JK Holdings

We decided to rent out the HDB unit once we moved to the private condominium.
Only Singaporean household HDB can rent out the entire HDB unit, not Singapore PRs household HDB.

Here are the timeline:

29th October (Sun): The HDB was completely vacant.

30th October (Mon): Handyman came and touched up the unit and completed 95% of the work. Real estate agent brought one tenant to view the unit at the evening and they love it. At 11 P.M., they offered S$2,000.

31th October (Tue): I rejected S$2,000 offer in the morning. All touch up completed by the evening. Tenant increased offer to S$2,100. I rejected the offer on the same day.

1st November (Wed): Tenant increased the offer to S$2,150. As it is close to what I am asking for (S$2,200), I accepted the offer at 1 P.M.

In short, we found the tenant within 3 days.

2nd November (Thurs): Letter of intent (LOI) signed on both parties, 2 months security deposit received.

Move in date: 5th Nov
Rental yield: 7.27%
Tenancy tenure: 18 months

(Only Malaysian and Singaporean can have maximum of 36 months rental contract, the rest maximum is 18 months).

I spent S$2,874.15 in total to secure the tenancy. The handyman touch up works cost S$628. I changed guest room 1, guest room 2 and guest room toilet ceiling light to LED lights. I also changed all the down lights at the living hall/dining hall to LED down lights. I replace the master bedroom skirting as it popped out due to moisture (next to master toilet). And the door bell is still working perfectly after replacing the battery!

I have done some DIY painting job and replaced all the kitchen fluorescent twin tube lights.

My tenant requested for 3 items only. Microwave oven, another queen size mattress and super single mattress with bedframe and that will cost me another S$947.

I bought really good mattresses for the tenant. Otho package: Boston 10" Euro Top Double Offset Coil Queen Size Mattress with bedframe, usual price is S$1,099 and now selling at S$499 only and it comes with 10 years warranty. I also bought a MaxCoil Adonia Spine Super Single Mattress with bedframe, S$368 and it comes with 10 years warranty too.

I have tried to find tenants myself through Ohmyhome but there are only two enquiries and one viewing, offer was S$2,000 max and the tenant profile is quite complicated, hence, I do not consider them. I also posted to social media rental website but zero enquiries. It seems like real estate agents have more leaks.

I moved to this beautiful place in year 2010.

I spent about S$35,000 for renovation and stayed close to 8 years.

We left the leather sofa, TV cabinet, TV, home theater system, marble dining table, chairs, etc. for the tenant.

The kitchen is huge and maintained very well.

I had been warned after rental, it will never look the same, oh well, I can't help it!

Once for rental, it will be forever for rental, no turning back. Fridge, washer and dryer are provided.

Master bedroom comes with Slumberland Queen size mattress. That's S$1,600 mattress. Not cheap.

Plenty of storage space, the master bedroom size (of this 4-room flat) is larger than 5-room flat master bedroom. I don't know why. That's the Toh Guan layout.

My lovely mirrored built in wardrobe.

A place where my boy grew up playing most of the time at living hall.

Still remember getting this SONY home theater system online at eBay at S$300 in year 2006. It still works perfectly today. It is a SONY!

Guestroom toilet.

Master toilet.

One of the guestroom.

We painted few walls with our left over paints from the new home.

More stories to tell in revision 02. Stay tuned.

Revision 03: updated on October 10, 2017
Revision 02: updated on September 22, 2017

This is our 4^th renovation, followed by minor renovation & touch up at the existing HDB unit before pushing it to the rental market (the 5^th renovation) and the 6^th renovation in November 2017 (TOP expected to be the end of October 2017), Citrine service apartment at Sunway Iskandar. The first one was 5-room flat at Toh Guan, followed by 4-room flat at Toh Guan, then Nusaheight service apartment at Gelang Patah, Nusajaya. It is a stone throw away from the future bullet train station at Nusajaya. So, armed with 3 renovation experiences, I know exactly what we want and the price too. We set a target of S$10,000 for renovation and S$20,000 for furniture furnishings for Waterfront@Faber unit. It will be our self-stay unit and probably our future retirement home, why not? Here are the updates, let’s go!

