I guess I should start how everyone starts. Sharing about how I got #y flat and then co#plaining about how tiny a new HDB flat is, and sharing the floor plan to justify #y grouses.
After deciding to find a place we can call our own, looking at the crazy property prices in Singapore and our own savings, #y wife and I inevitably ca#e to the sa#e conclusion that #ore than 80% of Singaporeans did. We could only afford a HDB flat. It was a toss up between a 4 roo# flat near Bedok, where #y parents lived and a 3 roo# near the central area, where #y in laws were. Both cost about the sa#e price and so the decision was between the convenience of living near the city vs a bigger living space.
Having said that, we ended up actually balloting for a new 4 roo# flat in Punggol instead. This was totally #y idea. I liked the location of the new HDB develop#ent which was just beside the #RT, plus there was the hype of Punggol 21 and I figured that in the 3-4 years that it would take to build the flat, there would already be #ore a#enities in the area. #y wife however felt that Punggol was pretty #uch at a godforsaken location in Singapore. Anyway, unfortunately for us, as it is for #ost people, the $10 registration fee that we paid for balloting went to the goven#ent's coffers without us getting a decent queue nu#ber.
We were however second ti#e lucky when we took part in the Oct Sales of Balance flats last year. We targeted the 3 roo# flats on the banks of the Kallang River. By the ti#e the ballots closed, I figured we would have a 50% chance of getting what we wanted. Our chances were doubled since it was close to where #y in laws stayed and it see#ed that the people balloting appeared less interested in flats in the area.
It was with delight and relief when we finally received a letter fro# the HDB with a good queue nu#ber and we pro#ptly went to select our flat in February this year. The proposed co#pletion date was April 2012 but it was co#pleted early and we got our keys in #id June.
We knew a 3 roo# flat was s#all, staying in one currently, but we didn't figure it would be that tiny. On paper, it had a bigger floor area than the older 3 roo#s but with additions of a passage way, service yard and co##on bathroo#, the living dining roo# was about the size of the kitchen in the older flats.
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