After our first disastrous apartment hunting trip, which ended with high fever and a sinking feeling of hopelessness, we resumed our search with cautious pessimism. Despite seeing six inappropriate apartments on this next expedition, our spirits were actually re-lifted. We saw apartments in buildings that were just beginning to be filled, construction having finished within weeks before. One had a swank living room that opened completely into a magnificent outdoor patio space, another had an amazing high-end finish in every room, another with sprawling city vistas and an infinity pool in a deck overlooking a narrow river and a luscious lawn. Many occupied half the floor in the new narrow buildings they were built inside and the elevator opened directly into the apartment! Clean, fresh, and the only smells we could detect were of drying paint and caulk. But of course like most things in life it was too good to be true:
Novena MRT
Pavilion 11 - The one with the living room that turned into a massive outdoor deck - unfortunately it was overlooking two major and active construction sites and the wonderful city view beyond was being overtaken by the mad pace of building. It was not that near the MRT station and the bedrooms were tiny.
Kallang MRT
Riverine - Dust just settling from end-of-construction here; the apartment and building are newer than the iPad. I'm not sure what they call the little tributary extending from Singapore Bay/River on top of which the building is situated, but the view from the apartment and the pool deck (just over the infinity pool's horizon) is quite nice. Probably there will be some construction starting around this place very soon, but for now it is quiet. No real maid's room. MRT station is far away and you'd have to walk along a major highway to get there. No real shopping walking distance away. Too expensive.
Lavender MRT
Southbank - Another newly-built building. This one practically seats on top of the MRT. Open-plan kitchen. Tiny, tiny bedrooms. Very limited living room and dining room area. No real maid's room.
Newton MRT
Suites at Cairnhill - Really high-end finish, from kitchen to bathrooms. 4 bedrooms plus a real maid's room. 5-min walk from Newton MRT, 5 stops to work. Bedrooms are very small; king size bed wouldn't fit comfortably in the master bedroom. No convenient shopping in the vicinity, and too expensive. Pool deck overlooks busy street and construction sites, so constant buzz.
Orchard/Somerset MRT's - kind of...
Spring Grove - Older with outdated finish, really smelly and rundown. Felt like a basement. Lots of westerners in condo. Limited facilities. Far far away from MRT.
Aspen Heights - Scary, claustrophobia-inducing condominium. Have you seen "Dark Water"?
Issues with newly-built places: they are too expensive for the space and location you get, and most will not conveniently fit a king size bed in the master bedroom. There are also either regulations or some fashion mandate to build rooms with sitting spaces built into the window walls that dig into the already small rooms. Also they have to come with a bomb shelter, which is proposed as the maid's room but has no ventilation (duh!). Some smarter developers make bomb shelters be common spaces in the building, but they probably paid less per sq foot (psf), which means the location sucks... These almost ok ones are too costly to also be able to afford a car.
Issues with old places: they are too smelly. I guess upkeep is expensive with all the humidity, so you just hope someone won't notice? Anyways, it is really hard to consider a place seriously, even with all the luxury of large spaces and good location, when you're holding your breath to avoid inhaling dampness and musk.
After musing thusly to our agent at the end of the day, we were told that there are renovated units in older buildings, but those are hard to come by. Right... Well, let's just keep looking, then...
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