katongkaren

Note from the Singapore news that private housing prices are finally coming down after 4 years of upward movement. Will that mean rental rates coming down? That could be timely for you.

Englishmum

Oooooh I hope so!

Still hoping to move into a condo where we used to live (the landlords own all the apartments and live there themselves....they were/are so good to their tenants but we can't move there unless someone moves out, hopefully someone will give notice to quit in the next fortnight or so

My spouse is doing a 10k charity run in Singapore this morning (Sun) and is currently at the Fraser Suites in River Valley Road. I'm flying out to Singapore in November but may have to go sooner if I need to go apartment-hunting...

Is anyone a member of ANZA? I used to volunteer in their office at Tanglin Shopping Centre and one of the things I enjoyed doing was to play Mahjong with some ANZA members - I brought my Mahjong set and table to New Jersey and have not played it here at all (no-one knows how to play it here and I've forgotten the rules, bah!).

Hey KatongKaren....you lucky woman, living in Phuket! So jealous lol!

katongkaren

Jeez... your OH can run in the Singapore humidity??

Inselaffen

I plan to start playing field hockey here once my gear arrives. full keeper's gear should be fun in this humidity. can't be worse than playin in 42degree heat in dubai though!

Englishmum

Actually he forgot to set his alarm and missed the 10k run!

He just can't stop running...he was obese (I was very worried about him, he was snoring loudly and just looked awful and told him that I thought he was heading for a heart attack).

About 5 years ago I was away for a few weeks in India and the UK. When I landed at JFK he met me at the airport and I noticed that he'd lost a bit of weight. He told me that the day I left he'd joined a gym and had a personal trainer...he wouldn't be around much as he would be out running or at the gym every night. His weight dropped by 100lbs in just 6 months! (My sister calls him Forrest Gump...)

My spouse did some half-marathons and ran in the New York Marathon (3 hrs 45 mins) and last year ran in the London Marathon. He's had a nasty calf-strain injury which has limited him somewhat this year, but he actually ran in the Queens NY half-marathon 3 weeks ago and later that evening flew out to relocated to Singapore on the non-stop 18.5 hour flight from Newark airport.

He says it's not easy running around in the Singapore heat and humidity but although he missed the 10k run today, he did an 8 mile run (couldn't get to Sentosa as the footbridge is closed and didn't fancy getting the ferry (too sweaty) so ran up to Mt. Faber instead).

Englishmum

My son played in an ANZA soccer/football team for a few years and he was the goalie so had to stand there in the heat with the gloves, shin pads, boots etc.

I'll never forget one day when there was a Cup match taking place and there was a tropical rainstorm (but no thunder or lightning). The game continued and the end of the pitch we were standing at was dry....and the other end the kids were getting soaked to the skin! (We had such a laugh watching the kids kicking the ball and about half a gallon of surface water would rise in the air simultaneously!

It is interesting as to just how much the tropical rainstorms are so localised in Singapore.

Inselaffen

shinpads and gloves would be nice. its when you get to full body armour and helmet that it starts to get a little warm

Englishmum

How's the house/apartment hunting going? What is appealing about the East coast for you?

Our previous experience was that the agents tend to initially show newcomers (gullible/greenhorns!) the properties that have been on their books for ages as they're getting hassle from the owners to show people around....hence it's often the grottiest stuff you get to see first! They also tend to show you totally unsuitable places which don't meet/fit your criteria and you have to become firm with the agents or it will be a total waste of your time.

It always amazed me that the landlords won't do a thing to make their places look inviting until a contract is signed....we had been shown so many apartments with blu-tack stuck to the walls, holes in the walls, sellotape stuck to the windows, unclean and just an air of neglect. Really off-putting, and I'm one of those people who can't picture how something could be made to look nice, it has to be appealing from the get-go...

My husband is going out looking at apartments tomorrow....some are about S$1k over our budget but I guess prices are coming down so it will be interesting to see how it goes...

Inselaffen

will look at one place on friday or saturday in the Cote d'azur building. think its ideal for us.

prob won't decide yet as my company's usual estate agent is on holiday until the weekend so I want to see what she can come up with.

Kooky.

That's the one next to Parkway Parade mall, right? Big complex, quite new, good location for shops and beach (and food!) but nowhere near the MRT, although should be well served by buses.

IIRC there are a few people on the www.singaporeexpats.com forum that live there, so might be worth doing a search for threads with pros and cons.

katongkaren

I always thought that Cote D'Azur looked fab and great location - right next door to Parkway Parade and nice breezy seaviews - wow.

Well, we managed OK in Katong without MRT - only during the heavy monsoon period Dec/Jan we found we were a bit stuck. Though you can always invest in a vehicle if you've got the money

Being next door to PP there are always tons of taxis outside.

Best of luck.

ex reg

And long queues for taxis.

But a few of the condos do have regular buses to and from.

katongkaren

Yeh but the queues move very quickly. I don't think I've ever waited more than 10 minutes in line outside PP and usually only a few minutes. Have waited a darn sight longer in the centre of town and over at Suntec.

Inselaffen

plan to buy a cheap car and use Busplus to get to work.
would be handy to be closer to an MRT but it looks like prices will be a lot more for that.

katongkaren

But you can't have it all ways (re MRT). From Cote d'Azur it's just a short walk to East Coast Park - oh, but you'll have a car anyway.

Getting off subject slightly (sorry) but our fave Indian restaurant, the Mango Tree (southern Indian food) is down on East Coast Park - great food and service, aircon inside or sit under a mango tree(!) outside. Mmmmm, must start planning next trip to Singapore.