Same old story - HK or Sing?

[biz]

Currently negotiating a move out to Asia. We've got two very small kids. The package is likely to be reasonable but from a business rationale perspective I am marginally better off in HK but the bank are happy that I choose Singapore if we feel that makes better sense for lq of ife. Any views from those who've done both with similar sitiuation?

On a more specific how much are decent sized flats with pool etc on southside of island now? And schooling of a 3 and 5 yrd old? Club memeberships? Any advice appreciated.

[tex]

we're moving from sing to hk in the coming month and have recently checked out the housing situation, etc. all that i'm writing is from the mouth of a newcomer so i hope some people on the ground there will correct me if i'm wrong. i myself would like to know if the prices we were quoted were real or likely to be significantly negotiated. that said, here's what we've learned.

housing in south side: we were looking at places btw 2000-2600 sqft more or less. they seriously fudge the footage in the newer places, by the way so they're not as big as they should be. anyway, asking prices ranged from 62K to 80K, excluding management fees.

a good number of the places we saw had pools.

club-wise we saw the american club and aberdeen club, neither of which we think we can get into. the aberdeen is FANTASTIC for kids. unbelievable. the american is...nice.there are seriously long waiting lists for many of the clubs from what we learned, if your company gives you a debenture you can jump the line.

schools: well, the debentures again are the way to insure you get in. you have to choose from English Foundation schools and the many international schools (american, French, Singaporean, etc). fees? i don't know but i know that a lot of these schools have websites which should help.

ok, so that's what we got from our 3 day trip to HK. hope it's helpful. if you need info about sing i'm probably far more accurate!

[biz]

Thats very useful stuff and thank you. Ive done a bit of running around and with some of the better clubs then a debenture seems to be the way forward so need to add that to list of asks...

It seems that the major cost differentials between the two places are: HK is massively more expensive for property and Sg is more on cars. Most other things cost-wise not far off neutral.

If it wasnt for a job relocation would you choose to leave SG for HK in your current situ? I did actually live in both places years ago and whilst I would think that SG is better with kids I dont want to discount HK as we had 6 happy years there (with no kids). It would probably be easier for me if the company said go to one or the other but its my choice so a dilemma.

Any pointers on SG also appreciated. Cheers

[tex]

well, we weren't thinking of leaving till the opportunity came along. singapore is SO easy. that said, once we started to get comfortable with the idea of living in hong kong (an ongoing process, we've never lived there before), singapore did begin to pale a bit in comparison more for me (wife) than husband. with just one kid at the moment, i get a lttle bored here. hong kong seems to offer a more dynamic lifestyle. still, given time here in sing i'm sure i could have made it work for me too. i wouldn't just isolate the issue of difference to "good for kids", it's really an all-round lifestyle difference i sense, not so much that one is clearly better for kids than the other. i have met several people in HK with kids and they love it but seem to have the impression that sing is teeming with places to take kids. from what i saw in hk, the 2 in that regard are neck and neck. i would liken singapore to living in a suburb, it's all easy, affordable, comfy, and slow. that may be just what you need at this point--or not.

[biz]

That all makes sense. In the 90's we had 6 years in HK and only a year in Sg but that was before the kids came along which they have done in the UK which aint the best when youve seen what its like in Asia. We are definitely keen to take up the reloaction but really are sitting 50/50 at the mo between the two....I think a visit out there is called for. Funnily enough I think the missus would prefer HK due to all the friends - but I'm still thinking that sg is a more user-friendly overall deal. who knows? anyway good luck and i reckon either way theyre both great in their own ways. cheers.