I changed my ID last minute due to the huge price variance of up to S$8,000 and that caused me a delay of 2 weeks.

July 12: Key collection

July 15: Defect list submitted.

August 7: Defect rectification completed and singed off.

August 19: Renovation ID finalized with Weiken, cheque issued to ID to start work immediately after management approval.

August 24: Master bedroom wall hacking completed.

August 25: 75% lightings installation completed.

August 28: All L-box structures completed.

August 29: Hacked wall was made good.

September 4: Whole house painting completed.

September 5: Hacked floor was made good.

September 7: Clear all floor protection.

September 8: Whole unit cleaning completed.

September 12: Carpentry installation completed.

September 15: Paints touch up done, renovation completed.

The renovation took me 4 weeks to complete.

September 18: All bedrooms oak flooring were matt varnished by the developer's contractor.

September 30: LG Smart TV, sound bar delivered. Store room racks delivered.

October 3: Simmons mattress/ bedframe delivered. Blinds installation completed.

October 7: Commune sofa delivered. Dining table/chairs from Mondi delivered.

October 14: Mover starts to move house from Toh Guan at 8.30 A.M.

October 14, 2017 is the date we move to Waterfront @ Faber. :)

(1) TV feature wall/cabinets: (S$4,025)

Carpentry Works

(Design and fabricate of full height TV storage cabinet with solid compressed plywood, selected laminates, inner colored PVC and ABS trimming doors. Cabinet is installed with Blum’s anti-slam hinges.)

The biggest item of the renovation got to be built-in-furniture, which is our full height of 2.85 meter, length of 3.3 meter of TV feature wall with a lot of cabinets. We finally engaged Weiken ID at Tradehub 21 for our renovation. Their quoted price is subjected for 7% GST but they are giving out 7% discount at the final price too. It means the 7% GST is waived and you have a minor discount of 0.49% to be exact. So, all the prices listed in this blog (Weiken ID) are the prices BEFORE the 7% discount. In this case, the TV cabinets is S$4,005.28 NETT instead of S$4,025.

I sent this exact picture for 7 quotations at various ID firm and carpentry shops.

Filip Janssens designs

Filip Janssens's Asper project in year 2011

My renovation cost (Weiken) : S$9,229.55

We bumped into the above design from Google search, with keywords, "huge TV cabinets design" and we love the full height massive cabinet storage designs with style. Then, a carpenter ID told us it was actually a Belgium furniture designer masterpiece, called Filip Janssens ( http://www.filipjanssens.be/ ). No wonder, it looks gorgeous to me. I used the same photo for 7 quotations (4 ID firms and 3 carpentry shops) and I have good price benchmark. There are 4 quotations about the same range and I picked Weiken, of course, why? It is the largest ID firm in Singapore and I saw the show unit at Tradehub 21 and I want my TV cabinets to be the same quality as show unit, so it is a very good benchmark. It is no brainer for me to quickly pick Weiken ID. I have no idea why their price could be so competitive. I have 7 quoted prices range from S$3,900 to S$7,430. Many (included me) have a mindset that their price must be premium as they engaged celebrities for advertisement, hence, a lot of marketing costs spent and the cost might be transferred to the customers. I think the price quoted is fantastic, same for the rest of the items too!

We picked “NOT pure white” laminate as it will turn yellowish easily in the future and the light color will give you a sense of bigger space. Dark colors on the cabinet will give you a beam (column) structure in the living hall especially you have a massive length/full height TV cabinets, you also need to make sure the width is not too large. The final finished product is exactly what we have expected. I give 10 out of 10. I got nothing to complain.

Price benchmarking

This is the final drawing we sent to ID for "execution".

The final finished product. :)

The view while you sit at the center of the sofa.

Plenty of storage space.

