SOLD !

Yes, my apartment was sold on the last day of year 2008, what a good ending for the year and I can now set my focus on our family plan for the new year ahead.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank those who have shown interest in my apartment, those who came for viewing, and those agents who brought in prospects and tried to close the deal. In the process of marketing my place, I'm grateful that I made a few friends. Though they didn't manage to be the next owner of my house, we gain something more valuable and lasting - friendship.

For those who plan to sell their house, I would encourage you to at least try to do it yourself, while at the same time welcome agents to do their job (non-exclusive) if they could close the deal faster than you, because the experience is really worth the effort.

I will leave this wonderful place in about 2 months time. Bye.

November Resale Transactions for Bukit Batok 5-room Flats

I have converted the November resale transaction prices from HDB website into this Resale Transaction Map. By comparing the block you intend to purchase to those nearby, you can effectively estimate a reasonable price. Click the map to view it in full size.

What's around the Park?

How would you like if your house is surrounded by the greenery from the park? My block is right in the middle of this beautiful neighbourhood park with lots of green and facilities for residents of all ages. Don't just take my word, see it for yourself.
Facilities clock-wise starting from top left photo:

1. Children Playground specially for toddlers
2. Barbecue pits with sheltered pavilions
3. 2 badminton/sepak takraw courts
4. basketball court with amphitheatre
5. Fitness Corner for the elderly
6. Covered multi-purpose hall
7. Adventurous Playground
8. Pet's Corner
9. Fitness Corner for the healthy hearts
10. Newest and largest Children Playground
11. Fitness Corner for those who likes Gym
12. and of course, a jogging track round the park (not in the picture)

Infant & Child-Care Centres

Parents with young toodlers and children will be delighted to discover that they are spoilt for choice as far as childcare centres are concerned. There are plenty of them within walking distance: ranging from the affordable, to the Montessori, to the full air-con type. There are already 3 childcare centres around my Blk 115, without crossing any street.

The map below shows all the childcare centres nearby. I draw a 500 m radius circle for you to estimate the distance. I think 500 metre is a very reasonable and comfortable walking distance.

Click the map to view it in full-size

Invitation to our Neighbourhood Renewal Programme

Just received this invitation to our Neighbourhood Renewal Programme (NRP) Exhibition and Forum organized by Jurong Town Council & the NRP Working Committee. I thought it comes in just the right time as you would be interested to know what renewal programmes the Town Council has in the pipeline for Bukit Batok. Details below:

Valuation Report

Received the valuation report in my mailbox when I returned from work this evening. Quickly snapped 2 photos so that you can have a preview.

Description of Property and Finishes & Fittings page

Market Value : S$460,000 as at 22/10/2008

Zooming into Details

Some of the lightings photos and other detail fittings in my house. I think these fittings are not considered in the valuation. From my own research on the valuation price of units around my place, I reckon that 99% of the valuation scores goes to the external factors such as location, floor level, type of flat, facing & view, amenities & facilities & environment. Although the valuers says that they also take into consideration of the fittings, you can't expect them to have a detail evaluation in that 5 - 10 minutes when they visit your flat. They will just based on the checklist and if you read the checklist, rating for quality of fittings cannot be found anywhere.

So I post some of these easily ignored fittings here for your reference. These lightings were scouted personally, piece by piece, from all over the places. They are part of the parcel you will get anyway, but in case you wish to change them to your liking, please don't throw them away, give them back to me!

One of my balcony lights

My made-to-order bathroom door (I designed it and personally sourced for the frosted glass) Don't worry, you can't see through. Even someone is standing right behind the door, what you will see is just a blurry shadow.

Matching with imported Ceramic Door-knob

Ceiling Lights in Master Bedroom

Ceiling Lights @ Dining Hall

One of the lights in the bathroom, right on top of the mirror. Beware, it reveals every pore and pimple on your face. Well, that's exactly the purpose of this light.

Wall-mounted Lights

One of the 2 same ceiling lights in the living hall. I made a mistake by choosing this lights, without realizing that the glass cover is too thick. It is not bright enough for a practical living hall. Yes, it is romantic, but you don't need it to be romantic every evening. So to be practical, I took out the cover of one of the lights, exposing the bulbs inside. Now that I talk about it, it suddenly comes to my mind that I should have installed another simple fluorescent tube for daily use, and switch to this romantic lights as and when we need the ambience.

