Some how, I find it a dreadful thing recently, especially the period of purchasing a property. It all draws down to one reason, CRITERIA. I don't know about you guys, but I'm always taught that we can't have the best of both world. So if we have the best on the side, the other we'll have to compensate at least. To go through the web page that has at least 100 different properties is tiring enough already, I have to filter off one by one just to fit given criteria still. I ain't complaining about the fact that I have to filter because we have at least a certain expectation when finding a house, but more of the amount of things I have to take note when filtering.
...Examples are...
Let's talk about good location. Common sense will tell you that good location comes with a certain price true enough? Who in the right mind will sell a good location cheap?
The house should be partially furnished if the price is reasonable so there is no need to spend on major renovation. If the house is not partially done up, the price must be low so we can do a major renovation. Up to this point, I'm still ok with everything.
Next is accessibility. Must be easy to travel around and bus stops within walking distances. Nearby Mrt as well. This is where it hits my first line of tolerance. When I find a property near an MRT station which is walking distance to it, I get feedback saying the MRT movement will be noisy. So eventually I find one that is located a little further in, but near bus stops to the MRT. Yet again, I get feedback saying it's quiet, travelling back home at night is dangerous.
Than next we look at the unit's level/floor. Low floor is a definite no because just in case there's an event going under the void deck, it'll be a disturbance. So fine, I'll filter out low and focus on the highs. Common sense again, the price for high floors are naturally steeper than the lows.
Next we go in to common corridor VS door to door. This touches on privacy. So the preferred one is more privacy, which means it's a door to door kind of layout.
So with a good location + high floor + partially furnished + good accessibility + more privacy. Just looking at all these criteria, it's like the best of 5 worlds! To be honest, I don't think with all this criteria taken in to consideration, to find a house that is "cheap and reasonable".
Headache.