Review on 38 Jervois Condo [fire sale 🔥🔥🔥 limited time only]

38 Jervois Road, Singapore 249078

Tel: 9797 7047 / 9232 9737 / 8366 4069

Email: ellouisa.swift@gmail.com 

38 Jervois is a boutique development of freehold condo units, nestled in Good Class Bungalow (GCB) enclave and embassies' estate, in prestigious District 10.

That's along the embassies and Bishopgate Road, where tranquility, safety and lush greenery are abundance. When I walked around the neighborhood, I was wowed by the sprawling length of the long gates and fences of the massive landed homes here. That was when I knew I was on a land of prestige, promise, and probably very important people.

By foot, it took me between 8 to 12 minutes to reach here from Redhill MRT (depending on my footwear of the day), so yeah, no cars, is fine. Meaning to say that all age groups can also stay here, regardless of whether you don't have permission to drive yet, or are a foreigner who has no desire to buy that overpriced car in Singapore.

The condo development has already obtained TOP, meaning "temporary occupation permit" since 2019, so I was able to view actual units. Which is GREAT, because I don't have to imagine how the layout is like, which apartment faces where, or how beautiful / ugly it may be.

I understand that by now,  there are only 16 precious units left here.

At the ground floor, the turqoise pool looks inviting, and one could use the gym equipment right next to it. Totally perfect for nature lovers who hate exercising indoors and are unable to feel that they have "sweated it out", or the energy of great outdoors. If I stayed here, I might ask to put a yoga mat so I can do outdoors yoga here too.

Up the apartments we go.

I enter, feeling the cool marbled floors, and stamp my feet to test its solidness. The nice squarish layout of the living area and bedrooms would make decorating the place an easy affair.

I stand at the kitchen admiring the De Dietrich appliances, tempted to test it out, but then I am drawn to the unblocked views of the balcony that faces me, where breezes kiss and greet me.

There are 3 unit types here for sale currently:

• 2 + 1 type at 818 sqft 
• 3 bedroom at 915 sqft
• 3 bedroom penthouse at 1098 sqft

Okay, I can imagine owners or tenants being thrilled to move into here - immediately, because the house feels so inviting.

Nearby would be Great World City, Valley Point, Tiong Bahru Plaza, Tiong Bahru Market, Redhill MRT, Redhill food centres, and my favorite shopping belt, Orchard Road! That's all super convenient, and don't forget to add atas international schools into the list.

Low density, noiseless neighbours, low quantum pricing for this area and quality. Best of all, there's a fire 🔥🔥🔥 sale going on in June 2020 that cuts off $400,000 (no, I didn't get my zeroes wrong!) from the listed price. What a bargain!

If you are looking for own stay, the above merits would make this almost a dream home. If you are looking for investment, tenability and rental yield here are great, too.

38 Jervois is developed by Prominent Land, an experienced developer of beautiful landed homes. Because this is their first foray into condominium development, they have put in a lot to ensure quality, beauty and comfort in this project.

How should you proceed?

Contact developer's sales team at 9797 7047 / 9232 9737 / 8366 4069 now.

You may also get ready a cheque for 5% option fee, an In-Principle Approval (IPA) done if you are taking a mortgage loan.

All the best for your home hunt here!

The Mommyhood Series [i] - Receiving the News

With the end of my House Hunting Series (click here to read more), the next step should come naturally - family planning. Or rather, it has always been in the pipeline. Me being a systematic person, I needed the step-by-step of marriage, honeymoon, new home before baby(ies).

We started trying shortly after securing the new home. From friends' experiences and my own perception of our lifestyle + my body (stress resulting to irregular menses), I estimated at least 6 months before we might get any results. I prayed we didn't have to resort to Intro-vito (IVF) or TCM, etc.

So life went on a hectic pace - me studying for and taking the RES exams, us packing for moving house, us packing for a 2-week Australian trip, and my usual wine sessions with friends. The missed menses, slight weight gain and short tempers were all attributed to these hectic activities, of course.

I returned from Australia in mid-November. The trip itself was okay - I ate and drank whatever. Toward the end of the trip, I began to feel somewhat unwell. The unpleasant feeling got worse even when we returned to Singapore. I began to feel strongly adverse toward a lot of things such as Ramen, red wine (!!!), etc; and my sense of smell sharpened immensely. I even began to feel giddy or headache towards a lot of things - like smells I was adverse to, bright lights, small fonts, etc.

