Rasp 0 Report post Posted April 11, 2009 Harlow!! After lurking around for awhile, I decided to start my own t-blog to get ideas for my place. To begin.. this is hw we come about with our present home.. We bought this place after viewing only 9 houses. And the interesting part is... we didn't really step into the place on our 1st and 2nd visit as it was rented out and the house owners had already migranted to Australia. So most of the time, we went there with our agent to 'try our luck'. The 1st time we really get into the flat, it was in a really terrible condition, dark, sticky floor, spolit lights etc etc... those tenants never took proper care of the place and wore shoes inside the flat. We were not allowed into the bedrooms as some rooms were locked and also due to privacy of the tenants. Hence, on our last viewing, we specifically asked to view the rooms as we didnt want any 'surprise'. We managed to view the rooms and as expected, they are also in terrible condition. The mbr bathroom floor was brown-coated, don't asked me what was that and the toilet bowl was black inside. Yes, its that scary. Despite the horrible flat condition, the owner still wanted more than 15K cov. And the funny part is...we still decided to get the place so negotiated for the cov and managed to get it at 10k cov. I guess what makes us go for it was... its unblocked view, close proximity to ammenties and we have sort-of decided to do overhaul if we were to get a resale, so wasn't looking for a good condition flat. As the owners are selling the house from Australia, so we have never met the owners. We went through the deal with the document 'power of attorney" with the other party's friend. Being 1st time flat buyer, we didnt really know what to take note of. We didnt even conduct the flat inspection as we wasn't aware of any and our agent didnt inform us too. The owner's friend only passed us that huge bunch of keys on our 2nd HDB appointment. The biggest surprise that I had after the purchase was.... there is no government gas piping for this flat. I didn't know there are flats that were built without government gas pipes so it never occurs to us to check for this during our viewing. I don't know if that would change our mind if we had know that during our viewing. If it would have change our decision, then I guess its a blessing that we wasn't aware as we are really very happy with the place and location now. Sorry for the lengthy start. Hope everyone can share their experiences with us. Thanks! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Metalsubzero 0 Report post Posted April 11, 2009 Congrats! Anyways, u didn't mention where it is and wat type of flat.. Hahaha.. Alot of flats I viewed were in terrible condition, but I expected high COV cuz it's near to amenities.. So we're actually paying for location and not for the condition of the house itself.. I'm guessing ur blk is somewhere near an MRT? Anyways, really scary from what u had described.. Hahaa.. But I guess since u're doing a complete overhaul den shouldnt be a problem.. No piping ah? Is it an old estate? I think can use gas cylinder bah.. Gas cylinder is cheaper also rite? But the only problem is u dunno when u're gonna run out of gas and u'd have to call once in a while to change.. So, have u found an ID/Contractor yet? Looking forward to see ur floorplan and pictures soon.. Cheers!! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
MoreOrLess007 0 Report post Posted April 11, 2009 Welcome Rasp! Hopefully, you'll have a smooth renovation journey. Yah and where is your place located at? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
guy77 0 Report post Posted April 11, 2009 congrats on getting a new place. no gas piping. hmmmm. u cook often? use the cylinder type lor, since no choice. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
pinkpetter 0 Report post Posted April 11, 2009 WELCOME! So an overhaul is needed I reckon? Hope to see your pictures soon! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Rasp 0 Report post Posted April 12, 2009 Thanks for the warm replies. The apartment is a 5I at the northeastern part. We are not exactly near to MRT, around 6 bus stops to the north-south line if we walk to the outside bus stop and 10mins bus journey to the North-east line from the bus stop below the block. There's a mini town central just across the street with supermart, wet market, several coffeeshops, clinics and shops. We have moved in for around 1 year+ already. But no overhaul yet. Only did the basics are done like painted the flat, replaced the spoilted lights, remove the scary mirror frame in the mbr, hacked off the concrete based of the spoilt mbr bathroom sink, installed a new instant heater at the common bathroom and threw away those spoilt furnitures. Oh, I forgot to mention that the tenants / the owners' friend did not handover a 'clear-all' flat. We took over it with papers all over the place, spoilt