Dj's Own Place...

[Errandz 0]

Good Afternoon everyone,

After a year long search for a place to call our own, we just signed the OTP for our resale flat at Yishun 2 days back.

The flat is a 5I model (122sqm), low floor and in a VERY original condition. The area is fairly quiet though its a fair bit away from the central and MRT station.

At the moment, we are awaiting to get the appointment dates. In the meanwhile, I've been on an overload on RT and also doing some very rough drawings/sketches on the computer on what we might want to do with our place.

Our situation is a little bit tricky as we will be leaving SG in 1.5 yrs time, to be away overseas for 3-5yrs (work reasons for both of us). During this time, we will be renting the place out so that the house will keep paying for itself. As such, at present, while we HAVE to do reno, we need to do it carefully so as to not overdo it given we wont be reaping the fruits of our idea,s efforts, work and $$ as much as the rental folks would. So cracking our heads to see where the line is.

Essential works in our minds at the moment:

- 2 X bathrooms

- 1 X kitchen

- All Doors & door frames of the house

- Painting of the whole house

- Wardrobes for MBR & one BR

Ideas we are still contemplating

- Creating a small room (1.2m X 1.2m) in the kitchen, connecting to the hall (to be our prayer room).

- Levelling up the balcony with the living

- Creating a wall in the current MBR to cut the bathroom off & creating a door at the end of BR3. (to make BR3 to MBR)

Given our situation (renting out aft a year), most probably we wouldn't be going to any IDs but rather to contractors. I am even thinking if it is even feasible to do things directly myself with the individual subcontractors. But with the work commitments I have, I have doubts on pulling that off.

Anyway, enough of my yapping for the moment,

here's the floor plan of our place.

Edited January 28, 2011 by Errandz

[kotaaro 0]

where's ur place bro?

mine is at ave 6, consider ulu liao rite? haha.

[Errandz 0]

Hi Bro,

Ave 6 actually spans a distance within yishun, ranging from the late 200s, late 300s and early 400s. Which region are you at? My place is actually late 300s (between the Ring rd and ave 6, but closer to the ring road).

In my opinion, the more ulu parts along ave 6 would be the late 200s. Late 300s is abit better. The 400s are also abit ulu for the moment but there are LOTS of BTOS (1 up, 1 building, 2 more just annouced) coming up there, so it will pick up vibrancy in a couple of years I believe.

[donal5 0]

Wow... all ard Yishun area... this is great, plus all our layout are the same... hahaha... mine is ard ave9 behind esso gas station.

[May_dream1 14]

Sorry I don't understand how u can make bedroom 2 as master bedroom?? Bedroom 2 is next to study. Too far away from toilet leh.

Since you are renting out, no need to make walls cos after u come back, most probably you will redo reno after renting out to ppl for many years.

[Errandz 0]

Oops.. I meant the other bedroom.. Haha.. Sorry.. Its bedroom 3 i meant.. Shall edit it.. If i get a chance, will put up some of the ideas for restructurin that i have drawn..

And initiali we were also thinkin about not doing anything much but then now we are thinking we could make the structural changes now n leave e fancy designer like furnishings and etc for after our return. Still deliberating it with the wife, but all the more inputs we can get, the better..

[Errandz 0]

After speaking to the Mrs for a bit over the varied versions of the floor plan I drew up, we seem to have come to the concensus to have the initial reno to be limited the following.

Following our return from overseas, we'll open up the living room at the expense of one of the rooms to give us a nice a spacious hall & dining area. We might consider also opening up the kitchen by hacking the kitchen entrance wall but thats years later and we've decided that we can do without making that call at present.

Right now, the only concern is on how to maximise the storage we get from the Walk-In-Wardrobe, within the 2m X 2m square space which has doors/openings on two of the side and windows on the third..

Anyone out there has experience with small WIW spaces? How did you manage to work it without it being too cramped? Would a 2m (~6.5 ft) wall space for poles be considered a decent amount of space for the average Singaporean clothes space?

The wife always wanted a WIW and its something I'd like to have for her, but on my part I wanna make the most of it where I can, such that it is functional too and not just 'for-show'...

[Errandz 0]

First appointment : 1st March 2011

Looking forward to it. Following that, expect the 2nd appointment to be mid-late April. If everything goes well, come May, we'll have our own place..!

