Is it even worth living in SG anymore as a foreigner?

[x9200]

From my experience seems to be just opposite - more expensive place more friendly people, at least judging from the lift interactions. Low and middle end places tend to attract nouveau riche types.

So currently you stay in an Expensive condo ? Orchard road or near MBS

Nope, pretty much low end, but lived in some in Holland area and occasionally visit more posh/expensive ones.

[malcontent]

I have lived in the Holland area for about 2 decades now. Fully agree that it tends to be a friendlier area, with more younger expat families. Locals in the area tend to be very conservative types - in many cases they move to my condo to try and get their kids into Nanyang Primary, which is a traditional Chinese-heavy school that appeals to local families who are super straight-laced.

[NYY1]

I have lived in the Holland area for about 2 decades now. Fully agree that it tends to be a friendlier area, with more younger expat families. Locals in the area tend to be very conservative types - in many cases they move to my condo to try and get their kids into Nanyang Primary, which is a traditional Chinese-heavy school that appeals to local families who are super straight-laced.

Did you try to ballot for NYPS 2C (believe your kid was last year that PR had a chance)? < 1 km to NYPS (and RPGS for some locations) has value for 2C. Historically the alumni have been safe 2A1 but the changes to combine 2A1 and 2A2 are likely to put a premium on 1-2 km (if not < 1 km) in the coming years.

Other than the school registration, which is a big thing for some (or landed property if one likes those), I've never been on par with the attraction of this area. But if you are coming from the West, it will be more akin to a quiet neighborhood / fairly close to amenities. Regardless, like tend to congregate with like so it becomes popular among certain circles...

[malcontent]

I have lived in the Holland area for about 2 decades now. Fully agree that it tends to be a friendlier area, with more younger expat families. Locals in the area tend to be very conservative types - in many cases they move to my condo to try and get their kids into Nanyang Primary, which is a traditional Chinese-heavy school that appeals to local families who are super straight-laced.

Did you try to ballot for NYPS 2C (believe your kid was last year that PR had a chance)? < 1 km to NYPS (and RPGS for some locations) has value for 2C. Historically the alumni have been safe 2A1 but the changes to combine 2A1 and 2A2 are likely to put a premium on 1-2 km (if not < 1 km) in the coming years.

Other than the school registration, which is a big thing for some (or landed property if one likes those), I've never been on par with the attraction of this area. But if you are coming from the West, it will be more akin to a quiet neighborhood / fairly close to amenities. Regardless, like tend to congregate with like so it becomes popular among certain circles...

No, at the time we only had around a 30% chance in the 2C ballot for NYPS. Raffles Primary had become zero chance at the time, after they built a new condo within 1km. So I decided to take the sage advice of those who said: don’t take a chance balloting at a top school when you can be sure of getting into a decent school. So that is what I did. The very next year they changed the rules, so my daughter got in the very last year any PR student got admitted at 2C.

[x9200]

I have lived in the Holland area for about 2 decades now. Fully agree that it tends to be a friendlier area, with more younger expat families.

It shows with a very simple test. When one travels in a lift, whoever enters say hello, greets other people. I observed this in many more expensive condos. Where I live now or lived earlier, the low end ones, no way. One case per 1000 encounters, maybe.

[jalanjalan]

I would never live in a condo. Atleast in HDB people seem a bit more real. They go to the wet market and fair price themselves. In HDB lift, I have mostly seen people who are acknowledged my presence. In a condo setting, they would treat me as if I am invisible.

Today I struck a conversation with a local at the wet market while buying fish. He saw me taking pictures and sending to my wife, asking her which one to buy and then I told him I new to fish. He asked me how do I cook it, fry or steam and I told him fry and then he gave some suggestions on which one to buy. He was also looking around at the fish.

So yeah, HDB yes, Condo no, they have their own class system.

It varies widely. Some of the older condos with residents who have been there 30 years are not at all atas. Sometimes they are in rather wretched shape too, and in the middle of nowhere in terms of amenities. Older HDB estates tend to feel more relaxed and neighbourly too, I think. I wouldn't fancy living in a brand new shiny HDB 40 floors up.

[NYY1]

Canadian immigration trends...

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/other/i ... 5a6b705a13

[smoulder]

Canadian immigration trends...

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/other/i ... 5a6b705a13

NYY, What's your take on it?

[Wd40]

At the moment, MM2H in west Malaysia is not going to be very easy with a requirement of 10k usd per month to qualify. A tall ask when you are retired. You might want to check out the retirement thread.

Also, what's the issue with retiring in India?

Need a lot of money to retire in India with a good standard of living. It’s completely wrong of people thinking that India is cheap, it’s not..
I don’t have a property there and I won’t be able to afford one now, it has become a situation where I have nowhere to go at this time except be in singapore for the long term, I am not thinking about retiring or retirement yet but I can buy a nice property in Malaysia at this time and it will be much cheaper than that in India ..

Also I don’t think I can live in India again a anymore, the traffic, the population , the country not being clean etc etc I get overwhelmed just by thinking about it

I just cant help but come back to your post and think how wrong you are about India.
SGDINR just hit 61.4, I saved about 80K SGD with my normal salary of 145k gross all-in salary, this year, with a family of 3.