furniture, rubbish-filled wardrobe, spoilt electronics/ furniture and sticky stuff all around. Our dear parents came over to help us clean, wash, wipe, sweep and repair. We are really thankful to them for it. My mum managed to revive the mbr bathroom back to its 'original' look, no more black toilet bowl, yellowish brown stained floor. It's really amazing. And after everything, my mum told us that all the stuff used by the previous owners are good stuff. After all the cleaning, we had a pleasant surprise. We were told that the flooring of the living and bedrooms is marble-flooring. And its indeed very cooling to step on after a day of work/ shopping. I guess the floor is so black and sticky during our view that we didn't even notice its marble-flooring. However, its also in pretty bad shape as plenty of scratches, dents and stained patches. So im not sure if still can be polished. By the way, how do I post pictures at this forum ? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
pinkpetter 0 Report post Posted April 12, 2009 Whoa... sounds like an difficult experience indeed. You can upload your pictures into photobucket (or other photo hosting websites). For photobucket, after uploading there will be 4 links under the photo, copy and paste the last one here. If you have marble flooring that means you can save some money and not do the floor!! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Metalsubzero 0 Report post Posted April 12, 2009 Oh, I think the problem was with the tenants lah.. The owner is away den I think also no one to keep a tab on the tenants.. Anyways, it's a blessing in disguise la.. So are u planning anythin new for the unit? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Pinklady 0 Report post Posted April 12, 2009 Hi spam chop! welcome to RT. anyway are you planning of doing an overhaul while you are staying there? wana look for some contractors or IDs, what's your budget? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Rasp 0 Report post Posted April 12, 2009 Whoa... sounds like an difficult experience indeed. You can upload your pictures into photobucket (or other photo hosting websites). For photobucket, after uploading there will be 4 links under the photo, copy and paste the last one here. If you have marble flooring that means you can save some money and not do the floor!! Ok, let me try posting the pictures. Yes, hope that the marble floor can be polished. Scare that they cant be polished with dents too deep. testing Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Rasp 0 Report post Posted April 12, 2009 Oh, I think the problem was with the tenants lah.. The owner is away den I think also no one to keep a tab on the tenants.. Anyways, it's a blessing in disguise la.. So are u planning anythin new for the unit? I guess so too. The tenants just cant be bothered and the owners probably left everything for their friend and agent to take care of the house. Thats why the house is in such a terrible shape. We are planning to do up the house. So looking around for ideas first. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Rasp 0 Report post Posted April 12, 2009 Hi spam chop! welcome to RT. anyway are you planning of doing an overhaul while you are staying there? wana look for some contractors or IDs, what's your budget? Hi Pinklady, Thanks. We are planning to do the kitchen, bathroom, rewiring and also buyover the recess area. Most probably going for contractors. So currently brainstorming for ideas and look for some contractors after doing our homework. One headache though, cause unlike most of the couples here, we have already moved in. So not sure how should we proceed with the reno with all our barang barang and ourselves here. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Rasp 0 Report post Posted April 12, 2009 Here's how our floor look like.. not sure if they are marble. I read from the forum about the term 'broken marble', are ours also termed broken marble? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ashes02 0 Report post Posted April 12, 2009 wow i dun think this is broken marble bah.., this is the actual marble right? someone confirm? hehe so lucky, i wish my ex-owner did marble too, at least can polish. my ceramic floor cannot polish lor... sianz Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
pinkpetter 0 Report post Posted April 12, 2009 (edited) Yours is marble itself. It doesn't look too bad. I'm pretty sure it can be ground and polished. The one at my bf's house was WORSE and they managed to make it shine. SAVE MONEY! yay! I think if you're not doing your floors/windows there shouldn't be a problem with you living inside. However, one of you must always be at home... AND you need to make sure there's plenty of food at home for that person cos the person can't leave the house.. and can't cook... Edited April 12, 2009 by pinkpetter Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
