Advice on housing in Singapore pls

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I've read the previous threads on moving to Singapore but could anyone help with more specific advice regarding housing. It looks like we may be moving there later this year and DH's office will be based in the Jurong district which I understand is v industrial. We have a max of about 3,500 Sing dollars per month for housing and I'm interested in what you could get for this kind of money. We're not bothered about fashionable areas (just as well with our budget!) and ideally would like somewhere with a garden (cluster house?) as we have a dog and a cat as well as 3 kids. Ideally looking for somewhere with 4 bedrooms.

Are we being unrealistic? Does anyone have any insider knowledge about areas in the Southwest. Thanks so much to anyone who can help

Do you want to make it a different day, Rojak?

Or just meet for coffee in the morning?

I'm in the residential bit between Adam Road and Bukit Timah.
Will make a note of the meet up but can't promise anything as am expecting a baby in the next 2 weeks!
Slim22: I really have suffered with island fever, but DH is away a LOT during the week, so never wants to go anywhere at the weekend, and I moved here when DS1 was 4 months old, and then had another baby, so just hopping on planes and getting off the island for long weekends has rarely been an easy option. If your children are older, it's much easier to pop off to Phuket or Langkawi or somewhere, and that eases the pressure. I was also brought up in the English countryside, where Saturdays and Sundays meant roast dinners and long walks with dogs, and it's just not the same here. I have become extremely intolerant of sweating constantly, but then I feel like a trapped animal in the air con malls. I also hate shopping!

I know what you mean about walking.

A few times we've come back from Oz on holiday and have taken to walking home from work (about 4 miles!) having got so in the walking habit. However this hasn't lasted long as it's so hot and sweaty. I find the humidity good for my skin though (or maybe just bad for my eye sight .

Look out for the meet details in case we change them.

Good luck with the birth.

thanks so much for all your posts.
Deal's done. Looks like we coming soon. Don't know when yet. will keep you posted.
So housingwise, what's the deal with those prices rising by the minute???????
We can probably afford condo in central areaon package.
I've read a few threads and like the sound of Holland village and upper bukit timah area.
But where is holland village? Nice? overrated?
How far is upper BT say from orchard area (the only area I can pinpoint accurately!!!!!!!!!)
I want green space/interraction with people (so condo probably best)/I'm no shopaholic (hate malls)but like to walk to buy paper/milk/bread locally.

eldestgirl,Is that baby kicking????? take care.

Most of the rental housing here is owned by private landlords who basically follow trends. I don't know why but suddenly a lot of my friends are telling me that landlords are doubling the rent when the lease comes up for renewal, or just selling the property, as prices are on the increase. The only thing with Holland Village at the mo is that it is one giant building site, has been for some time and it doesn't look as if they are making much progress (unusually for here). You must also watch that any condo you move into doesn't go for sale en bloc, as loads of "old" condos(ie more than 10 years old!) are being demolished to make way for more intensive housing.
Upper Bukit Timah is a bit out of the way. The 1st, 2nd, 3rd Avenue Roads etc are nice, and around Coronation Avenue. There are some local shops at 6th Avenue, and a Gourmet Cold Storage.
Can you arrange to stay in a residence apt hotel first and then find somewhere to live?

slim, good luck with the move. can the company not send you out on a siting visit? we had a realtor show us round and we decided on area and housing type from that otherwise god knows what we would have done. we are close enough to walk to shops and really quick taxi drive into orchard area but far enough out to not feel squished.

eldestgirl, get in touch if you want to meet up at all any other time as i'm having a baby in 4 weeks and might just need someone else to empathise with!

well girls, whilst i have the chance can i pick your brains - sorry going off at a tangent, but who knows of any good carpenters who can make us a wooden patio/decking?! quotes we are getting are manic. its a tiny area. anyone !

sorry my mum is visiting so haven't been online much.

If we could meet for coffee, it would be great but go ahead if lunch suits you all better and I can always meet up another time.

Sorry don't know any carpenters, but would the garden centres here sell those decking squares like the ones at B&Q (think you don't need carpenters to install those)?

prob rojak, but our ground is too uneven for them to lay flat.

thanks though.

