We Selected Our Flat!!! =D



The 1st of August this year is one of our much awaited day! This is because on this day, Sunshine and myself finally selected our flat. Yay! We had waited for this day since a long long time ago!

I went to Sunshine’s place late morning, wanting to leave immediately but Sunshine was dilly-dally-ing and hence, we arrived only about 30-40 minutes before our appointment time. It was already quite late for lunch and I was very hungry after a whole morning of waiting for Sunshine (He was gaming =.=). Furthermore, we were worried that by the time we finished our selection, it would be almost evening time. Therefore, after taking a queue number, we hurriedly went to the food court and gobbled our lunch. Halfway through our lunch though, Sunshine received a SMS from HDB, telling us that we are ready to be served (it was 15 minutes before our scheduled time). We immediately went to the stated counter after finishing our lunch. Thus, unlike other couples, we did not have time to take THE mandatory shot of us holding our queue ticket. Haha.

The lady who attended to us was very friendly. This immediately sets us at ease. After checking our identities, she proceeded to ask which unit we wanted. Looking at Sunshine for one last confirmation, I then declared our chosen unit: Blk XXX, unit XX-XXX. Hehe. She checked that it was still available for selection and then congratulate us for our flat! Yay! There were quite a few documents to print and after sorting them out, she patiently explained each and every of them and got us to sign on them. Here is one of the documents presented to us:

Our floor plan!
Our floor plan!

One of the information conveyed to us was that we need to pay 5% of the total price of the flat at our second appointment and the hdb personnel showed us that we had just sufficient funds in our CPF ordinary account for the deduction within the next few months. I had $18k while Sunshine had $5k!!! =.= So unfair! Due to males’ compulsory conscription, guys would start working two years later as compared to their female counterparts. This is how I ended up with almost three times more money in my account than Sunshine… =/ Ok. Enough of my rant. I am glad we had enough to pay from our CPF and not have to fork out any money! =D

Another useful information which I would like to share with my readers is that for units selected through SOBF, unless that particular unit had been chosen by someone and given up eventually before, all the units would come with compulsory internal doors, full kitchen and toilets tiles, sanitary fittings and a “closed concept” kitchen. This is regardless of whether the BTO was originally “opened” or “closed” kitchen concept. This last point was what I wanted to check and double confirm with the HDB personnel because I want a closed kitchen for easier cleaning post-cooking next time. I do not want to have to pay extra cash just for the wall to be built up during my own renovation works. Yes! I was damn happy to hear this piece of information! =D

We were then told to go to Level 3 to pay our option fee while she prepared a copy of all the documents we signed for us. It was kept neatly in an orange file and given to us. To me, this orange file of documents is the only tangible item now which signifies the confirmation of our future home together! *Happy!*

Our orange document file =)
Our orange document file =)

After everything was done, we went to HDB’s showroom at Level 3 to look at the layout and some of the renovation ideas. There are the two different types of 2 room flats, a 3, 4 and 5 room flat showcased in that showroom. I was hoping that the 5 room unit opened for showcase was of the same layout as that of our flat ie. bomb shelter in the living room instead of in the kitchen. This is so that I can visualise the space between the main door and the bomb shelter so as to better plan the design of our flat. However, the unit showcased had its bomb shelter in the kitchen. Oh well. We shall decide again when we get our flat.

Housing - Our Nice Home Gallery

Sunshine works on weekdays, a regular nine-to-five job while I am on rotating shifts. Hence, on this once-in-a-blue moon occasion where he is not working on a weekday, I extorted a Swensen’s one-for-one Happy Hour ice cream sundae from him as part of our celebration post-flat selection. Hehe. A sweet ending to a sweet event!

Housing post selection celebration

Later that night, I joined this BTO’s Facebook group and began my obsessive reading about all the things posted there. Then I read that someone who went to the site actually saw that the construction end date had been changed from third quarter of 2017 to second quarter! Omg! To think that I had actually just checked with the HDB personnel in the afternoon about our project’s scheduled completion date and she replied that it is still as stated three years ago to be third quarter of 2017! I think HDB should be updated about this information and enable its staff to convey this to people like us so that we can proper plan our wedding date, when to sell the current house (if applicable) etc. Oh well! I am quite happy with the piece of information! This means that it would be less than a year before our own humble flat is ready!!! *excited!!!* I totally cannot wait for that day to come! Hehe.


Spread the word:
Rainbow

A novice baker =)

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