Singapore Expats

Some advice here would be great. With my husband leaving for Singapore in a month's time, we are actually quite lost as to where he can spend the first few days or even the first couple of weeks while hunting for a proper place. I'll join him in 5-6 months'. The company does not offer accomodation nor provide living allowance, which is fine by us. To be very honest, we are an average family of two - we had a late start in life, have very limited savings and do not fall under the "well paid high-flyers" category and therefore we cannot afford to stay in hotels or Service Apartments when we first come over. At the moment I've looked at cheap common rooms, and even hostels ($20/day) as an option. But any tips or suggestions would be lovely.

Where did you expats stay initially after landing in Singapore?

Make sure I had enough funds to provide food & lodging for myself for a month before even attempting to do something like that.

I'd suggest your husband to take a short-term accomodation contract to stay at a common room somewhere, and go hunting for a nicer place that you both can live in so he can do so with ease.

Hostels could be fine, but $20 a day hostel will most likely be a 16 people dorm room, and frankly even I (26/M/single) could only live there to go to work for a week, really...I need my own space to wind down after a day's work.

My experience:

I stayed in a hostel for a few weeks so it's easier to go to the office to settle paperwork for working so I'd be officially employed. In the mean time, I went to banks to check the requirements to open an account, check the places to stay in all the property and room sites, and check them out one by one. (a bit difficult during weekdays, since usually the landlords are only free after office hours...)

Finally settled in Woodlands for my first year, getting a common room with flatmates, living in what Singapore called a "Jumbo House" (basically 2-2 room flats combined into one)

After a year, I found new place in Serangoon, also a common room with new flatmates, smaller in size but it's enough and I've been living here ever since.

While I consider myself in your category, I had assistance when moving here. What I do remember is that it can take a few weeks to find a place, and then to get the paperwork to happen, so to SMS's point need to budget for that.

Can you at least get a corporate discount at an executive residence? Though sometime these discounts are higher than one can do on the internet or elsewhere.

I don't know if there are weekly hotels here, but in other countries this is a cheaper option to hotels.

Akimbo wrote:I'd suggest your husband to take a short-term accomodation contract to stay at a common room somewhere, and go hunting for a nicer place that you both can live in so he can do so with ease.

What you are suggesting is illegal. Private lodging (not commercial zoned) for periods of less than 6 months are not allowed by either URA or HDB. Additionally, private homes/rooms cannot be let to anyone who doesn't have a valid residency visa (School, Work, Business, etc.) SVP holders can only live in commercial lodging. Yes I know it's done, but we do not espouse doing anything illegal on this forum.

Once his S pass formalities are finalized, however, he is free to secure private lodging as he sees fit.

moderator

Welcome to Singapore. The initial move here can be very stressful, but once you get that out of the way, it can be a very nice place to live.

Where is your husband going to be working? Knowing this might open more suggestions.

By short-term, I meant 6 months minimum. Not the daily ones...that's illegal (except hostels), since Miss Swan will not be coming until 6 months later anyway. Is that still illegal?

Akimbo, after he secures his S pass or EP it is fine. But until he gets off of the SVP he cannot, so it will be determined how long it takes to get his S pass. (He should have a IPA (In principle approval) before leaving Australia though, to be on the safe side. If he has that, then it should only take one or two days at the most. So, a flop house (backpackers or someplace like Hotel 81 should suffice for a day or two). A lot depends on whether or not he has the IPA.

Oh yeah... -_-" I forgot to mention the disclaimer... "After your husband get his IPA (In-principle Approval) for the job, he may apply for bank accounts and short term 6 months contract for a common room. Then he can leisurely find a place for you both to stay in the 6 months before you arrive. In the mean time, it's still okay for him to stay in a hostel or something using his Social Visit Pass"

Thanks SMS

Air BnB!

Also, technically illegal! (As New Yorker's are also finding out.)

sundaymorningstaple wrote:Also, technically illegal! (As New Yorker's are also finding out.)

Strangely I see lots of Airbnb ads on the MRT or bus stops...

Akimbo wrote:

sundaymorningstaple wrote:Also, technically illegal! (As New Yorker's are also finding out.)

Strangely I see lots of Airbnb ads on the MRT or bus stops...

It's like the Uber crap... it's all good until someone gets a stick in the eye. The bird cage liner is already running articles on pirate taxis without mentioning Uber - that will be next.

@brian_singapore: The workplace is in Bishan, so our top choice is Bishan, 2nd choice would be Ang Mo Kio, and last resort would be anywhere that doesn't require long transport time to get to work.

@SMS: Thanks for the great advice and tips. And no, limited savings do not mean we're going there with no money in our pockets lol.

Where should I look for short-term rentals? I did a Google search and only found a couple of decent results. An apartment or executive residence sounds absolutely lovely but we really don't want to be blowing a grand or two on rental when he comes here. Our budget caters for food and lodging (and other little necessities), yes, but we'd like to set our budget for room as under a grand. Like mentioned before, we had a very late start into life, the hubby's only just starting to see some light throughout his entire employment history, and our top priority now is to save, in the hopes of buying a home one day.

PNGMK wrote:

Akimbo wrote:

sundaymorningstaple wrote:Also, technically illegal! (As New Yorker's are also finding out.)

Strangely I see lots of Airbnb ads on the MRT or bus stops...

It's like the Uber crap... it's all good until someone gets a stick in the eye. The bird cage liner is already running articles on pirate taxis without mentioning Uber - that will be next.

LTA has already declared they will introduce rules by Q2 next year for Uber-like apps.

I love Uber, despite never using it, for the competition it creates. I like that the taxi monopoly gets upset.