an ode to my soon-to-be-ex home...

warning: long post ahead... bear with me while i remember my home the way it is...

i'm gonna be saying goodbye to something so dear & precious to me... our house of 8 years +

baby & i got married (ROM) on 12th sept 2002. Less than 2 months later, i saw an ad for a walk-in-selection @ Jurong West. Called him @ work immediately & told him that regardless of his schedule, he has to take half day off the next day to go with me to look-see! Or was it the same day?? haha.. can't remember la. but anyway, we confirmed the purchase by the next day and signed on the dotted line for unit 09-646 for the grand price of $19x,xxx (ya! soooooooooo cheap!). i dun even remember y i chose jurong west of all places!! hahaha..

this beautiful house was soon to become our home. we had it done up with the kind of decor we both loved and was proud of. say RETRO!! full of vibrant reds, purples, whites & oranges! with a little grey & sandy tones to balance it off in the rooms.. all in all, whats not to love?

this home saw our UPs & downs (more UPs though!!) & grew together with us... hey! it even provided lotsa fun for the little girl!!

we first thought of selling @ end 2009 when we saw how the property demand in jurong area was moving up (thanks to the wonderful developments lined up here! ha!). prices then were like 370 - 380k? and we thought: hey! should we sell?? then: nah... we are not ready. this house is our baby, our refuge from the daily craze & stress in the outside world..

then prices went up to 390 - 420k in 2010 and we were still slightly moved but no actions yet.. though the $$$ would definitely be good.. ^_<

and then i had a serious talk with baby in May this year. we both think it is time to sell and increase our cashflow at the same time.. hee! ahem! cos i m not one known to save nor spend wisely and he is well known to be super indulgent in my wants la.. ha!

we thought of upgrading and stuff...but with the new "cooling" regulations, it simply doesn't make sense for us to get a condo unit 1st. then how we buy hdb??? and obviously i dun have enough money to buy TWO condo units (1 for stay & 1 for investment) so we are going to bite the bullet and get a HDB instead. stay for 5 years then MAYBE & HOPEFULLY able to invest in private.. *crosses fingers*!

heard from Carol that she has a great agent who helped her maximise the selling price of her house even though she wasn't around. so i PM-ed her for the contact and indeed! he is really a good agent! "overachiever" i would say.. ^_^

he came down to our place on 12th May & we actually signed on to let him sell our house rightaway! both of us can't sleep the very same night cos we were already missing the house. our home.. sob sob.. =_=

2 days later, i was still feeling so sad and angsty (part of it due to work too.. ) & was losing my temper so often. then i thought hard about it and told myself that this move is inevitable. never link the sale to $$$. that would have made me even more angsty cos at the back of my mind, we both knew that it is definitely NOT an impt factor! definitely not enough for us to sell the house and earn that extra penny. on the other hand, the move is inevitable (and much better for us to look at the sale this way) is due to the fact that itz time for us to stop being the selfish weekend parents (& children to our family). we need to move nearer to the 2 kiddos while they are still young. NO MORE weekend "chalet" parents!

shared this thought with baby and true enough, this conviction is enough to remove all the "moping around" and we actually start looking forward to the valuation report & 1st open house.. as we still did not have the valuation on the 1st open house, the would-be buyers just came to look-see. 2 gave us their offers but it seemed low and we didn't wana take the chance to accept something that could be lower than our valuation.

then came the valuation report @ 4xxK. hee... on 28th may (saturday), we went for our 1st house-viewing @ ubi ave 1. and the unit is exactly what we have in mind. ORIGINAL condition! means we can be break-happy & start hecking & renovating just the way we want it. brought grandma, mum & the 2 kiddos along. aside from the fact that it is HOT (cos the owner has moved out so no fan watsoever), they LOVE the place.. and luckily for us, the SouthEast facing door suits the both of us (as we found out later..) we 'kin-kin' chope the place with an offer of 30K COV and told the agent (who's actually selling her dad's unit on his behalf! cool!) not to have any open house anymore. sensing our sincerity and of cos SPEED, she agreed & accepted the offer! hahaha.. bonus: the house comes with a recess area of about 6sqm which we might be able to buy up (*crosses fingers!! hope the SLOW HDB can complete the recess area policy review ASAP!!)

on 29th may, we had our 2nd open house. and the place is SOLD SOLD SOLD! the new owner of our beautiful home actually came up to the house thrice cos he's reali gan-cheong about whether or not we will accept his offer. we finally settled on a 42,888 COV.. hahaha.. we are just super happy that we found someone who can appreciate this place we called HOME for itz funny layout, hacked walls, rooms and quirks.

well, i guess i have another 3 months to fully enjoy the comfort & warmth of this home before we are welcomed into the arms of our new abode. our HOME from aug onwards, i think..

i'll definitely miss this beautiful place alot alot and most probably will shed tears when i hand over the keys. ah well... we have to look forward nonetheless & embrace the fun & laughter waiting for us @ our new place with the close proximity to family & friends..

adieus in advance, my jurong west home... thank you for always being there for us and providing us with loads of comfort, warmth, happiness and shelter.. LOVE u LOTS...

photos of my beautiful retro home in jw.