HomeHouse hunting journey: We found a house we loved on the first viewing!
tsonfourth
bits and pieces of our 1216sqft 5rm resale home
House hunting journey: We found a house we loved on the first viewing!
110
- Japandi
- HDB (Resale)
- ~1,200 sqft
- 3 br
- Couple Living
Hello everyone on Communa! We are the Thias (T & J), and we just got a 5RM Resale HDB flat in the North side of Singapore! So, why did we decide to purchase a resale flat? Our main consideration was like everybody else - the timeline. We weren’t exactly rushing for a house as we could have moved in with our parents who were really supportive of us, but we didn’t like the fact that we had to wait 4-5 years for a BTO flat (and that’s if we even get it). Ideally, we wanted to have a year or two of alone time to ourselves in our new home, before we started to plan for kids. That would mean either: - We had to BTO very early on in our relationship. - We can only move into our flat when we are older (may not have alone time to enjoy in our new home, or push back our plans for kids). - Renting after marriage (we did consider that) but it was quite heart pain as we knew the money could have been used for our reno. 
Our initial plan was to wait and see for Feb 25’s SBF launch, but after we got engaged in Nov 2024, we decided to go house viewing just to see what’s out there in the market! We started viewing both 4RM and 5RM flats in end Nov 2024, and narrowed down to 2 main areas: Khatib and Canberra. Some other key requirements that we had were: 1. Walkable to MRT station (<10mins) 2. Budget of <$780k 3. We did not mind low floors but would prefer it to not be on first or second floor 4. Privacy - not too close to the next block 5. Bedroom walls to be intact as we are planning for kids and did not want to spend money rebuilding the walls 6. Quieter neighborhood as we personally are not a fan crowds After viewing different layouts, we also realised we liked this particular layout, where the bomb shelter was “hidden” within the kitchen as it made the living area space much more spacious. These preferences were what we realised along the way as we viewed more flats. 
We went for 3 viewings in total (on 30 Nov, 1 Dec and 7 Dec), but eventually still had best vibes about this unit we saw on our first viewing. So yes, we put in an offer and got it!! Everything felt super crazy - even though we’ve been planning to get a house together and have been doing tons of research for the past few years, it’s still an indescribable feeling when you and your partner actually locked down a house. Here is a timeline of what took place after we decided on the unit, and will share more about the entire resale buying process without an agent! We are looking forward to sharing more about our home with all of you here! :-)