Hunger pangs also prevailed - in Australia I had attributed them to queasiness, but now I began to have my sneaking suspicions. Bought a couple of pregnancy test kits to satiate my own curiosity. Then went to see a doctor to ascertain that I was pregnant.

Researched for good gynaecologists and asked friends for recommendations. Settled on a seasoned doctor from Thomson Medical Centre, and made an appointment to see him.

Although we were prepared for this pregnancy, the news still took us by (pleasant) surprise. It felt surreal having a little life-form within me, its survival dependent on me wholly. I also began to worry for its health because I drank a fair bit of red wine and ate sashimi in Melbourne, when the tiny baby would have just begun to form.

Other than that, we began to wonder what to buy for the baby, what were the changes needed to be done around the house to welcome this additional member of the family, how we were going to break the happy news to our families, what kind of parents we would be, and what adjustments we needed to make to our lifestyles to accommodate this new member.

The next chapters in The Mommyhood Series will document the 9 months pregnancy journey, including gynae visits, tests to be done, changes, the delivery process itself, and the amount of shopping, etc. Stay tuned.



Backtracks
(i) The House-Hunting Series
(ii) The Honeymoon Series
(iii) The Nuptial Series

The House-Hunting Series [iv] - New Home Sweet Home & House-Warming

Having walked you through the buying of home, selling of existing home, and setting up of home processes,  we have reached the exciting moment - The Big Move.

1. THE BIG MOVE
   With all our cartons ready at the HDB Flat, we awaited the guys from Prestige Movers (link here) to come. We have used them before, and liked their efficient service as well as reasonable rates, therefore it was a no-brainer that we engaged their services again. They would expertly wrap up delicate items such as large paintings, TV sets, and seal cabinets etc before loading them. They also provided cardboard boxes and Scotch tape for our packing needs before the moving day.
   
   
   
   
   

   
   
   
2. SCATTERING OF RICE, BEAN, SALT AND TEA LEAVES
   To backtrack a little, this was not mentioned prior to our renovations. The moment we got the keys and opened up the door, this vital ritual was performed. We mixed some rice grains, sea salt, green beans and tea leaves together, and scattered them at all corners of the vacant home, while chanting briefly something like "be gone, ye spirits, for I am the rightful owner here."
   
   
   We also left Chinese fortune cake ("fa fao") and fruits at the stove - this is supposed to signify fortune and prosperity. Then in the middle of the entire house, we left 5 types of seeded fruits. The latter is supposed to bring about fertility and growth.
   
   
   We left these items in the house for 3 days before removing them.
   
   
   
   

   
   
   
   
3. CROSSING THE THRESHOLD
   We opened up the door and rolled the Pineapple in. The common saying is, where the pineapple stops, it is the "fortune spot".  A colleague of mine rolled 8 oranges instead of pineapple because she claims pineapples has sharp edges -  therefore I suppose you can use oranges as alternatives too.
   
   
   There's also a sequence of who gets to enter the home first. If there are elderly, they should enter first, followed by the man of the house and then the woman of the house.
   
   
   Then we turned on the taps to let the water run for a short while. And turned on the stove to boil some water and some rice.  I cannot remember what these acts symbolise, but practicality prompted me to test the functionality of my gas stove and taps.
   
   
   Finally, enjoying a simple meal in the premises of the new home with family. My Mom and the Mother-in-law had followed us over to our new abode to witness the moving, so 4 of us enjoyed a simple lunch here.
   
   
   The rest of the day was spent waiting for furniture delivery, as well as delivery of our TV and Washer-Dryer, unpacking stuff, arranging and re-arranging stuff. This busy routine went on for days, a super tiring affair.
   
   
   
   

   
   
   
4. SETTLING IN
   Among the hectic-ness, we had to adjust to a fair bit of stuff in the new place as well. Such as the shift from the West to the East, familiarising ourselves with good places to buy dinner, where to get our groceries from, who our neighbours are, as well as sleeping and waking up in a new environment. New places and new furniture also come with their own smells, which we tried to get used to, as well.
   
