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Apartments Too Expensive For Singles?

Discuss about where to live, renting a property, tenancy issues, property trend and property investment in Singapore.
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zzm9980
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Post by zzm9980 » Tue, 22 Jul 2014 2:14 am

x9200 wrote:
dyoo wrote:
the lynx wrote:If budget is your concern, you could look into flat-sharing. It is very common among single expats who do not get their accommodation covered by employers.

If privacy is a huge factor, get a master bedroom with attached bathroom. So you will only share hall, kitchen and etc.
I thought of flat-sharing, but because I make frequent business trips, I won't be in Singapore that much (maybe 60-70% in Singapore in a year). Sometimes, I'm out traveling for a whole month, so I thought it would be unfair if I had to pay for the utility bills while I'm away. Why should I pay for the AC/electrical bills when I wasn't at home, right?
Just keep the aircon on all the time and it will become perfectly fair.
:D x9200 wins the thread.

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Post by dyoo » Fri, 01 Aug 2014 10:49 am

I'm not gonna lie, you guys are all pretty convincing... Ok, I'm going to look into master bedrooms too now. Haha.

Shoot, where will I put all my stuff I'm taking from Japan then... I got this futon where it turns into a bed/sofa. If the rooms come all furnished, I might have no space. Oh well, guess I'll think of something.

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Post by JR8 » Fri, 01 Aug 2014 11:03 am

dyoo wrote: Oh well, guess I'll think of something.
You'll pay $ to freight it over, then likely end up throwing it out...

Probably cheaper to buy new from IKEA, if it turns out you need one.

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Post by the lynx » Fri, 01 Aug 2014 11:15 am

dyoo wrote:I'm not gonna lie, you guys are all pretty convincing... Ok, I'm going to look into master bedrooms too now. Haha.

Shoot, where will I put all my stuff I'm taking from Japan then... I got this futon where it turns into a bed/sofa. If the rooms come all furnished, I might have no space. Oh well, guess I'll think of something.
Check first if it is furnished or not.

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Post by rajagainstthemachine » Fri, 01 Aug 2014 12:51 pm

I am posting from Tokyo! this place is fantastic, why would you leave it to go to Singapore? today is my last day here I'm taking the night flight back and I'm actually dreading the thought of coming back to Singapore.
I did ask my colleague at work how much she's paying, shes renting a studio flat and pays 900 USD per month, however its a 45 minute train ride to Akasaka where our office is located. Still it is not a bad deal, I could live with that I suppose.
To get there early is on time and showing up on time is late

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Post by JR8 » Fri, 01 Aug 2014 1:38 pm

[ Time warp ]
Yes Tokyo is brilliant, sensational, exciting, eye-opening, beguiling, overwhelming. A wonderful place to visit or work. Working there truly opens your eyes to a completely different world. Something a stint in SG (or 'somewhere else in the West' [lol]) won't do. Nowhere else is anything like it.

I relo'd from Tokyo > Singapore, first time around c20 years ago now. Talk about culture shock..... lol!!!!

In fact we're just in the throws of organising a long holiday weekend up that way. We want the real deal experience so focusing on a hotel around Shinjuku. (I used to live in Roppongi/Akasaka ... but that's somewhat idiosyncratic, esp. now I'm married and many years later :))


Commute times there are long. Flats are small. I paid US$2500/mo for a tiny studio but that was arguably pretty 'primo-central'. When you're doing a standard say 14hr day you don't want a long commute on top...

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Post by AZWildcat » Sat, 23 Aug 2014 2:11 pm

nakatago wrote: We had a complicated system where we paid for the number of nights we spend in the flat--electricity and water. We had an even more complicated spreadsheet that computes how much each person would share, taking into account that even if no one's home, the fridge is running (we had times where the whole household would go on a holiday) or if someone had guests over and stuff. It was just a matter of honor system in reporting how many nights one spends. No one felt to needlessly spend electricity/water but no one also felt that they're missing out on AC/shower/laundry usage.

Caveat emptor: we all had to agree on the formulae we used and someone had to implement those formulae in the spreadsheet. We used this for four years and no one complained save some minor adjustments to the algorithms every year.
I almost spit out my coffee when I first read this. Am I the only one who found this hilarious? Someone should totally pitch this to the writers of Silicon Valley on HBO :)

I'm not familiar with the rental situation in Singapore but a semi-decent 1-bedroom apartment in some parts of the East Bay is ~US$2000 so it's all relative, I guess.

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Post by nakatago » Sat, 23 Aug 2014 3:36 pm

AZWildcat wrote:
nakatago wrote: We had a complicated system where we paid for the number of nights we spend in the flat--electricity and water. We had an even more complicated spreadsheet that computes how much each person would share, taking into account that even if no one's home, the fridge is running (we had times where the whole household would go on a holiday) or if someone had guests over and stuff. It was just a matter of honor system in reporting how many nights one spends. No one felt to needlessly spend electricity/water but no one also felt that they're missing out on AC/shower/laundry usage.

Caveat emptor: we all had to agree on the formulae we used and someone had to implement those formulae in the spreadsheet. We used this for four years and no one complained save some minor adjustments to the algorithms every year.
I almost spit out my coffee when I first read this. Am I the only one who found this hilarious? Someone should totally pitch this to the writers of Silicon Valley on HBO :)

I'm not familiar with the rental situation in Singapore but a semi-decent 1-bedroom apartment in some parts of the East Bay is ~US$2000 so it's all relative, I guess.
But I kid you not, it worked for us, even after changing places thrice, with accompanying members coming and going. We even had notifications set up. The magic of algorithms.
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Post by Brah » Sat, 23 Aug 2014 4:11 pm

rajagainstthemachine wrote:I am posting from Tokyo! this place is fantastic, why would you leave it to go to Singapore? today is my last day here I'm taking the night flight back and I'm actually dreading the thought of coming back to Singapore.

I did ask my colleague at work how much she's paying, shes renting a studio flat and pays 900 USD per month, however its a 45 minute train ride to Akasaka where our office is located. Still it is not a bad deal, I could live with that I suppose.
45 minutes is quite good for Tokyo. Her rent is quite low, she must be junior, most pay more than double that.

Why leave? Among the bigger mistakes in life I made. very hard to get back as most of the work got offshored to here.

I feel that sense of dread each time I leave there for here as well, though it's always good to be back to one's home.

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Post by zzm9980 » Sun, 24 Aug 2014 12:50 am

AZWildcat wrote: I'm not familiar with the rental situation in Singapore but a semi-decent 1-bedroom apartment in some parts of the East Bay is ~US$2000 so it's all relative, I guess.
For those that don't know the SF Bay Area, East Bay would be 'Woodlands/Ulu ulu' for most people that live there. Horrendous commute to almost anywhere people would want to work.

Being familiar with both Bay and Singapore rents this year, Bay is definitely trending up while I hear Singapore is settling down a bit. I definitely didn't save money like I had hoped when I came back here.

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