Panorama shot. :)

(2) L-box for cove lightings

Plastering & ceiling works

(a) Design, supply labor and materials to construct cove light L-box in living area

(Length 3500 x Width 3300 mm): (S$550)

(b) Design, supply labor and materials to construct cove light L-box in dining area

(Length 2000 x Width 3000 mm): (S$500)

(Length 2600 mm): (S$250)

Cove lighting is a MUST in my design. I love the lighting ambience with downlights, cove lighting or both if I want the brightest atmosphere. That’s just me, love the cove lighting effects.

So, I pay around S$1,300 for cove lightings.

T shape cove lightings

Dining hall and living hall L-box

Master bedroom L-box

Dining hall and living hall cove lightings

Master bedroom cove lightings

Simply love cove lightings effect

(3) Master bedroom wall hacking

Hacking & Dismantle works

(a) Hack new entrance opening between master bedroom and bedroom 2 (length 1200 x height 2400 mm): ($300)

We want to have a bigger master bedroom, hence, we knock off a new entrance opening between master bedroom and bedroom 2, the length is only 1.2 meter as there are some water piping below the air con at the master bedroom wall, that’s the biggest we can go but it still serve our purpose. I believe some of the miscellaneous works come with this wall hacking, for example, clearing the debris, and laying cardboard for protection, general cleaning, make good the existing floor and wall.

Item 5 & 6 are shared cost with other works, so it is about right to say it costs me S$1,500 to enlarge the master bedroom. Good deal.

Hacking completed.

Make-good completed.

PE endorsement

The wall hacking required PE endorsement. We got our colleague to do it for us FREE, else it will cost S$750.

(4) Miscellaneous works

(a) Supply labor and tools to carry out haulage and debris disposal works. S$550

(b) Supply and laying of corrugated cardboard for protection.S$300

(d) Paint all internal walls and ceiling with Nippon Emulsion Paint (we used 6 colors at the end) $1,950

(e) Supply labor, tools refurbish of existing flooring affected by hacked wall between master bedroom and bedroom 2. (Oak flooring provided by developer). S$250

(f) To supply labor and material to make-good/patch up to hacked wall area between master bedroom and bedroom 2. S$250.

All right, this is the area I can actually save few hundred dollars but I didn't. That is to paint the whole unit. I shall be able to engage Nippon paint directly to get the job done. Oh well, the coordination works had reached my maximum capacity. Too bad!

Do I hit the target? Not too bad.

Renovation cost:

S$9,229.55 + electrical wirings cost S$1,400 = S$10,629.55

Furnishing cost: S$17,716.33

I have spent a grand total of S$28,345.88, still well below my target of S$30,000. Buy more!

My lightings cost is S$690, all from Philips.

My lights distribution is shown below.

Trunkable Linear LED for all cove lightings

Down lights for all the bedrooms, toilets, dining, living, kitchen

Ceiling lights for loft , store room and balcony (IP65)

Details of electrical wirings cost : S$1,400

I think I know why he charged me differently for creating one 13A x 2 power point.

Create one at the DB switch box is the easiest task, so, that's S$45.
Create one at the new TV living hall is tougher , so, that's S$65.

Create one at the kitchen cabinet wall is the difficult one, he has to hack a lot of wall and that's S$85.

In average, I pay S$65 for 2 power points. Cheap!

Window Blinds

As for the windows blinds, we get the Unislat for living hall, Premium Combi (full blackout) for master bedroom and the rest of the bedrooms, Combi Aurora. All are Korea blinds.

You may contact Blinds Guru at 8777 5717.

Windows blinds full cost: S$3,523

Unislat (opened)

Unislat (closed)

Unislat. Net pattern (gray)

Unislat. Line pattern (Ivory)

Master bedroom : Premium Combi (full blackout)

Loft room: Combi Aurora

Guestroom 1: Combi Aurora

Guestroom 2: Combi Aurora

Combi Aurora versus full blackout

Song-Cho stainless steel items are LIFETIME warranty.

Solid quality.

One time installation fee of S$53.50 is a GREAT bargain.

