.::. Sick .::.

I’ve been sick.  Since last Wednesday.  I got home and went right into bed after work.  The husband cooked steak for dinner, although I can barely swallow it down.  He thought that it would have made me happy.  I was coughing through the night and woke up with horrible body aches and fever.  It felt like all my bones were broken and moving simply hurts.  It took all my will power to get up for a shower and to see a doctor downstairs.  I simply couldn’t make it to central to see the better doctor.

Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday went by in a blur.  I woke up, I took medicine, I went back to sleep.  I managed to make it for brunch with the JC mates on Friday and the girls came by on Saturday for steamboat, reminding me how much I need to do before the pre-wed photoshoot and upcoming wedding.  I then spent the rest of the long weekend sleeping while the sweet husband cooked for me.  It got so bad that I finally relented and took anti-biotics on Sunday and went to the recommended doctor on Monday.

There goes my long weekend.

Is it almost November already?

I’m starved for time.  There’s so much to do and I’m barely coping with day-to-day routines, much less unpack and start preparing for everything else.

First thing first – get my health and strength back!

For now, I’m going to sentence myself to full house rest (apart from work) till I fully recover.

Jan will be back.  Soon.

.::. Braised Duck .::.

Mummy used to make braised duck, and it's one of the FIL's favorite dishes too.  And I am very much addicted to Teo Chew Muay these days after the husband made me a convert.  I used to think that Teo Chew Muay was for old people till the husband brought me for Teo Chew Muay repeatedly despite my protests.  Now, I have it for breakfast many times a week and felt like reproducing my favorite dishes at home.

I didn't follow exactly any recipe.  Mummy only gave me some instructions and I googled some recipes and did it my own way.  It did turn out pretty well though the husband thinks the meat is not tender enough.  The tastes was there, perhaps longer braising might be required.

Ingredients:
Garlic
5 spices powder
Blue Ginger
Ginger
Lemon Grass
Cinnamon Stick
Peppercorns
Start Anise
Dark Soy Sauce
Sugar

(1) I did it with a whole duck.  Cut the legs and the head.  Blanch it in boiling water and leave it to cool and drip dry.



(2) Marinate it with 5-spcies powder and dark soy sauce overnight.



(3) Heat up some oil and sauté the garlic and blue ginger and ginger till fragrant.



(4) Add the lemon grass (cut the stalk into pieces) and stir for awhile more.

(5) Add a few teaspoons of sugar to cover the bottom of the pot and let it caramelize.



(6) Add the other spices in and stir for awhile before adding dark soy sauce and water.  I added a bottle (500ml).



(7) Let it boil for 15 minutes before adding in the duck.

(8) Braise the duck and turn it regularly if liquid does not cover duck fully.



I braised it for about 2-3 hours, and it turned out beautifully although the meat did not turn dark.

Tip: I cut out some duck fats to sauté with the garlic and blue ginger to give it more taste.



And these were the dishes for teo chew muay for the night.

Braised duck was a success.  =) 

The husband gave me a 7/10, and complained that the duck meat wasn't tender enough.  Pretty good comments generally and good enough for the first try!

.::. Sunday .::.

The husband made breakfast again, while I slept in.  Have been really tired after the cleaning and cookout on Saturday.  Nothing beats home-cooked breakfast with love.  =)



It tastes so much better this time round.

Then I started folding plastic bags and doing some unpacking while Chikey lay lazily on the carpet.





He's such a darling.

Why are weekends so short?

.::. Chikey .::.

We've got a new member at home, and his name is Chikey.  He's Chinook's little brother.



Here he is.

Have been feeling that our home missed something - Chinook.  I missed having Chinook around so much, yet we've decided not to bring him over and let him keep the FIL company since they've grown so attached.  Chinook was my birthday present and it was the husband who made me fall in love with dogs after bringing me to many dog shows.  He grew up with dogs and love them.  I still remember him driving me to Pasir Ris pet farm one weekend, telling me that I can choose a puppy.  I was so happy then.

We know many neighbors with dogs here, and one of them knows a breeder who imports dogs from Taiwan.  He helped me to find out if they had Dachshunds and there was a black and tan long-hair one which is 7 months old.  The price was negotiable due to the puppy's age.  A few of us went down on Sunday to see the dog, but was held up as the neighbor's car auto-locked after he started the engine and closed the doors.  We wasted a few hours as his spare remote did not work with the key inside the car and engine running.  A mechanic finally managed to open the car and we rushed down to Pasir Ris from Holland Village.

