Day b4 leave!

Yes! Finally taking a well-deserved break... for a 5-day visit to mommy's place in JB. (Hubby wants to claim his holiday allowance)... amidst all the tender closings (overseas) and local ones. I pray hard that nothing 'breaks' in between.

Note: Sent quotes/ compliances/ documentations, etc. for 3 tenders. Hmm.. hopefully all of them comes in!

Brought my own food (tapau) from home today so I have more time to put in my thoughts for the day.

Some baby developments:
(1) My stomach finally took over the race from my breasts! ahahaha... used to be that I can't see past my breasts, now it's my stomach. But I'm still a small size. Many people are surprised that I'm carrying a baby girl... coz the structure looks like a boy :) So my dearest lil one is following her dearest dad (my hubby!).
(2) Baby is constantly kicking. I think she'll make a good football player.. or at least in some uniform group where one gets to kick *evil grin*
(3) Me - getting always hungry. Yes! Eating always... but not as much as my hubby.. hahaha.. I'm the one pregnant, but he's the one gaining all the weight and the craving. Such just desserts! hehehe..

Some life developments:
I should share some life developments with you people out there. So here goes... My House Search:
(1) Decided to view some houses. We did our first house viewing on probably 12 or 13 Mar: 156 - argh! Not nice.. ad mentioned well maintained, etc. So here I went with some expectations, but trust me, always lower your expectation level by 50%! Hahaha.. The unit was horrible! With black/grey/white homogeneous tiles (yucks!), it looks dreary.. And yes, they knocked down the room next to the master bedroom (M-Room) and made it (well..) longish. With the M-Room in an angular shape, it's not even worth to see.
(2) Got the agent to arrange some other viewing (on a weekday) and boy, he set up like 11 (ELEVEN) houses to view in 3 hrs. I was so beat by the last house that I didn't want to see any others. The agent should have given thought to my pregnant self. So decided not to use this agent. But we ticked on a unit.. Tell you more later.. Hehe..
(3) Got another agent D (thru' the papers) to view other flats within the area. This one is professional - got my criteria and gave me what I want with much leisure time to view each flats. Saw one real nicely renovated unit - featured in a magazine at that too! But they did so much 'renovation' that it spoilt the entire persona and space of the flat. So no go.
(4) Saw a unit #04 near my brother-in-law's place, but we arranged through another agent S - this person is NOT pro at all. Don't even know what I'm asking nor what is the specifications of the unit! And the team fumbled so badly that when agent D arranged for us to view 'another' unit which was supposedly at #05 with a whole different owner - that we ended up viewing the SAME house on the SAME DAY! Goodness... we were soooo upset! Well, I was that is. Hubby looks cool.
(5) Needless to say that after a few rounds, both of us were tired. In fact, we believe we've seen all the houses there! Haha.. So we looked back at our list and pics (yes, we took pics of each unit), and decided on 1. Had Agent D arranged the 2nd viewing (though we did our 1st viewing with another agent) for my in-laws to view.
(6) Agent D got all the info (valuation, asking price, etc) for us, plus even gave us tips on the viewing. So not too bad. It's just the asking price that was 'killing' us... $15K above our budget. Even when we bargained, the previous owner wanted an amount higher than even valuation! That's asking us to fork out CASH. No way!
(7) After much negotiation, we decided to go at valuation - the valuation report is lapsing soon, so the previous owners are STRESSED! So Agent D got the price.. and for the marble flooring, new in-built cabinets, etc., I think it's a good bargain - besides, I think the valuation should be higher *evil grin*. Now, just waiting for 1st appointment ... on 18 Apr 05.

So for those searching for new flats in Singapore, I strongly suggest to do your homework first. Insist on taking pics so you can review them at a more leisurely pace. And most importantly, don't fall in love with the house, seller's agent can sniff the excitement and go for the kill ;) Oh yes, and get a good reliable agent who's senior and has 'seen the world'.

Cheers!