The Search for our Second Apartment

Victor Nai strikes gold again! In case you're wondering, he's our agent =) He picked us up last Sunday for the first round of our apartment search and we fell in love with one of the places we looked at. Both Earl and I have since been referring to it as "our apartment" as though we already live there! But nothing has been signed yet so it's still too early to celebrate and we've got more flats to view.

In 2012, we gave Victor a detailed list of what we wanted for our living quarters. This time, the criteria basically remains the same except that we are willing to move out of the city in exchange for paying the same rental rate. We're currently in a two bedroom, one bathroom unit at SGD 3300 per month. We're hoping to get a three bedroom, two bathroom apartment for the same price (or less). This means though that Earl's commute to work might take longer and we won't have shops nearby we can easily walk to.

Apartment 1 - Pastoral View
Rate - SGD 3500
Size - 92 sqm.
Bedrooms - 2
Bathrooms - 1.5

• Pros:
- still located within the city and is a few steps away from Tan Tock Seng Hospital
- the Novena MRT, Square 2 shopping mall, and Novena Church are all roughly 10 minutes by foot
- has a separate washer and dryer
- Far East Organization owns the condominium so the building is well-maintained and it will be easier to have things fixed
- has a squash court, tennis court, and swimming pool

• Cons:
- no oven
- bathrooms are of an older style that I am not fond of
- the common bathroom is technically a narrow powder room where they installed a shower next to the door (very awkward layout)
- it's a longer walk to the MRT and the nearest bus stop is at least a six minutes away

Side Note: We weren't able to view the actual apartment as the tenant was out, so they showed us their model unit instead which you can view here.

Apartment 2 - Waterfront Key
Rate - SGD 3300
Size - 117 sqm.
Bedrooms - 3
Bathrooms - 2.5

• Pros:
- has an oven and a mini dishwasher
- ample closet space
- looks better than our current apartment
- when you get off the elevator on the ground floor, the bus stop is literally right outside the building
- the condominium is quite new (less than two years old), thus the rooms and the bathrooms are very modern in style
- has full condo facilities - Earl loved the gym and we both found the grounds quite soothing

• Cons:
- overlooking the Downtown Line MRT construction (can get noisy and dusty)
- 2-in-1 washer/dryer (I prefer them to be separate)
- no other furniture except for a sofa (which we do not plan to use so we will need to buy a lot of things)
- you will need to take a bus to the MRT station - the Macpherson MRT is at the 16th stop while the Bedok MRT is at the 5th stop (which entails a four minute walk to another bus stop)
- the nearest supermarket is two bus stops away
- too many neighbors around that can peer into the apartment (might need to keep the curtains drawn most of the time)

Apartment 3 - Blk 51 Strathmore (HDB)
Rate - SGD 3200
Size - unknown
Bedrooms - 3
Bathrooms - 2

• Pros:
- five minute walk to the Queenstown MRT station and the bus stop is even closer
- the supermarket is also close-by

• Cons:
- cramped layout
- old style decor - the bathrooms are covered in colorful tiles and the cornice had a swag design
- the color scheme was definitely not to my taste - the master bedroom was painted pink and the living room was mint green
- the kitchen definitely needed updating
- no oven or dryer

Side note: I didn't take any pictures as there were a lot of people around.