80k SGD converts to 4.9Million INR and you could buy a nice house in a city like Bangalore for twice that amount fully paid, no loan.

So just 2 years of my savings is enough to buy a nice house in India. You are single and your salary is 180k.

It is very clear, you have some very idiosyncratic problem with India, maybe you belong to a minority community(Muslim?) I can understand why you would feel about India that way and dont want to even go there and your affinity towards Malaysia. Or may be other family problems which is why you dont even want to go and meet your family. But this is very specific problem to you and it is not a problem with India.

[Lisafuller]

I would never live in a condo. Atleast in HDB people seem a bit more real. They go to the wet market and fair price themselves. In HDB lift, I have mostly seen people who are acknowledged my presence. In a condo setting, they would treat me as if I am invisible.

Today I struck a conversation with a local at the wet market while buying fish. He saw me taking pictures and sending to my wife, asking her which one to buy and then I told him I new to fish. He asked me how do I cook it, fry or steam and I told him fry and then he gave some suggestions on which one to buy. He was also looking around at the fish.

So yeah, HDB yes, Condo no, they have their own class system.

Must disagree. Have you ever lived in a condo? If not it's pretty unfair to make such an assumption.

[Lisafuller]

I would never live in a condo. Atleast in HDB people seem a bit more real. They go to the wet market and fair price themselves. In HDB lift, I have mostly seen people who are acknowledged my presence. In a condo setting, they would treat me as if I am invisible.

Today I struck a conversation with a local at the wet market while buying fish. He saw me taking pictures and sending to my wife, asking her which one to buy and then I told him I new to fish. He asked me how do I cook it, fry or steam and I told him fry and then he gave some suggestions on which one to buy. He was also looking around at the fish.

So yeah, HDB yes, Condo no, they have their own class system.

Depends which condo. I’ve been to some where everyone is really uppety and pretentious — one reliable indicator — a car park full of trophy vehicles.

Other ones like mine, you see mostly ordinary vehicles in the car park, a lot of minivans… family types. Many expats who live there are earning normal salaries but the company is picking up the rent. They are often oblivious that they are living in a 7-figure home, and probably couldn’t fathom why someone would pay so much for a condo here. Such a condo doesn’t feel like anything special compared to their home country.

A friend of mine lives in Orchard Scott's Residences, really swanky place. Garage is full of multimillion dollar cars. People are really lovely. Like anything else, there isn't "one kind" of rich or poor person. Sure, money can make one haughty and arrogant, but this isn't always the case.

[Lisafuller]

^ there are a few guys in my condo who drive trophy cars but the owners are very down to earth and friendly. So it really depends.

Yeah, character has little to do with net worth. The car lovers in my condo keep their trophy cars as second cars and have them parked on b2. The b1 garage is full of regular Benz's and Beemers, plus minivans and other "humble" cars. Unassuming.

[Lisafuller]

From my experience seems to be just opposite - more expensive place more friendly people, at least judging from the lift interactions. Low and middle end places tend to attract nouveau riche types.

Completely agree. Those who are truly well off don't use their wealth to belittle others, they feel no need to treat others poorly to make themselves look better.

[Lisafuller]

I have lived in the Holland area for about 2 decades now. Fully agree that it tends to be a friendlier area, with more younger expat families. Locals in the area tend to be very conservative types - in many cases they move to my condo to try and get their kids into Nanyang Primary, which is a traditional Chinese-heavy school that appeals to local families who are super straight-laced.

Love love love Holland. My gym is along Lor Liput so I'm there 3-5 times a week. After my workout I love walking in the area, so much good food and a lovely outdoorsy feel.

[Lisafuller]

I have lived in the Holland area for about 2 decades now. Fully agree that it tends to be a friendlier area, with more younger expat families. Locals in the area tend to be very conservative types - in many cases they move to my condo to try and get their kids into Nanyang Primary, which is a traditional Chinese-heavy school that appeals to local families who are super straight-laced.

Did you try to ballot for NYPS 2C (believe your kid was last year that PR had a chance)? < 1 km to NYPS (and RPGS for some locations) has value for 2C. Historically the alumni have been safe 2A1 but the changes to combine 2A1 and 2A2 are likely to put a premium on 1-2 km (if not < 1 km) in the coming years.

Other than the school registration, which is a big thing for some (or landed property if one likes those), I've never been on par with the attraction of this area. But if you are coming from the West, it will be more akin to a quiet neighborhood / fairly close to amenities. Regardless, like tend to congregate with like so it becomes popular among certain circles...

No, at the time we only had around a 30% chance in the 2C ballot for NYPS. Raffles Primary had become zero chance at the time, after they built a new condo within 1km. So I decided to take the sage advice of those who said: don’t take a chance balloting at a top school when you can be sure of getting into a decent school. So that is what I did. The very next year they changed the rules, so my daughter got in the very last year any PR student got admitted at 2C.

We were lucky to have bought a unit in a condo fairly close to rgps but by the time it was time to send my girl to school we were no longer close enough. Had to do a ton of PVG work to get in.