The price of our dreams........

We were in Shah Alam on Saturday to attend my niece and nephew's birthday party at KFC Extreme Park, Section 13. After a great party that my son enjoyed tremendously with lots of games where he won quite a number of prizes, and I got to chat up with my brothers and mum, we headed home. Well, we almost headed home, before I remembered that we wanted to check out a showhouse in Subang Bestari, Shah Alam.

Unfortunately, it was already passed 6.00pm, and the show room only opens till 5.00pm, and looking at the map, we were quite far off from the place. So, we decided that we'll do it another time. But, as we left the main entrance of the Extreme Park, we noticed a new neighbourhood had opened up right in front of the Park.

From the main road, I already liked the architecture of the house and my son was already excited about seeing a showhouse. It has become some sort of an adventure for him! LOL!

Since we were already there, we decided to check it out to see if the show houses would still be open. To our surprise, it was, despite the time, but the sales person had all left, which wasn't going to be a problem to us. At least we get to 'roam' the house freely. *wink*

LAMAN SERI, as it is so named by the developer, is developed by TTDI.

Upon entering the house, my hubby commented that the house was very roomy, and I couldn't agree with him more.

We went from room to room, and I couln't help exclaiming each time we entered a room, but my biggest excitement was when I entered the kitchen. It was a kitchen I had been dreaming of all this while - it was huge, and it had both a dry and a wet kitchen which was well laid out. I couldn't help going, "Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh!" LOL!

I went "Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh!" again when we entered the Master Bedroom but I still think that I am still in awe of the size and layout of the kitchen. It was like I had finally found my dream house!

It has a guest bedroom downstairs with an attached bathroom, and a maid's room off the wet kitchen with a bathroom that is not ensuite to the room, which is just the way I like it so that other guests need not enter the room to get to the bathroom.

There are 4 large size bedrooms upstairs, and a comfortable size family room, which means that I can have another guest room upstairs, and still have my CRAFT ROOM too! Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh! LOL! I am already on cloud nine! *grin*

I had visited my hubby's cousins' houses and his aunt's house who all recently moved into their new house, and blogged about it, and each time I entered the house, and especially the kitchen, I would be in awe of the designs, but this house really blew my mind away. It took my breath away with the layout of the floor plans and the design of the facades (elevation). It's is so really awesone! I am in love! LOL! *wink* I have been thinking about it ever since we came back from seeing it on Saturday!

This house has all the areas that we want in a house, and more. The size of the land is 60' x 100', which we feel is just nice for us should we want to have a party or a get together with a small group of friends as the lawn was just the nice size, and I have an area for my vegetable garden.

It was, to put it simply, PERFECT, if not for the price......

So, the price of our dream? RM 2.3 million! *a very long sigh!*

My heart aches...I want to cry.....Where can we find that kind of money...... *sigh*

I shall have to go on dreaming......again...........

I shall go on dreaming…..

Out of curiousity, yesterday we drove to Setia Alam to see the developments there. Sabariah had just bought a house there and had recommended that we pay the sales office a visit when I told her that we would like to one day own a semi-detached house should it fulfill what we are looking for.

What would fulfill our requirement of a house, actually? Well, for one, it must be an upgrade of our present style and standard of living, meaning that it has to at least be a semi-detached house or a corner lot link house since our present house is an intermediate link house.

Our present house has 3 bedrooms with attached bathrooms, an extra room which is my craft room, and a study area upstairs. We have a family/TV area downstairs and a wet and dry kitchen. We also have a utility room and a bathroom downstairs. We have quite a comfortable size living and dining area, and a terrace to spend our evenings on weekends sipping tea and enjoying seeing activities passing us by.

We have a porch that comfortably fits two average size cars. Our front garden is a reasonable size, and the back portion of our house is just nice for drying our clothes, with enough room for me to grow vegetables, though it can be crowded at times when I plant more than 2 types of veggies at the same time.

With that criterion in mind, we dropped by Setia Eco Park first by mistake when we followed the banner to the sales office. What greeted us there were houses that were going for no less than RM1 million! Their selling points were their exclusivity and security system.

