Choosing Your Next Home?
Here’s a 5-Question Checklist
“just cos you’re over it, doesn’t mean COVID-19 is over.”
Since there’s no official playbook for choosing a home in a pandemic, we decided to create one. See if you can answer “yes” to these 5 questions when you’re choosing your next living space.
Real talk, our generation just had a shared-experience, where we went through a global lockdown – an experience that has impacted our lives, and irreversibly changed us. When we were told we could open up our business-doors again, we took care to really put what we believe to be our customers’ updated needs, at the front and centre of our plans.
Above and beyond the usual tenant FAQ checklist, like “Is the piping okay?”, “Are the floors and ceilings good?”, “Are the switches and the wiring in good condition…” we have updated the tenant checklist to include the following questions.
Here is a 5-Question checklist when choosing your next home:
1. Is the apartment WFH/HBLSHN-proofed?
hi-speed internet is a MUST. Work station / Office-space yes please. A good chair for the back, awesome. Other nice touches include good natural light for Zoom meetings, coffee machine, wine-fridge, plenty of charging points, selfie light, proper kitchen, and lotsa food delivery options in the hood.
2. Can I access nature easily?
Never has a balcony been more valued. How else are you going to declare your love for food delivery folk, sing for healthcare workers, and/or view fireworks? Jokes aside, it turns out, we are like house-plants: to survive, we need food, water, shelter, and sunlight, and to thrive we need to access nature, for it nourishes the soul. Find out if there is a nature park / cycling track close by. Make sure at least one window overlooks life, and look out of it often.
2. Can I access nature easily?
Never has a balcony been more valued. How else are you going to declare your love for food delivery folk, sing for healthcare workers, and/or view fireworks? Jokes aside, it turns out, we are like house-plants: to survive, we need food, water, shelter, and sunlight, and to thrive we need to access nature, for it nourishes the soul. Find out if there is a nature park / cycling track close by. Make sure at least one window overlooks life, and look out of it often.
3. Can I access the city easily?
Equally, you need to be plugged into a pulsating network of amenities. Is there an MRT, a supermarket, a 7/11, a MacDonald’s, a Starbucks, and a hospital within 3km radius?
4. Does it pass the “minimized social-exposure” test?
Since the pandemic, all our hospitality services have been “updated” and “upgraded”. Where we used to provide housekeeping, we have prioritized the safety of our tenants and our staff and established a “complete homes” system where cleaning services are by-appointment-only, and every apartment is given a cleaning kit. We have also launched a “sustainable-living” scheme where we empower and nourish our tenants with their own edible garden. We are in the midst of abolishing key and card entries, and have gone 100% cashless. We conduct virtual walk-throughs and you can chat with us and connect with us through whatsapp 24/7. These are some of the operation changes we have made to ensure social exposure is kept to a minimum. So do ask your landlord / service provider what they have done to minimise your social exposure when next choosing a home.
4. Does it pass the “minimized social-exposure” test?
Since the pandemic, all our hospitality services have been “updated” and “upgraded”. Where we used to provide housekeeping, we have prioritized the safety of our tenants and our staff and established a “complete homes” system where cleaning services are by-appointment-only, and every apartment is given a cleaning kit. We have also launched a “sustainable-living” scheme where we empower and nourish our tenants with their own edible garden. We are in the midst of abolishing key and card entries, and have gone 100% cashless. We conduct virtual walk-throughs and you can chat with us and connect with us through whatsapp 24/7. These are some of the operation changes we have made to ensure social exposure is kept to a minimum. So do ask your landlord / service provider what they have done to minimise your social exposure when next choosing a home.
5. Is it equipped for “Home-Fitness”?
Pretty sure you got tagged to do a #stayhomefitnesschallenge sometime in 2020. And to fulfil the challenge, you had to go to Decathlon, queue up, buy an exercise mat. And since you are already there, you also got a resistance band, some new pants, and some weights. Oh, and also a pull up bar. And when you got home, you had to set up the camera, move furniture out of the way, to “create your fitness space” – and you’ve kept it that way ever since. When choosing your next home, ask yourself if it’s equipped for home-fitness, just in case *knocks on wood* you get tagged again for some kinda #14dayplankchallenge you know.