Family of 4 moving to SG from USA in AUG

[beebu68]

My hubby just accepted a job transfer to SG last week. He will be visiting SG for a few days in July and the entire family will move in Aug. We have two children, age 2 & 5. His company will not provide school or housing allowance, so everything is on us and seems to add up quick!

Since we only have 6-8 weeks before the move, look for a place to live and school, I'm a little overwhelmed. Are we better off finding a temp Service Apartment/housing until we settle then look for school and move near the school, or are we better off bitting the bullet and just pick a more centrally located neighborhood for a one year lease and move in a year if needed?

I heard commute is crazy during rush hours. I'm not too fond of the idea of busing my child for 45min to an hour each way to school. Ideally I'd like to live walking distance to the school (not sure which yet), but that'll mean hubby will have a long commute.

As for schools, I'm looking for a school that's nurtures creativity, critical thinking, social skills, love for learning (not learn to memorize), and genuinely care for the students. Parent involvement would be a plus. My son will turn six in 2014, so I'm assuming he'll be entering k2? What's a good option for a 2 yo (3 in 2014)?

I assume we're too late for most Int'l school like SAS, SAIS, UWC, etc that starts in Aug? What other schools should we look into? Would it be better to homeschool until we find a school we like? I'm concern about the transition from kindie to primary if we homeschool for a few months.

Any advice and suggestions are greatly appreciated.

[Hannieroo]

Question: zzm9980 wrote a long and very informative answer to this but I can't see it on my pad but I can see it on my phone? My glitch or the site's? I'd hate for OP not to see it because of that.

[Chantikki]

Chatsworth is a more affordable school, and located in the city.

[JR8]

Whoo... you’ve got in all on your plate... but hey, it will work out!

I don’t know anything about schools, but am ok on the $ side of other things.

No schooling, or housing allowance? – I hope his ‘basic’ is pretty good. I’d suggest (just IME) that a say 3-4 bed condo anywhere even vaguely ‘expatty’ is going to be say S$4k+ a month. The closer you get into District 9/10 then the rent goes off the scale. Don’t fall into the trap of being unfamiliar and so psychologically ‘having to live on Orchard Road’.

Most people, like yourselves, would arrive and say spend a month in a Serviced Apartment (company funded as part of relo). During that month they would also flat-hunt.

I think your priority is-

- Arrive, and get in a serviced apartment
- decide on schools/neighbourhoods
- flat-hunt

I suggest not doing a ‘take anything random’ for a year approach; as with a weeks research here you should be able to narrow it down better/longer-term.... = SO much less hassle.

Public transport is amazingly efficient here. I never see any major traffic jams.

‘Walking distance to school’ sounds a little idealistic in such a major city. It also leads to ghettoisation. (There is a condo next to the Aussie School that is apparently full of Aussie families. Do you move half way around the world to be amongst only your own kind?) I understand the desire to seek the familiar, but take some time, do some research... better than 3 months down the track when you’re all cool with SG, and then you realise you’re ‘just another mug’ who paid top$ to live on Orchard Road, when 10 minutes away would have been so much nicer/better)

[sundaymorningstaple]

Hannie, is this what you were looking for?

http://forum.singaporeexpats.com/ftopic95930.html

The OP spammed the original post in two locations.

[Hannieroo]

Thank you. I thought I was going a bit mad there. I couldn't understand.

Blonde moment. Sorry.

[the lynx]

Quoting zzm's post so that others will have it:

>>His company will not provide school or housing allowance, so everything is > >on us and seems to add up quick!

I sure hope he's making at least $240k/year SGD for even a remotely comparable lifestyle to what you have now. Where in the US are you from?


>>Are we better off finding a temp Service Apartment/housing until we settle >then look for school and move near the school, or are we better off bitting >the bullet and just pick a more centrally located neighborhood for a one year >lease and move in a year if needed?

Find a service apartment for one month. Don't rent anything sight-unseen. If this is on your own dime also, there are cheap-ish Service Apartments in the vicinity of Paya Lebar MRT. The address will be on Geylang Lorong 40, 42, maybe 44. This is important: You don't want a service apartment on a Geylang Lorong in the mid 30s or lower in value. The costs will be lower, but they're often really hourly motels with working girls nearby. Where I pointed you to is decent though, and should be maybe $3k a month.

After that, are you going to enroll in the public school system or private school system? This goes back to the husband's pay. If a private school, then get a place convenient near the school. Note that private schools run on average $3k/month.

There are whole forums dedicated to public schools. As a foreigner, you may not know where your kid will be assigned. I'd just rent a place centrally for a year and then spend a lot of time figuring out how the system works and where your kid will be placed. You'll be able to make a better decision then.


>I heard commute is crazy during rush hours. I'm not too fond of the idea of > busing my child for 45min to an hour each way to school.

It's crowded, but busses and trains are efficient. 45 mins gets you from most of the island into the CBD. Where is his office?


> As for schools, I'm looking for a school that's nurtures ....

Sounds like you're leaning towards private. Again, what's your budget for all of this? I hope you've thought that through, because I'm a bit surprised a company would pay a sufficient salary to cover the life style you're looking for, but not give housing and/or school allowances.

Just guessing and throwing out numbers since I don't really know what type of lifestyle you'd expect, but I would say you're looking at least $4k/month rent for an average 3bedroom condo you'd like, and then at least $3k/month for school for the first kid. Theres some kind of discount in most private schools for the second kid, but that's a few years away and let's just say it's $2k/month. You're now at $9k/month before any other expenses. At that salary level, you'll be paying at least 6-7% to Singapore, and income above that level will be over the US earned income exclusion, so you'll be making quarterly estimated tax payments to the IRS in the 25-30% range.

[JR8]

Jeez if they're a family with children, on a quarter mill, I'd REALLY hope they're not going to be staying in a... er 'hotel', down in Geylang!


Serviced Apartment:
Citadines
Etc etc...



(and all the others, just use Google, and the search options above)

[PPO]

We spent a week in June without kids trying to get everything sorted so we could get settled straight away but it is not till you live here that you relaize most of your preconcieved ideas were not realistic. We moved here fulltime with 3 kids 2/3/7 8 days ago. Dont rush yourself.Serviced acoomdation for a month is perfect to find your feet. Public transport is great but I found with 3 kids it was difficult to manage.Not uncommon to rack up $75 a day in tax fares just for myself never mind hubby.
Walking to school is not recommended at even at 8am it is ridiculously hot so don't pick accomodation just to be near school.Check schools out as theya re foten moving and if you lock yourself into a school and acocmodation then move you will have a long commute.
Just tacke one thing at a time.It cna get over whelming very quickly

[Ker]

This is our sixth year walking to and from school and there are plenty of other students and families doing the same in this area.
We live in the Ulu Pandan Road area near Jelita (Districts 10 and 21) where there are some good condo options. Nexus International School is on our door step as well as a few daycare centres and kindergartens.
Public transport is also good in this area especially the bus. Closest MRT stations are Dover, Holland Village and Buona Vista.
FYI most rental leases are usually for 2 years so be sure to take your time deciding where you want to settle before signing!
Good luck!