We spent S$1,154.41 for Song-Cho products.

Standalone dish rack

LG Smart TV

I bought a LG UJ750T – 55” UHD TV 4K on July 21 with a price of S$2,299. It comes with:

FREE LG 32” Smart TV worth S$599 (can do trade in with them for S$300)

FREE Swivel bracket worth S$300.

I have booked my delivery date on September 30.

On September 21, I chanced to know they have even better promotion and I decided to upgrade my TV “FREE”. Hence, I am now getting a LG SJ850T. It is actually a SUPER Ultra HD TV 4K.

The key differences are:

(1) Refresh rate is double at 100 HZ

(2) Super Ultra HD versus Ultra HD

(3) Advanced local dimming versus local dimming

(4) 2.2 channel 40 W speaker system versus 2.0 channel 20W speaker system

(5) SUHD has additional one USB 3.0 port

(6) SUHD design has sleeker stand and the TV screen has no silver plate border.

Both resolution is the same at 3,840 x 2,160, 55” size.

The price is S$2,599. It seems like the price is $300 more but it comes with:

FREE LG 43” Smart TV worth S$1,199 (can do trade in with them for S$500, so, the price difference drop to S$100)

FREE Swivel bracket worth S$300

FREE LG Blue-Ray Player (BP450) worth S$139

FREE Digital Antenna (Funke 2.0) worth S$49

With this TV purchase, you can get buy the S$899 LG SJ8 Wi-Fi speaker bar at special bundle price of S$499. With this, you also get:

FREE LG Music Flow Speaker H7 (NP8740) worth S$599

Pretty good deal, isn’t it?

A quick check of the market selling price of the FREE items:

(1) NP8740 wireless speaker selling at S$546

(2) SJ8 Wi-fi sound bar selling at S$599

(3) Blu-Ray disc player BP450 selling at S$87

I sold the 43" smart TV back to Best agent at S$500 and NP8740 wireless speaker at S$400.

So effectively, my 55" TV is S$2,099 nett and SJ9 sound bar is S$99 nett.

All items fit perfectly within the allocated space.

Store room rack

I got the L-shape store room racks from SG Shelving at S$399.

You may contact Vincent at 9826 2379.

Empty HS space

L-shape storage racks

Grille Gate

I installed a grille gate at the main door entrance. It costs S$650.

Why? It is definitely not for the security reason. I love to open the main door to let the wind flows through the whole house. I cannot imagine I can just open the main door wide without a grille gate. :)

You may contact Lynda at 9007 7274.

Brown color grille gate

Commune Sofa

I love almost every items at Commune. In particularly, this Commune Windsor L shape sofa. It is comfortable and you enjoy 10% discount during the Great Singapore Sale only and it is now back to the original price. As our TV cabinet is full length of 2.85 meter, I hope this 2.60 meter length fabric sofa will not look too big in the living hall, we shall see! If you love wooden furniture, Commune is the best shop.

Designer furniture with reasonable price.

All furniture delivered on Oct 7, 2017.

The L-shape sofa size is still OK.

Dining table size is just all right too.

My beloved sofa. :)

BOSCH Kitchen appliances

The kitchen appliances supplied FREE by the developer are worth S$8,742 at the current market right now.

TDK DC ceiling fan

I bought a TDK DC motor ceiling fan (short rod) for living hall at Tampoi Lighting Centre, Johor. It is selling at RM 499 = S$159 only and I got additional fan hook at RM 3.

It is good to mention the installation cost for one fan is S$80, done by my electrician. The cost is 50% of the fan cost!

With the LED lights, it is selling RM 699 in Malaysia. Singapore is selling S$648, it costs RM 1,329 more !! Isn't that crazy?

Address:

No.2, 4 & 6 Jalan Titiwangsa 3/1,

Taman Tampoi Indah,

81200 Johor Bahru, Johor.

Tel: 607-2418999, 2418990, 2418963

Email: tampoi @hotmail.com

K14ZW model