History During the March Exercise for BTO and Sales of Balance Flats, there were about 4000 units from BTO and 4000 for Balance Flats. Who doesn't want new flats? But the thought of waiting another 3-4 years for completion, is not favourable. So I chose Balance Flats. Balance Flats, some are really new, cause nobody picked them during BTO. But some are repossessed units. Which Estate? Tough decision. So what I did was to wait until last day of application exercise before I sent in mine. I did all the ratio. Number of flats vs how many applications received for all the estates. There were 10 units in Bukit Batok, but only 34 applications. That's not a bad ratio, I thought. So I took the chance. A month later, I got my queue number. Couldn't believe my eyes. Magic number 7. I already have the unit numbers and blocks. Like I said, there were 10 units. But only 9 units that Malays are eligible to take up. Don't mistake this as only Malays are allowed to take. Chinese and Indians could too. eg. Malay-1, Chinese-1, Indian/Others-1. This means any race can get the flat. Malay-0, Chinese-1, Indian/Others-1. This means only available to Chinese and Indian race. By the time I go to HDB for the flat selection, I am left with a handful of units. And I know which unit was the best among them. Cause I went to the units and talked to the neighbours! I know, very kaypoh for someone my age. But no choice bah. Have to stay there for many years down the road. The unit I wanted, the neighbour said the owner couldn't afford to pay for the installments. So HDB repossessed it back and placed it under Sales of Balance Flats. Future plans, that didn't happen So my original plan was to hack 2 new doorways to the bedroom. And convert my store room to become Walk-in Wardrobe. Also wanted to make 2 bathrooms to become 1, since the toilets are bloody tiny. And for the wall between my kitchen and living room, to be hacked, to make open concept. But unfortunately, HDB declined the permit. Store room is a fire hazard. And I cannot hack the walls to make 2 new doorways. Quite upset with the turn of events. But hey, there is always a reason behind everything. Timeline March 2012 - Application of flat under Balance Flat May 28th 2012 - Selection of unit July 18th 2012 - Collection of key July 20th 2012 - Application of renovation permit for hacking July 26th 2012 - Application of renovation permit the 2nd time since hacking of walls and conversion of Walk-in Wardrobe not approved. July 27th 2012 - Renovation permit approved July 30th 2012 - Renovation starts August 13th 2012 - Renovation ends The future that did happen in the end So actually the only renovation works I'll be doing will be the kitchen and also flooring for 2 bedrooms, 1 store room and living room. Toilets not allowed to hack too, if I forgot to mention. $13000 loan taken up from RHB Bank, loan tenor of 5 years. Lucky for me, the unit already done up by HDB. They changed both toilet bowls. They changed the kitchen and toilet floor tiles. They also changed the wall tiles for kitchen and toilets. They did the electrical re-wiring for the whole unit. Changed all doors in the house, including the toilets. So $13000 just for laminated flooring and kitchen.
