paolo12345

Dear all,
I have recevied a relocation offering but need to understand how good it is based on cost of real estate.

I'll move with my wife and a 2,5 year old baby.

my wish are:
- an European style house (1000 Sq. f. , or 100 Sq. M.) in a good area
- 3 Bedrooms
- near internation kinden garden / hospital school
- if possible some green would be great

my job will be:
- Airport for Shanghai / Tokio / Singapore /....
- office in Austin Road West Kowloon, Hong Kong

I'd like to know witch area is the best, and how much I'll gone pay.
Due to the fact that rent cost will be part of the job offering, I'm considering free to have no compromize (ok.. not 620.000 hk dollars per month

thanks
Paolo

hong_konger

Your office is located in heart of Kowloon and is relatively convenient for the Airport. There are many nice apartments near your office but not houses. If you really want to live in a house then you will have to live out of town. In terms of rental you are probably looking at somewhere between HK$50,000 to HK$100,000 per month for either a nice apartment near your office or nice house out of town.

If you are going to be in HK long term then you seriously need to think about schooling. School places are scarce and a suitable school may well be the deciding factor on where you live.

paolo12345

Thanks, any suggestion on how check schools? Any dedicated sites or list of schools I can contact?

hong_konger

I really have no idea. My kids went through school a long time ago. I guess you will have to do an extensive Google search.

penguinsix

There is a Facebook group about schooling here:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/hkschools/

Note you really don't have much of a choice for the top international schools. The waiting lists are years long, and you have missed the deadlines for enrollment next Fall. Basically at this point your choice is "whatever school will take my kids" and that might see you sending them a bit far away. If you are looking for admission in August 2014 note you are very late in the process and some schools will tell you not even to waste your time applying for 2014-15.

The general advice on where to live, if schools are an issue, is "schools first, housing second". If you can find a school, then look at housing in the area vs. commutes for the children / work, etc. You don't want to find a nice home in Stanley and then have to send your kid to the Norwegian International School in Tai Po.

Most of the flats available are in large apartment buildings. Free standing houses do exist, but they are generally in more isolated areas and cost quite a bit. To get an idea check out:

squarefoot.com.hk
gohome.com.hk

Both have English search options as a preference (usually at the top of the page). That will give you some idea of how little you get for how much.