The Biggest Purchase in my 35 Years of Life!

When the clock hit midnight on 25 April 2015, i was adamant in making full use of my next stage in life and first and foremost was to utilise that chunk of money in the untouchable CPF account! 

Less than four months later, my wish was partially fulfilled when i received the letter from Singapore's Housing & Development Board (HDB) for a first appointment! 

In case you haven't gotten my very obvious hint; i had made the biggest purchase in my life so far and that's to buy a resale (3-room) flat under the Single Singapore Citizen Scheme! 

Want to know roughly how much CPF Housing Grant you are entitled for to get that dream home you have always wanted? Check out the following quiz here!

Questions have been asked as to why i didn't consider a new flat? I have two main reasons; one, i find a two-room flat to be too small and secondly, i would likely have to wait for a few years before i can move in! Other minor reasons include the need to live near my parents and that for a new flat etc. 

It's another few weeks after the first appointment for conclusion of purchase and I finally got my keys last Saturday! Couldn't wait to see the empty, unfurnished flat! 

This was the narrow yet long living room. Pink is the colour and i am going to paint it white as i am extremely bad with colour coordination and have always preferred the basic black and white. 

Another perspective from the kitchen doorway; the flat is a corridor unit and my current house is a corner. Hence, there would be some loss in privacy; even i am tempted to look in whenever i pass my neighbour's corridor flat. 

This kind of rough-texture wall is so passe and my experience (based on where i am staying now) is that it's a chore to paint it, there's no way you can have wallpaper as the "bumps" would show and if you have pets (for example, Chinchilla), be prepared to have them gnawing and scrapping the chunk of paint from the wall. 

Kitchen! Note the difference between picture three and this! So much lesser clutter and my current discussion with the contractor is to have a small island jutting out from the cabinet area. 

The whole built in kitchen cabinet would have to go as the condition isn't too good. Carpentry cost is really expensive and in my case, was about S$11,000 without even considering the tiles! :(

Above is the common bedroom; the 'is' would change to a "was" in time to come as my intention is to hack down the wall to create a larger living hall. I don't have any need for a study room and i have never liked renting my house to others.

Store room - differing from the bomb shelter storeroom common in many flats nowadays, we have the option to remove the store room to for a bigger master bedroom! Yes, i am going to do that too; no store room for me. There would be some inconvenience but having a storeroom promotes hoarding which runs in my family! 

Master bedroom with its attached bathroom. As the flat has undergone the "home improvement programme" in the past two years, i am not going to touch it. Although this would save me a ton of money, i would not be able to have my dream bathroom with separate wet and dry sections. 

The wall next to the door shall be hacked and the freed up space (which consists the store room) should house my 3.5 meters "L" shaped built in wardrobe! 

Am i excited to see how it would turn out to be?! Of course! 

I have even created a new label called "house renovation" to track the process! Praying hard that this contractor i engaged is able to do a good, satisfactory job and, for a major windfall in the lottery!

>>> Start of Renovation