Feedback - Condos in East Coast or Holland Village Areas

[uscate]

We're looking at a probably move in August of this year - we've identified the East Coast and the Holland Village areas as those that would be interesting.

Here is our list of "like to have" amenities and budget:

1) Walkable to MRT (without working up a huge sweat)
2) Walkable to restaurants
3) Walkable to food shops/food vendors
4) Would like a 3 BR condo w/access to a gym and pool
5) We don't necessarily need to be in an expat enclave
6) We're looking at a newer building - my SO has really bad asthma, and has been told that older buildings can be more prone to mold
7) There's just 2 of us - no kids, so proximity to schools isn't important
8) We're used to commuting (live in the Boston area in US), so a commute to work isn't a problem. We won't have a car, so MRT access is KEY!
9) We'll have about US5k - US6k per month to spend on housing

I'd love any kind of feedback as to the pros and cons of living in Holland Village vs. East Coast (I think condos in East Coast area would be larger, but not necessarily cheaper than Holland Village area, and also think MRT might be more accessible in Holland Village??)

Also, does anyone have any suggestions of specific condos/apartments that would be good to look at??

Thank you in advance for any info you can provide - and if I'm off base in asking this kind of question in this forum, please let me know....

Can't wait to move!!!!!!!

[zzm9980]

1) This eliminates East Coast. However, there are numerous very frequent buses from eastcoast that will take you to MRT (6-10 mins), CBD, Orchard, Suntec, etc.

5) Both will have more expats than other areas, but not "tons".

8) The buses here are really good compared to the US, so don't discount them completely. I used to have the same mindset (coming from Chicago and then Bay Area) and refused to take buses. Now living on East Coast, the 7-10 min bus ride every morning to Paya Lebar MRT is not a big deal at all to me.

[uscate]

Thank you zzm!

[Girl_Next_Door]

I think you should also try to spend a Sat/Sun at East Coast and Holland Village, just hanging out there, get a feel of the environment. Both places have more expats staying, but the feel is quite different.

[uscate]

Thank you Girl Next Door - that's a good suggestion, and I'm hoping to be able to get to Singapore before we actually have to move....

[BigSis]

I can only give you the pros and cons of the east coast as I've never lived in HV.

Pros

- Sea views from many condos and the breeze that comes with it
- East Coast Rd and Siglap are quite interesting and loads more eateries around these days (more expats seems to equal more restaurants - a lot more expats live around the Siglap area than did when we first moved here)
- The bus service is pretty frequent
- Can be a bit cheaper than HV
-It's nice to be able to go and walk along the East Coast Park (although this has its cons too - see below)
-Very quick to get to the airport - useful if one of you travels for work


Cons

- The ECP can be noisy if you live in one of the condos right next to it
- The bus service is frequent but can become a drag if you use it to go into the CBD/centre for work every day - MRT gets crowded but (aside from the occasional breakdown like late last year) doesn't get stuck in traffic like the buses do.
- MRT is a bus ride away
- The East Coast Park while nice to walk along during the week, isn't quite so nice at weekends and public holidays when you'd probably be better off going to the CBD for some peace and quiet


The East Coast area is more spread out than HV too - you could meet someone else who considers themselves as living on the east coast and then find that you live a 10 min bus ride away from each other. HV seems more compact and perhaps easier to walk to from many condos.

There are aspects about HV that I do quite like - especially now the place no longer resembles a building site (which it did for years while they were digging the MRT). I like the way they close one of the streets off at night because of all the restaurants along there, and I like the fact that the shops are quite close together and it is a bit more 'villagey' feeling because of that, but I do prefer the East because I'm used to the sea view and the breeze - I think it always feels a bit cooler on the East.

[zzm9980]

good points from bigsis, I'll expand on some:

I can only give you the pros and cons of the east coast as I've never lived in HV.

