Ollie's Space

What a dramatic 2 days it has been. Apart from studying my exams, quite a number of things have happened at home.

Well..in view of our current financial situation, we have decided to sell our house.

Here's the interesting bit, and something for all those going into adulthood to think about

In order to sell our house, we engaged a property agent who was supposed to help us market and gather offers for our house.

So everything was going smoothly, so it seemed. We had decided to sell our house to a potential buyer, let's call her A. This decision was made quite hastily actually, because our agent, call him C, was pestering us to make the deal asap presumably for commission reasons. So we decided to sell, whatever the case.

Then came the drama yesterday, this English man and his mother came to knock on our door with their agent, wanting to know how much we had sold our house for and when did we decide to sell. Turns out that they had actually wanted to offer higher than the price that we had signed for, but for some reason, C, my beloved agent, decided that because the English guy was overseas during that point in time, he was unable to issue a cheque, thus, C took it upon himself to reject the counter offer given by the English guy without our knowledge.

Then what happened was, because there so happened to be an advert in the papers advertising our house on Sat (2 days ago), so this English guy stumbled upon it, so he was very curious as to whether the unit advertised was our unit because he had called C's company a week ago and received news that it had been sold for one and a half months when evidently it was not officially sold until we had signed our option only last Friday. Then barely 20 minutes later, the lady whom he had called, called back to say that it was not sold, and then later on called again to say it was sold after consulting C. This made the English guy very pissed, because he felt that he was being deceived. Thus he came down to speak to us directly.

After having related this event to us, we realized that our agent had been withholding information from us with regards to offers and that he was making decisions on our behalf.

So we got C down for a meeting with the English guy and his agent. C comes, and was immediately very aggressive in his tone and speech, insisting that he was not wrong, and that he had no intention to mislead us even though he had obviously withheld information on pretty invalid grounds. Because we reasoned with him and told him that he had the responsibility to revert to us should any higher offer come up. In this case, a higher offer did come up, only the fact that because the English guy was overseas, thus he was only able to hand the cheque to us when he came back. C insisted that because there was no cheque, so the deal was not on. But we argued that there was a valid reason for the English guy to hand us the cheque late, and in any event, it was not up to C to decide if the deal was on or not.

C countered by saying that the English guy was still waiting for his approval to own a landed property (Apparently all expats must apply to own private property in Singapore), but we argued that he is already a PR (Been here for 12 years)
and that he has in fact been earning more money since the last time he applied for this permit, and he is in the biomedical industry, which would make him quite a prized asset for the government. Thus, it would be unlikely that the government would disapprove for his permit.

Whatever the case, C insisted that we could not back out of the option, since we had signed it. My dad was damn angry because it was C's fault that we were made to sign a lower offer, and because we could stand to lose like 50K, we were not willing to let go so easily. So the resolution last night was to seek legal advice since neither side wanted to budge.

Here's the fun part today. We called C in the morning, and he threatened to seek legal action and all that, and then we decided to ask to speak to the buyer personally, but he refused to divulge any details. And he still insisted that the deal had to go through. Later on in the afternoon, we decided to change the designated lawyer because we were not comfortable with the way things had turned out, but we still thought maybe just go ahead with the lower priced deal instead of risking a prolonged legal tussle. Then C came back to us after failing to respond the whole day with a forwarded message from A saying that they refuse to drop the option because they have given us ample time to decide etc etc, basically she was just being a bitch and very unfriendly.

So we said, well if you want to take it so confrontationally, so we'd decided that we'll not allow A access to the house until the official takeover date. So no viewing, renovations etc.

This evening, when we went to check the bank account, we found out that the cheque that A deposited was not cashed in to my dad's account. We double confirmed with the back several times, and the cheque was confirmed to have BOUNCED. Therefore, the option could not have been exercised because the cheque had bounced, and this was thing we needed to get out of the fix that because we had signed the option so we cannot get out of the deal.

Best part was...the later part of the night was peppered with calls from A and C trying to negotiate more time, to issue a new cheque and all that. My dad just told them to fuck off because they had been so unfriendly.

Taken from http://www.quizbox.com/personality/test82.aspx

Your view on yourself: You are intelligent, honest and sweet. You are friendly to everybody and don't like conflict. Because you're so cheerful and fun people are naturally attracted to you and like to talk to you.

The type of girlfriend/boyfriend you are looking for: You are a true romantic. When you are in love, you will do anything and everything to keep your love true.

Your readiness to commit to a relationship: You are ready to commit as soon as you meet the right person. And you believe you will pretty much know as soon as you might that person.

The seriousness of your love: Your have very sensible tactics when approaching the opposite sex. In many ways people find your straightforwardness attractive, so you will find yourself with plenty of dates.

Your views on education: Education is very important in life. You want to study hard and learn as much as you can.

The right job for you: You're a practical person and will choose a secure job with a steady income. Knowing what you like to do is important. Find a regular job doing just that and you'll be set for life.

How do you view success: You are confident that you will be successful in your chosen career and nothing will stop you from trying.

What are you most afraid of: You are afraid of having no one to rely on in times of trouble. You don't ever want to be unable to take care of yourself. Independence is important to you.

Who is your true self: You are full of energy and confidence. You are unpredictable, with moods changing as quickly as an ocean. You might occasionally be calm and still, but never for long.

Here I am...sitting in front of the com...for the first time in many weeks...actually finding the time to blog...

I've finally sent my thesis for binding...one and a half weeks before submission date...

Here's hoping I do ok for it...I'm anxious...yet at the same time...relieved. Relieved that its all over...

Was a little anti-climatic towards the end when I finally submitted my final draft to the printer...kinda felt...numb...like..."Huh...its all over".

Been busy with job hunt as usual...I don't know...I just want to see what I can get....I really don't know....whether I should be going on to do my Masters or to get out and work...It's really not often you'd find me indecisive about things.

Right now...I just feel a mixed sense of anxiety, frustration and pensiveness. Sigh. And the things you'd normally do to resolve these feelings...like going out to shop...eat or just chill...can't be done...cos it requires money and I have none. Bummer.

Here's looking forward to working next 2 weeks.

“Until the lions have their own historians, history will be written by the hunters” – African Proverb

“A society’s history does not arise spontaneously; it has to be produced” – L. Hong and J. Yap (1993:31)

“It is only after the fact that narratives are built – J. Abu-Lughad (1989:112)

“All constructions of the past are socially motivated” – Jonathan Friedman (1992: 854)

“The tracing of a history is a frequently linked to differentiating the self from an Other” – Prasenjit Duara (1995:66)

Thoughts huh..