Expat communities with clubhouse

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AussieJen

Registered User
We are looking at taking a job in HK in the New Territory area. I'd love to live in a place where we have a pool. Kids parks/playgrounds etc and other fellow expats. We would love something with a garden - however small. We have 2 small children - 3 and 9 months who are used to wide open spaces and living in a small Aussie country town. unfortunately our budget is only going to be about 20 -30 hkd a month. I'm stressing out about finding something that's not a complete dive. Any advice would be fantastic! I'm totally clueless.
 
If you are considering the new territories then Gold Coast might be an option for you. It has a club house, swimming pools, football pitch, play grounds and is next to the beach, near hiking trails etc.

The website is www.goldcoast.com.hk
 
Fairview Park and Park Island????

Just wondering everyone's thoughts on Fairview Park. Would we be better off living in a villa there or getting an apartment somewhere like Park Island? I can only find one villa for rent in FVP for $22K but it looks quite small and rundown. Is there nicer renovated ones for around the $30K mark? Our budget is very limiting - hopefully we can negotiate more. I'm finding it really hard to find rentals on the internet. Can anyone suggest a good website?
 
Try gohome.com.hk for an idea, but keep in mind that most properties end up being more expensive (5-10%) than website states. Also, what is shown as available is not necessary available anymore.
It has a good overview of possibilities to consider though.
 
the new territories is a HUGE area... you may want to let us know where you will be working so that we can come up with places nearby... ex gold coast is great if you will be working in tuen mun, but if you are working in shatin, not so much.

sai kung is great if you are working in shatin and don't mind driving or taking the bus. tai po would also be good...
 
carang said:
the new territories is a HUGE area... you may want to let us know where you will be working so that we can come up with places nearby... ex gold coast is great if you will be working in tuen mun, but if you are working in shatin, not so much.

sai kung is great if you are working in shatin and don't mind driving or taking the bus. tai po would also be good...
Click to expand...

We've only got vague details at the moment until we hear back from HR. In the next fortnight we should know more. Is Sai Kung or Tai Po a housing estate or an area? I'll google them and see what I can come up with!

Is anyone else out there in housing in our price range? What sort of accommodation did you manage to get? Are you happy with the standard and facilities?
 
they are "towns" not estates. you might get a full village house (2100') possibly a garden for the price. but you would have to make do with the public swimming pool (the one in sai kung is not very busy, has a kids'area, a shallow training pool and a lap pool~my kids love it and it's CHEAP!) and the public playgrounds. sai kung has a huge expat population, many restaurants, a few local kindergartens (decent quality, expat kids going and learning cantonese!) some international kindergartens. it's more like a small town than anything....

if you can't get a full house, you would get a duplex for sure (2 floors of a village house) that would either include a garden area or a rooftop that you can make into your own little garden.
 
Thanks so much for your help Carang - we are literally moving from a town pop. 500 to HK and I am completely and utterly clueless. I got a vibe from some other forums I read that living in village houses is not the way to go and that expat estates were much better. What do you think? I guess each to their own. Is it hard to meet people in Village housing?
 
i've lived in two village houses in hk. personally, i think they are the way to go (as do most of the people living in sai kung!). you get a LOT more bang for your buck. and while occasionally i miss having a communal swimming pool, i would rather spend the money on more space for us. we have 5 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms, over 1000' garden, 2 free car parks and a rooftop. because we use the ground floor of our house for our dog boarding business and the dogs have the entire garden for themselves, we still have the rooftop for the family. we just got an 8' trampoline and put it on the roof. there is still 3/4 of the roof top empty, so we could bring our bbq up and set up a paddling pool there and STILL have space! we don't pay any management fees (which you would if you lived on an estate). so all of our monthly rent goes to just that... rent.

how do you meet people? well, we know everyone in our village by name. 95% of them are expats. we meet the parents of our kids' classmates and meet people at the gym (there's a curves gym in sai kung). just like you would anywhere else.
 
AussieJen

We live at Fairview Park and we love it! If you see something advertised online for FP it's usually crap. Best to get in touch with a reliable agent. I will PM you her details. We saw the houses on the web and were put off but got shown some really nice ones.

Cheers!
QM
 
Thanks guys. You are helping to ease the major stress attack I am having today - "Am I completely insane, what am I doing this to our kids blah blah". I'm sure you had similar days??
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actually, no. i came here almost 17 years ago straight out of uni. i was 22, didn't know a soul and back then the internet was not very popular.... emails weren't even that common!

i now stress about possibly moving back to canada, LOL, even though that is where i am from originally!
 
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