House

On Sunday night I was casually clicking my usual property search and suddenly a new listing appeared and it was actually quite reasonably priced as compared to the rest. So I texted the agent and she asked me to go down for a viewing tomorrow night. It was really fast. I hesitated but I thought I had nothing to do so I said ok. That night I spent hours thinking about scenarios.

Monday evening (yesterday) I went down to the house and there was already a lady looking around the house and one of the owners was there as well. The agent was super friendly and we were very casually chatting until Wei Ling came over. 

The house was quite well maintained. They renovated 6 years ago but the design was really simple, and the layout was exactly what I wanted. There were parts like the toilet, kitchen, the spoilt wine chiller and the washing machine area which I didn't like but everything else was normal. At least I didn't need to spend money to hack the walls but I do need to change the tiles and renovate the whole kitchen and toilet and the false ceiling, and it felt like a waste of their renovation 6 years ago. 

We also chat with the owner for a while and then the agent and I went downstairs to negotiate a little bit. The agent was really funny and she was really rooting for me to get the house because she prefers me to my competitor, so I offered a little lower than the listed price.

But that afternoon I just checked that my HDB loan letter had expired and I need to reapply plus I need to appeal - urgh complicated so it's gonna take a while. So she said she would update me if my competitor had offered anything because the first person who offers the listed price will get it.

During dinner, the agent texted me that my competitor had offered the listed price and asked me if I wanted to offer the same so it would be up to the seller to decide. She said she was really anxious because she really wanted me to get it but the sellers might not want to wait for my loan letter. 

First time agent more anxious than the buyer LMAO.

My competitor took a bank loan so she could buy the house anytime. I told the agent to wait for me to calculate my finances and see if I can also take up a bank loan to compete with her. 

And I can't :/ 

I don't have so much cash for down payment so I can only use HDB loan which I have to wait. It's fate. If it is mine, then it will be mine. 

In the end of course the seller chose my competitor. There was just a bit of risk in choosing me and honestly, I was quite relieved. I was so stressed up for 24 hours, thinking about money, the HDB loans and appeals etc that I didn't sleep well. I think I wasn't mentally prepared to offer on the spot as well, but it was a really good experience. 

I almost bought a house.