Singapore - Pointers on Living there.
Discussion
Hey guys,
Just been offered a position in Singapore to open a new office with my company, does anyone have any experience on living there? Where's a good area and also, any websites to get an idea on apartment/house rent too? I've got to sell this to my good lady and the more information, the better really.
I've been to Singapore once before en route to Australia, but i was far too drunk to remember any of it.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Just been offered a position in Singapore to open a new office with my company, does anyone have any experience on living there? Where's a good area and also, any websites to get an idea on apartment/house rent too? I've got to sell this to my good lady and the more information, the better really.
I've been to Singapore once before en route to Australia, but i was far too drunk to remember any of it.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Just tried looking for apartments, but its like a needle in a haystack, a good area to start off with would be good otherwise i'm wasting my time really. Some nice places by the looks of it, i might see if i can do a deal with someone who needs someone to look after their house for a year or so, that might be an option.
Dodgey_Rog said:
Just emailed John, got one back, he's in the bar, quite drunk by all accounts, what a guy!
aschully jush bac fra the bar ... missus got grumpy at me going drinking at 4:30pm so back home on the duty free!!!
seriously, will send a constructive email tomorrow .... brain is not what it wast this morning ...
you don't want to knwo how much effort ot took to type thois .....
OK, I am sober (ish) now so some pointers on living in Singapore.
Firstly lets look at where to live, you are probably going to want a fairly easy commute to work, but if you have kids then you are going to want a reasonably easy school run too. The popular “British School” Chatsworth is at the bottom end of Orchard, which is also the highest rent area.
You pay more to be located near to an MRT station but if you are going to run a car then this is not such an issue, plus the bus network is very good and Taxi’s are still quite affordable.
The high rent (think equivalent of Knightsbridge, Kensington, Chelsea type areas) are Orchard, Tanglin and River Valley which are central south of Singa, in the heart of the Shopping District, these are mostly condominiums. Then you have Holland Village, Dempsey Hill and Buket Timah which are have more space and also more houses (landed property) as well as condo’s. Holland V and Dempsey have lots of great restaurants and bars. Then you have the long stretch that is East Coast, much more outdoor activities with the 20km of East Coast Park which has loads of activities. Areas along East Coast are Parkway Parade, Siglap (the old money of Singapore) Kalang and Bedok. Lots of Condo’s and Houses.
I would avoid the north , far west and other central areas as these tend to be very much “heartlands” that are rabbit warrens of housing blocks and tend to get very hot.
Best Districts to look at (in no particular order) 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 ,10, 11, 12, 15, 16, 17.
There are good places to go eating and drinking anywhere in Singapore from local street food to fancy restaurants.
Do you know where your new offices will be located?
Cars are expensive to buy but they have a linear depreciation of about 7% PA and finance is very low and can be done over up to 10 years, or there are leasing options. If you “scrap” (export) a car before it is 8 years old you can get up to 60% of the new value back as a tax rebate too.
Be aware that road tax can get very high, the pain thresholds are at over 2 liters and over 3 liters. Remember also that a car over 10 years old does not get a tax rebate and has a 50% increase in road tax. Having said this, you can get some good bargains (by Singapore standards) on things like old Beemers and Mercs (Happy Go Lucky picked up a rather nice 3 series)
Activities wise there are loads of clubs to join that are also good ways to meet and make new friends here, The British, American, French, Dutch clubs and so on, also many golf clubs, sailing clubs, A horse club, the Island Country Club, Orchid Country Club etc. It is actually worth joining one of these as appropriate to your hobbies as it is a good way to meet people.
On club memberships and the like, the biggest problem that most expat families have is that the travelling spouse starts to get cabin fever as often the social circle evolves around the partner’s work, so ensure that there are as many opportunities for SWMBO to get out, do her hobbies or start new ones and meet people. Living in a Condo is also a good start for this, and something I would recommend, at least for the first 2 years as you generally get facilities like pools, tennis courts, gym, etc etc.
There is a starter for 10, emailed to the OP as well as posted here as there seem to be a few people interested. I have been living here off and on for nearly 10 years, and took the big push selling up everything in the UK about 3 years ago. Not sure I could go back to Europe now.
Happy to answer any more questions that anyone may have, and I am sure that a few of the other Singa PH’ers will pop up and give their $0.02 too
some URL's
Singapore Expats gives lots of great general information, but the forums do get a bit OHH LOOK AT ME. They have a very good section that tells you all about the different condo's
Ministry Of Manpower gives you all the official details on your employment passes etc
SG Car Mart to give you a heart attack at the prices of cars!
One Motoring is the government motoring website
Asia One Local / regional news websit
List of all Clubs in Singa
That should do for starters
Firstly lets look at where to live, you are probably going to want a fairly easy commute to work, but if you have kids then you are going to want a reasonably easy school run too. The popular “British School” Chatsworth is at the bottom end of Orchard, which is also the highest rent area.
You pay more to be located near to an MRT station but if you are going to run a car then this is not such an issue, plus the bus network is very good and Taxi’s are still quite affordable.
