Buying a house.. not as easy as ABC

Buying a house is not an easy-peasy thing.. think again.  Phew! We went through a lot of things to finally have everthing finalized.  It’s not just about the money. But it is also about making sure that we chase after the completion of documents by all parties.. in our case, Sime Darby, Bank and Sime Darby lawyers and Bank Lawyers.

2008

For us we missed out on the promotion period so we knew we had to pay the MOT (memorandum of transfer) which was about RM14000 if I am not mistaken.  First after seeing the house, I secured the booking with a fee of RM5000.  This ladies and gentlemen, came out from my duit hantaran which I got in February 2008.  Ada baiknya dapat wife yang menyimpan like me :). Masuk bakul angkat sendiri.. yeah!

Then we had to settle the bank loan application process.  We requested for 100% loan from the bank. Walaupun it is 100% loan, the peminjam is my hubby and myself and we still had to fork out some cash of our own (hence terpaksa keluarkan duit EPF from mine and his account).    Since it is a big sum so both of us have to share the debts, barula aci.  And in order to get the loan, we had to buy the MRTA from BSN Prudential. MRTA ni kalau in the event of death of payor, then the insurance will pay off all hutang to the bank and rumah tu takla diambilalih by the bank.  This MRTA cost us about RM14000, must be paid in lump sum.  We settled this with the help of sis-in-law..kalau tak berpeluh jugak nak cari duit banyak tu within short period of time. Oopss, tapi hunny pulangkan balik duit (walaupun SIL baik hati nak bagi) but he returned back the money.

Then yang paling penting, make sure the bank do not sit on the application. Lagi lambat dia process the disbursement to Sime Darby, lagi banyak interest kita kena bayar. Disbursement dibahagi to a few times according to phase.  As soon as we get the letter from Sime, kena cepat2 call bank to check whether they have disbursed the particular portion. Walaupun technically it is the bank’s fault sebab lambat, but we as owner, have to also make sure we chase them to disburse payment sebab property developer won’t take the blame either..part ni pening-pening sikit.  Part sign-sign and more signing tu toksah cakapla.. dah jadi macam big boss pulak asyik sign je documents semua. Last-last kena jugak tolak interest about a few thousands, maybe RM2000 taken out from my deposit RM5000 tu if tak silap.. what to do. Malas nak fight.

2009-2010

We got the keys to the house somewhere in August 2009.  At this time I was in HK. Dapat kunci terus pasang the grill, buat additional tiles at the back and plaster ceiling for living and dining hall, pasang lampu downlights for living & dining hall, pasang bumbung kat belakang.  All cost around RM6700.  Luckily at this time I was earning good money. So masa ni senang sikit nak bayar contractor. Alhamdulillah.

2010

I came back from HK.  I saved up around RM11000 for the electrical items and other stuff for the house.  I did the budget and made sure we stuck to it. The main things we bought were a fridge, TV table, coffee table, curtains, curtain rods, table for the kitchen, kitchen cabinet + sink (minimal only), air-cond, washing machine, sofa.  Paid by cash. LEGA! I don’t like using the credit card coz I worry so much over hutang :).  We all pun tak hias rumah ala-ala deko bersama Eric tu.. lagi tak banyak barang lagi senang nak kemas. :)

Tapi of course tak dapat nak beli sofa dari Lorenzo ke, Fella design yang dekat gila with my house tu..sebabnya budget tak membenarkan :) Bak kata orang tua-tua, ukur baju di badan sendiri.  Then again, I am happy that at least we managed to have the basic necessities for the house :).  Walaupun sofa ikea tu nampak cun, still I didn’t buy because they were over my budget.
So we bought this sofa for RM1600. Very basic sofa set.Okayla, tapi quality wise it is not top notch. Nampak macam if duduk more than 3 orang serentak boleh patah kot. Tapi mintak-mintak tahan 3 tahun raya. Eh 3 tahun raya je ke, pastu nak tukar baru?kekeke..
Phew.. am so happy all the hassle is over. Sekarang concentrate nak add on barang-barang for the house if ada extra cash.   

So good luck and all the best to those who are going to or in the process of getting a home.  Eventhough it feels very tiring at certain times, but it certainly most rewarding. HAVE FUN and BEST OF LUCK!

editted version : upah buat grille, plaster ceiling, pasang downlights, pasang awning, add tiles was RM6700, tak termasuk the purchase of the lights themselves. Lampu-lampu beli sendiri nak dekat RM3000. tupun ada bilik tak pasang lampu lagi. Ada pakai lampu tak berapa mahal, ada pakai yang mahal sikit. But all within budget.. :)