Lets discuss East Coast Condos again

[hg]

yes, this has been discussed a lot before but most posts seem two years old and the rental market has changed a lot so I thought of bringing it up again.

We are looking to move in on 1st June. Will be in SG next week to see a few condos with a budget of 4.5K. We have two kids (9 and 7) and so a "family" condo is a must. Will NOT have a Car and so must use public transport to office in Aiyer Rajah Crescent (Buena Vista MRT and then #91 Bus for 8 mins ). Will travel often and so its OK to be on East coast

Have been looking around this site for East Coast condos and will appreciate honest feedback from people living in this area

1) Which one
2) What's good
3) Whats not so good

Anyone? Any recommendations?

[irvine]

Mandarin Gardens is nice. It's at the crossroads of Marine Parade Road and Siglap Road. It's got tennis & squash courts, child care center, restaurant, large swimming pool, and wading pool, nice landscape on a big compound nice for morning or evening strolls, 15 min walk to the ocean.

As for working in Ayer Rajah Crescent and traveling from anywhere East Coast, unless you take a taxi or drive every morning, everything else is gonna take you more than an hour. Bus 91 comes once every 10-15 minutes in the mornign from Buona Vista station. I used to work at Ayer Rajah Crescent, and lived in MG. I personally didn't like the long hours commuting with public transportation, but that's just me.

Although the good thing about it is that I got to catch up with a lot of books - audio and paperback.

[irvine]

To add on..

Talking about taxi, I am WILLING to pay the price for the personal space during the morning commute. Hahaha. Just can't take the Mrt or bus crowd. I guess I just like to start my mornings quiet and easy.

That is something that I used to take for granted before moving to Singapore. I.e. the morning peaceful driving in my own car.

[cbavasi]

I'm with Irvine on the commute from the East Coast to Ayer Rajah Crescent - I would find that pretty brutal after a number of months. Where will the children be going to school? Are you set on the East Coast? It's really nice out there - but you'll have to think about school/work commute and see if it's really worth it. I have friends who live at both Costa Rhu and Pebble Bay and really like it. Don't pay attention too much to the rents that are listed - there are so many people leaving you'll be able to negotiate quite a bit. That being said - I personally find those apartment complexes to be a bit overwhelming... they are sooooooooo big - be careful if you get a unit facing the pool - apparently they can be super noisy during the weekend.

[hg]

Wow Irvine, I didn't expect to find an exact match on AR Crescent office and East Coast living but that's the beauty of this forum !!

I see your point and will consider it. Will it be 1 hour irrespective of where in east coast I live? What about Central east (Eunos, Geylang, Kembangan, Paya Lebar)?

cbavasi - How much of time saving Pebble Bay/ Costa Rhu provide over Bayshore/ Costa De Sol?

Some of the apartments do have shuttles to MRT, is that a factor or just the idea of using MRT itself is a problem in the peak hours?

Kid's school is still a grey area. UWC East campus is at the top of our list but not sure if we will get in there (UWC Dover campus is next door to my office and would have convinced us to live somewhere close but the wait list there is just too much). Other options are OFS (Will not suit East Coast Living, I guess?) or some of the Indian Schools (all of whom have East Cost campuses, mostly near Bedok)

[irvine]

Let me generalise if I could...

If you're working in AR Crescent and staying anywhere east or central east... unless you stay right next to the MRT station, everywhere else is going to be about 1 hour or more to AR Crescent.

For example, if you live next to the Paya Lebar Station...
Walking to the MRT station: 5 minutes
MRT journey from Paya Lebar to Buona Vista: 26 minutes
Bus 91 to ARC: 10-15 minutes
Total travel time: Minimum 40 minutes.

More info on MRT travel times: http://www.transitlink.com.sg/images/eg ... y_Time.jpg

So, a shuttle/public bus from your home to the MRT station adds another 10-15 minutes.

With all these said, the east coast area is still a very nice place to stay, esp weekends. If your family would enjoy the east coast area, by all means go for it. Ipod can be your new best friend.

[splat]

if you really want to be east coast places like D'Manor and Summer Gardens and Stratford court and East Meadows, The Tanamera are 5 minutes walk to the Tanah Merah MRT.
UWC east campus will be moving up near Tampines so you will be closer to there if you are here for the long term. One World International School is also very close to Tanh Merah/Simei MRTs.
It would probably take you 35 minutes to get to BV acording to that timetable posted earlier.

