Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Dream come true !

Just 4 days after my 1st trip to Kah Motors and i'm back there again today.

Met up with a very friendly and helpful Kah Motors Sales Agent - Ms Lynn Chua (HP: 97656150). She was recommended by my buddy aka car advisor Jack as she had attended to a few of his friends who went to Kah Motors Showroom @ Alexandra.

Upon reaching there, i managed to test drive the 1.5l Auto version of the Honda Jazz 2009. It was awesome! I simply love the ride. However, the only 'kick' missing then was... manual gear shifting! I would want a manual transmission car if i were to get one.

And guess what!... I actually paid the deposit for a Cerulean Blue Manual Transmission Honda Jazz 1.5l with MoonRoof! It was not so much of an impulse purchase but it's like a dream come true!! The dream of owning my own car =)

Friday, November 21, 2008

Kah Motor Showroom

I have finally made a trip down to Kah Motors showroom today to view the car tat i like - Honda Jazz 2009! (also known as Honda Fit 2009 by Parallel Importers)

Jazz has always been the kind of sporty and compact hatchback that i would like to have as my 1st car... The recent upgraded version of Jazz (from the old 1.4l to the new Jazz 2009 which offers both 1.3l and 1.5l) boosts a much improved engine and more interior room.. Not quite sure if it's the talk of the town but it surely does make my head turn whenever i see one passing by me (Porsche and Lamborghini have the same head turning effect but it's kinda out of the league for me to be able to own one... so let's stick to reality shall we...)

Honda Jazz 2009


Honda Jazz 2009 (1.5l with Panaromic view aka MoonRoof)

Thursday, November 20, 2008

Missing Gap...

I'm currently still working on the missing gap between Oct 08 and Nov 08's posts....

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Cat A COE @ $2 Only!

The idea of owning a car has been in my mind for more than a year... But after working out my sums, i have been shelving the idea as it seems pretty unlikely for me to be able to save much (for our wedding) if i were to add in the costs of owning a car...

The news of Category A Certificate of Entitlement (COE) reaching a all time low of $2.00 have caught my attention and once again made me want to reconsider buying a car. Thou my dad owns a car but most of the time he will need to use it due to his work commitment as well as community commitments. I am able to make arrangements with him if i really need to use the car but it's often at his expense (meaning he'll need to take public transport since i took the car) and i feel bad about it...

So once again, i'm doing my sums based on the car that i have always liked - Honda Jazz. Based on my estimates, it would cost me on average $1k to $1.2k monthly if i buy a Jazz; and it would mean that i have much lesser to save up!!

Breakdown of my estimates:
Cost of Car - $64,000
COE - $2?
Carpark (multistory) - $90 mthly
Road Tax - $300+ yearly
Insurance - $1,000 yearly

Some other cars that i am considering includes - Mitsubishi Lancer, Suzuki Swift, Toyota Vios...

Friday, October 31, 2008

HDB Appointment next Tuesday!

"We (HDB) have scheduled an appointment for you to sign the purchase, mortgage and CPF documents.

Date: 04/11/2008
Time: 10:00 AM
Venue: HDB Sales Operations Unit @ HDB Hub

To exercise the Option to Purchase,..."


We are finally going down to HDB Hub to sign our paperwork to complete the purchase of our own HDB flat! Yeah!... but it is also the start of being 'heavily' in debt... to repay $526,000 in 30 years... that works out to about $1,700+ monthly!!

Well, i guess what is more important is that we are really happy and excited about the idea of being able to own a flat ourselves and we are both contented with the location of our new flat =)

Friday, October 17, 2008

Updates from HDB (finally...)

Wow! it has been more than 1/2 month ago since i last posted anything here =P

Have recently received some letters from HDB with regards to our Park Central flat purchase

(1) On 9th Oct 2008, HDB informed us that our application for CPF Housing Grant hae been approved and a total of S$40,000.00 will be credited into our CPF accounts (S$20k each)

(2) On 10th Oct 2008, HDB sent us another letter. This is with regards to offering us a housing loan for the purchase of the flat. Guess what... It's an whopping loan of S$445,800.00, !! Geez... once we sign the loan agreement form, we will be $446k debt!! It will take us our lifetime (okay.. i'm exaggerating.. it's 30 years... but it feels like a lifetime lor...) to repay the loan.

After some calculation, i figured that we will be able to get back the initial 5% that we have paid in cash. But my colleagues have advised me to use that 5% to offset the HDB loan so as to reduce the total interest of the loan.

Should i do what they have advised? Or should i take that money and put it in fixed deposits (since MAS have just announced today that all deposits made to Singapore banks will be fully guranteed till end 2010)... Any advise anyone ??

Monday, September 29, 2008

Walking Distance from AMK MRT

How far is Park Central @ AMK from the AMK MRT Station?











Route A (approx 700 m):
- Walk along Ang Mo Kio Ave 3, cut in across HDB blocks and across a huge carpark
- If i didn't remember wrongly, will need to climb up a long flight of stairs before cutting across the HDB blocks
- Not much shelter along the way

Route B (approx 950 m):
- Walk along MRT tracks, cut across Cheng San CC, follow by HDB blocks and pass Jing Shan Primary School
- There is quite a few long flight of stairs to climb if you take this route
- Most of the walk will be sheltered except when passing by Jing Shan Primary School

Conclusion:
- Most probably will take Route A as the walking distance is much shorter and time taken will defintely be shorter
- Route B will be the alternative route to take when the weather is bad
- Route C? Try walking across Ang Mo Kio Town Garden East - we have tried that once... good exercise man! LOL!!