To our dismay, the dog was sold just before we arrived.  We saw the cute puppy and its owners when we arrived.  The shop had a 7-weeks old red long-hair puppies which we could come back for in 2 weeks time. After visiting a few more shops, I almost thought that we would be going back without a puppy.  Yet at the last shop, we found Chikey.  He was so cute and my heart raced when I carried him. The price was even cheaper than the previous puppy although he is only 3.5 months old as he's locally bred.  And so, we brought him home.

He was so obedient and quiet on the first 2 days we had him.  The neighbors even thought that there might be something wrong with him, and we brought him for a checkup just-in-case.  Yet from the second day onwards, it was mayhem.  He broke out of the toilet the first 2 days and made himself comfortable.  We got a fence the third day and he still managed to break out.  He's whining so much whenever we leave him home.  He's still not toilet trained and it's still a long way to go.  He must be a lot smarter than Chinook, because Chinook never ever managed to break out - he just stayed in there and start getting excited when we get back.



Here he is on the first night at home.  He simply lay there even when we woke up and stared at us.



Here's me with Chikey.



Chikey watching TV with me.



And here's Chikey falling asleep on me.



And here's Chikey sleeping like a human.

I keep calling Chikey Chinook at times.

But yes, we would like to have a dog settled in before a baby comes.  It'll be nice to have our kids grow up with dogs.  I hate it when kids squirm and scream when they're around dogs.  I hate it even more when people tell me that you should not have dogs when you have kids as they are 'dirty' and 'not good for children'.  These people do not realize how much joy dogs can bring into your life and are missing out on quite abit.

.::. Home - Cook - Wash .::.

We have moved in for a week, and everything passed by in a flash.  There's so much to do, so little time. A typical day starts at 6am and I'm rushing to either run errands or head to the supermarket after work.  Then it's cooking or washing and ironing.  It's like a race against time, but there's so much satisfaction seeing our love nest come together.

I've planned to cook often in the new home.  Having your own kitchen is love.  But I realized that cooking on weekdays is a lot more challenging that I thought.  Having to cook after work, then wash up and do laundry or ironing is really hard work.

I've been cooking about twice to three times a week, and we eat with our neighbors at times.



This is tonight's dinner after getting our rice cooker last weekend.  China kailan with 3-cups chicken.  The husband tuned to an Asian cooking program a few nights ago and I picked up the dish.

And I made egg tofu from soy milk and eggs last weekend when dining with the neighbors.

Home-made Egg Toufu

Ingredients:
500ml unsweetened soy milk
6 eggs
Condiments such as salt

Instructions:
Sieve the mixture of both ingredients and steam at low heat for about 15 minutes.



The sieved mixture.



The steamed product.  High heat causes air bubbles and pimples, but I'm using induction and I've no clue how low is low.  I started with 100 degrees, but after 15 minutes, it's still a liquid mixture.  I increased the temperature to 120 and it was ready in another 10 minutes.  I suspect that it's still too high which causes the ugly texture at the bottom.  The top was fine, so was the middle.

I then fried the tofu before stir-frying minced meat with cai-po (preserved turnips) before finishing it with a dash of fried onions.  I think I lacked dark soy sauce.



It was really time consuming, I spent almost 3 hours on this, steaming 2 batches of tofu.  The frying part takes the longest time!

I would probably give it a 6.5/10.  Lots of room for improvements!

This weekend's plan is to try a duck dish and have teo chew porridge.

.::. Moving In .::.

The husband has decided to move in ASAP and I scrambled to get the home functional last weekend.  After relentless arguments, things have perhaps reached breaking point, and the MIL even left the snow skin durian mooncake I bought on his bed.  Indeed, maturity does not come with age.  If only we had trust our instincts and insisted not to use the relative, perhaps we could have avoided all the trouble.

It isn’t the best situation now, but at least we still have each other.  Perhaps one can never have it all.

So I went home and packed some clothes yesterday to move in with the husband ‘officially’.  Many have asked me if I would feel sad moving out of my own home.  I always said no, it has always been my dream to have my own place and having my beloved to share it with is really the best thing I could have.  Little did I know that moving out would feel so bad.  The siblings were doing their stuff as usual while mum was cooking and dad’s meditating.  It was just another day at home, yet it’s the day I’m moving out.  I didn’t even feel this bad when I left home for Sweden.  Mum says ‘move then move lor’ when I told her I’m moving out.  Even asked me to pack all my stuff into boxes so that they can help me move when possible.  I still have so much stuff at home!  Thankfully my parents are those traditional and practical type, so no scene nor big fuss, just normality.

