Singapore Expats

Looking at a condo near Kallang MRT today, but many local friends/family warned us not to live in Geylang. I have a wife and a toddler...not sure if this area is safe, or whether I should settle elsewhere and not be tempted by the (comparatively) low prices in Geylang? I've read that the eastern side of Geylang is not too bad (by library/school), but I've not been able to find details about this area...could someone out there give us some perspective?

The other place we're looking at today is by Lorong Chuan MRT; I've been to the area but not looked around...any thoughts about life there for a young family? Looked green, but I'm not sure about wet markets, etc.

Both areas are equidistant to my place of work.

Finally, I'm wondering about indicating interest...is it safe/common to use cash as long as one gets a signed form from the agent?

dpot wrote:Looking at a condo near Kallang MRT today, but many local friends/family warned us not to live in Geylang. I have a wife and a toddler...not sure if this area is safe, or whether I should settle elsewhere and not be tempted by the (comparatively) low prices in Geylang? I've read that the eastern side of Geylang is not too bad (by library/school), but I've not been able to find details about this area...could someone out there give us some perspective?

The other place we're looking at today is by Lorong Chuan MRT; I've been to the area but not looked around...any thoughts about life there for a young family? Looked green, but I'm not sure about wet markets, etc.

Both areas are equidistant to my place of work.

Finally, I'm wondering about indicating interest...is it safe/common to use cash as long as one gets a signed form from the agent?

During the 70s and 80s, Kallang , Geylang used to be notorious for sex industry , triads etc. It is very much non existence except for certain ares from Geylang Lorong 1 to Geylang Lorong 16 I think. This is more for night life. It stretches from Kallang ICA to Joo Chiat Complex. IMHO you should be alright as close to Mustapha Centre, we market at Beach Road. You should be alright.

Lor Chuan more centralised. I do not know that area so I cannot comment.

lorong chuan is more of a quiet residential area with alot of condos......It is quite troublesome if you need to get to a supermarket or a food centre as they are usually not walking distance away......

Unless you really like a quiet environment and also away from the daily grind of the city then lorong chuan is the way to go....

hi, i stay near lorong chuan. am staying at serangoon central. if u're staying near the lorong chuan mrt, then u'll be only a short 5min train ride away from serangoon town centre. There's wet markets and provision shops there, as well as a big shopping centre NEX that's just opened with supermarkets,and cinemas there as well.

Geylang is nearer to city centre like cityhall, orchard. its famous for the sleazy streets, though its still quite safe to stay there.

Serangoon is becoming popular now, so one can expect rent rises, it used to be a cheap area, but now It's buzzing at weekends, especially around Serangoon Garden way.

The crowd isn't so bad now at NEX, down from a 100,000 a day when it first opened, though weekends is busy. The MRT is a breeze to the City.

thanks everyone...that was my feeling on geylang as well, but i'm glad to get some confirmation.
saw both places, the one in geylang near kovan was good, but the facilities were too meager to justify the costs. the one in lorong chuan had nice facilities, but was much smaller than we'd expected...looked like the owner included the balcony and an entranceway in her measurements...also lacking supermarket/wet market, etc.
this property search is unbelievable...we've lived in the us and europe and never had such a difficult time finding a place to live--3/4 of the agents have been a bit shady, though some are ok. fortunately, i have a place to stay until the end of july, which allows me to be patient...we'll see how long that lasts.

if you got the time, take it easy and view every single apartment to the last details.