A Place Called Home

Unlike most couples with "normal" relationships, Hb and I have been in semi-LDR ever since we started our courtship. So while it took us 12 years of courtship before we tied the knot, in actual fact our courtship was only 5 years ++ if we discount the days we spent apart. But yala, quality over quantity! So anyway, even after we got married, we continued living apart on weekdays due to our work commitments. This post documents our journey in making ourselves a nesting place... a place we can both call home.

3 years ago; I bought a service residence called Kuchai Avenue. It was supposed to be ready early 2010 but was delayed and hence our plan of making it our weekday home too was affected. The only consolation is perhaps the escalating prices over the years that saw the property increase over 35% in value. The market rental rate too was pretty high at RM1,200 for a basic unit. At that rental rate, it is more than enough to cover my monthly installment and maintenance so the decision to rent it out was an easy one.

Since Hb has his own home in KS all to himself (his parents lived 2 min away), we decided to make it our weekend home. In our quest to change the bachelor pad into a homely home, we embarked on a home improvement project that lasted close to 6 months where we changed every single piece of furniture! The project was truly a FUN one that somewhat strengthened our bond as husband and wife for it heightened our anticipation of going home every week. I leave office 6 sharp every Friday and Hb will already be waiting for me at my parents home to fetch me back. Though tiring, this has been our routine for the past 7 months.

In the same period also, Hb and I have been hunting high and low for a landed property with my parents & brother as we intended to get 2 units in the same garden. So one fine day, all of us went to Setia Alam with the intention of checking out a sub-sale unit which was newly completed with CF but not occupied yet. Unfortunately, there was only 1 unit where we liked. On our way back, we stopped by the Setia Alam Welcome Center and looked at the model of a previously sold-out soft launch. Coincidentally, there were 2 units available due to loan rejections and both units are on the same row; 6 houses apart. To cut the long story short, that was how we ended up placing the deposits for both units!

And last week was truly an EXCELLENT week! Loan for the landed property was approved and CF for the service residence was finally out after months of waiting! Definitely more on this later. :-)