Where to live with teenagers?

[Elizabeth24]

My husband, myself & two daughters aged 15 & 16 will be moving in a few months time with his job to Singapore & the girls will be attending the Australian International School. I know this will be a huge challenge in itself given their ages, but hoping that as we've lived in Asia before it will not be too much of the unknown!

I've been doing a fair bit of research & I think that if we can find somewhere to live close to bus route 73 (which drops them at school) or easy access to the MRT Circle Line, it might be easier as we're not planning to have a car. I think the school bus would pick them up but I believe the older ones usually catch public transport.

Our housing budget would be around $7K per month but unsure about condo or landed property. Don't want to get caught as rookies with an unscrupulous landlord, so maybe condo would be safer & we probabaly won't go for a live-in helper so less maintenance in a condo.

Anyway, has anyone got any recommendations as to where to live with teenagers? I realise that walking any distance in the heat/rain is going to be challenging but also don't want to live on top of the MRT! Do the condos tend to have shuttle buses to the MRT station? Can't seem to get much info about that. Thanks

[the lynx]

My husband, myself & two daughters aged 15 & 16 will be moving in a few months time with his job to Singapore & the girls will be attending the Australian International School. I know this will be a huge challenge in itself given their ages, but hoping that as we've lived in Asia before it will not be too much of the unknown!

I've been doing a fair bit of research & I think that if we can find somewhere to live close to bus route 73 (which drops them at school) or easy access to the MRT Circle Line, it might be easier as we're not planning to have a car. I think the school bus would pick them up but I believe the older ones usually catch public transport.

Our housing budget would be around $7K per month but unsure about condo or landed property. Don't want to get caught as rookies with an unscrupulous landlord, so maybe condo would be safer & we probabaly won't go for a live-in helper so less maintenance in a condo.

Anyway, has anyone got any recommendations as to where to live with teenagers? I realise that walking any distance in the heat/rain is going to be challenging but also don't want to live on top of the MRT! Do the condos tend to have shuttle buses to the MRT station? Can't seem to get much info about that. Thanks

Ah it is a good thing that you've done homework about your girls' school and all possible routes. Where would your husband be working? With that additional info, you will be able to narrow down your options better.

Landed properties are insane in terms of rental rates so since you've mentioned your preference to low maintenance, condominiums would certainly be your better option.

Actually many condos are located within bus routes so your family (especially your girls) can take feeder buses to MRT stations.

Some condos do have own shuttle buses to MRT stations and bus terminals but you will need to check with each condo individually. Usually those condos are located really far away from bus routes mentioned above.

gothere.com and Google maps can be pretty handy in suggesting public transport routes between two points. You can try fiddling around with them.

[zzm9980]

I'm not sure your definition of "on top of" an MRT station, but I'm guessing you're worried about the noise. If that is the case, most of the circle line is underground, and even then, the road noise in Singapore tends to be louder than the trains.

Without knowing where the husband works, it is hard to recommend a good location. There are a string of new condos well within your budget along the river between Mountbatten and Dakota MRT stations (circle line). The stations are about a 10-15 minute walk apart, so being in any of the condos would make you at most a 10 minute walk to either station. The location is relatively close to the amenities of the East Coast, and you're not far from CBD (assuming husband works there). You're also very close walking distance to one of the top hawker centers in Singapore (Old Airport Rd Hawker Center), so you'll always have excellent cheap dining options if you're not in the mood to cook.

There will be numerous suggestions like the above available all over the island, this is just one.

[Elizabeth24]

Thank you both so much for your very helpful replies!

Hubby will be working at the Marina Bay Financial Centre.

I did think that living really close to an MRT station would be pretty noisy & I had picked up on gothere.com already from other people's posts, but I've knotted myself up looking at travelling options on there as I thought that living anywhere closer than 1km from an MRT would have too much noise from the trains.

Just basically hoping to get somewhere that will be convenient for the girls when they're travelling to and from school, and propping up the local economy (i.e. shopping!!)

[nutnut]

Living closer than 300m to the Green line where it's above ground (East of Kallang) is a bit noisy, but otherwise, it's not all that bad! As previous people say, living next to the Circle line is quiet - it's a couple of storeys underground and living next to the Red line is not really an issue by the sound of it!

ZZM makes good point, I didn't know there wer a load of new condos around Dakota, but to be honest it's a great area, very close to everything and your hubby can get to MBFC on the Yellow Line fairly easily!

Good luck.

[zzm9980]

Thank you both so much for your very helpful replies!