I really feel like a grown-up now, like I’ve stepped into yet another stage in life and having to handle all the grown-up problems as they come.  Promoted perhaps.   I am now responsible for myself and our little family.  Even as an independent individual, this feels daunting.  From all the household chores, to the bills and everything else, it’ll be just us.  Sometime down the road, we’ll have children and end up as parents caring for a totally dependent baby. I can’t really imagine how life will be.

I cried the first night we moved in officially.  I’m was feeling so emotional, and perhaps that’s what everyone goes through.  It’s just, not something you can prepare yourself for no matter what you do or think.

It has been crazy, with all the household chores and realizing that we do not have this and that.  I’m always planning my time right after work, rushing to get errands done and buy all the things we need.  The husband who keeps saying ‘slowly’ is now asking me why don’t we have this and that.  Week nights pass by so quickly and there’s simply so much to do.

The husband must have a harder time than me.  The guy who has never stayed in HDB and probably haven’t done much housework.  He washed his first load of clothes yesterday as I went to get an ironing board and household items. I forgot to pass him instructions, and came home to a load of clothes ‘dipped in drain water’.  His pants color ran and stained his 3 shirts, my white bra and underwear.  The most amusing thing is that, he said he put his 3 white shirts in the protective bag.  He actually thought that the protective bag would ‘protect’ the clothes from stain.  Hello? The water used is the same!  The bag only protects the material from too much friction and such.

I guess it’ll take us some time to settle down, get everything we need, get used to living together and splitting the work load.

So far, so good.  I wake up at 545am every morning and seeing the husband right beside does give you alittle more motivation to get out of bed to work hard for our future together.

.::. Renovation .::.

Have been recommending my contractor to quite a few other people, and following his other projects on renotalk.

It makes me sad about my carpentry all over again.  Mr K's carpentry is almost flawless, with all the drawers perfectly aligned and the exposed plywood has beautiful grains.

Thinking of my carpentry work makes me fume all over again.  We could have had a very smooth and perfect renovation that ended months before.  Yet we end up with so many issues and frustrations with incompetent people who simply refuse to admit any fault but point fingers at us for being fussy instead.

The husband is right.  He has no sense of integrity nor courage to admit his mistakes.  All he knows is to hide and push the blame to everyone else except himself.  God should do something about him.  I pray for all the victims who has lost money in his previous and current businesses. Seriously.

And here's another beautiful home by Mr K:

http://www.renotalk.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=50063&st=0

And I really love the plywood that Mr K uses, just look at the 90 degree joint:

http://www.renotalk.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=44623&st=840

My plywood is seriously sh*t, with holes and gaps of different colors and tones. =(

Our home looks beautiful, yes.  But I know it's not perfect, I know when I look at the edges and see the ugly plywood.  

Can't believe that we are paying 15k for such shit work.  _|_

.::. Carpentry nightmare continues .::.

Day 102 - Friday 

Backsplash was still not up although kitchen was ready more than a month ago. The relative must have sat on it as usual, everything is stuck at his end. I finally got a call from a Binson guy (just found out that he’s the project coordinator from the relative’s company) on Friday, asking if they could come and install backsplash later that evening. The husband got him to contact me directly since he was travelling. I told him that I’ll be available from 6pm onwards, and he requested for a later timing – between 9-10pm. Although it was a tad late, I agreed, since I really did not want to drag this any longer. Binson asked for my permission to give the backsplash guy (Ah liang) my phone number, and I obviously agreed, so that he could contact me if anything crops up.

So there I was, waiting alone at our home on a Friday night till almost 11pm and there was still no sign of my backsplash guy, no calls from Binson nor Ah Liang. I tried to call Binson up, but his phone was off. The husband landed at 10pm and asked me to go home when I told him what happened. We have not moved in and it was getting really late.

Ah liang finally called me at around 11pm, telling me that he’s at Balestier. It was way too late by the time he arrives, and I asked him to arrange for Saturday installation. He wasn’t able to give me a timing and told me that he will call me again to ‘let me know tomorrow’. It’s as if my life and schedule revolved around these people. I told him that I’ll be available from 3pm onwards, and he could come anytime after that, but give me a call first.