   Without bamboo sticks to hang out our clothes to dry, we now had to make do with the washer's drying function very frequently. Also, the kitchen is a lot smaller, and it's an open concept linked to the living room, so we eliminated frying anything at all (pending our air-fryer to come in).
   
   The good thing is that I cultivated a routine where I would swim or visit the gym at least 3 times a week - something I never found time nor motivation to do in the past.
   
   
   
   

   

   
   
   
5. HOUSE-WARMING
   Finally, time for friends to visit our new home! We set the house-warming on a Sunday, a week after we moved in. I believe the house-warming is a very important event as you invite people to "warm" up the home, with their energies and well wishes. It is believed to ward off all negative energies, and to "brighten" the home, something like that.
   
   Planning the house-warming meant booking of the function room, and sending of invites to our friends and colleagues. Then monitoring the RSVPs to see how many persons were actually turning up.  We were quite fortunate that most of the guests could make it, despite the fact that it was 2 weeks away from Chinese New Year.
   
   As for caterers, we had a few in mind (Stamford, Four Seasons, and Kitchen Language) - we settled on Stamford Catering (website here), selecting their Healthy Menu comprising sushi rolls, fried brown rice, fish, prawns, vegetables, etc, etc - a total of 11 courses including drinks and desserts.  The food and service were good - and I liked the CNY decor setup. We had about 55 guests and we catered for 45 pax but apparently there were way too much leftovers (think 6-7 boxes of food).
   
   The function room was a few blocks away from our block, so the Hubby and I took turns to bring different groups of friends up to visit our home. Thankfully our family members were around to help entertain the guests who arrived while we were upstairs conducting house tours.
   
   As for blessings - we were thankful to our friends and colleagues who showered us with gifts of wine, red packets, gift vouchers, etc. The market rate for Housewarming these days average at SGD$50.00, but of course there were those who gave more, and those who gave less. Like weddings, there is no fixed rules, and it all boils down to "from the heart"-  thankful for all of them taking the time to come by and share this joyous moment with us.
   

That pretty much sums up the House-Hunting series; we hope you find the tips useful.  I also wish to highlight that although I made recommendations to certain service providers in this series of blog posts, none of them were sponsored - all of them are honest reviews rendered for paid services by me and my Hubby. For more information, do feel free to drop me an email at cloverwish.leaf@gmail.com.

If you are looking to purchase your matrimonial home now, I wish you a fruitful and joyous hunt! For complimentary advice and consultation, you can also contact my trusted agent here at simonleow.swift@gmail.com. All the best! 👄

BACKTRACKS:

(i) The House-Hunting Series [i] - Seeking The Dream Home

(ii) The House-Hunting Series [ii] - Selling Off The Existing Property
(iii) The House-Hunting Series [iii] - Doing Up The New Home

The House-Hunting Series [iii] - Doing Up The New Home

After searching and buying the dream home, and selling off the existing flat, we got busy as bees working on the new place so that we could move in before Christmas. As the Condo unit was a brand new unit, there was nothing done at all. We had to engage so many different parties to make the house a home, to make it liveable.

Of course, the alternative would be to engage an interior designer,  but we did not feel that it was necessary for a small space as ours. Furthermore, we had a certain look in mind already, so all we needed was to get the furnishings to complete the look.

1.   DECKING FOR THE PLANTER BOXES

Our planter boxes (mini versions of a proper balcony) needed to be decked up so that we could put outdoor furniture onto them. After speaking to several contractors, we engaged a private contractor to take care of these for us. Her name is Cindy and her number is 9299 8246 - very responsive and good attitude. 

We chose the wood paneling colours and a matching set for the vinyl top for our bay window. She managed to finish the decking for us within our stipulated timeframe, and did not chase for payment (the latter was vital because we jetted off shortly for a long vacation and she totally did not rush us).

2.    CURTAINS AND BLINDS

For curtains and blinds, we also chatted with a few providers before settling on Kah Huat Textile Co, located at Joo Chiat area. The ladyboss Ms Joyce Png was very friendly and helpful in assisting us to select our ideal curtains and blinds, including the dreamy white day curtains. Overall, her service was rather good except that she did not manage to do within the timeframe we had originally discussed, and one of the room's metal railings fell off within a week. She rectified immediately, and it has been fine since then - so that is good enough for us.

