I recently moved to Singapore and have been spoiled house sitting for a friend in the Holland Village area (Leedon Residence), but now it’s time to find our own place (from September) as a young(ish) couple with no kids, family members, or pets.
Looking for some/all of the following for $2,500-4,000/month (maybe $5,000 for the perfect place):
- condo with decent core amenities (pool, bbq, gym, etc.)... or an out-of-this-world walk-up or HDB
- two bedroom, or one plus study (hard to justify a third that will likely go unused)
- central location (with cafes, shops, restaurants, bars, hawker centre, etc. on the doorstep or at least nearby)
- public transport (short walk to MRT/bus as we haven’t had a car since 2004!)
- community (single/couple western expats over families)
- usable space (~800+ sq ft, reasonable price per sq ft, not jacked up by balconies etc.)
- reasonable outlook/view (as I/we will be working from home a fair bit and don’t want to be staring at a wall, highway, construction, port, etc.)
- relatively quiet (noting that cities are anything but quiet; no highways, construction, etc.)
- clean and ideally modern/renovated (noting newer builds tend to be smaller)
- balcony/planter (I guess I’m dreaming to expect a ground floor patio in this budget!)
- flexible lease/furnishing (will likely stay 3-5 years but would prefer a 1 year least to 2 years w/ diplomacy clause, and probably prefer to furnish it myself)
- miniscule second bedroom
- live in helper (though the option and storage would be nice)
- high density or megacomplex (Interlace, Reflections, d’Leedon, etc.)
- skyscrapers (Commonwealth etc.)
- heaps of pointless amenities (golf simulators?!)
- shopping district (Orchard et al)
- car park (but the option for guests is fine)
- Caribbean: best of the bunch so far, and about to pull the trigger but for not being central
- Parc Emily: one of our favourites, but not great for my office near Alexandra/next to The Interlace... still in the running
- Corals: beautiful but small (especially 2nd bedroom/study), which is typical of new builds
- Leedon Residence: awesome but top of budget range, quiet, and limited transport
- d’Leedon: better than we expected, but still a megacomplex
- Tiong Bahru/Redhill
- Robertson Quay/Fort Canning
- Dhoby Ghaut/Little India/Farrer Park
- Others?
Sam