born_again

huh....thought shops tend to carry various types and patterns. In that case, u can visit Kleen as they have several in the showroom.

our huge 'pawnshop' gate

the perfect display cabinet from Ikea. Self-assembled and got dad to drill the necessary to hang on the wall

oh then its good news. No need to spend thousands of $ to rewire the unit. Usually if its an old flat with wiring done up more than 15 - 20 years ago then people would consider rewiring.

Luckily my seller already bought over the recess area otherwise I'll be in the same situation as u; having to pay another sum of $ to the lawyer and doing up the mortgage loan again. The scary thing about the mortgage loan is that it might be adjusted to accommodate the extra area and monthly loan would be slightly higher as well as shorten which is what happened to my previous unit.

at my old place, the owners had kids and yet they always denied their kids jumping and playing basketball at home. It was really irritating and very irresponsible of the parents. Quarreled with them several times, really make me so mad because I could even see the boy bounding the basketball inside the room when I was arguing with the grandma outside the main door. I even told her that her unit has been invaded with ghosts since they refused to admit. So glad when we eventually moved out.

Ya dont think u'll need to rewired the whole house but when was the last time they rewired the house?

i bought mine from Kleen at jln besar opposite the stadium. Really powerful and highly recommended by the shop owner. U can ask shops that u visit to recommend good ones to u.

it'll also depend on the layout of your recess area and what u intend to do with it. U might be required to install fire-rated door and its pretty costly especially if ur existing main door is not fire-rated. A wall plus the door frame would have to be erected to facilitate the new door entrance so that's an additional cost. Previously HDB allow owners to do up the recess area by fencing off the area with a gate but now they dont allow it. Policies tend to change over time for fire safety reasons. do u have a pic of yr recess area?

your electrician would be able to add a few more powerpoints for u in the house so dont worry about the DB box. They'll know where to tap on to give u enough powerpoints for your computers, electrical stuff. U can also get them to relocate the existing points if u feel the points would be obstructing your furnitures.

check online after a week to see if they're efficient. My relative got the reply online first on the 3rd week.

thought the 1k deposit could be returned to buyer in the event that the bank loan is not approved? This is the only exception otherwise the deposit would be forfeited. I think this clause is stated in the otp.

yup, they would give u a reply and indicate the estimate cost of the purchase then u decide if u want to go ahead with the purchase. Actually its good to buy over as u can do up the area. btw, cost of the purchase can be paid either via cash or owners' CPF a/c. But do take note of this especially if ur parents are still paying monthly instalment for flat as there would be some slightly changes to the monthly instalment after buying the recess area if u're choosing to pay via CPF. For housing loan currently paid via bank loan then u'll need to factor in the lawyer fees as well. Note: Cost of shifting all the boxes are not included in the estimated cost from HDB and has to be paid by CASH.

Hi Reiki, looks like u're like me. I check on the resale transaction regularly and have been doing it for years. There's another way to overcome this site which has been 'down' for more than a month. click here for the link that I managed to figure out. Its much better as the exact model of the flat is indicated eg. 4-S, 4-NG, 5-Improved, 5-A, Exec Apt, Exec Mais. But u'll need to press the refresh button from your PC after each search. Enjoy!

yup, Pink is correct on the new flat area. When i bought my EM, it was 148sqm (reflected in the resale transaction) and after i bought the miserable recess area, it became 150sqm and was reflected as 150sqm in the resale transaction when i sold it off.

have stayed in flats with ceramic as well as homogenous flooring and currently back to ceramic flooring again. Personally i find that grout lines of homo tiles tend to get dirty easily as compared to ceramic tiles. For the little bit of stubborn stains, u can try the DIY method by using toothpaste and toothbrush to brush off the stains. If u continue to be diligent in vacuuming and mopping the homo tiles then shouldnt have problem keeping the overall clean look.

use your SINGPASS, login to MyHDB from HDB website and apply for purchase of recess area. They'll access it and get back to u within a month if the officer handling it is efficient. I bought the miserable recess area (2sqm) for my exec mais in Hougang 3.5yrs ago and paid about 1k+. The area is just a few hundred dollars, the bulk of the cost came from survey and inspection fees. As the electrical board, water metre as SCV box were already along the corridor so I save $ on having to shift them out as now HDB want owners to shift them out. Think the new ruling came into effect sometime in 2007 or 2008. Previously they stated it optional as the agreement from SP services was that it allow owners to do own submission of water/electric readings every month. Not sure if there's any new changes recently. Is yours a corridor unit? Mind to PM me your blk.

the white lines surrounding the backing are? masking tape? saw the black kitchen tiles in your earlier post. Very unique. is it costly? so lucky of u to have marble flooring, we would love to get a unit with marble flooring but not lucky for us. Was the flat bought abv valuation as serangoon is a hot town now due to circle line. My friend told me she had agents knocking on her doors recently and her place is not exactly near to central. look forward to u posting more pics especially those of your toilets as the tiles r very nice.

depends on your budget, your feel for the unit, the location, the recent resale prices for that blk or nearby blks or for that estate, the valuation, the COV, the facing, the condition of the flat etc and also dont forget to find out if its an ah long unit.

so far yet to know of any EA with 3 toilets. I think only EM comes with 3 toilets and the youngest EMs are also more than 10yrs.

can check MyHDBpage using your SINGPASS. The 2nd appt date as well as the status tend to be faster than snail mail. In fact, checking of approval of reno permit also can be done via here.

great choice. I'm using the one with 3 burners. 3CG. My Rinnai hob and Ellane hood as the Rinnai hood couldnt fit in due to the beam on top. Also done up the kitchen top with Black Glaxary granite. Love it so much!!! Its like "Or Kim" (black gold)

The solution would be call HDB and they would inspect, advise on what to do next and cost would be 50% 50% for both up n down neighbours. One of my relative paid $250 for everything.

do your own painting and u can save min. $1500. Ur kids are already big right so can rope in entire family to do the paint job. Re-doing the toilets most ex, maybe can give it a good scrub, change the sinks to something more fanciful and trendy and get new WCs. Can add some nice stickers onto the wall tiles then it'll definitely look better, ppl wont be able to tell its an old toilet.

no hidden cost from them. Call them and get them to come over to your place, if required and get a quote from them.