3.  TURNING ON WATER & GAS SUPPLY

Had to go and open an account with Singapore Power to turn on the water and gas supply. There are many other energy providers in the market right now that seem to provide better cost-savings alternatives so by now, we may switch.

4.  APPLYING FOR INTERNET

We were using SingNet for the longest time, so this time we decided to go MobileOne (M1) Broadband a try. Since both of us are existing M1 users for our mobile phones, there was a bundle discount or promo that we got to enjoy. So far, the internet connection is working well.

5.   PROFESSIONAL CLEANING
We hired a professional post-renovation cleaning team headed by Jeremy Yee to clean up our house before moving in. Not only did they clean up all the debris left behind, they also wiped down all doors, cabinets and the floors, of course. Service was quite impeccable, and our house was spick and span clean. The fees was about SGD$250, and totally worth it.

6.  SHOPPING FOR FANS & LIGHTINGS

We decided on getting ceiling fans with lights, and considered a few brands. In the end we settled for a black Fanco model with lights kit and remote control. We also selected lights for all the rooms in the house - a combination of ceiling and wall lights. I love the ancient "gas lamp" in the front balcony the best, to be honest. Balestier Road is a great place to shop for lightings because there are 2 rows of lights shops - aplenty to choose from, and compare.  Most of these lights shop charge a fans installation fee of SGD$45 onwards,  and around SGD$10.00 for each light around the house (does not apply to chandeliers).

7.   SHOPPING FOR HOME FURNISHINGS

Furniture shopping was more a little more tricky. There was much to be compared; and some furniture pieces were harder to find. Hubby took the measuring tape everywhere we went, to ensure that the TV console and sofas we chose would not be longer than the walls.

As space is a constraint for us, we decided to do without the floor rug beneath the coffee table. Some of the immediate purchase included TV console with matching glass-topped coffee table, reclining sofa, dining table set and outdoor furniture set.

We also had to do without a slim glass cabinet that we initially wanted to place beside the TV console to display our wine collection and travel souvenirs - now with baby planning on the way, we had to choose furniture that is not made mainly of glass, or come with sharp edges.

Good places to do furniture shopping included Novena Furniture at Big Box (now defunct), IMM Jurong, Sungei Kadut area where all the furniture wholesalers are located (including brands like Picket & Rail, Star Living, Widhardja and Scanteak, etc.

We also purchased a good LG washer-dryer with anti-bacterial steam function, as well as my dream curved TV (not that we watch much TV ironically).   Courts Tampines, GainCity Megacity, and Audio House Bendemeer are good spots to shop for electrical appliances.



8.   SHOPPING FOR OTHER ESSENTIALS

Finally, the nitty-gritty little essentials that make up the house. We made a list and it came up to 100 over items.

Utensils and dining sets - I got mine from Corelle @ Takashimaya - Corelle features a reasonably-priced range of plates, bowls etc that are resistant to breakage.

Floor mats - I got mine from Charles Millen @ Takashimaya - they are thick, absorbent and colors are gorgeous.

Pots and pans - WMF at Takashimaya - not that I cook often.

Other things included small storage racks, dish drainers, wash cloths, lots and lots of plastic containers from Toyogo to store things under the planter box decking, steam iron, small electric kettle, handheld vacuum cleaner, spray mop, mini potted plants from Far East Floral, towel holders, hooks, soap holders, sponge, detergents, etc, wow you name it! Good places to shop for these would be Takashimaya, Japan Home outlets, Ikea and even Lazada. Some of my friends like Taobao but my experience with them so far has been less than stellar.

9.  PHOTO FRAME / CANVASS

Nah, not talking about the small decorative photo frames lying around the home - so we had a wedding photograph taken in Vancouver, that we liked very much. We wanted to enlarge it, maybe frame it, and hang it over the house. We wrote in to so many different photo studios who either could not assist, or charged sky high prices to do what we wanted. Until we discovered Sebastian Teh, founder of LoveInStills (check them out here) - who not only charged a good price for quality, but provided excellent service as well. He personally delivered the floating canvass to our place, and what can we say, we love it!

10.   CLEANSING OF HOME

Finally, before officially moving in, we engaged a professional to cleanse the home. People usually cleanse the home if they buy a 2nd hand unit, but I believe that every home has energies, even if they have been left empty for months. We considered Fengshui masters, but I decided to use Shamala Tan (website here)  because she is also my life coach and personal friend, and I have seen her work miracles so I believe in her works. 

