Advice on Housing Location

I am looking for some advice on housing location. We will be arriving in July 2010 from Canada.


Background

 Budget for Housing: $9,500 HKD per month

 Total Budget: $45,000 HKD per month

 Family details: I am an American Born Chinese and my wife is Caucasian. I can understand some Cantonese and speak even less. We have a five year old daughter (March 2005) and a four month old son (Feb 2010)

 Schooling: We are leaning towards local schooling. My daughter will attend K3 in September.

 I will be working from home so transportation distance to work is not an issue. I may need to travel to Chinese University in Tai Po for the first couple of years.

 We need to achieve fluency in Cantonese. We are looking to live in Hong Kong long term.

 One of our concerns is air quality so that will also play a role in where we locate.

 With our young children we won’t be participating in the night life.

 We are considering Sha Tin district and Lamma Island. I know that Sha Tin would be much closer to the Kowloon area but Lamma Island and the beach and living conditions are plusses.

 We are thinking of a roof top village house with 3 bedrooms. We are okay with being somewhat remote although we will not have a car.

 I would like to be under an hour to Jordan Station/Kings Park and Kowloon Bay/Mega Box via KMB Bus/Public Light Bus or MTR.

 Proximity to a LCSD or like option for running track, broad band internet, and library would be great.


Recommendations/Questions:

 What district and specific area/villages to research and any recommended real estate agents or agencies for our budget?

 Any other input is welcome.


Kind regards


GH

You can preview some listings here to see what you can get for your budget http://hongkong.asiaxpat.com/property/

Yes, madtown is right, Lamma is way far from where you want to be and necessarily any cheaper.

Def. look in Sheung shui etc, you can pan out gradually if you need to but I think you'll find something up there.

Hi Ed, Madtown and Sistim,


Thanks for the addition of Sheung Shui/Fanling to the equation!


We will continue to research.


GH

You could also look in Tai Po for a village house there. Anyway, New Territories is definately the place to focus your search.

Yep. Fanling/Sheun Shui the eastern New Territories hs less pollution than the western New Territories and it is also more pleasant. If you want to avoid the potential pitfalls of living in a New Territories village (ie not getting on with the villagers) then you may want to consider a development called Dawning Views. It's not that far from Fanling MTR and is close to quite a lot of greeenery. The rents are quite competitive there and it is quite well run apparently being the major development in the area (I think). The only problem you may have is that the best local schools are not in that area. For these schools, you need to be in Mid-levels on HK side, Kowloon Tong on Kowloons side and to a lesser extent Fortress Hill/North Point on HK side (Belilios secondary girls' school and Cheung Cheuk San (mixed secondary) and the Kiangsu & Chekiang Primary School - only school which teaches through the medium of Mandarin)

GH


We have a 4 year old with one more coming along.

We are moving into a house in Fairview Park (between Sheng Shui and Yuen Long) - great transport network (internal as part of the estate service). We will be paying $11000 a month for rent. It is a gated estate that comes with a country club.


There is an expat community and a good English speaking community.


There is a manmade lake with clipped wing swans and ducks and a nice green to play footy on. An internationally supplied ParkNShop, a local vege and meat market etc. Very convenient. And not too foreign for an English speaking wife.


There are local schools around - Cantonese though including a kindie.


Good Luck with your search.


Cheers!