the housing saga

I've refrained from writing much about the new flat since we first found it, simply because our entire flat-acquisition process has been full of dramatic ups and downs. It's not over yet, but I hope that by now, we have sufficient assurance that the pieces have fallen into place.

the flat
The drama first began halfway through a wedding lunch when our agent asked us to view a flat ASAP. None-too-happy about missing out on food from the Ritz Carlton, we nonetheless decided he was sufficiently insistant to make the trip back to Serangoon Central. Once there, we were satisfied that finally, we had found a place that met our requirements for good location and minimal need for renovations. We had lost out on previous flats due to indecision (in terms of hours, not days mind you), so after some quick discussion we decided to meet the seller's asking price and put down the $1000 deposit. In the process, we beat out about 3 other bidders, one of whom was right in the flat with us and had offered within $1k of the asking price. This caused the other parties quite a bit of consternation that took a great deal of time to resolve. We went home with hearts beating fast and nerves slightly frayed, but relieved that we had finally secured a place to live. We thought our housing quest had finally ended; in reality it had just begun...

then again
After quite some time writing and re-writing, I have come to the conclusion that some details of this whole experience are a little bit too personal and private to post on the internet. To cut a very long story short, we were fighting very hard to get half a CPF grant (of $20k), and when this was suddenly snatched away from us due to eligibility considerations we could only put our trust in God that he had a better plan for us. Now if everything goes smoothly, we will be qualifying for the full $40k grant, and again I can only say that God works in strange and mysterious ways.

Throughout the whole process, we ensured that we did everything by the book, but because of the complications of our situation we were definitely treading in some very grey areas. Suffice to say that after almost being screwed up multiple times by a housing agent from hell (bad advice, wrong information, soured relationships), we found help from a most unexpected quarter in the form of the hdb officer.

It also pays to be really nice to people, because even though I have never met this lady face to face yet, we have become almost friends. Se says she was driven to go all out to help us because I am one of the only gentlemen she has dealt with. Compared to other people who shout and spit at her when she gives them bad news, I have always been civil and courteous. It's not really a big deal - I never saw the point of offending people unnecessarily - but it really helped!

the finer details
In the process, I'd say we've become quite expert on some of the finer points of HDB policy. So if anyone wants to know the details you can ask me. The best word of advice: always always go back to the HDB website and if it is not clear, best to send HDB and email. Don't rely on housing agents.