Yorkieabroad

We lived in Singapore from 1995-2002, so had a pretty good idea of how things worked when we were young and single then married without kids....now theres an outside chance we may be heading back that way with 3 kids in tow....we used to live in Telok Blangah, then Robinson Road, then Katong (when I left work and we started paying our own rent!) Now we're probably going to be looking to be up north somewhere so the kids can go to the american school (assume its still up there?). So....

any rough ballparks for:-

1) rental of a 4-5 bed place close-ish to the american school?
2) cost of a Honda Civic (we'll need something bigger than that, but it'll give me a marker for the way prices have moved - I bought one in '95 for 109k, and sold it for 42k when we left in '02)

Thanks a lot for any info

Kooky.

You're going back, too? Seems to be a trend. When we left, our friends started a book on how long it would be before we were back. Never say never, is all I say.

I've posted a link to a good property site on another thread you're on.

Cars - how about this? http://www.aas.com.sg/carprice/newcar.htm

Yorkieabroad

Thanks for that - looks like prices have come down a bit...

Not sure if we're on the way back or not. Still a long shot at the moment. Had the approach from a company there, but suspect the package will be a stumbling block....they last knew us as singles/newly married. Now we've got 2 school age kids and another very close to...makes us quite a bit more expensive....

Kooky.

We never had a car but I know the COE went down a lot during our time there.

Old hands tell us property is back at "normal" levels after being low during our time (2002-8).

During our last year or so we did notice the CoL go up considerably. Taxi fares especially

ex-reg can probably give you up-to-date info.

Yorkieabroad

To be honest, given the price of everything else when we we there, I felt sorry for the taxi drivers (well, the ones that weren't hellbent on killing me, anyway...) - the fares were so low you wondered how they actually made a living!

katongkaren

I don't know if it's still the case (I left Singapore last year) but there were very long waiting lists for international schools. You might want to check before you set your heart on the American School.

and yes I lived in Katong too (well you can tell from the name). Used to live bottom of Onan Road (East Coast Road end).

Englishmum

The agent whom we've been using sent me an e-mail which lists virtually all the condos and housing rentals (most with photos) available in Singapore - although obviously the Saturday edition of the Straits Times Classifieds is always a great resource, but not much help if one is not in Singapore! (Don't know if it's online or not?)

This is the website (with rental prices) but can be slow to load:

http://www.singaporeexpats.com

We've just got an apartment at a new condo called 'Montview' in Mount Sinai Drive, off Holland Rd/Ulu Pandan Rd - it replaced Yang's Garden Village (and can be found on the above website). The old SAS is located a few hundred yards away and when they relocated to Woodlands it became the Australian International School. They've moved to another location and the school is now called "Emaar International School" so might be worth checking out, as well as the Canadian International School if SAS can't take your kids.

However, there is a thread on the parents section of http://www.expatsingapore.com which is implying that many American kids are being pulled out of the school due to the economy and the wait-lists are v. small or negligible. I've listed the thread as it originally related to Tanglin Trust & UWC:

http://www.expatsingapore.com/forum/...c,47726.0.html

Yorkieabroad

Yeah, I thought that would be the case...a bit premature for us to get on the waitlist yet, but if we get anything more concrete it'll be the first thing we do! When we were there last, I had thought we would go for the ISS if it ever got to it, but given the kids are now in the american system and likely to return there when the next stint in singapore ends, it makes sense to try the SAS first.

We were in Brooke Road, just over the road from Marine Parade and next door to a hawker center with one of the best "pointy stalls" in singapore!

Yorkieabroad

Thanks EM - I'd sort of hopeed that the economic woes would have a sulver lining somewhere....although I also suspect it may be the thing that determines a family of 5 won't be getting the relocation......we will see!
Thanks for the link - I was trying to look at it last night - as you say, pretty slow loading!

katongkaren

We used to use Brooke Road as a cut through when walking down to Parkway Parade. Well, it probably looks a bit different now to when you were there - but Singapore is forever changing of course.

Yorkieabroad

Oops...parkway parade - that was it! Only lived opposite it for 2 years and visited it at least 4 or 5 times a week! Would have thought I'd have got the name right!

katongkaren

No, you're not wrong - Marine Parade is just a little way along from Parkway - or at least it was a year ago. You never know with Singapore, places disappear so quickly.

Inselaffen

to be exact Parkway Parade Mall is on Marine Parade. Live next door to it

katongkaren

Duh you know, I was thinking about Marine Promenade - my mistake.