By Bernard

On Friday, we went for our first appointment at HDB in the afternoon. It was a busy morning for both Huizhi and myself. Huizhi had to bring her students for a Math Carnival at NUS High while I had to look into the many aspects of our business operation. In fact, I was so busy that I did not notice Huizhi's sms until she called me. =P Thank God, her school is less than 5 min drive from my office. 

Met our agent and our friendly sellers (M & D) on time. Like Huizhi, both M & D are teachers too. In fact, as this is the first week of the school holiday, they have to go back to schools for various reasons.. M & D had moved to their new condo (The Calrose along Yio Chu Kang Rd). Hence, they have kindly agreed to "hand us" their keys next week or the week after so that we can start work on the flat before the actual hand over of the flat.

After explaining all the HDB loan and grants conditions, the officer handed us many forms to sign. Following which, almost immediately, our CPF ordinary account is "zerorized" .... On the positive side of things, our monthly installment payment through CPF is lesser as our loan from HDB is much lower. This only means that should we decide to go mission and in the event had to rent out our house, we will have a definite positive cashflow. =)

M & D were very kind to ask us if we would like their sofa which is still in very good condition and they had specially bought this sofa to match their house deco. According to D, all we have to do is to refoam the cushion and it will be as good as new.

After learning that we can get our keys earlier, Huizhi and I started to shortlist some things we would need to get and do for the home. Among which include:

1) King Size Mattress (The build-in bed frame is meant for a King Size Mattress)
2) Fridge
3) Washer
4) A contractor to remove the carpet in the Master bedroom and to re lay the bedroom with either wooden laminate/ parquet.
5) A company to repaint our house and to do a general cleaning up
6) Dining table, chairs etc
7) .....

By Hui Zhi

Bernard and I went down to the bridal studio to choose our wedding shots yesterday. Before that we prayed that God will give us the wisdom in choosing the photos and not to overspend. Thanks to many of our friends and colleagues who reminded us again and again in this aspect. We can gladly say now that Yes! we did not add a single cent to what we've initially agreed to pay. =P

We were very decisive in deciding which photos to keep and which to throw out. Many times, our views were the same.

The lady attending to us did not try very hard to convince us to get more than what was mentioned in our package. Maybe because she knows that we are very firm on our stand of not paying more. We believe it was also the favour of God. =)

We had typed out a very detailed contract and listed down the items of the package. We then got the salesperson to give us the company stamp on the contract when we took up their package. This was very important as many things which they promised were done verbally and not in black and white.

Our experience yesterday tells us that it was indeed more important than we thought. They could not remember exactly what the details were. The salesperson who had served us was no longer with the company and it was another lady who served us. Thank God we had everything in black and white and we were not short-changed.

For those who are interested in having the details of our contract for reference, feel free to appraoch us and we'll gladly help and render some humble advice. =)

We'll be getting the soft copies of the photos in about 2 weeks' time and we'll be glad to share a few shots with you. Stay tuned!

By Bernard

Content extracted from an email from our housing agent, Feliz

"This is what you have to bring for the 1st appt
 
Identity Card, birth cert. Passport if Identity Card is not available;
letter to support that you're getting married in aug (eg booking of wedding dinner/church etc)
original payslip / income tax assessment (what you've provided to HDB when applying for HLE)
HLE approval from HDB
Cheque book, ATM card
 
Fee payable (in cash, cpf* or combination of both) at 1st appointment:
1) Conveyancing fee & stamp fee (about 3% of resale price)

2) Caveat fee of $134.25 (est)
 
3) 10% downpayment of flat ($31,250)
 
After the above 3 fees are deducted from both your cpf (top up cash if CPF not enough), the officer will work out your loan amount, and if you need to top up any cash (minus loan amt granted) for the purchase of house.
 
Cash Payment: Cash over valuation = $17,500. This amount must be paid within the 10 days period.
 
Others
If you intend to use your CPF money to service the monthly loan instalments, you have to take up an insurance under the CPF board Home Protection Scheme.  The amt of premium will depend on the % of coverage, amt of loan, age, sex etc. The premium can be paid either using your CPF savings or cash. There are a few providers. You can enquire at 1800 227 1188 or www.cpf.gov.sg or contact your insurance agent (I can recommend if you need). 

* if you intend to invest your CPF, kindly do so before 1st appointment as you're not allowed to touch your CPF after that.

Looking forward to our 1st appointment... Please pray that we will have favour with the current house owners to have the key on the day itself... =P

 

Thanks to S, our make up artiste, for decorating one of our bears with flowers and "veil".

By Bernard

Last Monday (28th April 2008), both our families met for the first time for food tasting at Marina Mandarin (MM). Huizhi's side was represented by her parents and her sisters while my side was represented by my parents, grandma and aunties.

Surprisingly, we met Pastor Sandy Lam at Marina Mandarin as her niece (Su Linn) is also getting married at MM in June. Hence, they were also there for food tasting. Such a small world =P

As Su Linn side ordered some dishes different from ours. We exchanged views and even get to try some of their dishes. In the end, we conclude that one of their dishes tastes better than ours. Hence, we changed our menu to include the new dish. =)

By Hui Zhi

We thank God for a great day of bridal shoot yesterday.

We started the day by going to Far East Flora to get some flowers for the photoshoot. We had to get a whole big bunch of flowers as they do not sell them in small packs.

We were early for our appointment at 10.30 am. and had to wait a while before the staff arrived. Started make-up and hairdo before 11 am and it was not until after 12 noon when we stepped into the studio. There was another couple on that day, so we had to wait a bit here and there.

It was not until after 4 pm that we stepped out for the outdoor shots. We had a nice uncle to drive us to the 2 destinations: Along Hyderabad Rd and Tanah Merah beach.

I was not feeling well the whole day, especially in the afternoon. I had lost my voice. Urghz! But, I thank God for the people around who took care of me that day, the staff, Bernard and Xian. Reached the studio after 7 pm in the evening and after settling the payment. Bernard had to fetch me to the doctor, in my heavy make-up and hairdo. The doctor even asked if I had just finished a performance. =P

My hair suffered the most for the day, under lots of hairspray as one hairdo and another follows. Pampered it with lots of conditioner yesterday with the advice of our make-up artiste.

Overall, we thank God for blessing us with good weather. We thank God for the talented make-up artiste and photographer with whom we were able to build great rapport.

Here is a preview of some of the photos taken with our own camera. We were not allowed to take any photos in the indoor studio, so here are only the outdoor shots.

At a patch of greenery along the slope of Hyderabad Rd. Here, we sat on a tree stump, played on a swing and ran up and down the slope, with the colonial houses and trees in the background.

Proceeding to the beach at Tanah Merah, where we become the attraction of many.

Gazing into our future together...

There, there we see a plane...

Playing with my veil

Hooray! End of photo-taking. Now we know the hard work of the models and even the photographers.

Thanks to my dearest sister for helping us throughout the day; helping me in the changing of gowns, holding the train of the gowns, carrying all the barang barang etc.