Singapore Expats

Hi.
Me and my wife gonna move to Singapore in November. In October I'll have a pre-visit for a 1 week to have a look what is Singapore looks like and I plan to visit some condos.
I won't rent until December because my company will pay 1st month for apart hotel, so I want to save a bit. But anyway, I think that it will be a good idea to know which condos will be good for me.
Our company's office is in the Buona Vista area so I think D5 will be ideal location isn't it? I've read loadz of good opinions about East Coast but it looks to far for me (I won't drive a car coz it looks too expensive).
Could anyone recommend some condos in this (Buona Vista) or other "handy" area? We're a couple without kids, so we don't care about schools and other children facilities. I would like to pay about 3K per month for the accommodation (not sure that my wife will find a job quickly).

Main requirements for the condo are:
2 bedrooms (1 is an option, bu I prefer 2)
probably study room
good kitchen (I like to cook)
good gym (don't care about machines, but want good set of dumbbells and barbells).
swimming pool (don't have any specific requirements about it)

shops, restaurants/pubs not far from condo, at least 1 mini-mart beside condo.

It will be good if I will find furnished place but it looks like it isn't common in Singapore.

Thanks for any recommendations!
Looking forward to enjoy Asia

Dover Parkview
Heritage view
Google them

I live in dover parkview and pay just over 3K, when I look on the net the prices for 2 beds seem to vary between 3-3.5K so you should be able to find something. The gym is tiny, old, and generally pretty crappy, but there is a fitness first at fusionopolis 15 mins walk away. Holland village is roughly a mile away for bars and restaurants

Heritage view

One of these places you need to visit to get the right image. Crappy, overpriced, claustrophobic. IMHO of course.

x9200 wrote:

Heritage view

One of these places you need to visit to get the right image. Crappy, overpriced, claustrophobic. IMHO of course.

I can't comment, it's just the place next door that I walk past sometimes, never actually been inside.

Your statement could probably describe 80% of condos in Singapore though

I found this particular one somehow exceptional. For a pretty large number of condos we visited during our housing hunts this one was the most disappointing. The apartments were acceptable and not much different from many other condos but the whole vibe, the common places, a very weird inner well staircase/ claustrophobic corridors.... We ended up in Holland in a brand new condo paying something like 300-500 more (3+1). Incomparably better place by the standard of living and location-wise.

is heritage view the one with lots of swimming pools? if that's the one, then it is pants.

Yep, lots of small "swimming" pools AFAIR.

Go for Dover parkview. Its slightly older but very well maintained. The liveable space is also much better than the newer condos. The view from the condo used to be more open until a few years back, but now new HDB buidlings surround it from almost all sides. The pool is awesome.