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Apartment leasing - Furnished/Unfurnished

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irnbru
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Apartment leasing - Furnished/Unfurnished

Post by irnbru » Thu, 11 Apr 2013 7:10 pm

Hi,

I'm moving to Singapore in the next 8 weeks and have got the majority of things sorted out, all that's left is accommodation. The package gives a budget for accommodation (approx $6500) - so I am wondering whether go for something furnished and save all hassle or unfurnished and start shopping.
Which leads me to think that if I buy all new furniture there, what on earth do you do with it at the end of the 2 years, are other expats in the same position?
Either the classifieds must be full to bursting of 2year old TVs or there are perhaps furniture dealers etc?

(if it matters, there is a 'furniture payment' for expats in lieu of shipping your own things over...which i don't want to do, so if want to buy furniture there the money is for that, if you get something furnished you keep the money anyway...)


Thanks!

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Hannieroo
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Post by Hannieroo » Mon, 15 Apr 2013 8:56 am

There is furnished available but in my experience anywhere that has a large expat population does have numerous almost entire home listings on Gumtree or similar. Plus if you have a big expat presence in your company people do post an email or on the notice board in the break room listing what they have, we've bought and sold loads that way. Big electricals go fast.

mrsamclaughlan
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Post by mrsamclaughlan » Tue, 16 Apr 2013 7:26 pm

Irn Bru,

Love the name by the way - good luck trying to get a can of that for your hangover there (cold storage sells them for nearly £2 a pop!!) How did you find getting a position in singapore, im finding it difficult.

Amanda

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JR8
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Re: Apartment leasing - Furnished/Unfurnished

Post by JR8 » Tue, 16 Apr 2013 11:05 pm

[quote="irnbru"]
IME if you let a furnished place, they tend to come with the trashiest left-over worn out broken junk.

If you buy new stuff (IKEA is your friend), when you leave have a 'garage sale', and anything else left over give to the 'Karun-goony man' (sp? basically old-style wandering neighbourhood rag n bone man.)

irnbru
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Post by irnbru » Fri, 03 May 2013 6:02 am

mrsamclaughlan wrote:Irn Bru,

Love the name by the way - good luck trying to get a can of that for your hangover there (cold storage sells them for nearly £2 a pop!!) How did you find getting a position in singapore, im finding it difficult.

Amanda
It's an internal transfer, got a 2 year contract with the firm I'm with now. £2?! Maybe as a weekend treat then which is when I'll have my hangover! Thanks for the tip!


Thanks for the advice guys, I've landed lucky and getting the use of a furnished place for the rest of the year (think ten furniture is being leased separately so hopefully not too bad! Still, gives me time to find my feet.

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Post by katbh » Fri, 03 May 2013 12:37 pm

Furnished means fully furnished and they will have photos for you. Partly furnished means it has a kitchen and bathroom. Unfurnished CAN mean that there is no kitchen! Here you pay rental but for tax reasons the landlord breaks that down into rental + hire of furnishings (Kitchen, bathroom, built ins).
You can also get unfurnished condo and then hire furniture. Then you get to chose.
But really, it so so cheap to do the Ikea run. Fully furnish a house for $2000.
One option is to hire beds but buy rest from Ikea.
Most hire contracts mean that at the end of the contract you are considered to have purchased the goods and for a small fee (often only $50) you can keep the goods. Then you can offer them on ebay or though expat auctions. Expat Auctions can clear most 'good' stuff. They get good prices for 'signature' pieces - often more than you paid for them retail.
Often people come to Singapore, do the ikea run and then get a few oriental type pieces as accents. These often get taken back with you to your home country to remind you of your time here.
katbh

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