Egypt: Our pool company does decking, you could try calling them? Home Pools Specialist: 6223 3141.
Good luck with your baby too!!!

good morning all.
Can't sleep,now I just wish we could move next week and get settled.
(We only moved back to london 6 months ago after having spemt just 11 months in Amsterdam.
this moving thing so exhausting!!!!!!!!!!)
And now I also have to think about schools................
DS is turning 3 in march. Don't want to put him in preschool and them move him to other junior school. This is quite unsettling for him.He still misses his buddies from Amsterdam. I just want him to settle in one school and stay there the whole time we in Singapore.(at least 3 years I hope.
I hear Tanglin trust has veeeeeeeeeery long waiting lists.
What do you think about dover court and chatsworth? Any of your kids there?
What's the feedback on ERIS? looks lovely(montessori setting ideal for infant school) but just opened so don't want DS to be a guinea pig. Do you know anybody who sends their kids there??? any idea about fees??

I apologise in advance but I have lots of questions.

I'm still on for meet up in march.

Hi Slim22
ERIS - as I mentioned below I have a colleague with older kids there (6/8 years old.) They have only been there a couple of months. He is happy and moved them there from the Indian School. He liked the campus. I have a friend who had a bad experience on a look see visit - felt the admissions procedures and the show around was poor and did not get a good impression of the school. It may just have been early teething troubles though. Price wise, I understand it is quite reasonable and that is part of their intention/positioning - international education at affordable pricing.
IMHO, the only way to do it is to visit the schools yourself on your visit. I'm loathe to give any advice as you will find that everyone has VERY strong opinions on the schools they have selected and those they haven't and it's very difficult to judge what will be right for your family. When you are here aim to see a good range of the schools and you will very quickly get a feel for it.
Re. Tanglin - Nursery starts from the Sept they turn 3 so your ds could go there this year if they have places. UWC doesn't start til the year they are 4 and waiting lists are long. For Tanglin, if you have British passport then you go to top of waiting list, ahead of non-Brits. I'm not sure where there waiting list is at right now so not sure if 6 months is enough time to get him a place.

Re. Island fever - we don't find it too much of a problem, possible because dh and I both travel a bit for work. So by the time you add in the odd holiday here and there it works out fine. And with 2 young kids, we find that all the usual haunts (zoo, sentosa, bbqs with friends, swimming pool, playdates, dinners at all the great restaurants), more than enough to occupy us most of the time. Like others on here I hate shopping but love the fact that when I need something I can do a quick nip to the shops and be home in a couple of hours. When we lived other places it was a full day's expedition!

Let me know about the meet up ... although bit nervous about steping in RL - have you done other meet ups?

hi,
many thanks for your post.
Will make appointments monday to see some schools.You are right, we all different. Need to see for myself. But I'm such a novice. my first child and don't have many friends with kids.I tend to be slightly put off by all academic schools(although been there myself)but at same time I do value traditional ethos.Will see.
Living in singapore sounds lovely.I'm getting over anxiety now. Getting excited.

Re: meet ups. Done it when first moved to Amsterdam. Was the only way to meet english speaking mums/kids as my son was not schooled yet. Met lovely people. Found a canadian playgroup and made lots of good friends (many of which were actually neighbors!)
Of course, you can't hit it off with everyone.It's just a good starting point.

def try and get some visits in to schools as soon as you can. we saw tanglin and liked it a lot as a permanent place for dd when she turned 3. we put her name down in october/nov and she will start next sept when she is 3. i think you might find your ds will get a place. the woman who showed us round said there would be no problem at all. i liked it, i am an infant teacher and got a good feel. it reminded me of the british school that i taught in in riyadh and that was excellent. for now, dd is in an Eton House branch preschool. They have a few schools dotted around (look on their website). DD goes to the whitley road one, which is walking distance from where we live. It's very small and there are only 11 in her class. I'm not sure which age they go up - take a look on the website. i do wish didnt have to change schools again though.. you might prefer a smaller setting. we didnt look at any bigger schools as we were happy with tanglin, but looked at loads of preschools. another good one we thought was the White Lodge ones, of which there are 2 or 3. waiting lists again though i think, as couldnt get dd in for january we didnt bother.

its all such a headache at the moment for you i know exactly how you feel, i'm still coming out of the tail end of it. you will get there in the end! just make lots of lists of things to do!!

would love to meet up. have done a meet up before with the post natal group i chat with. that was fine. feels odd meeting people you have met online, sometimes they are completely different in rl. it would be good for us to meet though as the singapore lot! i am amazed that there are so many of us! esp for the new ones, that might feel more desperate for company - like me!!

eldestgirl, thank you for that number. we had a guy come round today - who is truly a local, and he quoted us $1000 BELOW the others we have had!!!! so we're going with him. finally

FWIW, my dd is at Tanglin - started in nursery and we have been very happy. I have no experience of British schools (other than my own lol!), so can't compare, but as it follows British curriculum it's definitely got a strong British flavour, with a bit of an Asian twist from time to time. What we have liked is the excellent caring environment, not pushy academically but follow quite a structured format, lots of special dress up days, maths days, teddy bears picnics, school outings etc. Also, they kids are all very friendly with each other. DD has friends in all year groups, particularly in infants, but even some in juniors. Love the fact that as we go around town or school they say hello to each other. What we don't like is that they don't have Mandarin until 11 years old. They do have Malay from reception on which the kids all seem to enjoy. There are other schools which have a better introduction to foreign languages IMO. That said, overall we are very happy and when ds gets to that stage we will send him there too, assuming we are still here. (Sept 08)

Eton House are also opening a brand new site on corner of Orchard Boulevard and Grange Road - think it opens in next few months I think, which will probably create more places.