She did a round of energy cleansing at my home with incense and gave us some advice on re-arranging the bedroom furniture (we had a cabinet that was kind of blocking the Hubby's smooth entry to his side of the bed) and to get some plants and crystals etc to optimise our goals. 

All the above took months to complete, especially all the shopping which took up a fair bit of time. Other than that, we were all set and ready to step foot into the new home and claim it as rightful owners!  In the next entry of this series, I shall talk about the Moving Day and House-warming.

BACKTRACKS:

(i) The House-Hunting Series [i] - Seeking The Dream Home

(ii) The House-Hunting Series [ii] - Selling Off The Existing Property

The House-Hunting Series [ii] - Selling Off The Existing Property

In House-Hunting Series Part 1 (read it here),  I shared information on how we narrowed down our choices when searching for the dream home, and finally securing the right home.  We also decided to sell off our existing HDB Flat, and hoping to do so within 6 months so as not to incur Additional Buyer's Stamp Duty (ABSD) - a hefty 12% of the property price!

1.  TAKING PHOTOS OF THE HOME
Our first step for selling the flat, was of course, to take (nice) photos of the existing flat for sale. With that, we re-arranged the furniture a little, tidied up the house, and removed any unsightly objects from the photos. This is to portray a good image of the house and give prospective owners a positive feel to even want to contact you for a viewing. No one likes a cluttered, dim home because it simply doesn't appeal.

2.  POSTING THE PHOTOS ON PROPERTY PLATFORMS
We sourced for free portals such as Carousell, Gumtree, Locanto, Craigslist and RedAd, as well as our own social media accounts to post about our properties. We copied some wordings from websites such as PropertyGuru, 99.co,  ST Property etc to make the descriptions sound better.

Do not use anyone else's photos though - always use your own original photos. If you need a certain nice view or if you forgot to take a photo of the block of flat's exterior facade, go and take these photographs yourselves.

         

3.  PROPERTY AGENTS - TO ENGAGE, OR NOT TO ENGAGE?
It depends on a lot of factors, really. Are we able to sell on our own? Some of us may have pretty strong word-of-mouth through neighbours, or maybe an existing neighbour's children want to buy the unit to stay right next to their parents, etc.  What are other issues to take into consideration?

• timeline / urgency of sale - were we in a hurry to sell our flat?
• budget - could we spare that extra few thousand dollars so that someone can help us professionally to take photos, offer advice, source for clients, advertise and paperwork?
• home staging - a couple of agents we spoke to suggested spending money on this. Home-staging beautifies the home and replaces our furniture with nicer ones; the fees include storage of existing (uglier) furniture from our house for 2-3 months.
• engage on exclusive basis or non-exclusive basis?
• what were the opportunity costs if we didn't sell the flat in time?

I used a very efficient and down-to-earth agent from ERA Realty Network - Simon Leow. He responded to us very quickly, and was always polite and frank.

4.   OPENING THE HOUSE FOR VIEWINGS

Calls started coming in - either through our property agent or directly to us. The other parties negotiated for suitable dates and time to view our flat. If we were not represented by a property agent and the other party is, their property agent may negotiate with us for a fee because their clients ("buyers") are not obligated to pay agent's fees.

Before each viewing (which usually took 10 - 15 minutes maximum), we made sure to tidy up the place and put away newspapers, clothes, used plates etc so that the house looked presentable. When we had more time to prepare, we would also add little touches like lighting up a scented candle, soft classical music in the background, etc.

We would answer the prospective viewers' questions and bring them around the house. I served drinks as I would for any other visitors to our place. I even described each neighbour on the floor to them, so they knew who they would be potentially living next to. This was helpful, especially for families with children.

Sometimes we got weird viewings as well - those that appeared fishy, like managers training their new agents. So the "prospective buyer" would be a young single male or female, accompanied by an agent who claimed to be "a friend".   They would ask a lot of questions, the "agent friend" guiding the "prospective buyer" along, and then you never hear from them again.

