chip bee just changed management around two years ago. and the new management are fixing the houses (and raising the prices!) for the new rentals. so, if you decide to move in, you’ll get the fixed up house.

so far, JTC has been very responsive in fixes and complaints. the turn around is only a few hours (or minutes, sometimes).

the problem, from what i heard, is the waiting list of chip bee is quite long. so you may want to call and check if there is units available. when i moved, i had a 5-6 houses to choose. but lately, due to the waiting list, you may not have the luxury of choosing.

So you are one of those grew up here, and then live somewhere else and back here again ;)

Oh you can also take note of those pin up notice at the Cold Storage Supermarket(open 24 hrs)..Pic attached. Sometimes you do get advertisement of “Garage SALE” of furniture or apt for rental, or even lost pet :)

No, I just recently became a proud owner of HDB flat in Holland Village area :) So just moved here recently! I grew up in Little India area, my parent still lives there.

In fact nowaday the HDB flat is more IN DEMAND than before, as ppl are not as crazy over the 5C(material pursuit) as before. We already by passed the stage :) So buying a HDB flat is a wiser choice than owning a private apt. I am quite a pragmatic and practical person :)

Regarding your question on the upgrading flat, yes, upgraded HDB flat definitely costs more!! One thing good about the upgraded flat is you either get an extra ROOM made specially for you, lift at every floor, newer ceramic flooring, and special mail box system to block JUNK mail.

As we do get tons of junk advertisement daily..including those property ads(buying & selling).. So those upgraded flat, like mine, has this new system.

P.S. That extra room is constructed according to voting system(I guess most of the residents in my block don’t like to have more dust or noise pollution, so they vote “NO” for extra room :()

Yes I myself had been looking for apt for a while and the best way I concluded is still going through Straits Times.

If you go through “agent”, you will need to pay them commission. If you do it through owner then you will save the fee. I am not too sure on the rental commission for agent, but if buying home than its about (1% of e home sale) for their commission :P.. It will cost you more commission if you are buying private housing..But they will save your hassle by running all the necessary paper work done for you.

Really depends on your lifestyle, if you looking for a private pool then the private housing will be a better choice. There is however a huge public pool at the Holland Village area, entry fee is only $1. Locker fee is also $1. Just been renovated and very nice looking :)

P.S. SORRY THAT WAS ME, deleted twice, dont know what happened, the page was hanged for a while, and then it got deleted :)

EDIT Typo error, I meant to say 1% of the home sale instead of ”$1k”. That means to say if the flat costs about $200,000 dollars, then the commission you need to pay the agent is $2k! An old 3 room HDB flat would cost around that price. Private home of course would be more expensive, hence the commission would be more than 1%.