# A place to rent within 30 mins MRT to -Harbourfront singapore



## azznaz (Sep 28, 2012)

Hi to All,
This is my 1st post here so please bear with me. 

I am looking to relocate from UK to Singapore at the end of this year (1012). I need a room to rent.

My primary criteria would be:
- Live within 30 mins. travel via MRT to my office which is going to be in Harbourfront
- Budget: S$ 1000 including bills


Can some one suggest some areas where I should be looking at renting?

Thanks in-advance.

Cheers,
azznaz.


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## azznaz (Sep 28, 2012)

Hi Ed,
Thank you for your attempt in trying to help me. I didn't see anything either since the pose was deleted. Please can you PM me on what you want to say?

Thanks and kind regards,
azznaz.


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## sgporc (May 14, 2012)

ok... I'll try again for the third time since my second post was also deleted as you can see. for your sake...

first, I was saying that in terms of location, using a strict interpretation of 30 mins travel time door to door, let me first deduct 5 mins for walking between the harbourfront mrt station and your office, and potentially another 10 mins (<800 meters?) from your future home to the mrt station. That leaves 15 mins travel on the train, which can bring you about 5 stops away from harbourfront. so just looking at the mrt map will give you a good indication of which locations/estates would be suitable. I also added that harbourfront is in fact also well connected by the bus system, so your range of options is in fact wider than you may think...

Then, I was saying that if you wanted US (i.e. us forum-mers who help out answering questions here, NOT rental or property specialists) to help further narrow down your possible options, or provide you with a better view of what it is like in singapore, you needed to provide US (once again, forum-mers) with your detailed expectations for your $1000 budget. (This was probably what got me deleted.)

The reason why I asked for your expectations is because there are so many variables to looking for a place to live. I've lived in 3 different countries so far and I've found that there are many different levels of expectations, or even interpretations of the exact same terminologies. For example, I've found that in USA, "room-mates" is often used in passing to refer to people staying in the same apartment, and often not sharing the same bedroom. In the UK, I've often hear "flat-mates" being used and seldom "room-mates", probably because there is less expectation of sharing a room in the first place, especially when one is financially independent. In asia, room sharing is not uncommon, so what exactly is a room-mate in the asian context? So that was why I asked for your detailed expectations, because there is no way I (or other forummers) have the time to cover every single detail every time someone asks a similar question. It's better for you to first let us know what you expect, and we (forummers) can manage your expectations as well. 

So anyway, let me give you some examples for a start... 

If you want a one bedroom flat solely to yourself, you can pretty much forget it at your $1000 budget.

You could possibly find someone else to share a rental...

Or there might be landlords who are just renting out rooms (I think it's called bed-sit in uk terminology), so the landlord is always around and might sometimes have restrictions on shared facilities such as cooking, or say TV usage in the living room.

Then there is the variability of either renting private properties (condominiums) or public housing. Note that pubic housing (HDB, google for it) in singapore is for everyone (80% of Singaporeans live in one) and can be of pretty good quality, and not the types of "public housing" in many other countries that are built for the poor and underprivileged. 

So... I'll leave you decide whether you want to provide us (forummers) with more info to help you. The more you ask, the more we can help answer...

Final comment, I'm posting it here again and not via PM because I feel such info is useful for others too in the future, and so should not be hidden in a PM, unless private info is being shared.

Cheers,
ed 





azznaz said:


> Hi Ed,
> Thank you for your attempt in trying to help me. I didn't see anything either since the pose was deleted. Please can you PM me on what you want to say?
> 
> Thanks and kind regards,
> azznaz.


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## wesmant (Feb 10, 2012)

Pls don't mind me to jump in.

1. If you expect private apartment for that budget, i really think it's near impossible. For a private apt, you should be flexible on your budget as well as distance to office. Bear in mind, some private apt might be lower, but not in 30mins distance door to door. 

2. You really can go to HDB, IMHO, and some HDB are even renovates as good as pvt homes. But it is minus facilities (no swimming pools, gym)

3. If you are still trying for within 30 mins to office, but don't mind busses, you can look at Telok Blangah, Depot rd, to Tiong Bahru area. Pvt apt would definetely not cheap here, but HDB might not be too far off the 1k budget.

Good luck!


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## azznaz (Sep 28, 2012)

Hi Ed, 
Sorry for the late reply. I've been quite busy sorting out relocation matters. I am grateful for your detailed response. I have now familiarised with the locations (via the MRT map) and also got some sites that's helping out getting an idea of the prices based on location as well the room conditions to expect. Obviously I cannot expect everything to be perfect, so I am planning on getting into a short term contract in case I find something better.

@wesmant - Thanks for your response too.

If anyone else here has flat to share please could you let me know. I need it from mid November 2012.

NOT: NO AGENTS PLEASE!

Cheers,
azznaz.


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