I can still remember clearly the expression from the face of my office cleaner Kumar, who kindly helped us to move house, when he saw and asked me about this fan. "Is this an old fan?" "Er... actually it is brand new, it is an antique-look fan." I answered. I could sense the BIG question-mark in his head, "Why you bought such an old fan for your new house???" Kumar has since went back to Bombay to set up his own business. I believe he is doing well there.

Bukit Batok 5-Room Flats October Transaction

One way to have an overview of the resale prices is to see them graphically. I have converted the October data from HDB website into this Resale Transaction Map. By comparing the block you intend to purchase to those nearby, you can effectively estimate a reasonable price.

Hope this helps. It helps me, I'm a visual learner.

Click the image to view it in full-size

More Photos

Yesterday, while waiting for the valuer, I took some more photographs of my unit.

One of the things I like about 5-room flat is the balcony, and mine unit has a big and airy one, measuring 7 feet x 12 feet-4 inches ! It is as large as a small bedroom. I actually saw a ex-neighbour downstair once converted his bolcony into a room, but I completely disagreed with this idea. Making it a room blocks the air flow and good air flow is very important for a house. That's why I pulled down the sliding door and installed this expensive hanging folding doors with timber frame and bevelled glass (as shown in photo) that costed me $5000.

Unlike sliding doors that reduce the opening of a balcony to half, the folding doors can be opened fully to let much air to flow in from the windows, that makes the living hall airy. As my unit enjoys an unblock view, it is even windy during certain months of the year.

Our family actually use the balcony as our dining area. We can enjoy the greenery of the park while having our meals.

This photo on the left shows a view from the entrance. One can easily tells that I love wood. Yes, I love the texture, the warmth of wood. I feel that timber makes a house more homely.

Here is where I showcase the antique iron and my "treasure chest" from india, and also one of my hand-woven ikats from Bali.

Well, this is just for your eyes only. I will definitely not part with the antique iron which my mum used to iron my starched school-uniform. Buyer gets to keep the hand-paint ceramic lamp, as it is part of the fittings.

This is the favourite window for my little boy, where he can look at the interesting scene at the park downstair - watching people walking their pet dogs, children cycling or roller-blading along the walkway. But his most varourite would be the garbage-man driving the garbage cart on the path to other blocks.

Guest room - now that I have moved the single-bed to the master bedroom (the 2 kids sleep with us in the same room), this has become more of a play-room.

Study room - view from the entrance. So much for now. The valuation report is expected to be out in 1-week's time.

Multi-Split Air-Conditioner

I forgot to mention that all my 3 bedrooms are equipped with LG Multi-Split quiet Air-Con (LM2065C3L).

Yeah, I know, LG is not the top brand for air-conditioners. Nothing to boast about besides it is a decent air-con set. What I'm trying to do here in this blog is provide as much information as possible for the interested parties. I have the experience of "shopping" for houses and I know how time consuming and tiring it can be. A lot of times, you are brought to a unit only to discover that it is totally out of your expectation.

When potential buyers get to know the unit, the location and environment better, it helps me to save my time too. I'm not organising a "condominium open house" where anybody can drop in to look-see look-see to get some renovation and deco ideas while gobbling up the sushi from the free buffet.

I'm looking for a seller-buyer match, a win-win transaction.

Ethnic Group Eligibility

The Ethnic Integration Policy (EIP) is to promote racial integration and harmony and to prevent the formation of racial enclaves, by ensuring a balanced ethnic mix among the various ethnic communities living in public housing estates.

After checking at the HDB website, my Block 115: Chinese and Malay Eligible

Resale Transaction Records from HDB

This is the recent resale transactions for BLK 110, 111, 115(my block) & 117.
Why these 4 blocks? Because there are only 4 blocks with this same design, it has been the landmark for Bukit Batok West for many years (view from Bukit Batok MRT platform).

It's not easy to get units from these 4 blocks as not many people want to sell.

Click the image to read it at full size.

The New Lift is Ready Today

Hooray! The new lift for our block is finally ready for use! We took our virgin lift-trip yesterday when we returned home from work. Wow, it's fast!

The new lift that stops at every floor is definitely a good feature, though I don't feel walking down from my 4th floor unit when going out and taking lift to 5th floor & walking down one floor when returning home is a problem, it's a problem when I need to throw away heavy stuff.

The feeling is that the lift is just at our doorstep (well, 5 steps to be exact) as we only have 4 units each floor. Now we have 2 options: to take the lift or to exercise a bit to walk the stairs. Being not too high up has the advantage of being able to running back fast when we forgets something and we are rushing for time. Life is about options right?

Now we are waiting for the 2nd lift to be ready.

