Yehey, we found a place !

It has been a long battle searching for a nice place here in Singapore. We are currently staying at Holland Drive which is pretty near the "Holland Village". This place is where most expats stay and with that, the price is really high.

The situation left us troubled at times because we might end up homeless. To add to that, our agent kept on telling us that it might be hard to get a flat because of the Chinese New Year. The problem of this agent we have was that he talked nonsense sometimes and there was this instance that I was in a fiery mood and that I talked to him upfront and cut him off. That made me to decide not to deal with him always so I allowed my other housemates to talk to him most of the time.

So there was this certain flat that we were interested in just same block as ours but then it was like in a bidding process and the unit was pegged at 2000 SGD for a year contract. There was one bidder at 1950 so we bid for 1960 SGD. We were so ready with the money but then it turned out that the unit was not allowed by HDB to be rented out. Another unit located at Holland Close which was okay looking but the flat didn't feel right. Somehow the vibes was a bit negative so we did not get it. There was another unit at block 12 where it was at 2200SGD for two years and fully furnished. At first we decided not to get it but we were too close of our deadline already so we took it for 2000SGD for two years contract unfurnished but there was this prospect client and they did a bid for 2100SGD unfurnished. I was personally vocal about this bidding stuff going on in HDB so what we did we just declined and decided not to do a bidding. I am honestly disgusted about this bidding stuff in these HDB because of the fact that agents could have some sort of fishy alliances and that they will play with the clients just to raise the prices of the units. I do not know if this is legal or allowed by the Singapore authority. Anyway, I personally don't agree to join the bidding game because we had a limited budget and it might turn out just a way to raise prices. I just hope that there is a cap or some sort of legal way to prevent an unreasonable price hike of flats. Because as I have said, it might be just the case of agents conniving to make the prices high.

Anyway, we found a place already though it would have resulted in a bidding game but I insisted to our agent that we want the flat already at 1800 for a year contract and if they wanted to have it two years then we asked them to lower the price to 1750SGD simply because for two years they will not have a hassle of looking for new tenants and their income will be more stable. I actually sensed again of the bidding process as there were other people checking out the place. I just made my point up front to the agent and told him that he should help us get the place. If he would have answered and explained things that it's like this and that, I would have told him right then and there that we are cutting off any business relationship whatsoever and we will look for another agent. Somehow he felt my stand and he made the right move. So we got the unit at 1800SGD which is fully furnished and good for a year term....

So right now, my housemates and I were very happy and at last were off the stress already. House hunting in SG is really tough especially if you really want convenience which in our case we were also looking for value of our hard-earned money. Somehow, I just learned to be a bit aggressive and realized again that I have to be very patient at all times.

Shopaholic minutes

I think the title of this post should be "Shopaholic hours". Hehehehe.

Yesterday, I again woke up too late for breakfast as it was already 11 AM and I was hungry. There was still spam from last night so I only had to cook rice. While doing that, I had a chat session with my friends from the Philippines. My stomach went berserk and I needed to feed him. I ate and ate. Geez, it was a big breakfast done in lunch time.

After that, I had to just relax in bed:)

I have not visited the gym for 5 days because I was so busy at work. I felt I needed to flex my muscle and get back to my cardio as well. So, I went to FF. I spent two hours in the gym. I got home after the gym and immediately prepared for my next activity.

I went to Orchard to send money to my loved ones in the Philippines. I then went to POSB Takashimaya to open another account for my personal savings. After that, the splurging of bucks started. We have been planning for a great summer so I was thinking of buying a pair of trunks. I ended up purchasing one at Speedo. It was a battle if I'd go for Arena or Speedo. But the Speedo trunks won because it fitted me well. I now am ready for the getaway and Bintan, be ready for us too in the nearest future:) I then realized that I have not been buying anything for myself for the past month. Weeeeehhh so I ended up scouting shops at Takashimaya. I went to Guess and bought a new pair of jeans and a belt. I had a hard time which one should fit me well and good thing the clerk was pretty helpful. The fit was great but I had an issue with the jeans I have chosen because it was too long and I told the clerk about it. He then said that they can trim it for me without charge. I was too glad to hear that. I was not finished yet because I was looking for long sleeves and polo shirts. I went to Giordano to try one and liked it so I bought it. I then proceeded to Lee Cooper and bought a polo shirt. It was very tiring after walking in and about Takashimaya and Isetan. I got so hungry because it was already 8PM and I decided to go to Food Republic. I would have bought another pair of shoes but I was able to successfully stopped myself. Wahahahaha. The price tag of this small therapy is 450SGD. This is my first time to actually shop this much.

When I got home, I also changed my bed sheets. I love the color of the sky that's kissing calm sea in the horizon. So I chose the blue colored sheet from IKEA with a circular pattern.

Oh! I will get my pair of jeans on Wednesday and I am excited to see how they are. This is so superficial of me but I couldn't help it. I myself needs to feel a bit extravagant.

End of shopaholic hours.

We are moving out @ Holland Village

This is going to be the shortest post I have ever made. This deserves to be just twitted but I like to blog it here.

Instead of denying the fact that we are getting a bad service, might as well move out in order for us to preserve our state of sanity.

We have a decision, and I think we are going to move out already. Our future address hopefully, will be at Holland Village.

