An Island in the sun

NOTE: There is NO guarantee that we will get our sales proceeds on 12 June. Those who have put down money on a new home do so knowing the risk involved. In my case, I  know I could potentially lose my 5% if I do not get my proceeds by XX July, unless a bank is willing to give a bridging loan to a retiree. I found my home rather quickly, I had thought it would take at least 2 months. So, my completion date is in early July - a 3 week buffer . This is cutting it thin. 
In the meantime, I hope & pray there isn't an owner death and /or any bankruptcies in the estate and that everything will go ahead smoothly and as planned. 

How many units do you have to view and how many boxes have to be checked before a property comes your way and becomes 'the one'? 

The answer for me was 4 and 9 respectively

My boxes:

• Spacious
• Greenery
• 3 Bedrooms
• Connectivity
• Walking distance to Supermarket 
• Near a park
• Good feeling
• Move in condition
• Bright & airy
• Gardening space 
• Under $1.5m
• Reasonable maintenance fee
• Preferably in the East
• Hopefully FH

I know, I know.... I am basically describing my present home in Tampines Court; but it is a hard act to follow. Indeed there is no property out there that checks all the boxes so something has to give, compromise is called for in this situation.

Day 1: It started last Wednesday and I aimed high. I went to look at an overpriced (but under $1.7m) 3 bedroom unit in Balestier. I thought, what the hell, let's live life differently now that the kids are all grown and flown (almost). The city life. It had a lovely pool which I most certainly wouldn't use, but wouldn't it be lovely for my guests. On top of that the connectivity and convenience were superb. It scored 9/14 but my hubby said no. There was nowhere nice to go for his daily constitutional. He wasn't impressed. 

Day 2: This time I chose the Kovan area (D19). A beautiful rooftop garden unit in a very small development. Magnificent garden, I could see my hubby's eyes watering at the sight. I thought, what the hell, let him have his dream garden and I will squeeze into the tiny space below. I can make do. But the price was far too high for a unit that was effectively 60% non-living space and required full renovation in the very small living area. We decided to put it in KIV. Update: since we viewed it last week the asking price has got up by $50k. The owner is chasing enbloc money. It's madness out there.

Day 3: This is the day I discovered that FH mass market condominiums (mmc) in the Flora area (D17) were not for us. The unit we viewed was old and in need of renovation; it looked much better on Propertyguru.  It had it's positive points, to be sure - good gardening space and 3 nice sized bedrooms  but it also had the feel of a Butlins Holiday Camp. I did not want to be locked into a permanent holiday from hell. It's probably a great place for kids, so many places to run about and hide. I am sure there are also many wonderfully renovated apartments, too, but it was not for me. The surrounding estate was enormous but tell-tale signs of dilapidation were evident all around; missing tiles, dead water-features,  out-dated design etc. The worst part was connectivity. There simply wasn't any. Now, we made it a point to always arrive by taxi and go home by public transport, as we wanted to be punctual for our appointment and yet get a feel as to how we would get around; we do not own a car. It w.as a nightmare. One solitary bus trundled up (no 4?) and it was packed to the rafters. I was squeezed in next to the bus driver until we got off early and walked the r est of the way home. It was extremely depressing and I cancelled all my weekend bookings to view various units in the Flora area. 

Day 4; I needed time to recover and to get back on the house-hunting horse. After crossing off D17, that meant the other mass markets condos (those over 200 units) were also crossed off. Goodbye Hillside though I never even saw one unit there.

Day 5: Still traumatised from day 3, I thought maybe a resale HDB was the way to go. There were many beautiful units all over the island. I felt hopeful once again. I had to let go of the FH dream. One unit especially caught my eye in Bukit Batok. I have only been to Bukit Batok once or twice in my life but I knew it was near nature and it looked really, really nice. It was just one of many nice flats all around the island, I could see it was going to be hard choosing which nIce place to visit first. Then I discovered this wonderful  HDB website here  which allows you to wander all over a map of Singapore and get all the necessary information on any HDB block: no. of years remaining on the lease etc I spent hours on it, and finally zoomed in on The Peak in Toh Payoh. Only 5+ years and oh, such wonderful open balconies! I got busy and messaged multiple agents to make appointments to view as many of the biggest units as possible this coming week.  This was going to be my 'Peak week'. I was back in the saddle again.

Day 6: As I was busy filling in my viewing schedule as various agents called (I now kept a spreadsheet and screenshots of agents pics and names as all agents blended into one in my tiny little brain) - I got a call from an agent with an Australian accent about a FH property in D16. I must have expressed interest in this property some time ago and as he was going down there right now, would I like to view it? Well, I am a lover of serendipity so said fine. For the life of me, I could not remember which property it was but took the address down anyway, called my hubby up from his orchid garden, grabbed my bag and left.

The moment we entered the unit we both knew it was a strong contender. 5 minutes into viewing and I could see myself living there. 10 minutes later we strolled around the small development and thanked my lucky stars I had my chequebook in my bag. The Agent had exclusive rights to sell the property so we could lock it in there and then.  Others were interested in this property, the price had dropped because the overseas owner wanted it sold. We took a risk* and wrote a cheque for 1%.  Sure, it didn't check all my boxes - it's only a 2 bedder and it's much smaller that I had planned for, for a start, but it was it. 

It's all about the feel. The same feeling I got when I walked into Tampines Court in 1996. 

It's feels small (1313sqft), it's a two-storey penthouse, it has gardening space, a pretty 25m pool, the maintenance is on the high side but it's pristine, vacant and feels like a brand new unit even though it is 9yrs old. It's connectivity is brill,  the constitutional is East Coast Park, it's FH and it's in D16.

Best of all, it didn't break the bank.

But if I had to choose all over again ... I would still choose TC.

* It wasn't really a risk because I knew I could go home and check the property ownership on  Inlis here.  The property owner was genuine. I also checked up on the Property Agent here - to make sure he was the genuine article, too. He was :)

Good luck to anyone who is still on the search. 
I know it can be stressful, exhausting & downright depressing, 
but have hope - 
there is a property out there with your name on it.