Apartment Hunt Day 1

Today I took the three kids apartment hunting while Ted was at work. We saw 10 places, had planned on 9 but a person grabbed us at one of the buildings and said she had another one for us to look at. I am surprised by the range of properties we saw. There were modern high rises, older low rises, a duplex, great locations, harder locations. . . so much to explore. I took pictures of most places but the only camera I had was the one on my phone so I apologize for their quality. Tomorrow we are going back to at least two places we saw today and visiting several others. Ted is taking the day off from work to join us so I should be able to take the good camera and get some better shots.

1 and 2. The Anchorage Condominiums, 370 Alexandra Road
We saw two units at the same complex.
1. 3 BR + 1 (maid's room--we will not have a maid, sorry friends who were so excited for us)
1550 sq. ft.
unfurnished
across street from Ikea
no bathtubs or oven
pool view

This one was newly renovated. Some of the kitchen was open to the rest of the house. The actual kitchen with the sink, stovetop (no oven) and refrigerator were in a separate room behind a pocket glass door. This is customary here, kitchens separated by doors. Beyond this picture, you can see into the actual working kitchen and beyond that is a small room for a washer and dryer and a tiny closet that serves as a maid's room and a small bathroom for her. This one had one of the floor toilets, you know, a hole basically. No shower or AC for the maid (or the kitchen).

The common bathroom was lovely, modern.

Rooms were big with blackout curtains and of course the built-in wardrobes.

The glass doors opened all the way with some bars at the bottom. Perfect breeze coming through. A little dangerous for the kids but our realtor (who is FABULOUS) told us about this type of plastic you can have mounted to these railings and they can even go a bit higher so that kids can't climb on them and topple over onto the pavement below. Nice image, yes?

2. also 3+1

1507 sq ft

fully furnished

dark for the 7th floor

2 very small balconies

smells bad (mothballs?)

no bathtubs 

oven, washer, dryer included

I liked the wall paper, but that's about it. Dark, dark, dark.

The dining area

Typical kitchen, but this one had an oven and a hood, rare.

Fine bathrooms.

This is the master. Just a little clunky. And mothbally.

The common areas at this place are very nice. 

Beautiful playgrounds with picnic tables and barbecues to reserve. 

In another section of the complex, these areas can be reserved for barbecues too.

The pool area was very nice. A gym, a changing room, saunas, big pool, children's pool, and jacuzzi pool. It seems elaborate, but this is pretty standard here. The quality is nice though. I gave this place a C+ (B- for the first unit and C for the second).

3. The Metropolitan Condo, 8 Alexandra View

3 + 1 (maid's room) + 1 (study)

1787 sq ft (including large balcony space)

fully furnished, 2nd floor (but on stilts so higher) right above Redhill MRT line

no oven, but space to put one in (you can rent ovens here and put them on top of a counter, plugging them in)

beautiful, gorgeous, must come back!

no bathtubs

I've looked at the pictures and unfortunately they don't do this place justice. It had wow factor. I loved this place and it is in my top two for the day.

Wide open living space, very modern

Looking out onto the very large deck that is shaded and quiet. 

One of the two smaller bedrooms with built-ins and a desk, also a balcony.

The kitchen is breezy and has a window that actually faces outside. Rare! No oven but plenty of space for one. Everything new and modern and lovely.

The master bedroom with large wardrobes and decent size deck.

Wardrobes in the second smaller bedroom.

Another angle of the living room and study area (and this unit's flashily-dressed realtor)

This place has a large children's wading/splashing pool on one side near a playground and a large lap pool on the other. Near this one, there is also a children's wading pool and even a jacuzzi on past. Grade A.

4. Tiara, 1 Kim Seng Walk (across the small road from where we are staying now)

3+1

1300 sq ft

fully furnished, 25th floor, no balcony

bathtubs and an oven

breezy, very high up, gorgeous views (even can see Ted's office downtown)

little older than the others, very bright though

Big wide-open space with excellent views

Typical kitchen but with an oven.

A kids' room with a trundle type bed.

The master. Nothing fancy, the views do the work here.

I'm sorry that I didn't take pictures of the pool because it was nice and had a fun waterfall feature as well as a children's pool. The playground was next to the pool and had sand--weird but fun for them. It's nice but it's a solid B.

5. Wilmer House, St Thomas Walk

4 bedroom, no maid's room

2260 sq ft

unfurnished, no washer or dryer either

old-school

two levels, huge, massive--a lot to furnish

oven, two bathtubs

no playground, small pool

ACs not owned by property owner, would have to service quarterly on own dime

This is a small complex with 32 units. Each place has two floors. The bottom floor has a large family area, a kitchen, and one bedroom. The top floor has two smaller rooms and a master bedroom, along with a large family area. This place is very much old-school style. There are gaps under the doors and all the fixtures are very old. There are ceiling fans here, which is nice. 

The bottom floor (which is actually the 8th floor) has tile floors and big doors that open.

Large kitchen. Refrigerator stays.

One of the small rooms.

The pool is smaller and it's just fine. No playground or special kids' pool.

This place is very different from the others so it was hard to rate. I would give it a B+ because I liked it better than the others (excepting Metro) but it would simply cost too much to furnish the whole place. Not for us but wonderful.

