Probably not many people around this board have such housing budget so I am afraid you may not get any more concrete responses.phoenixscienter wrote:I am being offered an excellent opportunity to move to Singapore with my family (wife plus 2 young children - 7 years and 4 years) this year and I am still trying to get my mind wrapped around it.
My package is quite attractive, and my company is willing to pay for housing up to $15-20k per month for us, so I am assuming I should have a wide range of options - both high rise condos with amenities and excellent landed houses.
We will need at least 4-5 bedrooms plus 4 baths as I suspect we will have a live-in nanny or maid. So probably looking at a minimum of 3,000 sq/ft but possibly more.
I am wide open on places to live as my office location is TBD. I have heard Districts 9 and 10 are nice for expats, as is the East Coast (which seems appealing to me since its waterfront, right? Still easy to get into the city on the MRT or with private taxi?)
Can I afford a penthouse type apartment with that kind of budget? It is important for my kids to have other children around, a huge pool (or pools), playgrounds, and other amenities (beach would be nice!) What condos would you guys suggest? I really would love to ideally find a 4-5 bd/4-5 bath condo or cluster bungalow that is beachfront (with full ocean views) that is near on the MRT and that is very new. Does that kind of place exist?
Many thanks in advance!
Well, I can assure you that I am real and am not "fictitious". Since you would like to be nosy, I'm happy to oblige to satiate your own curiosity.rajagainstthemachine wrote:I'm posted that to see what the reaction would be.. it looks like a suspicious account to me
Its very encouraging to hear that a US bank is establishing an office here, when most others are doing the oppositephoenixscienter wrote:Well, I can assure you that I am real and am not "fictitious". Since you would like to be nosy, I'm happy to oblige to satiate your own curiosity.rajagainstthemachine wrote:I'm posted that to see what the reaction would be.. it looks like a suspicious account to me
My job would be to be a Managing Director of a US bank that is establishing an office in Singapore. The 20k per month housing budget was proposed to me by the bank as I make a good living here in the States, and they know that it will take quite a bit to incent me to move my two young children across the globe and uproot my family.
I have never been to Singapore in my life. My wife and I will be traveling there in one month's time to "scout" with a realtor, but I wanted to ask folks here for their input since I scanned around and most of the posts relate to budgets in the 3-5k range per month for housing.
Thanks to the rest of you who responded with helpful input -- I greatly appreciate it. I am just very confused right now as to what I should be looking for, as it seems my options are wide open. That's a good thing (and I'm not asking anyone to cry me a river - far from it), I am just curious what local expats thought may be the best area and/or specific condo or cluster home I should be looking for.
That is the first I've heard about the beaches not being swimmable - is that, in fact, the case? If so, then I would rather have wide ocean views but would place more emphasis on the amenities (size of pool, newness of condo, furnished or not, proximity to school and MRT or my office, etc.)
I had not realized a private driver was an option. Here int he US that would be something reserved to the ultra wealthy and I didn't think my salary would put me in that category (I'll be making alot, but I'm not some multimillionaire). How much would a private driver 24/7 cost per month? I'd rather not get my own car and COE - at least not for the first year while we settle in.
I've seen some very nice looking cluster bungalows with private pools, etc. Would that be something I should be focusing on more?
If you had my budget, would you be focused on D9 or D10? Or looking more at east coast?
The school I was looking at was Singapore American School - but that seems like an hour + drive from any of those 3 areas....
I welcome any more suggestions... and thanks to those of you who have been helpful to me. I greatly appreciate it.
Well not just my countrymen, the PRCs, Filipinos, Malaysians, Indonesians, taiwanese etc all of them. Whenever I speak to locals or other Asians and tell them I am renting the whole hdb for 2k for just myself and wife, you must see the expression on their facesundaymorningstaple wrote:Wd40, that's only your countrymen, not the western world's expats. A lot of them are still getting that kind of money in the financial industry (of course, they might not be code monkeys either).
Completely agree, 200%. I based my entire housing choice on a water view when I moved here. Coming from northern California (similar landscape to Sydney), I thought I'd be in love. It's terrible. At night the water looks like a US used car dealership from the hundreds of tankers parked out there with flood lights glaring.colio wrote:IMHO water views in Singapore are overrated.. unsure where you are from in the US, but they are nowhere near water views in Sydney, Australia. My advice is to get as close to your kids school as possible.
Good luck!
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