Day 103 - Saturday 

Ah liang gave me a call at 10am, telling me that he can come now, arriving at about 11am. I already had something on and again told him after 3pm. We waited all till 630pm till he finally called and told us that he can’t make it today. He didn’t have any evening slots the week ahead too, and promised to come at 10-11am on Monday. I made him double-confirm that and had to get my parents to come over to wait for him since both of us were obviously working.

Day 105 - Monday

I was at a meeting, till my dad told me that ah liang was still not here when it’s already past 11am. I asked my dad to call ah liang directly since I wasn’t able to, and the husband did not reply to my message. Ah liang told my dad after lunch at around 2pm. The husband later got the message and called Binson. Binson told my husband that I wanted to liaise with ah liang directly and he was not in the loop. Basically, he does not know what happened and the flippant attitude was like it’s none of his business.

I was so angry!  This Binson simply arranged this and did not follow up, not knowing that the backsplash was not done. Now, he’s putting words into my mouth saying that I wanted to liaise directly (I said no such thing), shrinking all responsibility. He told the husband that ah liang will come at 1pm.

So, ah liang says 2pm, Binson says 1pm. I called this Binson up, wanting to confirm the timing and confront him on the point that I wanted to liaise with ah liang directly. And when I told him that his guy did not come on Friday night, asking him if he told my husband that I wanted to liaise directly with ah liang, he hung up on me. I was so pissed and tried to call him again. After several attempts, he finally answered and told me that if I wanted to talk to him, talk to him properly. I continued, telling him that I did not say I wanted to liaise with ah liang directly, he hung up again! And refused to pick up my call anymore.

I was so **** angry.   

This Binson was so rude and simply shrunk all responsibility by saying I wanted to liaise with ah liang directly. What sort of customer-facing person would have such attitude and have the nerve to hang up on disgruntled customers when his guy did not turn up as scheduled on 3 different days. Then, refused to even confirm timing nor apologize and simply shrink all responsibility, like it’s not his problem. No apology, no explanation, simply hang up and tell you that he will only talk to you if you ‘talk to him properly’. I was seriously fuming mad. He’s a project coordinator, and did not even do his job and have the nerve to have such attitude.

It’s already bad enough to stand us up 2 days in a row, and another to not turn up when I had to ask my parents to help and waste their time like that. I called Ah liang up again, and luckily he had the basic manners to apologize and explain himself. Even the sub-contractor had better manners than the project coordinator from a huge ID firm. Having said that, our backsplash is not white as we requested, and the silicon was not done properly, there’re visible gaps/holes, probably a job done hurriedly.

Something is very wrong with this relative’s company. Apart from poor workmanship, extensive delays, everyone is complaining about the bad service and staff refusing to pick up calls nor account for anything after the contract is signed. The communication between customers’ specifications and sub-contractors or carpenters is non-existent resulting in wrong works everywhere. It’s honestly appalling and the most frustrating thing is their attitude – not apologetic and still arrogant and rude which makes everything unbearably frustrating. Bad reviews from disgruntled customers are spurting in the cyberspace and forums, and our experience was exactly similar despite being relatives.

I suppose that given the relative’s attitude and poor management, his employees are embolden to act the same way towards customers too. After going through this nightmare for the past 3 months, I really do not wish that anyone has to go through this. I see no merit in engaging their services, and no one part of our experience was even bearable nor acceptable. We had no choice but to appease the MIL, but everyone else have and can make the choice.

Nobody deserves such bad service and quality. Nobody!  

Day 106 - Tuesday

MIL sent us an email, saying that we 'resort to tactics' as we got the sinks to be installed not knowing that our solid top was not granite..she also claimed that our tiler should have done the granite as granite is cut by the same cutter..this is despite the fact that she made us choose them because 'she wants the best for us'..yet when it's apparent that workmanship was so poor with such bad attitudes and delays, we were blamed for being fussy and unreasonable among many other things.  I can't comprehend why, and this was my response:

(1) Right from the start, we wanted granite. We have included it in the contract, just so that things are clear and there will not be disputes as such later on. We have also communicated this through email, sms, face-to-face discussions and reconfirmed this with the carpenter, knowing that they were extremely prone to errors. We have done everything within our means to remind and reconfirm our requirements.

(2) I'm not sure where you get the information that tilers cut granite. Have you seen the cutter that tilers use? Have you seen how thick granite is? People choose granite because it's hard and scratch resistant. It is not possible to cut it using the tilers cutters. Which brings us back to the point that we only wanted one contractor to complete all works to avoid such issues. Anyone would agree that granite is part of carpentry and should be done by the carpenter side.

