It is a HDB terrace 3-room resale in Balestier and Whampoa. Chuck and I aren't eligible to get direct flats from HDB, hence our options were either getting our hands on a private property or resale HDB. We were leaning towards getting a private property but our budget for a proper 3 bedroom unit in a reasonable location soon got phased off by the booming property. New developments are asking for 800k to 900k which is way above our budget, and resale private property owners are asking for crazy prices above valuation.
So anyway, we made a trip down to our new home today and scouted around the area.
The open air triangular carpark. The red-tiled terrace houses you see in the foreground beyond the carpark are the HDB terrace houses in Jalan Bahagia. Each block of terrace houses comes with a block number and each unit is assigned both a block number and a unit number, as is the case with all HDB property. Yellow Orange Whampoa Road flats in the background.
As we walked around the units whose front gates lead to the carpark, this unique house caught my eye. See above left. A nice little chill-out hut is built is in their front yard and the overall resort concept is enhanced with palm trees or fern leaves landscaping. These units are located at Blk 42 and there are "designated" carpark lots which look like it is for them as these lots are conveniently located just outside their gates.
There was one unit at Jalan Ma'mor with a centre staircase (see above right picture) which was under renovation hence its skeleton was exposed for me to take a shot. Our terrace unit also comes with a centre staircase.
As we walked about, we noticed that the arrangement of blocks in this neighbourhood is totally random. Some have nice walkways and pavement, some face the main dusty road, while some come with open drains.
Notice boards look new and untouched. Let's see what kind of news the Town Council is going to put up here.
This is a 34 year old estate, I am sure the place has gone through many phases of transformation and that can be observed from the exterior of a terrace unit. It widely ranges from having retro wireframe fence to this, an extremely dense plantation like this...
... to this! A new and modern look!