I have friends who have kids at most of the schools in Singapore and they all have good things to say about them ... and then other friends who vehemently disagree either through experience or through reputation! It's funny isn't it?

My DS (5) is in Year 1 at Chatsworth East. When we were first researching schools over the internet, I was convinced we wanted him to be at Tanglin.

However, because DH's office is on the east and he has to travel a fair bit, we decided that living in the east would mean less travelling for all of us. Singapore is small compared to cities like London, but we were moving from a small town in the UK and had minimal travel times there anyway.

We like the school, it follows the Primary Years programme of the IB. DS was at a prep school in the UK and the emphasis was very much on reading, writing and maths. The PYP has a broader curriculum and they quite often have little projects or presentations to do.

I also liked that Chatsworth East was the same size as his school in the UK (small!). He has been there since Oct last year and has settled in very well and picked up some Mandarin although I doubt he will be truly fluent as they only have Mandarin three times a week.

I haven't done the big meet ups but I've met individual mums off mumsnet, both here and in the UK and it has been fine.

No mad scary types..... YET!

Hi,
Thanks ever so mucch for all your inputs.
Getting clearer picture.
Egypt, DS same age as your DD, they might end up in the same class!!!!!!!!!
Now here comes another practical question: how do yoy take/pick up kids to from school.
Here in london it's bus and walking.
Driving is not an option. Are there school buses? I'm a public transport person but The MRT seems pretty crowded at rush hour I would not contemplate that. Taxis??they seem pretty cheap but everyday? twice a day?? are buses very crowded too???

The most common way to get to school is by school bus, and most of the international schools have a bus service. They pick up at lots of the condos, or at central places in different districts. Having said that, I was one of the few parents who drove my son to Tanglin. We lived in the Coronation Road/Holland Road area.

yes dont worry about that slim. buses are provided by the school, by a cost to you of course! you're dh's company might pay for this though. unless you want to take dh to work then kids to school, some people i know do this, so then they have the car all day. but also means picking him up again, unless he taxis. you could get him to drop kids at school if poss and they just get bus home. see how it works for you. my dd is going on the bus soon - although its just around the corner, as with a new baby i need it! and dh needs to be at work around same time as her at school. when she goes to tanglin she'll def have to go on bus. its fine getting around yourself with no car. taxis, mrt, etc

I'm resident chaffeur and ferry DS to school, DH to office, which is just as well that we live close to both places.

Quite a lot of DS' friends go on the school bus and some cycle or walk too.

hello, me again with more questions.
Schools: How about the overseas family school????? any feedback???
Maids: we are seriously thinking about hiring a live-in. mainly as a nanny + general housework. I've read so many horrible posts on various forums........
I have just been on the minisrty of manpower website for info. Sounds like these poor women get totally ripped off.
Most of what you pay is to agencies/levy etc....
-can you recommend a decent agency??
-Can you hire locally? Would prefer someone who knows their way around town
-I was thinking about toping up salary directly to the maid (sort of like tipping). Is this prohibited by agency contracts???
Any info welcome.
-do they speak english reasonnably well?

hi slim, i'm not really the one to ask about maids as i dont want a live-in, just having a part time once or twice a week to do the house for me. but, we have been given info on agencies to use via our 'orientation' induction. your company really should provide an orientation session or 2 for you. we used 'transworld' and the lovely woman claudia came round to give us the lowdown on everything about living in singapore. you can ask her everything under the sun and she'll help you with it all. then she took us out and about to show us various places we might be interested in knowing about and our local area's facilities, using mrt, etc. a lot of this you are worrying about now need not be thought about until you get here and maids is definitely one.

i think basically, the maids are employed by a company, whom you pay a rate to, then you can top up their income if you wish. they have to have like, one sunday every few MONTHS off! but most people give them every sunday i think. you have certain things to pay for them, like a trip back home once a year, i THINK. but using a company is essential as its all legal and above board. and of course if you have any probs you can change maids....