If you go out one more stop to Simei, you have several condos right at the MRT Modena, Tropical Spring, Eastwood Green etc Changi Rise and Savanah condo Park are beautiful but a short bus ride to the Simei MRT

I think it would be better to just stick to the MRT line 3 stops might take 5-10 minutes and on the east coast you might have to wait 5 -10 minutes for a bus to come. You might as well get on the MRT and stay there.

I am not familiar with Condos situated close to the city so can't tell you about those.

[resm]

yes, this has been discussed a lot before but most posts seem two years old and the rental market has changed a lot so I thought of bringing it up again.

We are looking to move in on 1st June. Will be in SG next week to see a few condos with a budget of 4.5K. We have two kids (9 and 7) and so a "family" condo is a must. Will NOT have a Car and so must use public transport to office in Aiyer Rajah Crescent (Buena Vista MRT and then #91 Bus for 8 mins ). Will travel often and so its OK to be on East coast

Have been looking around this site for East Coast condos and will appreciate honest feedback from people living in this area

1) Which one
2) What's good
3) Whats not so good

Anyone? Any recommendations?

I have rented my new place (2 bedroom/1580 sqft w. balcony) since beginning of March.
The place I am staying at is called Loyang Valley (near Changi/East Coast) and if it is green surrounding you are looking for, this is the place.

It is a "old" place (25 years) so the garden is accordingly, more like a park.

It may not be the most convenient transport wise, but the other day I took the bus outside the compound to Simei MRT station and from there the train to City Hall (center) that took me all in all 40 minutes.

For your budget you should be able to get a 3 bedroom unit of about 2000 sqft. or bigger.

The units vary in standard, according to how much the owner has taken care off the place.

For me its paradise !

[OogieBoogie]

I live in the Seaview, 5 minutes walking from Parkway Parade.
We have a 3 bedroom about 1500sqf with a big terrace, 4.5k.

It's a good place for young couple or familly with young children as rooms are not that big, and would be to small for teenagers (probably why i've never seen a kid more than 14 in the condo).

Look at the condo directory here to check pics and features: big pools. lap pool, BBQ pit, tennis basketball playground, 10 minutes walking from East Coast Park,...

It takes me between 10/15 minutes to go to Raffles places with a taxi. Sometime i'll take a bus (more eco friendly) at the stop located 20meters from the lobby. About 20minutes to commute.

[sarsky]

I have been living in Singapore for around 9 months and find the Costa Del Sol condo absolutely idyllic. At first glance it seems a long way from the city but find that 10-15 ins in a taxi gets me in or out on most days. I should add that I'm not traveling at rush hour though, I work on the East Coast.

Costa Del Sol is extremely child friendly. There are loads of them there! % lovely swimming pools, just a few mins from the beach and right by a nice part of the East Coast Park.

There are many more schools on the East Coast than have been mentioned so far. Try searching on Shambles.net (i think.) It lists ALL the international; schools in Singapore.

Others not mentioned are Canadian International, Eton House Primary, Avondale.

God luck searching there is plenty of choice.

[hg]

Update after the Orientation visit

Me and my wife were in SG from 20th to 26th Apr. We really soaked in the country and the atmosphere and overall it was a great trip (The Indian food at Yantra !!....mmmmm, it was orgasmic !!).

It could have been a perfect trip had our HR idiots told me upfront that UWCEA is too expensive for them. I wasted one trip to that lovely school and wasted a day looking at condos near Ang Mo Kio

Looks like it will an Indian International School for our kids after all. We didn't like DPS and GIIS and will settle for NPS, which is in east cost (near Bedok). The fact that NPS was keen to conduct tests but was flexible to do it in their Bangalore branch helped.

We were running to schools around using MRT/ BUS (and occasional Taxis). Our real estate agent (who clearly was more rich than I can ever be even across 10 life times !!) drove us around to some really nice condos - some near office and some on east coast. We liked Casta Del Sol a lot but it will be 1 hr+ daily for me each way (no matter what mode of transport I use), so a bit scared to opt for that.

Thinking of buying a 2nd hand car once we are there on 1st June and live somewhere in between office and Bedok so that I can drive/ MRT/ Bus to office in max 30 mins and kids too have a 30 odd min bus ride.

Will leave on 30th May and will live in service apts given by my company for 3-4 weeks and finalize the house then.

Gee, so much to do in next 3 weeks !!