Home Hunt Chronicles: The Resale Route
189
- Modern Farmhouse
- HDB (Resale)
- ~1,200 sqft
- 3 br
- Couple Living
Finding a home during the pandemic was anything but easy - BTO completions were delayed, and resale prices were at an all-time high. However, after much deliberation, we decided to opt for the resale route. Why? 1. Time Constraints: The earliest BTO we could get would be ready in 2026, and it was just too long a wait for us. 2. Need for Space: Living with either of our parents wasn’t a viable option because we both needed a home office setup, which would have been highly inconvenient. 3. Financial Considerations: Rental? In this economy?! We just felt our money could have been put to better use. So, our resale house-hunting journey began, and after viewing around 60 houses for over 9 months, we found "the one," and we're glad we waited and took our time with our process. Our Non-Negotiables: • Above 7th floor (my husband lived on the ground floor most of his life and wanted a change lol) • No common corridor • Walking distance to MRT or max 3 bus stops to MRT • No bathrooms in the kitchen • Within our budget of $700k • No COV Good to Have: • Possibility to have an open kitchen and island • Unblocked view Needless to say, once you begin your house hunt, you'll learn to lower your expectations LOL. However, we were lucky enough to have found something that met all our non-negotiable criteria! And while we started our house hunt looking at 4-room flats in more central and mature estates, when we opened our options to 5-rooms in Punggol, we LOVED the idea of having more space - I mean, who wouldn’t?! This made more sense for us because we knew we would be comfortable with the size/space for some time to come. 
Our seller's style was a little more industrial and used a darker colour palette, so we knew the renovation would be a complete overhaul. 
What we did like about it, though, was that the living room was a long rectangular shape, so we were able to experiment and move away from a traditional layout for the dining and TV. The other thing that suited us was that the seller had combined the master with the adjacent room to make their master with a walk-in wardrobe. We knew we wanted to reinstate the wall and room, but since the wall was already taken down by the seller, we could configure the size of the rooms to suit our needs. When redesigning, we built back the wall in a way that enlarged the master and reduced the size of the adjacent room, which would be used as a study. We wouldn't need the full size of the common room for a study, and the extra room in the master gave us ample wardrobe space and made the room look spacious despite having a king-sized bed. You'll also notice that not all of our "good-to-have" criteria was met - our layout could have accommodated an island, but it would have compromised the space in the living area. Therefore, we opted for an enclosed kitchen with separate dry and wet areas. The advantage is that the dry pantry area offers ample countertop space, which is ideal for hosting gatherings as well! We still have a spare common room that is likely to be the future child's room, but for now, it's our room of shame/makeshift laundry room. All in all, we were very comfortable with our house decision and so glad we found what we were looking for!
- 15 March
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