House hunting in Singapore-part 1

This is a long due post of the traumatic (you know how melodramatic I am )experience of house-hunting. We were put up in a serviced apartment for one month in the central district-house keeping service everyday and free breakfast and all those things. I had been forewarned by my colleagues who spoke of their less-than-pleasant experience of finding a suitable place. There are condos-private apartments, and those govt built HDB. I was told most of the HDB apartments are cramped, the toilet too small and horror of horrors, no balcony. I hate the thought of a house without outside space even if it is a balcony where you would have no space to move your butt. The last apartment we had in the UK overlooked a river and it was so cool to watch swans and ducks and boats gliding by while you hug a book and daydream. Back to the present. I was told the best thing would be to enlist the help of an agent and I was given the number of one such being. He was a soft-spoken elderly man and he gave me list of apartments available for viewings. I had quite a lot of boxes to tick- walking distance from the MRT, big, two bathrooms, a balcony... He took us around to see three flats and all of them were so depressing. ........,.,to be continued