[tangerinez 0]

First appointment : 1st March 2011

Looking forward to it. Following that, expect the 2nd appointment to be mid-late April. If everything goes well, come May, we'll have our own place..!

hey, similar timeline we have! my 1st appointment is on 3rd march

have you started searching for ID/contractor? i'm at a loss. haha

[Errandz 0]

hey, similar timeline we have! my 1st appointment is on 3rd march

have you started searching for ID/contractor? i'm at a loss. haha

Its great to find another couple here with similar timelines.. It'll be great to compare notes and share pointers and progress..

Anyway, at the moment we're collating the list of well recommended contractors since we are tight on budget and also this round of reno is not the major revamp of the house.. We're keepin that for after our return from overseas probably.

Once we firm up our list, we'll post it up.. You got any good contractors do let us know k?

[Errandz 0]

We had our first appointment on Tuesday, 1st March at 8.45am. Things went mostly well. I say mostly because, the wife and I have to go back tomorrow. The reason being, we need to resign the loan amount document.

What happened was that HDB has sent a letter regarding the AHG that we are eligible for, seperately from the main letter regarding the 1st appointment. The problem here was that I never got such a letter. Because of that, I didnt bring along the necessary documents needed for the AHG (12 months payslip plus 12 months CPF contribution statement). Hence we signed a loan amount document which did not factor the AHG. And so tomorrow, or more correctly later today, we are going down to sign the amended document.

Lesson to others : IF you are hoping to get the AHG, bring the documents I mentioned above. Thats in case you too do not receive the AHG letter.

And I am still wondering why that letter had to be sent seperately, esp if they were sending it just a day apart.

Another note : 2nd appt set! 27th April...!

Edited March 4, 2011 by Errandz

[Errandz 0]

Finally, collected our keys yesterday.

A little bit of history over the past week -

27 Apr : Went for completion(2nd appt) @ HDB. Everything went smoothly and we were legally owners of our very own house. But we didn't have the keys as we had agreed to give the seller an additional week to move out.

4 May : We went down to the house to take over the house and finally really own our own house with keys and all. However, when we got there, we found that the house still had one dining table left there and there was alot of small items scattered all over the house. [see pics below] The seller's agent had failed to inform that the house had to be cleared of all the items and the impression the seller had was that only the bulky items needed to be cleared. When we reached there, the seller was doing all she could to try and clear everything at the last minute. In the end, we decided to give another 24hrs for the seller to clear everything.

5th May : We went down during lunch and inspected the house. Everything was ok now, and so we collected the keys. We are owners of our very own house.

6th May : I went down this morning to take photos of the house. Will try and scale down the pics' sizes and put some up when I have time tonight or in the next few days. Have plans to go over and sweep, vacuum, wash and mop the place over the elections long weekend break.

[Kobelala 8]

Congrats on your new home we're Yishun neighbours !

Edited May 6, 2011 by Kobelala

[Et209 1]

Hi Errandz, actually your situation is very similar to mine. We bought the place but we are not staying there. My advice is just to so the minimum to fetch the necessary rental $$. My dad's condo is rented out so through experience, expect higher level of damages and wear n tear.

I think you should do up the key essentials such as if u need to redo the piping and wires or not for safety reasons.

A new coat of paint is important. The rest of the furnitures, get 2nd hand or ikea stuff. You can still resell after you are back. Don't hack until you come back and ready to do up your place. You never know if you may change your preferences after you come back.

[Errandz 0]

Hi Kobelala,

Yes! Been in yishun for over 20 years... And now, have signed up for yet another decade or more...

Hi Et209,

I get what you mean. I had very similar notions too. However, after alot of consideration, I thought I oughta at least give the wife conversion of the original BR3 to become MBR, n original MBR to study.. Also, the other reason for not putting everything on hold is the consideration that we will also be using the house for 1-2yrs before going overseas.. And that is the idealistic plan. If the overseas stint gets pushed later, it would make living in a place sparcely done up not too pleasant for her.

All said and done, there is the ever important issue of the budget too.. If we cant afford even this, we'll have to just make do with what we end up with..

Edited May 10, 2011 by Errandz