Settling Tips for New Singapore Residents

Hey ,
My name is Lakshmi living in USA. My brother is in Singapore for the past 3 months and he;s getting married this jan. My SIL is not too modern and needs more tamil people near by. Please tell me how to find cheap apartments with minimim facilities also with more indians. What will be the average rent and other charges.
Your input is valuable . Please let me know ASAP.
Donot ask me why your brother is not doing the job. He's a release manager and always says he's busy. But I am concerned about my SIL and donot want her to be suffered. Please help me Girls

Dear Lakshmi,

Its so nice of you to have concern for your SIL, in these days where we are reading a lot about abusing and creating problems, its good to know that you dont want your SIL to suffer in the new place.

hope Ilites in singapore will help you with this.

All the Best

Hello,

I am glad you are taking a lot of interest in your family members comfort..something very rare these days.

Well, as long as I had been in Singapore, I didnt find the place alien in anyway. I lived in Serangoon area, where most indians live. Close by is mustafa shopping mall, little india and temples. This is the best place for your SIL. But there are many other areas like Bishan, Woodlands, Bukit Batok and some more which i am not aware, where there will be more indians, but you will not have the comfort of finding indian stalls close by. I lived in Bendmeer, to be precise. Its just a stop away from Mustafa center and two stops away from Little India.

This is where we get all indian stuff and it will make one feel at home...like walking around in Pondy Bazar!!

I am sure your SIL can feel at ease in S'pore..nothing to worry - this is my personal opinion. As for friends, she can have your brother's friends' family to chat with! The calling cards are cheap and she can talk to her family here often if she could. The libraries have tamil magazines and she can also get all the books in indian stores in Little india.

As for the rent, I heard the rates have now gone up. But you could get a 3 room hdb for $1000. Inclusive of public utility - electrcity and water. For 4 room it will a couple of hundred dollars more. She can find shared accomodation in many indian families. But that would test her tolerance level!!! It will cost around $450-500, depending upon the facilities offered. The cost of living is not too high if she can balance with her expenses.

Hope this input helps and your bro and SIL be merry.

Cheers
PoorniDaya.

Hi Lakshmi,
I can assure you that Singapore is a place where your SIL will settle down quite easily. Though the rentals have increased in the past few months there are still HDB apartments that are available for low rentals. HDB stands for housing development board. These are very well maintained and very comfortable flats.There are Indians everywhere in Singapore and your SIL will have no problems finding them in any area she goes. Most areas have atleast one tamil speaking provision shop/vegetable stall.
Then the Singapore transport system is excellent. Unlike the US where knowing to drive is essential it is not so in Singapore.
Let me know if you have any other sepcifice queries.
Regards
Kalpagam

Originally Posted by lakshmilatest

Hey ,
My name is Lakshmi living in USA. My brother is in Singapore for the past 3 months and he;s getting married this jan. My SIL is not too modern and needs more tamil people near by. Please tell me how to find cheap apartments with minimim facilities also with more indians. What will be the average rent and other charges.
Your input is valuable . Please let me know ASAP.
Donot ask me why your brother is not doing the job. He's a release manager and always says he's busy. But I am concerned about my SIL and donot want her to be suffered. Please help me Girls

hi lakshmi,

my living place is singapore itself.Here, the prices are hiked very much , for 2 bhk it costs no less than 1500SGD.Coming to the location SengKong,Bedok,Clementi,Jurong,Commowealth r the most running areas.There may be a few more, but these r upto my knowledge.Coming to the lowest prices,JTC's r there but now they r like hot cakes, difficult to catch them, otherwise she can go for a shared accommodation.



regards

Hi Lakshmi :

First up, I really appreciate your efforts to do such a wonderful peripheral work for your SIL. S'pore is such a nice place to live in unlike the USA, where one feels totally alien. At the end of it, after your SIL moves in, she might only feel like having moved to another state in India or if not better than that.

Yeah, Mustafa is the one step shop for all indian groceries. There is nothing you cannot get in Mustafa. Vegetable vendors in Little India sell everything that we get back in India. Ofcourse there are lots of vendors who also home deliver groceries.

There are lots of temples, tonnes of Indian EXPATs that you SIL will surely feel at home here.

Lastly, you can give our email ids for her to connect once she is here for any help.

Cheers
Neeraja.

hello friends

how r u all

i need some information.....

we were in tokyo and 2 days back we moved here in singapore

we r looking for a house in semei,tempeng and bedok area.how can we search for a house and which agent we should contact?
i m having 9 months baby -so anyone pls guide me from where i can get baby clothes and baby food products etc.?

any online grocery store ?

hi Monika...

have look who are the active members of il in singapore you can pm them for all your questions...and there is one mustafa shopping centre which is very popular you can go there for all indian items and other requirements too....hope you get some help very soon.

Hi Monika,

Welcome to Singapore! Regarding Housing (rent), we all go through agents only.
And in the daily Newspaper ' The Straits Times', you can find many housing agents
Specialized in some areas. You can choose your agent & tell about your requirements.

Then, regarding the baby products & foods for a new comer to the Singapore I would recommend Mustafa Centre in Little India & when you have settled down you can find many shops in your neighbourhood area. Here almost in every area you have shopping centres...so don't worry about that! Do feel free to ask many questions about Singapore.

Hope you enjoy your stay in Singapore

thanks padmatvt and anushiv for ur information.