Finally the search is over!

Finding the ideal house is really not easy...can be nerve wrecking too! Perhaps especially in our case.....

Hubby and I started our house searching in June.. We like the resort style condo opposite my mummy's place in Yishun... In July, we shortlisted 2 units and ask fengshui master to help us select... One of them was a good one and we offer a price for it. But I guess our timing is not right. The property prices was at its very high! The owner refuse to budge and we have no choice but to give up on that unit... After the Chinese 7th month, we wanted to start the search again. But there were no units on sale at all... The penthouses units were close to 1 million dollars! Although we know that one can never get a penthouse at such price in the central area, it is still over our budget....

There seems to be signs to tell us that we should not buy a condo... Hubby's grandma fell sick and went in and out of hospital every week... His uncle will call him every Saturday night or in the middle of the night that grandma is admitted to hospital.... We are under tremendous stress.... It came to a point that she might have to stay with us and we have to pay for the medical bills etc... Lots of problems surfaced one by one.... Also, hubby and I are the sole breadwinners of our families. When in need of cash for emergencies, they always come to us... Cash on hand for the rainy days is definitely a must! Thus, to buy a condo now seems to be tough... Buying a HDB is the safest choice now.....

I went to US and Geneva for business for 2 weeks... After that, hubby said we have to start to search for HDB flats soon.... First, mil's friend who is a property agent helped us. But only after looking at 3 units, her partner started saying things behind our back and unfortunately he sent the email erroreously to me! They are not familiar with Woodlands and requested help from us. I searched and listed down the blocks that we are interested in. But the guy said in the email that not to take us seriously. Just make us buy the unit we viewed and end of story! After that, hubby had tonsilitis and stayed in the hospital for a day and we could not view some units they arranged. Subsequently they went on a business trip and the house search was interrupted.....

Maybe is all fated.... After that, the agent who helped us earlier with the condo search introduced his colleague to us to help us on the hdb search. He is a very shy person and we don't feel comfortable with him at all. He brought us to view 3 units on a Sunday and he went for reservist.....

I could not just wait for the agent to do the search for us.... I felt that I have to do something to help ourselves.... One day, I browse through the property website and found the agent, Joelle Liao. There was an unit being advertised which is the block that we are very interested in.... I called her to enquire. She was so helpful... Although the unit was sold, she decided to help us to look for others and arrange for viewing for the weekend....

This is how we started our real search of HDB with her for the next 1.5 months...... She is very sincere and treat us like a friend. Together with her 10 years experience as an interior designer, she gave us good advice......

But again..... timing is bad! The HDB resale market is at its high.... cash over valuation is at least 20K.... When we managed to shortlist 4 units for fengshui master to view, there was one that was suitable for us. But the owner kept increasing her cash over valuation. Alas she wanted 55K, from 40K! Again...we had to give up.....

There was one with granite flooring and nice renovation and the owner wanted 68K! Impossible to buy..... The search continued.... Hubby and I were tired.... But we still tried to keep a light heart....... Hubby believed that we will definitely buy one that is suitable for us..... Honestly, I really wanted to give up.... When we wanted to buy condo, the price was against us. Headlines on the papers stated condo prices is at its very high..... When we wanted to buy HDB, the headlines was HDB resale prices is at its very high..... It seems that timing is probably not right. One colleague even said that maybe I should have a baby first and put the house buying plan on hold.....

After our short trip to Bali for our one year anniversary, Joelle arranged another viewing... As we just reached Singapore in the afternoon, we went to view with an extremely light heart... It was a very good unit...spacious for a 120 sqm house. The best part was the marble flooring....for the entire house! The owner asked for a reasonable amount of cash too... As there was another couple who was interested, we decided to give a 1K cheque. The practice is that when the seller accepted this 1K, there should be no viewing. This is the 'option fee'. Hubby drove home and got the cheque book. Both agents decided on a fair arrangement. Both potential buyers will write their offer on the cheque, which will be presented to the seller faced down. When the cheques are flipped over, whichever higher amount will get it.... The seller asked for the price of 370K. With Hubby's trading experience, we offered 371,800.... In the end.... the other couple offered 370K exactly and it was clear that we won! But the couple and their agent rushed up to the seller's home and said they wanted to offer higher at 375K. Seller checked with her husband and he said he definitely wants a higher offer.... Human nature..... After that the seller's agent asked if we would like to offer higher than 375K. Our agent signaled us to leave..... If we continue to offer higher, the couple may offer at another higher...If this goes on, the seller will benefit! Buyers will be at a losing end...... Haiz... I was very upset... We wasted our time there and have not had any dinner... Tired, hungry, sad...... But I lost my appetite when we went back.

