ok to paint over, maybe need a few more layers thats all. havent tried it personally though.

Extract from ST: Asset enhancement works only with a second home I REFER to Mr Tan Jiaqi's letter on Monday ('Perils of asset enhancement for younger Singaporeans'). Assuming that a home is a necessity to a family, the family's asset is not really appreciating as other home prices are rising in tandem. Only when the family acquires a second home can it be truly said that the asset is appreciating in value.? For those yet to own property, asset enhancement is a form of inflation; for those who own a single apartment or house, asset enhancement matters little; for those who own more than one apartment or house, it is truly asset enhancement. Jeremy Chen Better an affordable home, than asset enhancement THE Government argues that by enhancing the value of HDB homes (read: increasing the prices of homes), it gives a valuable asset to Singaporeans and a stake in the country ('WP's housing proposal irresponsible, says Mah'; April 15). I find this problematic on several counts. First, for the majority, the home is an indispensable basic necessity, not a disposable asset. When prices of homes increase, the average home owner is not able to gain from it - while he is able to sell at a higher price, it also means he has to buy the new home at a higher price. Only the rich who can afford more than one home stand to gain. Second, it deepens the divide between the haves and have-nots, for those financially less well off either find homes slipping beyond their reach, or face the heavy burden of financing a huge loan. Third, the objective of asset enhancement through rising home prices naturally conflicts with the objective of providing affordable housing. It is tough to balance the two and implement effective policies. Fourth, the argument that asset enhancement ties Singaporeans to the country holds little water. Anecdotal evidence suggests that people who emigrate cite 'unaffordable housing' as a reason among others. Ironically, the rising property prices here means emigrants can use the gains from the property to buy a 'more affordable' home in a foreign country. In fact, a majority of Singaporeans are displeased with rising home prices. Instead of thinking of increasing prices to enhance the 'asset value' of the home, we should start to recognise that an affordable home is an asset in itself. Keeping home prices low and affordable means Singaporeans, especially young people planning to start families and buy their first home, can rest assured that they will always be able to own a place to call their home. I think this would provide a more rooted sense of belonging than that of an expensive house. We need to recognise that we are deriving much utility from that house even if its resale price remains stagnant. We need to appreciate that while stagnant prices may mean little capital gain when selling the current house, it also means not having to pay through the nose for the new one. Let us go back to the primary objective of public housing - to provide affordable housing to the majority of the people. Let us recognise that affordable housing is an asset in itself, both to the individual and the nation. Lai Nam Khim Letters that make common sense. But common sense is uncommon.

i saw some photos before on "pool table cum dining table". its quite lovely actually. Maybe u can consider combining it to save space... if u plan to DIY chalkboard, its quite easy actually. Can get the paint from Spotlight and DIY. The inconvinient part of no top cabinets is that there is no dish drainer. For most top cabinets, they can put a dish drainer over the sink and let it slowly drip dry. Apart from this, no top cabinets will give the kitchen a "no clutter look", more neat!

Its possible to live without a storeroom, but i must admit its not easy. Have to find place to chuck toolboxes, extra chairs, luggages, etc somehow. But we can still get by. So long as stuff is placed neatly at a corner, its good enough for us already. A storeroom makes it easier to chuck things into and ignore the mess. I used to have big wardrobes with doors, i also anyhow chuck my stuff. Now my new home is open concept, i have to make sure my clothes are arranged properly, i.e. sometimes even by colours! your big table seems really big... already bought..? If not can get a smaller one, family squeese abit to eat, food also taste nicer mah. not very sure if u have space for an island in the middle of the kitchen though, is it a movable one..?

wah, got any links to share? didnt know of that! but now we wash taps once a while only....(got lazier...) we use it more on glass shower screen... hope it doesnt harm the glass...

thanks for your kind words! We are not really that creative la, we just trying our best to copy the stuff done...haha.. we were very inspired by blogs of people who lived overseas where they did their house from scratch...its a really fun process!

electrical points can be mounted on table top, even kitchen top. Saw it in magazine before, very sleek de... holes can be drilled in the glass, so technically u can put the power point there, just that its going to look very ugly. if u put an eubiq track there, it will really spoil the look of the glass wall... just visualise it...

40yr old flats are still "ok" for the time being. Reason is that HDB has been carrying out SERS for older flats. so somehow, the value of a 40year old flat is valued on the basis that lease never expires. would there be a day when HDB is unable to keep up with the pace of expiring lease? i think i would live old enough to see how HDB reacts..

My inspiration for window grilles (yes, not done with it yet. ). I am so going to copy the idea! haha! Photo stolen from likethatone.. due to the size of the grille and my small place, the only place to place it would be in the common room. Common room is now flushed with stuff where we have no idea where to put them. We were busy with our "house warming cum solemnisation" in Feb, a 8 day holiday where we stuffed ourselves silly, and just lazing around. Its time now to get back to doing our projects. My wife drawing out the invitation card on the blackboard. The blackboard is used as a signage on the actual day to tell people where our home is. A little warm up exercise last weekend - wall stickers from Macau Daiso at 13MOP: This week, we are going to figure out how to DIY our shoe cabinet! Already ran out of space and its actually my fault for having too many shoes! duh!

with eubiq, it will look equally messy. no difference mah, wires will still be shown unless u hide the entire track. But if u hide the entire track, then might as well do switches... the best way is still to hide everything in a console. i think hafizh is right, it just looks better.