My Humble Abode

Last August, I made a very brave move of committing myself to a lifetime of debt...by purchasing a house.

The hunt for my humble abode began back in February 2005. I saw agents after agents, who brought me to view property after property, mostly landed but there were some condos in PJ as well. Anyhow, I must have easily viewed about 30-odd properties, and got so sick of the process of going to take a look one after another only to be disappointed by something, somewhere such as the design, the layout, the location, the condition and of course, the pricing.

Finally when I saw the last one, I fell in love with it almost immediately. After taking a second look the very next day, I closed the deal.

So now, I am kept extremely busy with the renovation of my debt-inducing piece of asset! Surely those of you who had gone through this process before will completely understand where I am coming from. Your savings will be completely sucked dry by the time the whole process ends. Already the cash purchase cost almost killed me last Aug/Sept (the 10% downpayment + all legal and documentation fees). The renovations cost, is another never-ending escalating cost, which only ends when the contractor actually hands you his invoice...which may come to a staggering 50% more than the original quotation he gave you!

I have definitely blown my budget waaaaay out of proportion...in other words, I am short of cash. So, I have no choice but to borrow from my "personal financer" at interest-free rate (phew!) and repay by instalments. Geez, if only the contractors take credit card payments with 0% interest rate instalment schemes...

So last night, I went to my new house to check out the progress of the renovation taking place. Ah, the place has started to look really great. The make-over was beginning to show its effect. Final touches of a new coat of paint and new lightings (2 very important factors), and...ta-daaa!

Can't wait for it all to finish, as the reno has been such a painfully expensive and stressful experience. The amount of running around to buy the relevant materials, the checking of the work-in-progress, the comments (or scolding required) of the work done, the follow-up to check that the comments have been acted on subsequently, the measuring of almost every nook and corner to know exactly what can and cannot fit, the cost control factor, all play very fundamental roles in the renovation process.

I hope to be able to move in by mid of March, just before the Ching Ming period starts on 27 of March 2006.

All my friends will be invited to come & visit me, would lurve to have visitors over... but, be forewarned that you will most likely have to sit on the floor! You may bring along your own mat (BYO mat) in case the floor is too cold for your warm, fuzzy buttocks :) because I will not be able to afford ANY furniture in the house for the next few months.

So here's to the quick and proper completion of my humble abode!