5.   THE SUCCESSFUL SALE
Offers began coming in from prospective buyers who liked what they saw. We sat down and discussed the offers, rejecting the ridiculous ones and finally accepting one of the offer.  The flurry of activities began now - visits to conveyancing law firms, paperwork, HDB Inspection (to check for unauthorised alterations to flat), handing over, etc.

Before moving in officially, the buyers may request for a second viewing, or to come by to take measurements for their renovators' quotes. Sometimes they would just drop in to "visit", which we welcomed. After all, they might want to be familiar with their surroundings, or verify the neighbourhood, before exercising their options finally.

We were also very upfront with them on the areas that needed extra repairs such as a fallen kitchen sink, a broken glass panel on the folding kitchen door, etc.

6.   THE MOVING OUT

Moving out was a super hectic process. We had so much packing up to do:-

• discarded many, many old things we did not want to bring over to new place
• donated many things to The Salvation Army at Bukit Timah
• blessed furniture and electrical appliances away on various Facebook groups
• packing up the rest into nearly 40 cartons!

Then it was liaising with the movers, and selecting a perfect date to move out. Some people believe in "auspicious dates" and would work with a Fensghui master on that - we didn't. It depends on individual's preferences ultimately.

As much as I yearned to move out of the flat, I did miss it when the date was drawing near. It was, after all, a lovely home with good neighbours and unblocked canal views, and it served us well. I was delighted to have found it wonderful new owners who genuinely seemed to adore it from the very first viewing. I hope they are happy living here.

BACKTRACKS:
(i) The House-Hunting Series [i] - Seeking The Dream Home

The House-Hunting Series [i] - Seeking The Dream Home

I hope you enjoyed The Nuptial Series (read them here) when I was planning for,  and preparing for my wedding between 2015 to 2016. The series detailed our research and hunt for wedding photographers, the proposal, wedding venues, wedding gowns, leading right up to the Big Day, and even what to expect of married life.

The series was followed by The Honeymoon Series (read them here), detailing our honeymoon - how we planned it, who we engaged, what to prepare for the long trip, and the actual tour across Europe and Dubai, UAE.

1 year into the marriage, we began our house-hunt, that's when I began writing this House Hunting Series, sharing the process of selling, securing and moving into our new place. I hope you find this short series of real life experience useful in your own hunt for the dream home as well. Have fun reading!

Like most couples in Singapore, our first matrimonial home was a Housing Development Board (HDB) flat right after marriage - ours was a comfortable, mid-floor, spacious flat located in the West of Singapore. I wanted a brand new home for us, before we started our own little family, so the house hunting began.

1. WHAT TYPE OF HOME TO BUY?

There were so many choices to choose from - a brand new Built-To-Order (BTO) flat, resale flats (which gave us even more choices, including "endangered" housing such as maisonette, jumbo flats etc), Executive Condominium (EC) flats, or a private Condominium unit.  We tested waters a little here, assessing our options based on income, CPF savings, cash savings, and bank loan available.

I am not a fan of anything that's 2nd-owned or "pre-loved", so that eliminated our options of resale flats or resale condominiums. It helps to have some kind of filters, of course, so that we can be more focused on our search.

2. WHAT TYPE OF HOME OWNERSHIP?

As we currently have an older HDB flat, we weighed our options for the new home. Would we be able to retain this flat for rental purpose while we purchase a new private property? Or do we sell this flat for cash proceeds to fund the new dream home?

3. WHERE TO MOVE TO?

Because there were so many choices for us to choose from, so many newly-launched projects as well, we spent some time visiting show flats to understand each project better.  We also went to HDB website to check on the newly-released BTOs and Sale of Balance Flats. On top of that, we also visited newly-TOP condominium units where existing owners had no intention of moving in. These exercises helped us a lot so we knew the type of amenities, facilities and layout etc we could choose to have, both within and around the new dream home.

However, we did have a dilemma - to remain in the West or to move to the East? Most of our family members have moved to the Eastern part of Singapore, so it would make sense for us to move there to, to be closer to families. But most of the new EC flats (during the time we were hunting for our dream home) were located in the Western part of Singapore, or at least, the North-western areas.

4. TIME-FRAME

What was the time-frame we gave ourselves to move? That was also an important consideration for us. If we could afford to wait for 3-4 years, then a new BTO flat or new Condominium project would be ideal for us. I wanted us to start a family within these 2 years, and to be honest, I hated our current flat because it had been used by his family members for 15 years prior to me moving in, so it was, in a way, "second hand". 

