asoon88

If you intend to start a family or have your parents / in-laws stay with you, an EM/EA is ideal. However, an EA is a safer unit to consider because frequency of small children or elderly parents accidentally tripping/falling on staircases is common in EMs. Child-proofing staircases can only do so much. If you don't intend to have children, consider the routine of walking upstairs and downstairs everytime you need to get something. Clothes, stationery, answer the door, a drink, etc.....EMs does require you to do some leg work everytime. Since you are also a person who fears the supernatural, my advice to you is to go for a 4-rm flat. Empty spaces attract spirits...EA or EM fits that perfectly ! Your spouse doesn't seem to be the type that will do housework regularly.... maybe you should consider a 3-rm flat instead. Reduce your loan commitments and live simply.

I empathise with your situation as I had gone thru' this myself before. The sad fact is that no organisation in Singapore lends money to business people that are bleeding. You must have capital that will last you at least a year if you want to embark on a business. Projected returns are at best intelligent forecast that brings short-term relieve. There are many people passionate about setting up their own business. At the end of the day, do the returns you get cover your operating expenses ? If not, forget about the business because it is not viable. I have approached SPRING and several other agencies before, the huge red-tape of information they require before you get in-principal approval will put you off immediately. All those "Success Stories" are there because their business are actually viable but they were short of funding to bring in bigger orders. SPRING has no problem approving that. My advice to you is stop the bleeding. Don't screw up people who gave you supplies based on trust. You need them. Don't borrow beyond your means to repay creditors.

If you have a budget of between $4~6K, I say go for it. Many of our local kitchen carpentry firms are using low quality plywood, fixtures and fittings. I spent nearly $9K on my solid-top kitchen with tempered glass backing but the quality, feel and worksmanship of the cabinets is worst than IKEA's $4K solid-top kitchen. Yes, they use acrylic for their solid-top but they also use BLUM hinges and fittings as compared to my unbranded soft-closing hinges which doesn't work properly. I truly regret using this contractor. If I strike BIG SWEEP this week, I will tear down my entire kitchen and go to IKEA to get their system. At least there is a 25 years warranty as against my 2-year worksmanship guarantee !

Both of you already have an approved HLE. As long as you borrow below the loan quantum and the companies that you both worked for have been contributing to your CPF regularly and on time, HDB will grant you the loan. HDB will only be cautious when your CPF contribution is irregular. The other thing is when you borrow to the maximum limit of your HLE. Then they will check on your job history, present or future job to determine if they need to revise the HLE limit downwards. My buyer is a smiliar case to yours. He got retrenched as some high-flying sales guy earning about $5~6K/mth. HDB approved his HLE and gave him a $260K limit. He found a new job 3 months before securing 1st appt. His pay was $2.8K. He feared HDB would lower the loan quantum. However, since OTP was signed within the timeframe before HLE expiry. HDB maintained the limit. The only thing was that HDB required his new payslips as well as a letter from his company's HR that he is a permanent staff and not on contract basis. Eventhough he is the sole-breadwinner, I told him not to repay his loan by stretching to the max 30 years. However, he was looking at the smallest monthly repayment which included a cash payment as well. I would urge you and your husband-to-be to plan based on a single-income to repay your housing loan. If both of you need to cough up cash on top of the CPF repayments, then you are living on the edge.

Do not be too harsh on such letters. Sometimes the organisations themselves don't update the information real-time. I experienced it with SingTel, Citibank, PacNet. I changed to my new address one month before moving to my new house and yet I still receive mails to my old house. I had to physically go to the customer service counter and fill-in a form all over again despite having done it on-line previously. As for my new house, I am still tracing one of the ex-ex-owner's address because his OCBC Statement of Account are still being sent to my house despite having moved out 5 years ago ! Informed OCBC about it but still the same thing happens every month. So, I open up his letters each month to see how much money he still has in his account. He probably forgot that he still has $2K plus and earning interest from the bank each month ! As for my ex-owner, his mails are still being sent to my address. I dump them at his ex-wife's house which is nearby my place. My agent gave me her address. So at least important mails for their children are not discarded. They are divorced. Important mails from MOE for Edusave, Insurance,etc are thrown back to her. She probably knows it is me but I don't want to be so cruel as to shred any mail that does not belong to me. I also have my ex-ex-owner's daughter who is 13 years old this year and owes the National Library money for unreturned books. Reminders are sent to my place. I tracked her down on Facebook and emailed her to get her mummy to change the address at NLB. So life after buying other people's house, can be quite interesting !

17 years is quite young for a house to re-wire. Most wires used 20~25 years ago are still good to go for another 20 years at least. Many electricians will advise you to change because that's where they earn their bread-n-butter.