After this incident, we continue our search... Maybe this unit is just not meant to be.....

On one Saturday morning, I saw some units available in Classifieds and I informed Joelle. There was one unit that we can only view on Sunday between 1-2 pm. But I have piano lessons and the earliest I can reach is 2.30 pm. Joelle tried to ask the agent to talk to the owner to wait for us for another half an hr..... Finally he agreed! After piano, I rushed down from Jurong to Woodlands.... It is a good unit, with full length windows in the living room and bedrooms. The house is very bright.... All looks good.... We shortlisted this unit for the fengshui master to take a look. But on the following Thursday, Hubby needs to go to China. I will need to view the house together with Joelle and FS master. We have a hunch that this unit will be sold fast if we do not act fast..... I decided to take half a day leave on Friday morning..... Fengshui master said the unit is suitable for us. We are a step closer....... Now is the negotiation part......

Owner wanted 35K cash over valuation. It is very high as the HDB valuation is already 30K higher than a normal 5 room flat in Woodlands. It is a design and built house and is bigger and hence the valuation is higher.... The last offer was 23K.. Joelle decided to offer at 24K then 25K. She wanted to leave some buffer for negotiation. Hubby and I discussed and we are willing to close the deal at 30K. True enough that the seller's agent told Joelle that 30K should be able to close. Joelle spent the Friday afternoon for the negotiation..... This seller's agent is super slow! He takes 2 hours to return calls and reply sms...... In the evening, I told Joelle that we can close at 30K and do not want to waste time negotiating a few thousand dollars....... But Joelle had told the agent she will raise it to 28K and it was rejected again..... Finally she told them that both should take a step back and close it at 29K..... Seller's agent said he will talk to the owner......

Joelle told me that she will collect the 1K cheque from me on Staurday morning so that if the deal is closed, she can meet the agent somewhere and do not need to come back to Woodlands for the cheque.... But at 11 pm, while I was talking to hubby on MSN, she called me urgently...... She had one customer who called earlier and said they are very interested in the same unit that we saw and they are willing to pay 35K! Joelle quickly tried to tell them not to buy this unit..... When she finished talking to them, the seller's agent called her that 29K offer is accepted! Omg! This is really unbelievable!!!! At 11.30pm, she came over to get the cheque from me and let me sign on the option to purchase form.......

That Saturday morning (19 Dec 09) is really nerve wrecking..... Joelle smsed me that she met up with the seller's agent at 10 am... But she wrote the owner's name wrongly on the cheque. The spelling given by the owner's agent was wrong. She had to rush to the atm and use her own cash of 1K. The scary part is that she did not get the namecard of the agent or a receipt! I am so so worried..... She did it out of goodwill and had to take the risk of losing the 1K cash! I went to mum's house in the afternoon.... I was worried from 10 am in the morning to 9 pm at night..... The owner works night shift and can only sign the agreement in the evening.... In the evening, Joelle told me that the owner wanted to go to Malaysia suddenly and she told the agent that he might need to get him to sign before he leaves Singapore..... At that moment, only Joelle and I know that there is another potential buyer with a higher offer.... We had to keep our fingers crossed!! If the agent is unscrupulous and still willing to accept their offer when our offer is already accepted, there is nothing we can do...... I waited till 9 pm and finally Joelle got the signed agreement....... Phew!!! We bought the house finally...............

It is really dramatic...... If that couple is not Joelle's customer, we will not know that there is a potential higher offer. We might really lose the house again! I am glad that we are a step, a day faster than the couple..... Maybe is a blessing in disguise that we did not manage to buy the earlier one.....

After all these dramatic events, I realise that most of the time we really do not know what lies ahead of us, what is being planned for us...... We have to go with the flow, try to keep a light heart and see what happens ..... (",)