[Camka]

Hi,
We are moving to HK on April and as I am coming next week to find a place to live, I wanted to have all the possible advice on accomodation.
We are looking for a quiet place, out of pollution, near greenery, but also quite convenient with a 2-yrs old kid (kindergarten, supermarkets, playground), not too far from Kwun Tong (where I am going to work).
We would like to have a garden or balcony or roof top, and to be quiet near from the sea as we all love water.
We are considering Saikung, Clearwater bay, but I just noticed that Ma On Shan and Tai Po could be also an alternative.
We have a HK$ 30k budget for a 3-4 bdrs.
What would you advise us ?
Any good estate agent over there ?
Thanks a lot !

[Skyhook]

Sai Kung would be your best location overall.

Lots of expat families live there, and it really does have a village community feel. Your children will also have easy access to other children in their age group, and the topography of not being another apartmentised concrete jungle, allows your kids to play at the beach, and lots of natural outdoor areas. Sai Kung town also offers a lot of cafe's, restaurants and expat owned bars that will cater for you, and you'll make friends very easilly there, especially on the weekends.

The area's you should look at that are the most family friendly toward expats are as follows:

Discovery Bay 25 minutes from Central by ferry, 15 minutes from the HKG Airport.

Sai Kung 50 minutes from Central
Clearwater Bay 30 - 50 minutes from central.

Gold Coast- Siu Lam ( Hill Crest/Grove Villa's )- Sham Tseng ( Bellagio ) area of Tuen Mun. 20 minutes from HKG airport.

Pak Tam ie Sai Kung Country Park 15 minutes drive from Sai Kung.

Hebe Haven 6 minutes drive from Sai Kung.
Marina Cove 8 minutes drive from sai kung.

The best agent I can recommend for the Sai Kung area is TMT reality, located where Mc Donalds is.

For Tuen Mun Peggy from Stately Homes 9277 2382

Word of advice about agents, dont mention that your budget is 30K, say your budget is 20K, and its likely they will show you properties which will be higher than 20K but closer to your 30K budget. It will save you a lot of frustration.

If you can stretch your budget to 35K per month, Casa Bella Villa's right near Sai Kung town, and over looking the Sai Kung harbour is the cream of the crop. Its one of the newest and nicest 1385Ft2 3 bedroom homes in the area, that has a proper back court yard patio deck that overlooks the bay. Very spacious inside, kitchen has an oven, maids nook, very spacious bedrooms, and a spacious high ceiling sunken lounge ie split level dining living area..

A very nice western designed complex to give you a yard stick of comparison.IMHO, very few properties are better than that particular construction, not just for Sai Kung, but even for Hong Kong..

Hope that gives you a bit of food for thought, for the exception of Discovery bay, all locations mentioned above are within 20-40 minutes public light bus ride to Kwun Tong.

[carang]

if you are working in KWUN TONG forget Gold Coast, Sham Tseng etc. they are WAY too far to travel on a daily basis.

Sai Kung/Clearwater Bay would the the best advice I could give. You would be about 30-45 minutes from work (depending on where in Sai Kung/CWB you choose). It's got relatively less pollution and there are loads of other expats around. You can get a fairly nice place for that $. If you look in the Country Park, you could get what you described for just over half your budget. (We have it and pay far less than $20K/month).

Good luck! How exciting!

PS> If you do end up in the area, I have an almost 3 year old and an almost 1 year old... maybe the kids could play together?

[Skyhook]

Kwun Tong is 25 minutes away from Siu Lam ( close to the Gold Coast ) Carang, its all multi lane freeway, and less than 20km distance.

What do i know, I just live in the area, and travel through Kwun Tong to enter the Eastern Harbour Tunnel via the Kwun Tong Turn off through Kowloon City, quiet often.

[carang]

i was assuming public transport. sorry for the confusion.
PS> I know where siu lam is. i have clients that live there and I do the siu lam>sai kung trip quite often myself.

[Skyhook]

Carang do you take the short cut from Tsuen Wan via Shatin through to Sai Kung from siu lam ? On a good run only 35 minutes to SK town.

Much faster than going the long way via Taipo, and then through Mah On Shan to Sai Kung.

And yes we mostly drive our Toyota MPV, but even using a PLB wouldnt take long. Kwun Tong is actually quiet close by, and probably around the same commute time if you got a mini bus from SK town to Kwun tong, depending if Town Gas or PCCW are doing road works on Hirams Highway, which can add another 10 or so minutes to your journey.

That aside, no debate that for families with kids that the Sai Kung District is one of the most enjoyable locations to live in the NT. We loved living there, but we also love the beach side location we live now.

[carang]

always go thru ma on shan then sha tin. we are actually in the country park, so sai kung town itself is almost 20 minutes away.
we've found that on good days, door-to-door, our place to ting kau is 45 minutes, to gold coast is about 1hr 5 min or so.

[Camka]

Waow ! I knew I would get a lot of answers here !
Thanks a lot, I will definitly go to Saikung first !

Which agent did you use ?

Carang : once we have set up in Saikung, I will PM you and we could meet with the kids. I am a working mum so I am only free one day per week... (except weekends!) Where are you from ?

[carang]

i'm a working mum too....originally from the prairies in Canada...you?

[Camka]

I am from Switzerland...
I am getting very excited !!!