I am not Mr Chong but my advice to you is go to IKEA and buy a snake. Snake eat Chicken. The snakes at IKEA are nice to look at, touch and washable. Your colleagues will come to your desk very often and play with the snake. This will improve your "qi" because they will find you humourous and cute.

Another thing, you are not obligated to pay your agent anything because it is a failed sale. It was your agent's job to ensure that seller is able to sell off their property without any strings attached. Clearly, your agent didn't do his job. Don't listen to him anymore or you will be worse off.

Don't be silly. Just get back your $5K and look elsewhere. If you take your agent's advice, you will lose more money seeking legal redress. The seller is also not obligated to pay you the difference because the courts cannot enforce the market price argument since you didn't actually buy another unit.

If the seller had signed the necessary documents including acknowledging the receipt of payments with your agent as witness, tell the seller that you will report the case to the police as fraud if they do not refund all the money back to you. I am sure they will back out and refund you the money.

Strange ! Having lived in the east before (Bedok North (near Bedok Cinema) , Jln Senang (shophouse after temple) and Marine Parade (next to library) in the 80s, and have since moved to the West, I dread going back to the East. The reason is simple. The above places have very much changed and is no longer the leisurely and quiet place I used to know. The numerous condos overlooking the MRT tracks and the worn-out HDB flats selling at ridiculous prices are a big turn-off for a start. I wasn't much a Jurong fan myself when I had to move to the present day old Jurong West and then new Jurong West. But having lived and work in the surrounding area plus getting to know the neighbourhood folks here, I am glad to meet real and down to earth people plus hardworking foreigners. I never fail to give my block's sweepers an ang pow each year. When I bring my teenage kids to Marine Parade Food Centre occasionally, they tell me that Marine Parade youngsters are a showoff. Girls trying to show off their tanned shoulders and boobs and wearing skimpy butt hugging shorts. I tell them that people here think that this is "91210 the TV series". I am not complaining. I just eat my food and ogle at the free show.

Another negative NUH story to share :- More recently in 2005, my boss who was overseas called me to say that his 5 year old daughter was molested "down there" by the security guard of the childcare centre. As his wife doesn't speak fluent English, I helped by driving her and her child to Clementi Police Station to make a report. It was extremely troublesome because the silly officers refused to let the mother or me relate the story to them. They wanted to hear it from the 5 year old girl who doesn't speak English very well. After 3 hours at the police station, it was a fruitless attempt because she kept crying for her mummy. We left and went to the school to speak with the principal and teachers. We requested for the security guard to be away during our meeting to avoid scaring the child again. We told the school about the police report but they were also very skeptical about the incident. We decided to get a medical examination for her. At 2.30pm, we arrived at NUH A&E dept. We wanted to go to the children's clinic but having told the counter girl about the problem, she insisted that it must be handled by the A&E dept. Do you know what time they finally got the gynae to see the little girl ? 8.30pm !!!! I was there with my boss' wife and the child for more than 6 hours waiting to see a gynae. When we finally got to see the gynae, I questioned her youth and asked " Are you sure you are a gynae ? Singapore's birth rate must by quite high if you are so busy". She was quite peeved ! During the waiting time, I witnessed how inefficient NUH A&E doctors were handling their cases. A medical report was made by the gynae and she said if evidence of trauma was found it would be escalated to the police. I sent the mother and child home at 9.30pm. Upon reaching home, I turned on my computer and sent a foul-worded email to Moses Lee (perm sec for health) and cc NUH's CEO for the day's events. I received no reply. If you are a woman, got rape with the goo inside you and have to wait more than 6 hours to be examined, wouldn't it be better to commit suicide than to be kept waiting? Till today, I tell my family and friends to use NUH at their own peril.

Another negative story at NUH. Back in 1994, my second child suffered a fractured elbow after falling off from the sofa. I sent her to NUH A&E dept but was told there was nothing wrong. However, she was crying of pain on & off and I noticed a red swelling on her left arm above the elbow. I sent her NUH A&E dept again. This time the x-ray showed a hairline fracture. She was sent to the dressing room to be bandaged. Guess what ? The medic/nurse bandaged her arm straight. I guestioned the nurse because my first child also suffered a factured elbow a year earlier and her arm was bandaged at an angle. I was proven right when the doctor who saw my child earlier happened to walk past us when we were at the appointment counter. He immediately ordered the cast to be removed and he personally did the job himself. The same thing happened to my niece in 1997, she fractured her elbow while playing tennis in primary school. Her mum sent her to NUH and her arm was bandaged straight. Her mum came over to my house with her 3 days later and I expressed concern over her dressing because I had experienced this problem before. I asked her to seek a second opinion. She did but was a little too late. At Gleneagles Hospital, the doctor immediately referred her back to NUH. However, at NUH, they were not able to bend my niece elbow to do the dressing because the fracture had somehow fused the bone. Only an operation could remedy the situtaion. My sister was flabbergasted. She threatened to sue NUH eventhough they offered to do the operation for free. Having lost confidence in NUH, they went back to Gleneagles to have the operation done there. With Gleneagle's doctor's help, all medical cost was borne by NUH. However, my niece who is 21 years old this year still bears the scars of the operation on her left arm till this day. NUH anyone ?