Hubby will be working at the Marina Bay Financial Centre.

I did think that living really close to an MRT station would be pretty noisy & I had picked up on gothere.com already from other people's posts, but I've knotted myself up looking at travelling options on there as I thought that living anywhere closer than 1km from an MRT would have too much noise from the trains.

Just basically hoping to get somewhere that will be convenient for the girls when they're travelling to and from school, and propping up the local economy (i.e. shopping!!)

1km? lol no. You probably won't hear* them unless you were within 100m, and even then the trains are rather silent here. Very little screachy rail noise like most other train systems I've ridden. Trust me, road noise of any major road will be significantly louder from scooters and people with open exhaust systems on their small Japanese cars.

Also, you're not going to want to walk 1km regularly as part of a commute if you can help it.

*corrected typo

[Elizabeth24]

I know! Sounds crazy now! Nothing to beat local knowledge!

Thanks so much for all your help guys!

[zzm9980]

Oh, and I forgot to suggest this map site:
URL CENSORED DUE TO COPYRIGHT ISSUES

Gothere.sg is great for directions, streetdirectory is good to find out the names of buildings near a location. You can see here the condos I mentioned are Dakota Residences and Waterbank at Dakota. You can now look up the names of those condos on this site (and others).

http://condo.singaporeexpats.com/condo/ ... RESIDENCES
http://condo.singaporeexpats.com/condo/ ... -AT-DAKOTA

Also, on the map above, the building labelled "MKT" just north of the school is the really awesome hawker center. Best Rojak (Toa Payoh Rojak) and Sweet Tofu (Lao Ban, right next to the rojak stall) in Singapore (among other things!). Plus, both always have ridiculously long queues, so it is a great hazing into the Singapore experience

[zzm9980]

Oh, and I forgot to suggest this map site:
URL CENSORED DUE TO COPYRIGHT ISSUES

Oh geez, we can't link to the only accurate map site in Singapore now either?


OP, Go to google and type in "street directory singapore", click the first link. Search for "Dakota MRT", and you'll see the map I was linking to.

[Elizabeth24]

Got it! Thanks ZZM for taking the trouble to give me this very useful info

[ebiburger]

Since the Australian International School is located near Lorong Chuan, you might actually want to find a condo around that area. That is, Bishan, Ang Mo Kio, Lorong Chuan, Serangoon, Woodleigh or Kovan. These places are relatively near and travelling time for your children will be just a few stops from home which I guess your kids can probably walk / travel by themselves.

And there are condos located near 5-10 mins walking distances of these stations so it would be convenient for your husband to transmute to work too. (Travel by Circle line to redline(Bishan) and all the way on North-South line to Marina Bay)

[nzmarkj]

Hi, we moved here three months ago and our 16 year old attends AIS, our experience, for what it's worth, is as follows: We looked at places on the East Coast as it is convenient for my wife's work which is on the way to Changi. She catches the bus to work and it takes ten minutes. It also takes me ten minutes to get into town by bus. They are very frequent. My son takes between 35 and 45 minutes to get to AIS, by bus/MRT or two buses. There are quite a few AIS students out here. The younger ones take the school bus.

What I've found out about Singapore is that it doesn't matter too much where you live, as long as you don't move too far out of town. Public Transport is very effective. The MRT is not the be all and end all. For our journeys buses tend to be quicker, and less crowded.

Places to consider on the East Coast that would be well within your budget include The Seaview, The Esta and One Amber. They are large condos with excellent facilities. I had never heard of them on this forum or others, but that is where we ended up.

Good Luck with your move, we may bump into you at the school.

[zzm9980]

Places to consider on the East Coast that would be well within your budget include The Seaview, The Esta and One Amber. They are large condos with excellent facilities. I had never heard of them on this forum or others, but that is where we ended up.

Disclaimer: The Seaview no longer has a Seaview thanks to Silversea

We've talked about them before, and they're OK places. They didn't meet this OP's request to be within 1km of MRT though. Otherwise, nothing wrong with them. Lots of other buildings all around there too. Use the map tool I discussed above find one of those buildings and you'll see all of the others also.

[Elizabeth24]

Haven't been on the forum for quite a while as have been busy decluttering in preparation for the move (and wondering how on earth all our stuff is actually going to fit in one of these trendy new condos!!), but just wanted to say thank you to all who have replied to me.

It's very easy when you're settled and "know the score" to not have time or inclination to bother helping new people, but just wanted to say it's much appreciated.

Also, I'm bound to have loads of other questions (and will be hoping for some replies!)