With that, we further eliminated new BTO and Condominium launches, and focused on the pool of newly-TOP Condominium units where owners were not looking to move in. We also decided to focus on the East of Singapore, for that matter. This made our house hunt a lot easier, as I concentrated on fixing viewing merely for projects that obtained TOP between 2017 - 2018, but were listed as "brand new" and "not lived in" by their respective agents.

5.  SPOTTING THE DREAM HOME

We more or less determined on the exact project we wanted to move in, because of its resort-like theme, and there were about 5 swimming pools in the premises. We made offers on a couple of units, and got a top floor with lush greenery views! 

If you are buying a Condominium (be it EC or private), what are some factors to consider?

• size and layout of the unit
• location and views of the unit (i.e. far from main / side gate? Pool view but do many people pass by your ground floor unit? Are you facing BBQ pits? Etc)
• developers' reputation and past records (i.e. are projects by them deemed "problematic"?)
• pricing, of course
• facilities within the condo premises (swimming pools? gym? tennis courts? KTV? squash courts? billiard? what do you need?)
• amenities around the condo location (food centres? shopping malls? MRT station? nearby construction sites? good schools? etc)

6.  SECURING THE DREAM HOME

The next few weeks were a blur of visiting the conveyancing law firms, signing agreements and other paperwork, getting the bank assessment and loan secured, etc.

For bank loans, do check out different banks and their rates. Some offer fixed rates throughout, whereas others offer floating rate options. You can talk to a range of different loan bankers to share these information with you, or engage a Loan Broker who has access to all the banks and can help you take care of the comparison.

We also settled the mortgage insurance just in case something happens to one or both of us. This is VERY important - especially if you have young children (wouldn't want to leave them homeless, would you?). 

Of course, now we also had to start selling the existing HDB flat, and shop for furniture for the new home.   

Stay tuned for The House-Hunting Series Part 2 and Part 3 for these details. 

Review on ErgoLush™ Gel Infused Memory Foam by SleepWiz [Sponsored]

New house, new bed, new body (5th month of pregnancy, yay!) for the brand new year of 2019. What I did not expect was the warmth of my house, now that we have moved to the East side of Singapore, and also the sleeplessness caused by the first 2 trimesters of my pregnancy. And they say good sleep is very important for expecting moms.

Photo Source: https://mattresstopper.sg/shop/memory-foam-mattress-topper-gel-infused-ergolush/

Guess who then came to my rescue? SleepWiz did, with their new ErgoLush™ Gel-infused Memory Foam Mattress Topper (from SGD$170.00 onwards). Now you wonder what a "mattress topper" is, for I wondered about the same thing as well.

It is a 5.1 cm thick sheet of conforming memory foam that you lay on top of your mattress (before the bedsheets go on), to offer comfort and support on top of your mattress. This provides extra support, the thermal-conducive gel keeps body cool during sleep, and best of all, it can revive an older / lower-quality mattress which may not offer optimum support anymore (think, cost savings!!)

ErgoLush™ Gel-infused Memory Foam Mattress Topper
is a simple gel sheet - just place it on top of your mattress!

So many benefits in one seemingly simple product. So how does it feel to lie on this ErgoLush™ Gel-infused Memory Foam Mattress Topper?  "Safe" is the word that comes to mind. It is comfortable, with air vents within to keep body (and bed) cool.

Best of all, viscoelasticity absorbs kinetic energy so even when my hubby tosses and turns, or gets in / out of bed, I do not feel the movements or pressure from his side of the bed - it ensues I have a good, undisturbed sleep throughout the night.

My husband and I now enjoy unperturbed sleep, waking up feeling refreshed. He used to have backache in the past sometimes, but after using ErgoLush™ Gel-infused Memory Foam Mattress Topper, the back pains are gone as well.

Check out their quality range of sleeping products here:-

Website: https://mattresstopper.sg
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/OfficialSleepWiz/
Email:  hello@mattresstopper.sg
Address: 11 Woodlands Close, Singapore 737853

Have I mentioned that they offer free delivery in Singapore? No? Well, now you know who to go do for a good night's of restful sleep.

Thank you SleepWiz for the healthy and affordable sleeping solutions!