Pros

- Sea views from many condos and the breeze that comes with it

I'll add a 'con' to this: The Breeze changes directions on the "seasons" (if you can call them that). So unless you have windows in all directions, you'll only get it sometimes. My unit has North-South windows with full view of the coast (and very small ones facing west). When I moved in, the breeze was amazing and I never used aircon. For the past 2 months or so, my unit can be a stifling oven, but just outside it feels about 5c cooler and there are 20km/h East-west winds.

So just don't expect to be able to turn off aircon year-round because of the breeze.

- East Coast Rd and Siglap are quite interesting and loads more eateries around these days (more expats seems to equal more restaurants - a lot more expats live around the Siglap area than did when we first moved here)

Some nice stuff on Joo Chiat too! Joo Chiat and East Coast rd is about 2km west of Siglap and East Coast rd. A bit far to walk (but doable for sure), but maybe 3-4 minutes on a bus.

Cons

- The ECP can be noisy if you live in one of the condos right next to it

Extremely noisy. You'll want to close your windows to sleep most likely. Factor this in also with the "breeze" mentioned above (and the lack of it while windows are closed )

- The bus service is frequent but can become a drag if you use it to go into the CBD/centre for work every day - MRT gets crowded but (aside from the occasional breakdown like late last year) doesn't get stuck in traffic like the buses do.

I've noticed if you take a bus like the 196 (to CBD) in the morning , it mostly fills up at Marine Parade just before Tao Nan. So if you live west of there, plan to stand like a sardine. A stop or two east of Tao Nan and you will probably get a nice seat.

- The East Coast Park while nice to walk along during the week, isn't quite so nice at weekends and public holidays when you'd probably be better off going to the CBD for some peace and quiet

Agreed! What I wouldn't give to have a police officer hang out for an hour one day and actually ticket people the S$1000 fine for riding their bikes through the underpass, or get bikers off the foot path and vice versa... Or for locals that are grilling to actually clean up their sh!t and not let fifty plastic wrappers and bags fly away in the wind.

[facibus]

Hi,

I like the parts of the East Coast that I've spent time in (no expert, only been here since July, but I like the idea of parkland and definitely like the food in Katong and Geylang). Like others in this thread, the thought of living away from an MRT station would be a concern (basically, I am lazy, and want to live close to work).

If you like the idea of coastal living but want to live closer to an MRT, and commuting time is not an issue for you, have you thought about looking further north? The only thing is that there seems to be more older than newer places up there. I'm thinking about areas like Sembawang.

Cheers, Andrew

[Dolph]

You could also consider the West Coast. The new stretch of the circle line (the MRT) has just opened which makes it a lot more accessible if you don't have a car. Loads of busses too and condos generally a bit cheaper. Still. That might change!

[facibus]

You could also consider the West Coast. The new stretch of the circle line (the MRT) has just opened which makes it a lot more accessible if you don't have a car. Loads of busses too and condos generally a bit cheaper. Still. That might change!

I haven't spend much time at all on the West Coast. Is it cleaner/quieter/freer of cargo ships than the East Coast?

Cheers, Andrew

[uscate]

Thank you to all of the contributors - this thread is giving me LOTS of great info and food for thought!!

[zzm9980]

I haven't spend much time at all on the West Coast. Is it cleaner/quieter/freer of cargo ships than the East Coast?

Cheers, Andrew

Might be quieter because of no ECP, but definitely no less ships. (You can see them all even on Google Maps) Plus you have all the industrial stuff over there.

[facibus]

I haven't spend much time at all on the West Coast. Is it cleaner/quieter/freer of cargo ships than the East Coast?

Cheers, Andrew

Might be quieter because of no ECP, but definitely no less ships. (You can see them all even on Google Maps) Plus you have all the industrial stuff over there.

Ahh, OK, thanks for the advice.

For myself, I'm not so sure about living near an industrial area.

[zzm9980]

Well it has residential, but the coast is dominated by a lot of industrial. So instead of seeing lots of boats and Indonesian forest fires burning in the horizon (east coast), you just see oil refineries and shipping containers (west coast.) (major generalization, sorry )