Unfurnished apartments in Singapore?

[aadil80]

Hi,

I'm relocating to Sing next month (Feb 2012) from Sydney and am bringing fair bit of my furniture / white goods as I have reasonable moving allowance with my employer.

I've been told that the norm in Sing is furnished apts especially 1/2bdrm units.

Can anyone advise on how easy or difficult it would be to find an unfurnished unit to rent?

Thanks for your input in advance.

Cheers!

[zzm9980]

When I was looking six months ago, I saw maybe 10-12 units. I would guess only three or four were actually furnished at the time of viewing. All of the agents said they would be furnished when I moved in. The agent at the place I choose actually took a "wish list" and just went to Ikea and bought what I said I wanted.

Point is, you should ask before viewing, as you can possibly negotiate better terms by foregoing the furnishings.

[aadil80]

Thanks for your response.

The recency of your move gives me some confidence that I might as well bring my stuff and go from there.

Cheers!

[BigSis]

The majority I've seen over the years have been unfurnished or semi-furnished..........but it seems to be how you want it really. If they've got furniture in when you view you can ask for it to be removed. Our LL offered us a furniture budget which we accepted and got to choose furniture up to the price we agreed on. We also had some stuff shipped from home.

Many of the apartments come with white goods but they're often the ones the previous tenants had - if you want to bring your own, I don't think the landlord you choose will complain about that.

Ours also got the place painted for us and put in some new curtains (which we chose the fabric for). You pay a lot for rental in Singapore, they'll sometimes do stuff like this to entice you to rent. We also got him to fit ceiling fans and a couple of other new lights (the people who'd been in it before us had been here for 14 years, it needed some work).

[sanjivvohra]

Apartments here are either un furnished, semi furnished or fully furnished. Most will come with their own washing machine or dryer. Some throw in ovens and microwaves along with a fridge.

It would be a good idea to get a feel of space before getting your stuff from overseas. We still ran into a problem even after leasing our apartment before arriving here, with our comparatively large living room and master bedroom furniture.

[aadil80]

Thanks BigSis and Sanjiv for your responses.

Your responses clearly indicate to me that the agent I'm dealing with is advising me not to bring my stuff as he probably has furnished properties in his list!

I better brush up my skills on dealing with SG agents by reading the other related posts on this forum!

Cheers!

[sanjivvohra]

I better brush up my skills on dealing with SG agents by reading the other related posts on this forum!

Cheers!

That always helps!

[thismyvoice]

There are lots of new condos coming into the market. Check them out. Since they are new, higher chance they come unfurnished.

Your agent should be able to advice you. If not, hunt around from the usual property websites. Should not be too difficult to find.