Just to share my own experience at NUH. My son was warded for a skin allergy back in 1995 as an infant. As my family had a history of hives, he got it too. I wasn't too worried but everytime he ate something, milk or plain porridge, it comes out. This was something different because it happens to me when seafood is taken. We were referred to a female doc....Prof Lee. She suggested warding my child for observation. As I was using an anti-histamine drug called Atarax, she also prescribe the same tablet to him but at half-dose, crushed and mixed with water before spoonfeeding. We spent a total to 3 days being warded as one parent was allowed to stay with the infant. Every morning, a team of boys and girls will walk in with a doc to check on my child's condition, after the doc did the usual checks, I was quite annoyed with the repeated questions posed to me by the boys and girls. These questions were asked upteem times when my child was first warded. As my child was staying in a four-bedded ward, there was a older Malay child staying beside us. On the second day, his grandfather came to visit him. He saw the red spots and patches on my child's body and told me to buy a young coconut and let him drink the coconut water. Prof Lee discharged us on the third day after failing to find the exact cause of my child's allergy except to ask us to return a month later for review. The Atarax tablets had little effect on my child. Upon discharged, I immediately went to the market and bought a coconut costing me only 50 cents. I fed my child 3 teaspoons of the coconut water and drank the rest myself. A miracle happened next, his red spots and patches disappeared within an hour ! I gave him the same treatment for the next four weeks until appointment day with Prof Lee. Prof Lee was delighted to see my child's skin was patch-free and looked healthy. She asked me if the tablets issued were all consumed. I told her that a Malay man's 50-cent coconut remedy cured my son. She was unconvinced and just smiled not saying a word. She arranged another appointment date for us. It was less than a 3-min observation. At the cashier counter, I was asked to pay a $75 consultation fee. I blasted the Indian girl at the counter because Prof Lee didn't do anything ! I finally paid the $75 so as not to create a commotion. I ignored all reminders to visit NUH thereafter. Why pay a useless doctor when she didn't do anything ?

Do you have more than 6 people staying in your home ? If not, using instant water heater in each toilet is good enough. I recommend you to buy Panasonic because they are aesthically designed, water and energy saving. Go to Alexandra Village and check out the prices. Don't buy those "British" or "ulu" brands, they don't last. Most storage water heaters look bulky and if the exterior is not cleaned regularly, dust and rust will set in. Your bathroom will look no different from the factories along Kian Teck Road !

Just make sure that your kitchen designer designs the cabinet just like those at IKEA. The glue used to bond the formica to the wood must withstand high temperatures. Get them to guarantee it. Not any paper glue. Built-in ovens usually have front convection cooling...meaning heat is dissipated from the viewing glass and an air-duct with built-in fans. Cockroaches are the cleverest insects in the house. The oven is the last place they want to build their nest egg. People whose oven are infested with cockroaches are those that did not clean up after their last meal donkey months ago. They probably never close the oven door or were using ovens that were built using old technology that dissipate heat from the four sides which will have holes on the chassis. Insects, lizards will crawl in. As long as you have a cooking hob, hood or oven and if used regularly, you must clean it after every session. Not doing so will bring the nightmare into you house.

I am rather surprised that you had to wait 2~3 hrs at Thomson. That was the usual time I spent just waiting at KKH with my wife! Thomson was a breeze because my wife's gynae was a one to one thing. No other patients. I have heard alot about NUH on pre-natal care. However, given the no. of medical students there, I advise would-be mothers to be mentally prepared to be "touched" and "probed". KKH is not any better but at least you don't see 10 boys and girls in white overalls touching you down there like NUH!

Over the past 2 years, prices of 3-rm flats have been ridiculously jacked up. Firstly by the valuers and then by the agents. Many who buy 3-rm flats for above $200K are paying excessively both interms of their loan commitments as well as for floor area. If you have $350K to spend on housing, which makes better sense...buying a four-room or five-room flat or a 3-room flat ? The other thing is the remaining lease left. Forget about location because Singapore is so small and you get stuck in a jam regardless of whether one takes public or private transport. Many forumers I read are paying excessively for flats that are almost 30 years old and because HDB grants them the maximum HLE, they take the bait. Over the next few years, many who are dependant on both husband's and wife's joint income to repay their mortgage loans, will face difficulty repaying should one loses their job. I always emphasise prudence when buying in my comments in this forum. Demand would not be there if HDB did not raise prices of new flats so quickly and granting high HLEs so readily. Supply would also be kept in check. Being able to afford in-excess of $300K for a 3-rm is not downgrading. It is artificially making oneself believe you got a good deal. The agents and the sellers get the best deal ! Let's see who has the last laugh. I won't be laughing but I foresee many people crying in the years ahead.

