After settling all the water issues (Kai's room x3, Yang's room x3) since we moved in, I finally set to look at two more things.
First, the wardrobes in Yang and Yu's rooms. The outer panels have some weird marks on them. I had thought they were mould and bought mould remover but it didn't work. When I finally got the carpenter to come have a look, he said it was a manufacturing issue or something and they had made a number of replacements already. Argh! I should have called them earlier!
He did some measurements and said would check with supplier on stocks etc. But then, this guy quit! Next I got in touch with the same office lady, she said out of warranty so must pay. I emailed developer who said the same. I SHOULD HAVE DONE THIS EARLIER!
But after weeks, she hadn't got back. Eventually, she said they were short of manpower. After some more weeks, she said she would ask her supervisor to head down. When there was still no word from her the following week, I took it as a sign from above that I should seek a real estate agent's advice on whether the work was necessary at all.
Second, the door frame for the kids' bathroom. One corner has been rotting since the first months. The main contractor said it was due to washing. I didn't think so. But I was busy with all the water issues which were more urgent. Anyway, the rotting got worse. I also got the contact of the door contractor but I thought I would settle the cabinet first.
Well, a good thing I called the agent! R recommended her agent a year ago and I saved the contact. We spoke briefly before he and a colleague came over on Monday, 13 Sep 2021. Bottomline - no need to touch up!
I walked them through the house, they took some pictures and we signed an agreement to appoint them as agent. Our house went on the market just like that!
Actually, we didn't think of selling this early. Coz we just remortgaged and we thought to save the redemption fees. Also wanted to buy our new place first. But there's the risk of not finding a buyer in time - HDB needs us to dispose of private property within six months. Can request for extension but if the market is not good then, it will be to our disadvantage.
And so many big HDB in BP right?
So... We had our two viewings each on 19 and 26 Sep 2021. And we got an offer. Then it hit me that we had to move real soon, like right after LNY. Worse, we would have to rent for quite a while as we hadn't even started looking yet. I don't fancy renting; I'm territorial.
In any case, the offer was not great. So we rejected it. And discussed with agent that we would buy first then sell. I even put up a timeline with my fave Excel to capture the window of selling! Then I got a call close to midnight - the guy upped the offer by $100k, supposedly to cover rental. Um... Means lowballing earlier la... No again.
And the next day, I realised I felt so much better - think I was mang zang about renting...
Written in Sep 2022 before 29 Sep:
Eventually I told the agent we must find a place first. And held off on this agent coz later, maybe Nov? Sito thought we should move to Holland instead coz nearer secondary school. I was like, eh, thought we decided on BP? And don't know if the boys would go there... Plus can also go from BP! So much research...
Made him recce the journeys between BP/Holland and both secondary schools. In the end, decided to try Holland since nearer the grands. Only remaining issues are cost, availability and age of the flat. There aren't many big flats in Holland and few come on the market - only a few blocks, either 1970s or 1990s. Not too keen on the 2000s ones with bomb shelter.
We made a bid for the third unit we saw, a 1990s one, but lost - it went at $1.2m!!! But after that, we thought whether it was worth spending that much. BP and older ones in Holland would save us some $400k!
So we went to view two units in BP as well so that we could compare better, and three more in Holland. Eventually, we made a bid for the first unit we saw in Holland *.* We didn't want that at first coz it was an old flat. But $400k less and we're going to rot there. Quite lucky that it was still available five months on! The agent said the owner wasn't ready to commit back then so our timing was quite good. We exercised the option in mid August, yeah!
This agent is very good. He took pictures of our place when he brought the option over, drew up a nice timeline (unlike last time when I had to draw myself?!!), and did not need us to vacate our place during viewings (unlike last time so troublesome). And he found a buyer in six viewings within two months, including a second viewing. And he also got us a nice price - enough to cover rental for extension of stay and early redemption of loan!
Written this week:
Very happy right? Then the bombshell dropped.
We bought the Holland OTP on 25 Jul, and exercised it on 15 Aug. Given the seller's timeline, the HDB application could go some time in October. After we issued the OTP for our place on 24 Sep, I told the agent to just put in HDB application already. We could do on Friday, 30 Sep, when Sito returned from KL.
Then 29 Sep happened - the government announced a 15-month wait-out period for downgraders like us. There was no mention of people with OTP.
We quickly applied on 30 Sep and put in an appeal. But we got rejected via email on Tuesday, 4 Oct. I put in another appeal on 5 Oct. This time, it was a four-page paper with 13 annexes!
Apart from the appeal, I also considered scenarios and alternatives coz we were bound to sell our place already. It really sucked. Throughout this ordeal, Sito was in KL :(
Then, 6 Oct happened - they decided to waive the wait-out period for those with OTP before 30 Sep. Thank goodness! I could celebrate Yu's birthday in peace! Eventually, they granted the waiver on 10 Oct.
I had multiple exchanges with various HDB officers. They were thankfully very responsive coz I kept having issues with the website:
- On 10 Oct, my second application got stuck on payment page (but they got it);
- The application also skipped through the proximity grant part after I clicked yes. Later, the financial plan showed that I didn't apply for the grant. But the officer helped me via phone and email;
- On 4 Dec, the grands couldn't verify documents for the proximity grant. The officer updated the system on 5 Dec and we managed to do it that night
HDB website is really weird.. Up to Monday, when I logged into HDB portal, I saw a screen saying my application had been cancelled from 4 Oct. I had to click "proceed" to be brought to the latest screen. But how scary!
Anyway, the system update also caused our CPF to be deducted for stamp etc when we had opted to pay in cash. Small matter though.
Then we also had issue with dates. Agent said it was seller's new flat's agent/seller. Whatever. Point is, we didn't complete on originally agreed date of 31 Jan. Stuck to HDB's 9 Jan. So I had to use the POA we did back in 2021 coz Sito would be overseas. Then Sito said he hadn't bought tickets! Then HDB legal processed the POA already. Then Sito ended up leaving early morning of 9 Jan *.*
...
I really don't want to go through this again!
But the admin at HDB was smooth except for the property tax. Too gan cheong of me to paynow based on the amount in the HDB letter. It was reduced due to rebates so now I'm waiting for seller to refund me.
At least it's all done! The flat is ours woohoo!
I contacted our old ID and set a date to discuss renovations. Can't wait!
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