Amenities surrounding BLK 115

Having lived here for more than 10 years, I find that this is an ideal location for families with kids. You enjoy a serene environment with lots of greenery and playgrounds, yet you get everything you need as a family all within 5 minutes walking distance. I really love this place. Now that I plan to move on, I would also like the next owner to be aware of all these great amenities available to them so that they would fully appreaciate this wonderful part of Bukit Batok town.
You may explore the various facilities and amenities by clicking the icons on the Google map below, or scroll further down to refer to the list of facilities around the area.

View Larger Map

Within 5 minutes walking distance:
Public Transport:

1. Bukit Batok MRT station
2. Bukit Batok Bus Interchange
3. Taxi Stand @ West Mall

Food:

1. Coffeeshop @ Community Club (just next block)
2. Coffeeshop/Hawker Centre @ the market (plenty of famous yummy stores - Tiong Baru Loh Mee branch,
3. Coffeeshop @ Blk 109 with famous Hong Kong Duck rice
4. 24-hour Teochew Cuisine Restaurant (just 2 blocks away @ Blk 132)
5. 24-hour KOPITIAM next to MRT
6. 2 KFC outlets (walk north to West Mall; walk south to market just across the road)
7. 2 McDonald's (walk north to West Mall, one outlet just outside the mall; walk south to market just across the road)
8. Pizza Hut (next to McDonald's @ MRT)
9. Burger King (West Mall)
10. MOS Burger (West Mall)
11. Subway (West Mall)
12. The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf (West Mall)
13. BreadTalk (West Mall)
14. Sakae Sushi (West Mall)
15. Mayim Chinese Cuisine (West Mall)
16. Bali Thai (West Mall)
17. Swensen's (West Mall)
18. Bengawan Solo (West Mall)
19. Old Chang Kee (West Mall)

Grocery and Convenient Stores:

1. 2 NTUC FairPrice (one next to MRT; another at the market across the road)
2. Shop N Save @ West Mall
3. 7 Eleven (just 2 blocks away @ Blk 132)
4. Wet Market
   

Family/Entertainment:

1. Flat is surrounded by the neighbourhood park with jogging track
2. 3 children's playgrounds
3. 3 fitness corner
4. 2 outdoor badminton/sepak takraw court
5. 1 outdoor basketball court
6. Eng Wah Cinema @ West Mall
7. Community Library with a separate children's book section @ West Mall
8. the latest Civil Service Club (public can join membership with just S$300 a year) with landscaped adult swimming pool, jacuzzi, children's pool with water playground, wave pool, water slides, man-made "river", treehouse, bowling, game room, American pool, Chinese & Western restaurants, etc.
9. Public swimming pool
10. Bukit Batok Community Club with loads of activities
11. Infant-care/childcare centres, Muslim Childcare centre

Others:

1. Harvey Norman @ West Mall
2. Giordano @ West Mall
3. G2000 Apparel @ West Mall
4. Bossini @ West Mall
5. Tom & Stefanie @ West Mall
6. Watson @ West Mall
7. Popular Bookstore @ West Mall
8. World of Sports @ West Mall
9. Sports Link @ West Mall
10. Bata @ West Mall
11. Bukit Batok Polyclinic
12. Singapore Post @ West Mall
13. Police Post (BLK 103)
14. HDB Office & Bukit Batok Town Council (next to MRT)

Within 5 minutes Drive:

1. PIE (just 3 minutes)
2. Shell Petrol Station (just before turning out to PIE)
3. IMM & Giant Hypermarket
4. Bukit Batok Nature Park
5. Bukit Batok Town Park (better known as Little Guilin)
6. Jurong Regional Library

Our Beloved HDB Unit is for Sale

As we plan to move on to the next episode of our life, we need to let go of our beloved HDB flat that have sheltered our family for the past 10 years. I love this place so much that I decided to create this blog to let the potential future owner or agents to have a better idea about our unit as well as the environment before we meet to discuss further, it will save time for all. It also serves as a memory to us in future.

If you are interested to purchase my unit, please leave a comment in this blog, or e-mail me danielthum@yahoo.com

BLK 115 4th Floor
Bukit Batok West Avenue 6
Singapore 650115

A Glimpse into my cozy home.

Spacious and airy Living Hall

Country-style Kitchen

Dining Hall

Large Master bedroom with attached bathroom

Park View from the balcony, unblock.
Of all the 4 units each floor of my block, my facing is the only one having nice park view, rare for a relatively low floor unit.

Bathroom attached to Master Bedroom

Bathroom #2 - Entrance from the Kitchen

The Entrance "Foyer"