(3) As from point (1), everything was communicated right from the start. It's not reasonable to accuse us of ' resort to using tactics since we have made it very clear right from the start. If it was not possible, they should not have signed the contract and informed us during our discussions or communications. We did 'look out for one another' by relaying our requirements again and again throughout, by sending reminder emails and sms even though it should be something very straightforward.

(4) The only reason why we went ahead to fix taps and basins was because we did not know that it was solid top and not granite. We only suspected that ours was not granite when we visited our neighbor's house and realized that their black galaxy granite was so shiny with beautiful grains. It was then that we started getting neighbors and other contractors over to confirm that it was not granite before confronting Yuri and Uncle Simon.

(5) I do not know Binson personally, and neither would any of the other customers he liaises with. Anyone can appear to be jovial in front of their boss to protect his rice bowl. However, how does he handle his customers behind your backs is something which you do not get to experience first hand. Whatever it is, it is extremely rude to hang up on your customer and tell them rudely that 'If you want to talk to me, talk to me properly' and hang up yet again. I agree that things like this can happen, but customers are bound to be disgruntled when they wait for 3 different days and still nobody shows up. Backsplash was ready to be up a month ago. I had to get my parents to go down and wait to accommodate their time since I do not wish to drag
things any further. The least he could do was to apologize to a disgruntled customer instead of hanging up twice with such attitude and refusing to answer further calls nor confirm timing. Even the installer Ah Liang had the basic manners to apologize. It seems like such customer service is condoned and accepted. There is bound to be pressure especially when all their jobs are delayed and there are so many disgruntled customers. Does he do the same to other disgruntled customers when there are delays and issues? Is such a person suitable to be a project coordinator when things were not coordinated and he hangs up on customers instead of apologizing?

I agree and understand that everyone makes mistakes. However, the most important thing is to admit the mistake, accept the consequences, apologize and learn from them. We are not unreasonable people, yet it's really frustrating that we receive such treatment and getting the blame for the mistakes they have made. They initially admitted to the mistake and agreed to change it for us, but now you're saying that my contractor was supposed to do it?

I was asked if I thought that his company was shit and useless when we went down that day. My answer is simple - ask your customers and measure your own performance. How many customers are happy? How many jobs are completed on time? How many customers requirements were met? How many customers call to complain? If anyone refuse to see and admit the truth, nobody can make them.

It's pointless (and very disappointing) for us to continue insisting and trying prove what we wanted and end up having the tables turned and getting blamed for 'using tactics'. I will take it as a lesson learnt and move on, and I hope that we will not have to go to such situations again. 

Day 113

After several email correspondence between us and MIL/relative, they are still pushing the blame on the solid top (instead of granite). And it seems like MIL thinks I'm at fault for 'scolding' the Binson guy who coordinated our backsplash but did not show up on 3 different occasions.  It seems like this Binson guy has resigned.

Today, the backsplash guy Ah Liang called me and said that someone from relative company got him to arrange a time with me on this Saturday because my backsplash color was wrong and he will dismantle it to change. I arranged it at 3pm this Saturday.

Then, it seems like MIL will be coming down and she's saying that backsplash cannot be white unless crystal glass is used which costs more. According to her, backsplash guy will be coming to talk and she will iron things out with him - not change it as I've been told.

I've checked around and it seems possible if they use transparent glass and spray it white. They have all sorts of excuse for every mistake they make. If white was not possible, why didn't they tell us beforehand?! If it's not possible, we should have been informed and decide if we wanted to top up to have a white backsplash correct? 

Day 114

Called the backsplash guy just to confirm my understanding of what's going to happen on Saturday.  It was the guy doing measurement who answered instead of installer.  Installer simply said wrong color, coming to dismantle while this measurement guy said that they delivered according to that the relative ordered and it is greenish glass sprayed white. He will bring samples over and said that the pure white one which we requested for is more expensive. Honestly, I do not care since that was what we requested for and should be delivered as nothing was raised to us before.

The shocking thing is, the backsplash guy said that he will not be doing anything till the relative's company pays him.  He's a new supplier, and it's only his 3rd month working with them. He only got paid the first month and partially the second month. Afterwhich the relative went MIA. He had no choice but to visit his showroom and realize that many other customers and suppliers are also waiting for the relative who refused to picked up calls.  The whole world is looking for the relative and no supplier is willing to take up his jobs now. He will only come to let them know that he has delivered accordingly. I told him it's pointless showing me samples, since I will simply choose the white one like what I requested originally. It's pointless to come if he's not going to change it.