The high rent (think equivalent of Knightsbridge, Kensington, Chelsea type areas) are Orchard, Tanglin and River Valley which are central south of Singa, in the heart of the Shopping District, these are mostly condominiums. Then you have Holland Village, Dempsey Hill and Buket Timah which are have more space and also more houses (landed property) as well as condo’s. Holland V and Dempsey have lots of great restaurants and bars. Then you have the long stretch that is East Coast, much more outdoor activities with the 20km of East Coast Park which has loads of activities. Areas along East Coast are Parkway Parade, Siglap (the old money of Singapore) Kalang and Bedok. Lots of Condo’s and Houses.
I would avoid the north , far west and other central areas as these tend to be very much “heartlands” that are rabbit warrens of housing blocks and tend to get very hot.
Best Districts to look at (in no particular order) 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 ,10, 11, 12, 15, 16, 17.
There are good places to go eating and drinking anywhere in Singapore from local street food to fancy restaurants.
Do you know where your new offices will be located?
Cars are expensive to buy but they have a linear depreciation of about 7% PA and finance is very low and can be done over up to 10 years, or there are leasing options. If you “scrap” (export) a car before it is 8 years old you can get up to 60% of the new value back as a tax rebate too.
Be aware that road tax can get very high, the pain thresholds are at over 2 liters and over 3 liters. Remember also that a car over 10 years old does not get a tax rebate and has a 50% increase in road tax. Having said this, you can get some good bargains (by Singapore standards) on things like old Beemers and Mercs (Happy Go Lucky picked up a rather nice 3 series)
Activities wise there are loads of clubs to join that are also good ways to meet and make new friends here, The British, American, French, Dutch clubs and so on, also many golf clubs, sailing clubs, A horse club, the Island Country Club, Orchid Country Club etc. It is actually worth joining one of these as appropriate to your hobbies as it is a good way to meet people.
On club memberships and the like, the biggest problem that most expat families have is that the travelling spouse starts to get cabin fever as often the social circle evolves around the partner’s work, so ensure that there are as many opportunities for SWMBO to get out, do her hobbies or start new ones and meet people. Living in a Condo is also a good start for this, and something I would recommend, at least for the first 2 years as you generally get facilities like pools, tennis courts, gym, etc etc.
There is a starter for 10, emailed to the OP as well as posted here as there seem to be a few people interested. I have been living here off and on for nearly 10 years, and took the big push selling up everything in the UK about 3 years ago. Not sure I could go back to Europe now.
Happy to answer any more questions that anyone may have, and I am sure that a few of the other Singa PH’ers will pop up and give their $0.02 too
some URL's
Singapore Expats gives lots of great general information, but the forums do get a bit OHH LOOK AT ME. They have a very good section that tells you all about the different condo's
Ministry Of Manpower gives you all the official details on your employment passes etc
SG Car Mart to give you a heart attack at the prices of cars!
One Motoring is the government motoring website
Asia One Local / regional news websit
List of all Clubs in Singa
That should do for starters
Edited by XJSJohn on Thursday 30th July 01:48
Cheers for the info John, thats a great help. To be honest, we're probably going to look at serviced offices iniitally to keep the cost down, someone like Regus as we already have an account with them. Not got any budgets as yet but it was more the blindness of the areas, i know absolutely nothing about Singapore apart from the airport it seems.
I'll do some research on the info you've sent, we're taking any kids with us as we don;t have any, there'll probably me initially with the missus coming over shortly after. I used to live in Manhattan so used to living abroad and soaking up the culture, the areas with the bars and restuarants cound better to me, as long as they're not too shabby!
Will get some budgets from the guys and see what i can do.
Thanks again matey.
Rog.
I'll do some research on the info you've sent, we're taking any kids with us as we don;t have any, there'll probably me initially with the missus coming over shortly after. I used to live in Manhattan so used to living abroad and soaking up the culture, the areas with the bars and restuarants cound better to me, as long as they're not too shabby!
Will get some budgets from the guys and see what i can do.
Thanks again matey.
Rog.
If you don't have dustbin lids then locate yourself as far away from teh schools as you can, its what i have done. Makes for a more peacefull home and also its cheaper.
Also if its just you and missus, keep away from MRT stations, the rental difference of a compairable condo will give you enough budet to finance / lease a car.
Regus have some very good serviced offices in 1 Battery Quay (Raffles Place), in Suntec and somewhere on Orchard so lots of choice!
anyway, inwardly digest the ramblings that i have posted and feel fee to fire over any questions.
edit - damn that was good timing, had not even been looking at PH since the last post and thought, "getting to teh end of teh day, lets have a smurf"
Also if its just you and missus, keep away from MRT stations, the rental difference of a compairable condo will give you enough budet to finance / lease a car.
Regus have some very good serviced offices in 1 Battery Quay (Raffles Place), in Suntec and somewhere on Orchard so lots of choice!
anyway, inwardly digest the ramblings that i have posted and feel fee to fire over any questions.
edit - damn that was good timing, had not even been looking at PH since the last post and thought, "getting to teh end of teh day, lets have a smurf"
Edited by XJSJohn on Thursday 30th July 08:17
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