That's it! We are moving out :)

Hocus pocus in this HDB flat

It's not really the house itself but rather the agent who looked for this house. Right now the things that I am about to say are pure speculations or can be considered as hearsay.

We actually assumed and thought that the house we got is legal - that's it period. And right now we are very much in doubts.

When we I arrived in this unit, my first complaint was that my bed is really hurting me. I can feel the steel bar on my back everytime I sleep. So that was a major concern for me. I then told our housemate about it and we planned to discuss it with our agent. She actually came to our flat. We discussed issues that were actually valid in a customer's point of view. There was a confrontation and I hated it. She kept on saying that fully furnished unit would not mean new furniture or appliances. She has appoint but the thing is, it was not comfortable for me or with my other housemates. We were actually complaining about the sink that they have installed, my bed and another housemate's noisy bed. We were complaining of the couch they provided us. After the confrontation, she agreed to buy some bed foam and promised to fix the sink. She then informed our other housemate who were the main tenants that, she did not like me or us who talked to her. She said that we were disrespectful. To my defense, I was not disrespectful, she was just doesn't want to listen nor help us relay the message to the actual owner of the house. The comments that we had was not for her to answer but rather to relay to the owner our concerns.

Well after two weeks she did bought the foams for the bed. They actually fixed the sink which was not what we wanted. But for the effort of making the sink at least stable was a little fine with us. She did not consider the noisy bed of one of the housemates to be replaced. She even told us that the foam purchases for our bed was from her pocket. To my curiosity, why would she have to buy the foam, it should have been the owner doing that. Anyway, I was a little mad and don't want to deal with her anymore.

Few weeks passed and we had another issue. The light in the shower room got faulty and the washing machine was leaking. Come on, after a month of stay things were getting faulty. Based on the contract, minor damages are to be shouldered by us so we followed that. And the leaking washing machine? Hmmmm. We called her attention about it and she told us someone will fix it. And indeed after a week someone fixed it. One thing that got our nerves already is that, that someone could just come in and out of the unit without us present in the house. And another thing is, the utilities or equipment or appliances they provided us were not in good condition. If during end of contract we will be replacing and paying for those things that were damaged which by the way will be sourced from our deposit.

We still had one issue actually. And sorry for making things so negative today. We were asking about the receipt of the rental for the month of January and owner can't provide one. We kept on following up the owner about it and he has so many alibis. We then asked our agent about the receipt. She told us to buy a receipt at a bookstore and then let the owner sign it. I was amazed at how she had the nerve to suggest that. It could be an honest suggestion but it was distasteful to me. So what I did was asked her number from one of the main tenants and sent her an SMS. To be specific, this is what I asked her:

"Good afternun. Sori 4 disturbing u at this time of the d day. This is genesis 1 of d tenants. I would just like to knw f bakit kami pa ang bibili ng receipt kasi gusto ko po yung official. Pag nagkaganun hindi makabigay ng resibo there cud be somethng wrng na sa business na kaduda which cud lead me to ask f registered ba yung flat as 2-1-1 pls po Paki enlighten para po walng doubts at klaro po. thanks and god bless".

For the benefit of those who would not understand what I just wrote above, below is the translation:

"Good afternoon. Sorry for disturbing you at this time of the day. This is Genesis one of the tenants. I would just like to know if why are the ones to buy the receipt. What I want is an official receipt. If in that way, a receipt can not be presented then there could be something wrong of that business which is suspicious, that could lead me to ask if this flat is registered as 2-1-1. Please enlighten so that there would be no doubts and things are clear. Thanks and God bless."

I hope I did the translation understandable.

Anyway, she did not reply to my SMS and instead, sent an SMS to one of the main tenants. She actually told the main tenant that she does not want to talk to us except the main tenants and if I really wanted an official receipt, she suggested that I go directly to the owner's agent. She added that if I want friction, she bets I will have it.

Actually I got so dismayed about it. I was then beginning to think of really looking for a new place and I was asking my housemates about it. I was asking them because if I decide to move out on my own, I need to look for a person that would replace my slot. It can be done actually but it's going to be a hassle as I have work and it's difficult. So I proposed if they'd like to also get another flat for us and I was suggesting that if the majority would decide yes to the idea then we will look for a place. We are at a losing end in this actually because we won't get back the money we deposited and we would again shell out some cash is really difficult at this time.

We are actually planning to scheme and that is a last resort. To entrap the agent we hired to say the words that this unit is not approved so at least we have a proof that we were cheated. The thing is it's their words versus ours and that fact could be twisted and used against us.

I hate these things as I don't want any kind of this mess. But justice has to be served. The agent that we hired who we trusted to look for a unit, if she really was indeed had a bad scheme, conspiring with the owner's agent, just to get a sale or money, then she or they have to be stopped. We were easily cheated if were really cheated just by the plain truth and an admission that we did not expect there are things like this in Singapore. And the biggest mistake we had was trusting everything to the agent we hired.

Next time, we need to be very careful and really asked questions about the background of the agent and the certification of the house and just really check documents.

One last thing, I will reveal the identity of this agent in the near future, if we can see evidence that she was playing us in her palms, to warn others about her acts. I was actually getting paranoid about this. In fact, I was reading about legal stuff about the issue. Too bad I don't have the luxury to hire a very good lawyer. Waha$a$a$a! Wish I had :P Then my lawyer can take care of any legal remedies to this issue.