He also said that many other customers' homes were worse than mine, he kept getting scolded. Some asked him why is he here, they have called the police. Some showed him the bad workmanship saying that bangalas did everything and they weren't satisfied with any single piece of carpentry. Some of them started way before me, which is already more than 3 months. Basically, all jobs under them are screwed and he has went into hiding and simply not contactable. The binson guy is biting all the bullets while his boss refuses to answer calls. Perhaps that's why he was so rude and hung up on me, and the MIL/relative is so protective of him..

I can't be sure if everything he said was true, but there are indeed many complaints online and everyone is suffering from the same extended delays, poor workmanship, wrong specifications.

I still can't believe that MIL is still on his side and blaming us without admitting to any fault when things have come to this stage. It's obviously his problem when everyone is suffering the same problems while he point fingers at everyone else but himself.  The amazing thing is, it seems like he has changed a company name and moving his showroom.  Suing him is probably useless since there's only an empty shell left, but Singapore is so small, where can you hide?

Karma will find its way.  

If you have relatives like that, who needs enemies?

.::. Casa Clementi September 2012 SOBF .::.

HDB has yet again launched the Sales of Balance Flats just a few days before.  The neighbors have been actively discussing about the remaining units being sold in our estate, rejoicing how we have made paper profits for our flats which have yet again appreciated.  It is exactly a year since we chose our flats in September 2011 (and we have not moved in!), and prices have increased by an average of 13.62%.  Some attributed the increase to our proximity to schools and the NUS which is just a few bus-stops away.  Room rental in the estate is on average $800/room and could easily fetch $4000 for whole units in a few years’ time.

So, how do you calculate HDB prices and how high is the inflation for public housing in a year?



I'm one of those excited ones who made a whole excel spreadsheet about the rental yields, resale prices and SOBF prices for all units offered in Casa Clementi in Sept 2011.  I did a comparison of the 2011 prices vs 2012 prices only for the exact same unit (4-room flats).  Out of the 15 units offered this round, 14 were offered in 2011. Average price was $459psf in 2011 but has went up to a whopping $515psf in 2012.  Although sample size is different, it gives a good picture of the direction of price increase within a year.  Assuming that a flat costing $500k last September, the same flat would cost about $568k now.  That’s a 68k difference in a year, which equates easily to a year’s income for a couple.  Factor in the interests paid over 30 years, and the difference can be really substantial.  5-room flats are going for more than $600k in our estate, direct from HDB.  I heard Tiong Bahru 5-roomers have hit almost $700k direct from HDB too.

In terms of flat availability, there’s no difference since our flats were ready for key collection 6 months after balloting.  This would probably be similar with the current round as flat selection and keys collection are usually 2 different appointments.

Comparing these prices to Clementi Ridges launched a few months ago, it's slightly pricier as Clementi Ridges was selling at an average of $504psf.  However, these flats are available now while Clementi Ridges will only be ready many years later - when we are almost eligible to sell our flats.

At this rate, seriously, $1 million flats are totally possible with first-hand prices this high.  And would the prices drop someday?  I think not, not when PAP is in power anyway.  Imagine the backlash if prices dipped and everyone is losing money yet buried in debt.  Then again, most people would have to buy another HDB if they were to sell theirs.  So unless they are willing to downgrade or move to a less central location, this paper profits would not be realized.  I will sell my flat if it hits above $850k!

I love our estate, perhaps because we have got to know quite a few neighbors and have become a close-knitted community in the past few months. Whatever you need, there’s always help nearby. Some days, we have dinner together while others, we do grocery shopping together.  I actually like staying in HDB, and I miss the feel of knowing your neighbors well.  It brings back lots of childhood memories when grandma used to know the left-right-up-down neighbors.  My neighbors have helped me to get stuff from Ikea repeatedly since they were also going down, and helped to get customized acrylic panels for my toilets among other things.  Knowing these nice people have made me look forward to moving in and it’s really great to have friends nearby, in your very own estate.

So now, the question is to buy or not to buy?  I would still say, buy if you can afford (and happen to be lucky enough to get a ballot number) although it's a lot pricier.  But as prices go up, locations become key and central locations with amenities will always command a premium.  Even if our housing nose-dives, prices in mature estates will definitely hold better.  It won't be easy for people to move from less central areas to central locations as prices rise exponentially in mature estates.

Perhaps I should go and check out the latest resale prices in Clementi and do an analysis about it soon.

Inflation is ridiculous, buy now than later!