Whoever pays $350K for a 3-rm flat regardless of location is a person who is throwing good money away for a shoe-box floor area....and desperate for a flat !

KKH has the best equipment for pre and post natal care. Being the 'factory' of Singapore, reliability and experience is there. My first 3 children were born in the old KKH in the early 90's. It was a nice old hospital then. The new hospital is a bit "cold" because of the decor and expanse. That was why I sent my wife to Thomson Medical for my fourth child. Anyway, another reason was that the I located my wife's gynae who used to worked in KKH till 1999. He went into private practice but I tracked him down in 2004. Never regretted Thomson Medical because all the old KKH nurses are working there now ! Price is just slightly above KKH but my doctor gave me a discount for allowing him to deliver all my 4 children. Value for money !

I am still using my 20-year Rainbow vacuum cleaner and it is water-based. I also have a 2-year old Philips Vacuum cleaner with disposable bag and it is my 4th vaccum cleaner. There are times when water-based cleaners are better than bag ones. So go for the Karcher. Their warehouse and support in SIngapore, so you have no worries. I just bought myself a Karcher Polisher. No regrets.

Is your wife giving birth to YOUR CHILD or a SPIRIT ? Stop believing in all this superstition. Let me give you sound advice on this. Go ahead with your planned renovations. Your wife and you should be involved in the overall colour scheme, material selection and furniture layout. The selection should include your new baby fittings but avoid all those mushy-mushy children's decor because your child will outgrow the cot and playthings very fast and you will be much wiser to spend the money on milk and diapers instead. DO NOT allow your wife to visit the site during renovations. This is for her own safety. That is where all the old wives' tales come from. Probably, in the past, women who were pregnant got injured because of wanting to clean up or help out in the renovations. DO NOT allow her to be near areas where cement powder is flying aound, it will affect the baby inside her. Just make sure you keep her abreast of the renovation progress. She should visit the site only when the final cleaning and debris is cleared up by your contractor. If you wait 6 months later to do the renovations, you will not be better off because when your child comes out, both you, your wife and the baby will be seeking attention. It is even worse to bring a baby along during renovations. Do as I say, and you will be alright.

Check if the grouting is cracking or chipping off. If so, air has entered the marble tile since the tiler did not put sufficient cement during tiling. You can do a simple repair by buying grouting paste from any DIY shop and apply. This will prevent more air entering and worsening the problem. You will still feel a 'hollow' effect when you walk on the tile but at least it won't pop-out like ceramic tiles. Maybe, that's the reason why the previous owner sold you his property !. Spending $30K to redo the floor is ridiculous. Enjoy your humble condo now. Sell it in one..two years' time and let the next owner do the job. Take the money and buy a better property or spend it on renovations the next time round.

Legrand's Mallia switch consists of the face plate and rocker switch assembly. Why do you want to dismantle the rocker buttons ? The rocker switch assembly is where the two side screw holes are located so that you can secure it to the wall mounting box. Make sure you turn off the ELCB before you open up the Clipsal switch and remove the wires for the individual rocker switches. Label them with masking tape if you fear mixing it up. The L,E & N symbols are easily recognisable on the Legrand switch. Insert the wires accordingly and secure. Fix the rocker switch assembly to the mounting box (I assume they are of the same size) and tighten the screws. Snap on the face plate. Job done. Turn on ELCB and test.

This is the danger about using one's friend renovation contractor. You trusted your friend but the contractor is NOT your friend but one who is trying to make a quick buck ! I do not know if you have a written quote from him because laying of protective material on existing floor is a MUST and is a chargeable item. If he has not done so, then you can deduct the amount from his original quote...around $120. Since he has 'damage' so much of your existing fittings, you should withhold progressive payments until he rectifies the problems. Stolen items within a house during renovation works is not new and I think the contractor knows that too. My Legrand electrical switches which I bought was missing too during electrical works....so was my humble red pail for mopping my house. There is very little one can do because as all these workers are sub-sub-sub type. They come, do the job, see the items, take and go. When asked, no one admits anything. Better to make friend with this contractor of yours and build up the confidence again. To have him do-you-in at this time is going to be your worst nightmare. Get him to complete the renovations and shoo him out. Hold the payments !