6. The Merasaga, 23 Jalan Merah Saga

3+1

1410 sq ft

partially furnished, but that really only means fridge, stove, oven, microwave, washer and dryer

I regret that I did not take any pictures of this place. We had just gone to lunch and my blood sugar was still correcting itself or something. Oh, I know, this is the place where the owners were in the process of leaving so it was filled with furniture in boxes and sweaty movers wrapping things up. Looking past that, I could see the place was very nice. And the location is ideal, practically right in Holland Village. I wanted it right away. I'll find some pictures from propertyguru to show.

The pools were very nice, but the playground was teeny. That's okay because in Holland Village there are a few playgrounds we could walk to.

This is what the living room looks like (the one we saw was being packed up though)

It did have a nice balcony too. So quiet for its location. Enough room to put out a table and a couple of chair for a nice evening sit and drink.

If this place had been furnished, I would have asked if we could take it. It's not as modern as The Metropolitan, but the location is incredible and this quiet balcony was wonderful. I want it, but it's already at the top of our budget so we wouldn't have enough left over to rent or buy furniture for the year. A- (but the minus kills me)

7. Spanish Village, 56 Farrer Road

3

1528 sq ft

partially furnished

This place was the front-runner because we liked the location and we had already scoped it out. We knew the complex was older and a low-rise but we had high hopes. Ted left work early and met us here.

It was actually pretty bright despite what this picture shows. This is a large bedroom. The owners knocked out walls for what used to be balconies and turned them into inside living space. The unit's realtor said that the owners had used this back non-AC area as a maid's room. Not very private.

Pretty standard bathroom, but lucky it has a tub!

Kitchen comes with hood but no oven. Washer and dryer are included.

This is a big bedroom. That front section also used to be a balcony but it now part of a nice-sized room.

I was disappointed by this place. It just didn't feel right. And Ted and I had been sure this would be our place. The price was nice, and the pool was good, but that was about it. Disappointing, a C.

8. Fairlodge, 108 Holland Road

3+1

1313 sq ft

tiny, microscopic balcony

pretty interior

seems particularly well-built

love the built-in desks in every room

small seeming

I forgot to take pictures so I'll just grab a couple from propertyguru.

I was surprised to like this one so much. It was the cheapest and the location is pretty good. Pool was very nice. I liked this one but didn't love it. B+

(oh, unit #9 was also here as a woman grabbed us and told us we had to look at her place. It was an exceptionally nice first-floor unit with a terrific outdoor space. After we walked around and decided we liked it a lot, she told us it would be available in October. Shoot. Looking for August. We liked her place really well)

10. Viz@Holland, 221 Queensway

3+1

1259 sq ft

fully furnished

bus stops right in front (tons of lines)

gorgeous! fantastic! best place today! love it, sign me up!

absolute best facilities: barbecue/picnic areas, nice playground right next to large kids' pool, reading room, gym, tennis courts, lots of pools (one very large), changing rooms with saunas, even a couple of shaded massage tables so you can invite your personal masseuse over for a rub-down (I am not kidding).

When Ted and I checked out the pools, our realtor took this picture. The kids were really hanging in there. I was super proud of them. 9-10 places in 8 hours is a lot to ask and they did it! Tonight, there will be ice cream! And they hadn't even gotten to the part of the tour that they enjoyed the most yet.. .

the big lap pool

The dining area has this cool table and then a wall of banquette seating. Is that the fancy word for bench with cushions? It's super cool though.

Love the paint job in the living room and the fun furniture. Can you see that decent sized deck out there too?

The view from the deck. That's the big pool with the jacuzzi on top. 

These two pictures are of the children's room that they will all be fighting over. The room entrance has wooden floors but then there is this carpeted platform with another step up to a higher platform and a wall of windows. It's hard to capture with my crappy camera but this is room is so fun. The kids were bouncing all over it screaming that they wanted to move in straighaway. We do too! We know exactly how we would set it up. The only question is if it's big enough for when family visits. We'll see. . .

So fun!

The master bedroom is actually roomier than this picture makes it look. There is a big bench along the window and plenty of space to walk around. There is also a large flat-screen tv on the wall.

and a walkway with a his-and-hers wardrobe on either side leading to the master bathroom which is of course gorgeous!

Jacuzzi tub with a separate shower. All the fixtures in the whole house are gorgeous and modern and perfect.  The location of this place is also very nice, close to Holland Village but not right in it. One or two bus stops up the road or a 10-minute walk. Sound like a short walk but in this heat it can be brutal. It's not a shaded walk. Oh, the kitchen was also great-looking. And it had an oven and large refrigerator. The washer-dryer area was also large and open and had a kids table and chairs set set up. This place is perfect for us. A+

So we are done with day 1. Tomorrow we'll look at some new ones and go back to two I liked that Ted didn't get to see (The Metropolitan and The Merasaga). I think we'll know by the end of tomorrow what we'll want to do. 

It's all very exciting. I love, love, love the last place and would like to go ahead with it but I supposed it makes sense to check out the last spots too. And it's reassuring that there are so many great options because right now, I would love to live in the last place, (ha! The Viz) but if we don't get it I know that the Metropolitan is also a nice option, and the Merasaga too! 

I'm going to have a glass of wine to think it over. And share this blog with Ted who only saw the last few places. Tomorrow we'll go out again and who knows what we'll find?

(sorry for any typos. i am extremely tired and hungry for wine so i want to finish this quickly)