All Good Things Must Come To An End : Selling My House.

As they say, “All good things must come to an end.” I am selling my house and to relocate back to homebase. With a heavy heart, the reason for relocating is overwhelming and substantiated. My present home is on the mainland. Now I need to relocate back to the island. For the benefit of my foreign readers, my present location is in Penang, Malaysia. The state of Penang consists of an island and a piece of land on the mainland. Properties on the island are much more expensive than those on the mainland. With the same amount of money I could not even buy a decent apartment on the island. But I could build one beautiful bungalow on the mainland, and that was what I did.

I love my house, so does my wife. Both of us are retired and we bought this property with the intention of settling down for good to a quiet lifestyle away from the hustle and bustle of city life. We virtually built this house, though not physically constructing it. After much searching around, we bought this piece of land and contracted a builder to build this bungalow. As such I had the opportunity to oversee the whole construction process from the beginning to completion, ensuring that all were done according to the plan, without any compromise or shortcut.

The interior layout design was done by my wife. The exterior facade was intentionally designed to blend in with the adjacent semi-detached houses. As ours was the only bungalow in the area, we did not want it to be too physically outstanding to attract unwanted attention.

The bungalow, built on a piece of land of 4220 square feet (392 square meters), with ample land space around it. It is located at the end of a cul de sac and on elevated land. Our neighbor on one side is about five feet below us. We have 100% privacy.

Our criteria in the design of our dream home were based on “practicability and functionality”. We wanted to live in a home, based on simplicity and spaciousness; and being located in a tropical country, with plenty of fresh air ventilating the whole house. We also wanted a home that was easy to maintain, which meant it must not be too large. So we decided on smaller rooms and smaller toilets, but with spacious sitting cum dining room, and a generous kitchen at the back.

The dining room overlooks the garden patio and the garden outside. I have my computer table where I do my writing just next to the side door overlooking the garden patio and the garden. Our favourite pastime is relaxing in the garden patio, listening to the many melodious wind chimes and watching the birds enjoying themselves, especially at the birdbath.

Our home has so much privacy and is so quiet that we named it “Serene”, also after our granddaughter’s name Serena. This homely serene bungalow is most ideal for "lifestyle" living.

The photos below show the spacious sitting cum dining room. The sitting area and the dining area are purposely set together to create a synergistic spacious and airy atmosphere, especially with the dining area facing the garden patio and the garden outside.

The airy and well ventilated kitchen is also our pride of place. It is "L"-shaped. It is spacious and most importantly, very airy and well ventilated, allowing very efficient air-flow from inside the kitchen to the outside, eliminating smoky air from the kitchen. The kitchen has two big separate windows and a back door for maximum air circulation. The kitchen is beautifully designed with expensive timber built-in cabinets all round. To add a cherry on top, there is this little cute side breakfast table. Take a look at the photos below.

The roof extension at the back of the house was added to provide for storage and clothe drying. There is a storeroom, a water storage tank, drying area for clothes, an extra double-bowl sink, and an extra portable stove. Take a look at the photos below.

Our bungalow is located in a very quiet housing area, with a small pond and recreation park within walking distance. Also conveniently located nearby are a decent size hypermarket, a new government clinic and a new wet market. Other amenities are conveniently available, spread out in the many shophouses nearby.

Take a look at the photos below.

The property is south facing.

Land Area: 4220 square feet (392 sq meters) (freehold)

Builtup Area: About 1600 square feet (excluding car porch)

Car Porch: Can easily accommodate 3 or 4 cars

Bedrooms: 4 (master bedroom with attached bathroom and built-in cupboards)

Living cum dining room: Spacious

Kitchen: airy and well ventilated with quality built-ins

Toilets/Bathrooms: 3

General Purpose Cubicle: Adjacent to sitting/dining room

Store Room: At the back

Garden Patio: Facing a very private garden

Extra Water Storage Tank: At the back

Quality "Mitsubishi" Air-conditioning Units : 5 (4 x 1hp, 1 x 2hp)

Ceiling Fans: 7

Wall Fan: One unit installed at kitchen

Water Heaters In All 3 Bathrooms : 3

Tenaga (electricity) metre : located outside, inside gate post

Topped up with alarm system and automatic gate

Extras: Heat insulation fiber sheets on ceiling to reduce heat from the roof, maintaining cooler indoor temperature. Narrower roof batten interval to prevent bugler from sliding in through the roof.

As they said, there are only 3 criteria when considering properties, and they are Location, Location and Location! If this bungalow were to be on the island, I would demand RM2.5 million (Malaysian currency). However, my bungalow is on the mainland, although ideally located, the property valuer has valued it for my bank for RM600,000. I am offering my bungalow for RM620,000.

(Update : May 2020. Well, well, after a prolonged period of 6 years, I finally sold my bungalow. Price? Way below the initial market price.)

Below are early photos prior to construction and construction in progress. Included are perspective drawings of the bungalow and its layout plan.

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