One step closer to Home.

I’m sure you all have been waiting with bated breath for some updates 😂. And I do have some. Before I get all excited and bore you once again with details that are probably only exciting to me, I need to tell you all this- Only my immediate family and literally four friends know about this. I have not told other people, not even my relatives or some of my close friends. The four friends, one being X will obviously hear about everything I do in my life first-hand. The other three, happened to ask me about it, therefore I revealed.

So what I wanted to share is…. I am a home owner! Well about 90% lol. I’m near the final stages, now am just waiting for the housing board to confirm my purchase, do up all the legal stuff, then part with an obscene amount of cash. Sobs.

Just a little while after my last post, where I was resigned to the fact that I might have to wait a couple of years more, did I stumble onto this posting. The price was lower than the few properties that I viewed in the vicinity, still near enough to all major amenities, and I’m now a stone throw away from X. I brought my mum to view the flat in person, and she said she liked it better than the previous one I brought her to.

So began the negotiations. I decided to go in at a slightly higher price so that I didn’t have to play that stupid game of “who can bid more” with other potential buyers. Which had its pros and cons. Obviously I was the highest bidder so yay to that. But when the housing board sent their valuer down, that’s when it almost became a nay.

In my last post I talked about the option fee of $1000. So that I paid. And then the valuation came back. I offered way too much than what the flat is actually worth. At this point, you cannot renegotiate the prices with the seller. It’s either you pay the difference (from what you offered vs valuation price), or forego your $1000.

I was so close to giving up. Everyone around me said that that was too much to pay in cash. I will have to pay 5% of what I offered, plus the difference in valuation. That came up to a total of more than $50,000. It was staggeringly eye-watering. But I thought about it. If I gave it up, the next apartment I like would face a similar situation. And how many $1000s would I have to give? Plus, even though my offer was way too much, it was still well within the initial budget that I set. With property prices soaring now, I might not be able to get it at this kind of prices again.

So I bit the bullet and decided to push forward with it. I will have to take a renovation loan for sure and even then, I will minimise major renovations and just do what is necessary. And I probably have to buy my furniture and appliances in batches because these things add up too.

But well, I made the bed I’ll have to sleep in it. I’m excited yet a bit sad. All my almost 37 years, I’ve been living with my family where it’s always lively and suddenly I’ll be alone. I’m quite sure I will cry the day I officially move out. Lol.

It’s projected that I’ll only get the keys in September, and looking at the pandemic with the shortage of workers, I hope I can start reno promptly. I hope hope hope I can move in by Christmas. Fingers crossed!

xoxoxoxo.