Advice needed regarding rental property prices

[theweerascal]

Hi there,

I'm looking into moving to Singapore on an initial 2 year seconment with my employer from Scotland.

My colleague has advised me to maybe look at renting property in the Bedok area of Singapore.

I'm looking for advice on rental property prices in this area. I've been on various websites, but they are varying considerably.

I am ideally looking into renting a 2 or 3 bedroom apartment fully furnished and of reasonable standard. It doesn't need to be at the high end of the scale. Could someone please advise me of an indicative figure for rental.

Also, are there additional charges for factoring / upkeep of the property etc, if so, what is an indicative figure for this ?.

Your advice would be greatly appreciated.

Many Thanks
theweerascal

[durain]

expect your budget to be upwards of S$2300/month for a nice condo. other extra or upkeep are usually the servicing of the air-cond units every 3 months. they are about S$25-30 a unit.

[Claire Sadie]

[sundaymorningstaple]

I'm considering spending the whole of August in Mumbai. What is the cheapest but best housing option - staying in youth hostels or renting a small apartment? Is student accommodation rented out to tourists in India. I know that in England student rooms is a good way of living here on a low budget. I wonder if India is the same?
The place must be reasonably affordable and also safe for tourists. I'm looking to spend, hopefully, between 8,000-12,000 indian rupees per month on accommodation.

One would have to wonder why this poster would have to post this question on a Singapore board when they are posting using an ISP located at:

Sanchar Bhawan,20, Ashoka Road, New Delhi-110001 wouldn't one?

Sometime spammers are so stupid it's almost funny.

moderator

[theweerascal]

Thanks Durain for the helpful advice.

Are the property prices you see quoted on the websites 'firm'?.
I take it there is some area for negotiation.
Is the property market reasonably bouyant at present?.
Apart from bills, is the aircon maintenance the only additional charge?. Is there no cost for the upkeep of the property and the surrounding area??

Many Thanks
Theweerascal

[durain]

without viewing the property and getting a feel of what your money is getting, it is very hard to say what is good, what is fair, what is value and what is "dream on landlord". ultimately it is what you see and happy to pay for it.

you dont pay for anything such as service charges, pool cleaning, fogging, building insurance, council tax, etc. you probably have to pay for tv license if not covered by the landlord but you dont need RBS pension to pay for that. it is cheap.

[theweerascal]

Thanks Durain,

Another good slice of advice. Very helpful.

Also, a good sense of humour into the bargain.

Cheers

Theweerascal

[carolynW]

We just nailed down a home yesterday, it has been quite frustrating as when we started looking in Jan, many homes had been empty over the holiday season, then as we started making offers, the landlords got several at a time. We found ourselves outbid and also people moving out of their old places for better value places.

I initially had 3 agents, who told me they access the agent websites and some other and can cover all ground, after a frustrating 2 weeks, I decided to do my own hunt and expanded to 8 agents, looking at properties on this site and also two other popular sites. This yielded me leads that did not pop up on the 3 initial agents.

So, actually I was surprised the process was a lot harder than I anticipated.