Pink London Cab

Remember some time back when we found that pink London cab, dear?

And we got that his name and contact number down? Mr Thomas Low the cabbie.

Yeah, I dropped him a text message and he returned me a call. Very courteous it was. Told him our intentions of using him for our wedding and he stopped short of quoting me the price, only saying that he will make sure that the price "we will be very happy with". Hmm... He added that we're a little too early to book him for next year and he suggested we call him later (in September) so that he can arrange his schedule with us.

Shouldn't be a problem... I'll note it down in here.

Let us postulate

Assuming 4-room apartment costs 280K (at valuation).

New ruling states that this year (2005) 4% cash downpayment, the rest, 6% from CPF.

4% of 280K = 11200
6% of 280K = 16800
subtotal paid up = 28000
remainder = 252000

Rest covered by HDB or Bank loan. up to 90% depending on our salaries.

Assuming Grant awarded, 40k
So, assuming loan 212K.
30 year repayment plan at an interest rate of 2.60% (HDB Concessionary rates)

Max $849 monthly instalment.

Hmmm... Interesting. :)

Else assuming grant awarded is 30k only.

Loan amount 222k.
30 year repayment will be at $889 monthly.

Note, loan repayments can be paid using monthly CPF contributions from Ordinary Account.

Now. I wonder, bank loans better or HDB loans better. May says HSBC offers very good plans; better than that of other banks. Hrm.

HDB finally makes sense

My oh my... What good new abounds when you least expect it! I received this bulletin from HDB (I'm subscribed to their news alerts) today and boy was I very much elated that I had to blog this in right now!

They have basically halved requirements and increased ceilings.

Let me explain briefly, initial downpayment has been reduced from 20% to 10% of apartment value. The 10% can be fully paid by CPF! HDB Housing loan ceiling has been increased from 80% to 90%. That's only a portion of what the whole bulletin was trying to say.

Read on here.

What excellent news! Thank God!

Finally HDB makes sense.

Price ranges

And so it was, Uncle Peter got back to me on the price ranges for the areas that I have in mind.

It was indeed good news about the 3 room apartments in Henderson Crescent. For the past 6 months flats there were sold for between 163k to 186k on various levels of that block. Dawson place apartments on the other hand were a little more pricier. 4 rooms were fetching no less than 330k (which is really out of our budget and we would be quite insane to buy anything at the price at the moment.) Nonetheless, he has been flagged to look out for flats in the corner units of that very block we have in mind.

In August we will be looking at some. And with all hope, in late-November, early December, we will get the keys to the flat of our hearts' desires.

The excitement is already mounting. Heh.

Couple seminar

Pastor Joshua is running a marriage/couple seminar this coming weekend. 16th July. 2 to 5:30pm. A note to ourselves.

I hope we receive fresh revelation from God in this meeting :)

In the meanwhile, it's about 10 more months before the big day!

Gee...

House Hunt

With God, the possibilities are endless...

The possibility of me being a house owner seems a little far-fetched considering my age. Yes, in Singapore, it's not all too common for the common folk like myself to be owning anything bigger than a motorbike, but yes, with God, all things are possible. :D

SO the house hunt begins. I decided to use Sophia's uncle's services. He was the one who was instrumental in getting their housing needs sorted. I'm quite at ease, after having spend 40 minutes on my mobile talking to him yesterday. He will get back to us really soon on his findings.

And it won't be long before we get to view some places I think.

The other piece of news; apparently, both Dawson Road and Henderson Crescent are within the 2km radius of her parents' place. So might get the additional 10 grand, on top of the 30 grand that we going to get as first time buyers. But here is the catch, her uncle told me that they're not supposed to move for the next 5 years and even if they do move, it must be within the 2km radius of our place.

I guess, like I said, all things are possible with God :D