jrframedsnippets
a dark wabi-sabi, scandinavian mixed 93sqm 4rm resale flat✨
The HDB Journey We Didn’t Expect — and the Home That Surprised Us
104
Hello! We are J & R. Here goes our first post on Communa! We’ve benefited a lot from this platform ourselves and thought we’d like to share our personal experience too. Hopefully our thoughts can resonate with some of you out there and help in your own decision making! 
Our house hunting process went through all 3 possible options of getting a HDB flat: BTO > SBF > Resale 🫥 Resale was definitely the “last resort” as the housing market has been heavily inflated post-covid and we were quite reluctant to pay such exorbitant amounts for the next 25 years. However, we quickly got tired of failing to ballot for our preferred choices across 2 BTO/SBF periods. The amount of time waiting in between with uncertainty for ballot results and decisions being entirely out of our control were probably the final straws which made us decide to start our search for a resale unit. We also wanted to have a unit of our own + kids after marriage so we didn't have a longer timeline like others. We had not pinned too high hopes on finding the “right one” before the next BTO cycle. Lo and behold, we managed to find the right one after viewing only 10 units across 3 weeks and gave our offer in 2 days right after a second viewing. 
Going through the BTO & SBF balloting process is pretty straightforward with the step-by-step guide provided within the HDB portal itself. Most important thing to do is to get your *HFE letter* sorted out before the ballot starts! Our main considerations when going for a BTO project was a short completion duration (~2yrs) and relatively close proximity to either of our parents. This was largely because we intend to have children in the future and would like to have our parents for support. When our BTO ballot failed in Oct-24, we then decided to give the SBF market a go since it was one of the largest launched in recent years. We were perhaps still naive and hopeful back then as we had worked out a really detailed list of prospective units that we considered “ideal” before deciding on which estate to ballot for. (We even headed down to the specific units to take a look 🫣) During our BTO/SBF era, we had also hoped to get a 5-rm as this would have cost the same or be even cheaper than a 4-rm resale 🫠 Feb-25 SBF results tested our patience (and the whole population of Singaporeans who were balloting for it) as voting weekend meant that the results got delayed by another week 😠 It was pretty funny though to share the same annoyance with Redditors online and trying to guess when the results would be released 🤣 
Once we got our failed results, we soon downloaded property viewing apps to start our “last resort” instead of mindlessly waiting for Jul-25 BTO/SBF ballot again. We had initially thought it would be a rather tedious process but with advancements in the property apps, it was quite a seamless and easy process of contacting the property agents on the units you are interested in viewing and scheduling it. We did not even have a property agent ourselves! (more on that in a separate post) Our focus was the same - 5rm flat in close proximity to our parents. We were quite insistent on the 5-rm criteria initially as we knew that we would need (and want) a relatively spacious home in the future. However, combining other criteria such as close proximity to MRT and the flat having a healthy lease (>80yrs remaining), all the while keeping to our budget proved to be impossible. Eventually we relented and kept a look out for suitable 4-rm units as well. After the initial units viewed, we quickly formed a clearer idea of the type of flat we would be comfortable with, including the flat layout. This helped to keep our search focused. 
After our first 4-rm flat viewing, we were so intrigued by the unique layout and pristine condition of the flat that we nearly put in an offer on the spot 🫣 However, we were reminded of our future plans of having children and this unit would be far from ideal for this situation (DINKs anyone?). Interestingly, this unit also sparked our interest for the specific blocks to further narrow our search. This was largely due to the proximity to an abundance of amenities, convenience and pricing. We were hoping for a 5-rm unit to be available but it was really rare to have such a seller. The next unit across the block was brought to our attention and we were quite apprehensive to go for the viewing initially as the photos on the listing did not look as great (first impressions count!). We were also quite exhausted with multiple back-to-back viewings at this point and were ready to just take a break from house hunting. R’s parents nudged us along for this “final” viewing which somehow turned out to be the biggest surprise as R slowly fell in love with various aspects of the unit 🤗 Here is the floor plan of our dream unit! 
From putting down our offer to completion, the entire process was quite straightforward as HDB portal had broken it down into simple steps to follow. This eliminated the need for an agent on our end (saving on agent fees) and the sellers’ agent was also helpful in guiding us along. When in doubt, trust whatever you see on HDB website and portal! 
One of the criteria by the sellers was a full 3-months extension of stay. While most buyers would not want to grant this (due to you owning the house and starting to pay the mortgage yet not able to stay in the house), we were agreeable to this arrangement as the timeline played out in our favour on many fronts. Firstly, we were able to head overseas for our trip which we had planned a year ago. And when we were back, we had sufficient time to confirm our ID and source for furniture + fixtures for our future home (10.10, 11.11 sales!). We were probably really blessed with how the last 12 months had turned out ☺️ 
Our overseas trip - holiday in the alps!! House or no house, we were off!! This was a trip of a lifetime (where J proposed) and a story for another day 🥰 Stay tuned for our reno updates~
11 days ago
