Living Advice

[asiabound]

I am coming fromt he US and have been offered a job in Singapore that pays just over 200K US/year. I am married with 2 children (ages 5 and 2). It is my understanding from some research that this will be enough to live on in Singapore. I am looking for advice on where to live and send my kids to school. My office will be in the Singapore Land Tower in the Central Business District. I don't want to have to spend too much time commuting, as I will probably be working a great deal. It is more important that my kids are close to a good International School. Not opposed to owning a car, but would prefer not to have to.

Thoughts, advice, suggestions would be appreciated.

[sundaymorningstaple]

Thoughts, advice & suggestions?

Using the search function of this site is probably the best. Most of the answers are already here and most have been recently discussed as well so will take into consideration rising housing costs as well as schooling and all else you can think of. If you are working in the CBD then you can get to anywhere on the island in around 30-45 minutes so the island is your oyster.

[EugeneSim]

Well, my advice is to decide on the school and find a in between location from the school and your workplace.
The American school is in woodlands so its not too near the CBD. I think chatsworth International School is at the CBD so that may be a better place for you.

But living in the CBD is not going to be cheap, with 2 kids, you might need a bigger place. at least a 3 bdrm or 4 bdrm condo. Looking at your future income, I'd say it should be quite enough for your needs.

[asiabound]

Thank you both for the responses. I have looked around a lot on the site and have searched under the apartment feature; it seems that prices on a 3 or 4 bedroom place range from 4 to 7K. It is tough to determine whether those prices are average, or just high because they are targeting expats. What are the chances of me finding a decent, but not too fancy place for less than that? I will need 3 or 4 rooms and what to be near CBD.

[sundaymorningstaple]

The nearer the CBD the higher the prices.

[nillahcootie]

one year ago we looked for a place with 3+bedrooms very near Orchard and the price range was $10K-$15K...rental costs may have softened a bit, however, overall an expat lifestyle can be expensive here

you don't say what city you are from, which can change your perception of the costs in Singapore...

[asiabound]

I am moving from SLC, UT, where the cost of living is very low compared to other medium sized cities in the US. Part of my concern about moving to Singapore, which neither my wife nor I have ever been (although, my wife is from Thailand - so the draw is being closer to her home), is that, although my salary would increas, the cost of living is substantially higher, meaning our lifestyle doesn't increase, and may even decrease.

[EugeneSim]

Since the SLT where you'll be working is very near Raffles Place MRT station, you may really consider renting a nice place near the North-south or East-west MRT lines.

As a rule of thumb, the further from the CBD, the cheaper the rental for the same size place.

Travelling via MRT is actually quite fast and easy if its on the direct line, so it should work out really well for you.