Singapore Expats

Other neighborhoods to consider?

Discuss about where to live, renting a property, tenancy issues, property trend and property investment in Singapore.
Post Reply
lapisandlime
Newbie
Newbie
Posts: 3
Joined: Sun, 12 Feb 2012 5:47 am
Location: Colorado, USA

Other neighborhoods to consider?

Post by lapisandlime » Sun, 12 Feb 2012 6:12 am

My husband and I will be moving to Singapore soon for a two-year assignment from the US. We are an empty nest couple age 45-55. My husband will be working in Changi Business Park.

We started house hunting in December for a condo rental and I fell in love with Holland Village because of its neighborhood feel and there was a condo in The Rochester that we really liked. But, it's too long a commute to Changi Business Park from there. Are there other areas we should look at that have a neighborhood feel and an MRT commute of 30 minutes or less? We did look at some condos in the Orchard area and the East Coast, but those areas were not what we were looking for.

We're on a good executive package with a 7-10k/month rental budget. We'd like to be near an MRT station and able to walk to cafes/hawker centers/restaurants. It would be great to have some green space or a park nearby. Thank you!

Search By



User avatar
Mad Scientist
Director
Director
Posts: 3544
Joined: Thu, 03 Dec 2009 6:31 am
Answers: 4
Location: TIMBUKTU

Post by Mad Scientist » Sun, 12 Feb 2012 6:29 am

Try Tampines or Pasir Ris area
The positive thinker sees the invisible, feels the intangible, and achieves the impossible.Yahoo !!!

User avatar
the lynx
Governor
Governor
Posts: 5281
Joined: Thu, 09 Dec 2010 6:29 pm
Location: Location: Location: Location: Location: Location: Location: Location: Location: Location: Location:

Post by the lynx » Sun, 12 Feb 2012 11:45 am

You should go for East Coast area then. It has decent share of whatever you are looking for but there is no MRT there (only buses). I'm not familiar with East Coast area nor I stay there so I will leave to other regulars here who are familiar to suggest in further details.

revhappy
Editor
Editor
Posts: 1068
Joined: Wed, 10 Jun 2009 9:16 pm

Post by revhappy » Sun, 12 Feb 2012 12:28 pm

Reaching CBP from east coast is a pain if you dont have your own transport or use taxi.

I would go with the earlier suggestion Tampines, Pasir Ris. Loyang Valley(Flora Road) has some nice condos and direct bus to cbp. Thats were I would head, If I were you.

User avatar
Mi Amigo
Manager
Manager
Posts: 1794
Joined: Sat, 19 Jun 2004 10:23 pm
Location: Kinto Pino

Post by Mi Amigo » Sun, 12 Feb 2012 12:42 pm

East Coast would have been the logical first place to look IMO, although I note that you said it wasn't what you were looking for. I work at Changi Business Park and we were previously living on Upper East Coast Road near Bayshore Road - the journey time to CBP was pretty short then by taxi but there are not (yet) any MRT stations in that immediate area.

More recently we moved back to Tanjong Rhu, where we'd previously lived, as we really like that area. The journey time to the office is a little longer (about 15-20 mins by taxi, around double that by MRT from Stadium station), but we like its quietness, open spaces, evening walks along the waterfront to Gardens by the Bay, etc. There are eateries around the Indoor Stadium, no doubt with more to come when the SportsHub opens.

For your budget you should be able to find some nice places to look at, provided you stay out of the uber-prime areas. The standard advice is to stay in a Serviced Apartment for the first 1-2 months, so that you're not rushed into choosing a place for the longer term.

Good luck with your move!
Last edited by Mi Amigo on Sat, 28 Apr 2012 8:01 am, edited 1 time in total.
Be careful what you wish for

lapisandlime
Newbie
Newbie
Posts: 3
Joined: Sun, 12 Feb 2012 5:47 am
Location: Colorado, USA

Post by lapisandlime » Mon, 13 Feb 2012 4:08 am

Thank you for the replies! Tanjong Rhu looks interesting. I think Tampines and Pasir Ris may be too far out. I don't know if/where I will be working and I want to easily be able to get to the CBD.

I may be looking for something that doesn't exist in Singapore - a neighborhood with some character that is less than 1k from an MRT station and in between the CBD and CBP.

User avatar
zzm9980
Governor
Governor
Posts: 6869
Joined: Wed, 06 Jul 2011 1:35 pm
Location: Once more unto the breach

Post by zzm9980 » Mon, 13 Feb 2012 7:44 am

Depends on the type of character you're looking for. Geylang has loads of character, and is very close to MRT, for example.

If you're looking for what I call "California Character" (which most people I've met, especally from the US, are), meaning trendy places for brunch, wine bars, and boutiques (say, Palo Alto, or the Misson in SF, or any of the trendy areas of Chicago or NYC,), then you'll probably want Holland Village. That's the wrong side of CBD for Changi though.

There are also places in East Coast that would fit the bill to a lesser extent. Immediate Siglap area, or somewhere around TG Katong or Joo Chiat maybe.

If it's something else, give us an idea and we can try to help.

lapisandlime
Newbie
Newbie
Posts: 3
Joined: Sun, 12 Feb 2012 5:47 am
Location: Colorado, USA

Post by lapisandlime » Mon, 13 Feb 2012 11:35 am

Not trendy, although good food doesn't hurt. More like an area with some history. Not just concrete and shopping malls. I think that's what I liked about Holland Village. It had curved streets, some interesting buildings and seemed like a place that people gathered. Geylang sounds interesting, but I've read mixed things about safety there.

