Several people have asked for some insight into the Singapore thing, so I am trying to jot down some details of some of my experiences here.
First off, the trip over here is long --------- really, really long! Painless enough – just long! I took the flight out of Louisville on US Air to La Guardia, then retrieved my bags and caught the shuttle bus over to JFK. Pretty easy. Waited around JFK, where you see a little and a lot of everything, for a few hours then was off . I flew out of NY on Singapore International Airlines. We landed in Frankfort where we got off the plane for an hour while they cleaned it and restocked it, then off again. I will say they fed us – even in coach – very well and often. I was in coach, but everything was still very nice. Each seat had it’s own little TV screen where you could watch one of several movies – in one of several languages – or play games. They give you a nice clean blanket still wrapped and sealed in plastic, along with a pillow. I read a little and slept a lot. Not too bad an experience. When I come home this time, I’ll do the same trip in reverse. One of the times I come back and forth I’m going to try Northwest Airlines through Narita in Tokyo .
The people here are very friendly and most all speak some version of English. It may not be the English you and I learned, but I will say it’s not too hard after a few days to get through all the various accents. You can see and hear the English influence in almost all things. Most everyone we have encountered speaks their native tongue, some version of English and usually at least one other language. In the schools here students start very young learning English and at least 2 other languages.
We've been looking at apartments like crazy - it's a very weird system. Most of the apartments are empty - they just leave them the way they were when the people moved out. Extra furniture that is the owner's and the people were using; junk the people left behind; curtains sometimes half down. If the tenants had been there awhile or the owner hasn't updated the apartment in a while there might be much older fixtures like ceiling fans, lights, faucets, washer/dryer, countertops, etc. They do not clean the apartments up or fix them up in any way before they show them. So you go in, look at it, see if you can manage to see beyond everything; then decide whether you want to make an offer. They have a starting point for the rent. You look at their starting point and then decide what all you'd like done to the apartment - cleaned, painted, new fixtures, new appliances, etc. Then you give them that list, plus what your offer is to pay for rent. Then the haggling - oh sorry , the negotiations - start. They almost never show an apartment while the current tenants are still in it. Once in a blue moon. Basil's friend from the class at Singapore Air went to look at a 2 bedroom apartment that is owned by a big time model here in Singapore who is returning to Korea . Her apartment, of course, was beautiful and immaculate. One of the ones we looked at still had the tenants in there - they were packing to leave - 4 college students from Spain and France who have been working on their master's degrees here, then decided to take off and backpack through Malaysia and Thailand for several months. They had just returned and were in the midst of packing. The didn’t even look up when we viewed the apartment. Just walked around us and kept doing their thing. Big difference in the apartments! We looked at the apartment again after they moved out - as bad as it was to see - it was 300 times better than when they were in it! I guess it's all relative!
We have made a tentative offer on one. It really is a great place with a spectacular view of the city, but only minimal views of the bay. We kind of lowballed the rent offer, asked for several things to be done to the place and then offered to rent it for 5 years. It's been empty since August, so we're hoping he looks at his 6 month loss and realizes we'll be easy rent money every month for 5 years, so he won't accrue a loss during that time. Also, it's also a carrot ploy. Over here you must pay a month's rent as a security deposit plus one month's rent for every year of a contract you sign. You get that money back at the end of the contract, but it can be a sizeable amount upfront. But essentially what you are doing is giving him the money to pay for the upgrades and repairs up front. From several of the other Americans already here, we understand sometimes this is very effective in getting what you want. We have also heard from some that the owners sometimes will still say no, in which case we'll try another offer or move on to something else and try again. Very strange system. Took a little getting used to at first – the state of some of the apartments can be very surprising, especially when you are looking at it as a potential home for yourself. But after the first few you adjust!
Guess I've written enough for now. Thought you might like a little inside view. Off to the IKEA store to check out home furnishings, etc and then to explore some in the city!