When we roughly calculated how much would we be paying per month, it came up to RM6,000.00! I think I almost fainted! LOL!

Having realised that the amount is way beyond our reach, we made our way to Setia Alam further up down the highway, and saw what looked more like what we could afford! LOL! Well, you gotta be realistic, right? *wink*

We spent quite a lot of time studying the master plan to find out what are the amenities available around the area. We really like the Ardisia which Sabariah bought, but, unfortunately, it was sold out.

So, the sales person recommended to us another house which was just recently launched, and suggested that we visit their Show Village, which we did, despite the heavy rain.

Aiman got so excited going from house to house; we could not keep up with him as he moved from room to room, and trying out the beds! LOL!

After about more than an hour going from house to house, finally, we decided that we both (hubby and I) liked the Link Semi-detached TECTONA H. It is categorized as a link semi-detached because it connects at the back portion of the house only and is built in clusters of 4, giving you a feeling that the house is a semi-detached house.

We were like already planning which room will be Aiman’s room, which one will be my mum’s room cum guest room should she come over for a visit, where will be the maid’s room should we decide we need one in the future, and, most importantly, a craft room! LOL! Check out the floor plans here!

We really liked the master bedroom of this design as it is almost twice as big as our present room. We can fit in a study table cum office, and still have room for our ever expanding wardrobe! Well, ok, MY wardrobe! LOL!

I like the open kitchen though it would mean that I would have to always keep the kitchen spotlessly clean. What was missing in the house, however, was a common study area as we both agreed that the computer should be in a common area so as to keep an eye on Aiman from going to sites that he shouldn’t be going…well, at least, for now! LOL!

The family area would also be smaller than what we have now, but, we would gain some land area which we could probably later renovate to add a more comfortable size family area. Definitely, for sure, I would have more land to grow vegetables! Yippee! That’s a huge plus point! Yup, we were planning, and we were dreaming! LOL! Then, suddenly, reality struck us! *grin*

The price? It ranges from RM630,000.00 to RM952,000.00. OK, that does not sound too bad. *grin* We went back to the sales office to inquire further, including the financial assistance.

We were told that should we take up a 90% loan, we would be paying a monthly installment of between RM3,600.00 to RM4,600.00, depending on the size of the land area we chose. OK, divide that amount with my hubby, that does not sound too bad, though we would still have to tie our belts really tightly. I can almost see my dream of owning a demi-detached house almost coming true, until……..

………the sales person started calculating what would be needed upfront to secure the house – between RM82,000.00 to RM113,000.00 within 14 days, which would include the lawyer’s fee (no wonder lawyers are rich! And don't they use the same SnP agreement all the time, but just change the names of the owners and property details?), stamp duty and 10% down payment! I think I almost fainted a second time that day! LOL!

Just where are we going to find that amount within 14 days?

If I had been dreaming, and floating on cloud nine after looking at the house earlier on, but when told of the amount to be paid upfront, it quickly shook me back into reality and I think it just burst my bubble of dreams. *sigh* I must have hit the ground so hard as I fell back onto the ground, because I suddenly felt exhausted, and sad…..

If we were to actually buy the house, it will have to be at least the one in the range of RM 780,000.00 (corner lot) as the one that cost RM 630,000.00 wouldn’t be any different from our present house in terms of floor area and the number of rooms and areas that we will end up with.

But, to own this house would mean that we would have to sell whatever little properties we already have, and I am not willing, just yet, to sell off our present house as it is my first property I bought with my own hard earn money. It is also a property that I hope to fall back on should any unexpected happens. A new semi-detached is going to be a shared property which will later probably to passed on down to our son, God willing.

The present house will also be one that will be able to bring us some income should we rent it out to offset our housing loan, and from what I heard, it can fetch quite a sum.

So, *sigh* looks like this new semi-detached house will just have to pass us by as it is still not within our means as we are both government servants who don’t make that much to own a house costing anymore than RM600,000.00.

So, for now…..I shall just have to go on dreaming….. *sigh*