I was in Hanoi in December, right before coming to Singapore. As much as I disliked the traffic, constant noise and smog in Hanoi, I loved the city because it has a lot of soul.

User avatar
zzm9980
Governor
Governor
Posts: 6869
Joined: Wed, 06 Jul 2011 1:35 pm
Location: Once more unto the breach

Post by zzm9980 » Mon, 13 Feb 2012 4:39 pm

I was half-joking when I recommended Geylang; it's mostly known for it's section that has legalized brothels. However. if you like Hanoi, you'll like Geylang. It is the closest thing you'll find to Hanoi's bustle and outdoor eating scene. Many of the buildings in Geylang are quite old, and it is many of the eateries along Geylang Rd and Sims are very well known and tasty.

Now, for "safety", you have nothing to worry about, except maybe getting run down by the all of the traffic. One section of Geylang as mentioned has legalized brothels, and sometimes illegal street walkers. That is confined to what are called the "even numbered Lorongs". That is, there are numbers streets called "Lorong ## Geylang". (You'll actually see this all over Singapore, Lorong means small road/side road in Malaysian). The ones with even numbers, under about # 30, are where the government allows these activities. The evens are south of Geyland Rd, and the odds north, so it's rather well contained in a small area. Even walking through this area I don't think you have to worry about "safety" unless you're a pimp trying to put your 'employees' on some other pimp's street corner. (And I suspect you're not).

Now, the area you'd strongly consider would likely be the new condos at the very fringe of Geylang, closer to Lorong 34+. These are all in the vicinity of Paya Lebar MRT. This is all far enough from the vice activities where you'll never see it at all if you so choose to avoid it, and still only a 5-10 minute walk from the good food, and on the edge of all of the nice old buildings with character.

Here is a map of the area:
http://g.co/maps/5jy99

Based on where it is centered, roughly the right half of the map is the area you may want to look in.

ebbtide
Member
Member
Posts: 26
Joined: Fri, 20 Apr 2012 9:09 pm

Post by ebbtide » Fri, 27 Apr 2012 9:42 pm

Sorry to bring up an old post, but i'm also looking at the Tanjong Rhu area for a condo (water place is in the lead). Can you give me some idea of general accessibility? I'll be working mostly from home so everyday travel to part of singapore isn't necessary. Are there close shops, grocery, beach/park, pubs? It looks like there is a walking bridge to get to Stadium and the MRT. Any comments on living in the area are appreciated!
"A good plan executed with vigor now is better than a perfect plan executed with haste later."

User avatar
Mi Amigo
Manager
Manager
Posts: 1794
Joined: Sat, 19 Jun 2004 10:23 pm
Location: Kinto Pino

Post by Mi Amigo » Sat, 28 Apr 2012 7:55 am

If you end up at Water Place (or any of the condos around there), you will indeed be near to the footbridge that takes you over to the Indoor Stadium. There you will find some restaurants (including Brewerkz, who make decent beers). at the other side of the indoor stadium you have the MRT station (Circle line) and Kallang Leisure Park - a shopping mall with a reasonable selection of shops (including Cold Storage), cinema, restaurants, etc.

There are also shuttle buses to Kallang Leisure Park, the CBD, Orchard Road and Parkway Parade (another shopping mall that has banks, etc. along with the ubiquitous collection of shops, with a wet market nearby).

There are some nice walks to be had along the river and up to Gardens by the Bay, across the Marina Barrage, etc. When they eventually finish the MCE (tunnelled highway) project, I believe that the east side of Gardens by the Bay will be connected to the East Coast Park. At the moment you have to go along Tanjong Rhu / Fort Road to get to it (I'm just about to do that on the bike in fact), so it will be nice when that all gets completed.

As regards general accessibility, one 'feature' of living down this end of Tanjong Rhu is that to get to the ECP you have to go all the way back down the above-mentioned route. The advantage of this is that it makes this area a more quiet place to live than many other parts of Singapore, but it does add a couple / few minutes (depending on whether it's rush hour or not) to your car / taxi journey time if you're heading towards the CBD.

As always, it's difficult to describe an area completely in writing; obviously a visit to walk around the area would be for more useful to you, but I hope the above gives you some idea. Like any country in the world, each location has its pros and cons. In our case, we like the area - we lived in Tanjong Rhu before, then moved out to the East Coast for 3 years, then we moved back here again last year and we're very happy to be back.

Good luck with your search.
Be careful what you wish for

User avatar
Mi Amigo
Manager
Manager
Posts: 1794
Joined: Sat, 19 Jun 2004 10:23 pm
Location: Kinto Pino

Post by Mi Amigo » Thu, 17 May 2012 5:44 pm

You're welcome.
Be careful what you wish for

User avatar
Zeenit
Reporter
Reporter
Posts: 603
Joined: Wed, 02 Apr 2008 9:50 pm
Location: Singapore

Post by Zeenit » Thu, 17 May 2012 5:52 pm

My husband works out at Changi Business Park and his company runs shuttle buses to Mrts to key points on the island. For example, there are buses to Pasir Ris, Houngang, Semkang, Bukit Timah, CBD etc. So I would ask the HR dept if they also have shuttle buses and where are the collection/drop off points. That will help you pick move places than East Coast and Pasir Ris. Also the mrt is a very far way from the Changi Business Park offices.
Zeenit

Post Reply
  • Similar Topics
    Replies
    Views
    Last post

Return to “Property Talk, Housing & Rental”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 10 guests