Yong family moving to HK

[mela]

To get all the facilities, 120m actual size and close to all the amenities you need to double your budget or move further away like the ladies above suggest. We looked at Kowloon station a year ago and a 3 bedroom flat, mid floor, no sea view and the size 1100 sq feet minus probably 30% was 43000/ I know the prices have increased since. If you want clean. convenient and with lots of facilities for the kids DB seems to be the option or Gold Coast if you don't mind a comute. HK appartments tend to be on a smaller side even if their are 3 bedrooms.Hope this helps

Also maybe you should look at Kennedy Town (not far from Central, green and cheaper than Mid Levels or Pukfulam. But as I said anywhere on the island you would need to up the budget.

 

[geoyoungdaddy]

Thank you all people!!

BabyG, you are hero!!!
Cause I had the same story in Shanghai, not 20 a day, but 7-9 for sure.
So Hung Hom... I see only 3 names - Laguna Verde, Whampoa garden and Royal Peninsula. Please advise me pros and cons for each of these! Which of this is more close to kindergarten, shops, transport, etc?

I have actualy started looking in Hung Hom, then I found this forum and went up looking at each district of Kowloong and HK Island, and now I am back again, and kinda glad about it!

Thanks to everyone, thank you for you advises!

 

[geoyoungdaddy]

As I see on Google Maps,

- Laguna Verde has a park near by and closer to the sea,

- Royal Peninsula more near to the Metro, but located right in the middle of big roads and traffic, which is not too good,

- Whampoa Garden is in between above two and seems to be a good choice, but there are so many blocks, anyone knows which one would be better?

- and I also see Harbourfront building there under the Whampoa blocks by the sea. They look good... expensive?


Regards to all of you!

 

[carang]

whampoa garden is MUCH older than what you specified. it was relatively new when i arrived in hk in 1995... i lived in hung hom back then for about 6 months...it sure has changed since i lived there!

 

[rani]

Royal Peninsula is really nice! Have a friend there and she loves it. Plus you're right by the Cross Harbour tunnel and the transportation links are excellent!

 

[geoyoungdaddy]

rani, agree with you for the transport... but for everything else?

Are there a lot of kindergartens (like expat kidergartens or bilingual) near these three places to live in Hung Hom? Some playgrounds also?

 

[BabyG]

Here is my opinion on the following places:

Whampoa Garden- older, I have not looked at any of the flats there. They are right above all the shopping areas and schools. There are no pools or what they call resort facilities.

Royal Peninsula- A bit further away from the whampoa garden shopping area but still walkable (say 10-15 mins). Nice flats, I saw all kinds in all the blocks, my concern was the kitchen layout. It was completely enclosed and small. If you cooked anything smokey or strong, the whole flat would smell because it has no windows except an extractor fan. It has resort facilities.

Laguna Verde- Resort facilities- gym, indoor and outdoor pools, tennis, driving range, ballet room, playroom, barbecue area, tennis, squash courts etc. Next to the sea and parks, shopping, kindergartens, walking distance to the wet market, church, supermarkets etc. Best of all, transportation is really easy. My flat is overlooking the park so I don't have a view of buildings or other people's windows. You also get a good mix of locals and expats here and Royal Peninsula.

Harbourfront or Harbourview Horizon- Cheaper but small. They are serviced apartments. They look like hotel rooms. Minimum stay is 6 months and they charge around 12,000 up / month if I'm not mistaken. Complete facilities also.

 

[ssheng]

Oops looks like there were a bunch of comments before I got a chance to respond to your questions on kindergartens nearby Kowloon Station, and you aren't really looking here anymore. But just to make the answer complete, there is actually a pre-school/kindergarten right in Kowloon Station (on top of it anyway), which is PIPs (Parkview International Pre-school). There are others near here as well, but that one is 10 steps from any of the buildings here. And definitely agree with other posters, for 20-25K you can get only some of what you want - you will sacrifice on size (can only get under 1000 sq ft for that price), no seaview (although there is plenty of water around here and a nice harbourfront walk once you exit the buildings). Sounds like you have a lot of good options otherwise, however, so good luck!

 

[geoyoungdaddy]

Scheng, thank you for your answer! Yes, many comments, thank you all, you really helped a lot!!!

BabyG, you infected me with the Laguna Verde (thank you!). I will be now looking in the internet for flats there.

The best websites for HK apartments are gohome.com.hk and hongkonghomes.com??

BabyG, and how are the kindergartens there? Many expat kids also? Nice teachers and other staff? Conditions good? Education?


My biggest thanks to all the answer givers!

 

[TheQuasimother]

Whatever price you see on hongkonghomes.com is subjected to gweilo tax - it is higher than what you'd be quoted if you were local. Gohome is a little more reliable. But they've recently revamped. You'd probably be able to knock at least ten percent off.

I got my local colleague to ask and took note of the differences in prices. So if you have a local colleague, you could do the same or simply ask for at least ten percent off if you are using those sites.

Just to give you an idea, where we live, on HKhomes, it's priced at $22000 for 1500 sq ft. But you could actually get it for as low as $17500.