Little Piece of Heaven : The mother of all criteria

I'd like to think I have a modest criteria list. It is not even the longest by googling standard and I think it is sufficient for me to weed out the best possible unit that I can purchase. Of course Uncle, Aunt, Bits and Nite all weighed in too.

Before starting evaluation, you need to have enough information. Ask the real estate for...

1. Price list (duh)
2. Floor plan and latest architecture plan (very important for off the plan)
3. Section 32 and Sales contract 
4. Exact location

The first 4 contains enough information for me to decide if this is worth more research or not. Price list and floor plan is most likely the first main gate that any unit need to pass before even going into features and functions. Yes, I also plan to drag this out into 4 blogs..

For someone that is not that big into feng shui, my criteria is on the functional side as you can tell yourself...

1. The unit must have good sunlight. Articles will tell you the best houses faces north because you get the light without the glare. Most developer will angle the unit to face north. In fact all the apartments that I asked faces north. But when you only occupy a unit within a block, it is important to know where your unit face. The architecture drawing will tell you. My unit faces South by the way and apparently the worse direction that any house can face. You get the light and the hot evening sun. I only care it doesn't faces another house's toilet or worse a junction. To me south just means more investment in blinds not to mention my plants will survive.
2. It has to be good size. Good size to me is more than 70 sq meter for a 2 bedder. If measurements on the architecture drawing doesn't mean anything to you, measure your room as a base. I did that on Aunty's suggestion. My unit is 74sq meters (excluding balcony). Can I get a bigger unit for cheaper? I actually can but it doesn't meet the rest of my criteria. Very unfortunate.
3. Location and proportion of bedrooms, kitchen, toilet, bath, dining area. Aunty dislike front door that leads straight to toilet door. Said bad fengshui. I dropped one unit because of that and also criteria #2. I have seen units with really good size dining and living area but smaller bedrooms or units with 2 baths and toilet, good size bedrooms but small dining/living area. If you looked carefully at the floor plans and compare each unit within, there is always the best layout which unfortunately is usually the most expensive one. I always looked out for the best then 2nd best then 3rd best and worked my way down until I find the best for the price that I can pay. No surprise my current unit is not the best layout but I figure it is one of the best layout my money can buy in that lot. 
4. Location of the block. For me it has to be walking distance to transport and amenities but not close enough to hear the noise. Luckily with google now, you don't have to rock up the actual site to know it is near. However I did walkabout on my shortlisted properties just to gauge how far and how long I take to walk, what is the neighborhood like and what amenities can you see. A must if you are seriously considering buying it. However as it is off the plan, what you are looking at is not the building itself but the location. If the building is there, it won't be call off the plan. Also recommended to bring the architecture drawing to visualize where your potential unit might be. Don't worry you won't look stupid doing it. No one laughed at me holding a drawing and walking up and down the walkway.

If you did all the above and like what you saw....read on...