After what has seemed like endless days searching for an apartment in Singapore, I am happy to say that we have found the place we will call "home" for the next two years!
We went back and forth on the decision to live in our old condo (
Caribbean at Keppel Bay), but we actually decided to live somewhere else. So many of our friends (and Linna's little friends) live at the Caribbean, and it has an amazing pool, playground for the kids, and lots of moms who stay home with their kids. However, it is VERY expensive (and overpriced if you ask me) to live there, and since our purpose of being here is to go back to Minnesota with money saved for a down payment on a new house, we decided to live on the West Coast of Singapore.
 |
| Linna and her new buddy Mark from Germany. |
Our new condo is called
Luxe Ville, and it is amazing! It's a 10-15 minute bus ride to Harbourfront (AJ's work), as well as the Caribbean. It's a much smaller condo community than the Caribbean, as Luxe Ville only has about 50 units, and the Caribbean has hundreds. Our pool is smaller than the Caribbean's, but it has a more "secluded/private" feel. The best part is that our new condo is BRAND new, and it's almost double the size of our old apartment. We'll have thee bedrooms, so Linna will actually have a playroom, and three bathrooms. We're just about a five minute walk to
West Coast Park, which has a playground, beach, etc., and our surroundings have more of a "neighborhood feel" than the Caribbean did. We even made friends with a German family, as their apartment is right by the pool. They have a three-year-old son named Mark, and they have TONS of kid toys on their gigantic balcony/patio. Linna and Mark play very nicely together, and Linna even had a big meltdown when we had to leave the new condo yesterday. Mark only speaks German, so maybe Linna will come back to Minnesota speaking Mandarin, German, and English:) One thing we did sacrifice was having a bathtub, so Linna had better get used to taking showers!
It is crazy expensive to live in Singapore, and apartments/condos are no exception. The two bedroom, two bathroom, 800 square-foot apartment we lived in at the Caribbean ran about $5,400/month in rent. Unreal, right?! We got our new apartment, which has almost double the space, for $4,000 a month. Still crazy expensive, but we got a pretty good deal... for Singapore that is:)
We are so excited to get new furniture in the apartment, move in (April 3rd), and have visitors! We are slowly starting to feel like Singapore is our new "home". Thanks
Chris Chua with SRI5000 Real Estate for helping us find this place!
 |
| Guest bedroom. |
 |
| Master bathroom. No tub, but oh well. |
 |
Linna's room. We aren't buying her a proper crib in Singapore, as
we are waiting for her to "graduate" to a toddler bed |
 |
| Guest bathroom. |
 |
Kitchen. They close kitchens off in Singapore, so you don't
have to air condition it. Different huh?! |
 |
Our "yard". This is normally the are where a helper would stay. We don't have
a helper, so this is a third bathroom outside, along with the washer/dryer, and a place
to air dry our clothing. It's right off the kitchen. |
 |
| Dining room. Plain, but we're working on it. |
 |
| Balcony. Love this area! |
After what has seemed like endless days searching for an apartment in Singapore, I am happy to say that we have found the place we will call "home" for the next two years!
$4000 does sound quite expensive, but different places have different costs of living after all. Too bad that you had to make a few sacrifices, but with the huge difference between what you used to pay at the Caribbean and the bigger space at Luxe Ville, those sacrifices were definitely worth it. Having said all that, has Linna gotten used to taking showers yet? -Lakisha@Joanne Davidow
ReplyDeleteOh yes! Linna is actually loving her showers:)
DeleteThis is definitely a great place to call home. Did you move in already? I'm pretty sure the place is worth it's price. My friend told me that it's nice to stay in Singapore, but how's your own Asian experience?
ReplyDeleteSingaporean houses never fail to impress me. I visited my college friend last year and I enjoyed the beautiful condos and apartments on where I stayed at for the whole month. It's been a long search for you guys. Good thing you've found a nice place too. Have you considered redecorating your house though?
ReplyDeleteCalvin @ City Block Team
All moved in but it looks like we may be moving again!
ReplyDeleteWe are only here for 1.5 more years so it's tough to redecorate:) We have purchased a lot of our own furniture and some art, so I will do my best at our next place:) Any ideas are welcome!
ReplyDelete