Apartment rental. I believe in suburb of MA you can find Gated Apartment. So there are parking area allocated for each apt within the gate.
About the Ice cream Van Or Truck. The rationale as I can only possibiliy see it:
Ice Cream Van/Truck have to post sign on the back door. either STOP or Children Crossing.
As such if it is a STOP, You have to treat it as a mobile STOP sign. And if there are kids buying ice cream than you also have to treat it as Children crossing. ......Stop!
Originally posted by Arapahoe:Apartment rental. I believe in suburb of MA you can find Gated Apartment. So there are parking area allocated for each apt within the gate.
About the Ice cream Van Or Truck. The rationale as I can only possibiliy see it:
Ice Cream Van/Truck have to post sign on the back door. either STOP or Children Crossing.
As such if it is a STOP, You have to treat it as a mobile STOP sign. And if there are kids buying ice cream than you also have to treat it as Children crossing. ......Stop!
Eh Ara, I don't remember Ice Cream trucks got Stop sign leh.
But hor.. most of the time ah.. they will stop in a car park or somewhere with not much traffic lah.
But if you stop behind them, you will be stuck there for a long time hor ?
But hor.. the best is ask the tester what he thinks lah.
And I agree with ya on the gated community properties.. I personally like em betta too.
Originally posted by jojobeach:Eh Ara, I don't remember Ice Cream trucks got Stop sign leh.
But hor.. most of the time ah.. they will stop in a car park or somewhere with not much traffic lah.
But if you stop behind them, you will be stuck there for a long time hor ?
But hor.. the best is ask the tester what he thinks lah.
And I agree with ya on the gated community properties.. I personally like em betta too.
in CA they do saw 2 of them this weekend. i think it is a requirement by law. either children crossing or stop at the back of the door.
hey jojobeach,
thanks so much for calling up parkshuttlefly!! really appreciate it.
will forward the block heater stuffs to my husband for him to read up more about it =P
sorrie i wasn't clear about where we are gonna stay earlier 'cos we haven't exactly decided....but most prob, it'd have to be somewhere near cape cod.
Originally posted by lostintransition:hey jojobeach,
thanks so much for calling up parkshuttlefly!! really appreciate it.
will forward the block heater stuffs to my husband for him to read up more about it =P
sorrie i wasn't clear about where we are gonna stay earlier 'cos we haven't exactly decided....but most prob, it'd have to be somewhere near cape cod.
Your hubby working not too far from Cape Cod. yes ?
Ya know.. MA is very big hor.. trust me ah... if ya want your marriage to work and LAST.. stay within 1 hour commute each way ah... best is within 30-40 mins.. including traffic jams. OK ? Good.
Originally posted by Arapahoe:Apartment rental. I believe in suburb of MA you can find Gated Apartment. So there are parking area allocated for each apt within the gate.
are gated apartments like our singapore condos with gate/security around the blocks? do you have to pay maintenance fee on top of your monthly rental for such facilities?
what sort of things do you look out for when finding a place to rent apart from the usual? how to tell if the heating system in the apartment/house is good? coming from the tropics, we are totally clueless about heating systems. do they normally have floor heating?
Originally posted by jojobeach:Your hubby working not too far from Cape Cod. yes ?
Ya know.. MA is very big hor.. trust me ah... if ya want your marriage to work and LAST.. stay within 1 hour commute each way ah... best is within 30-40 mins.. including traffic jams. OK ? Good.
heh heh...you are online! ya..husband's work place is at cape cod. we are hoping to find accommodation not more than 30min driving distance away. we've been told about the summer jams as well as bad traffic conditions in winter...so currently, targeting at some places within 10-15min drive away.
Originally posted by lostintransition:
heh heh...you are online! ya..husband's work place is at cape cod. we are hoping to find accommodation not more than 30min driving distance away. we've been told about the summer jams as well as bad traffic conditions in winter...so currently, targeting at some places within 10-15min drive away.
Aye.. post dinner beer ...
Ya got Goggle earth ? It be your best friend when it comes to looking at location.
Most homes use forced air system..
Ya, gated communities means it is access controlled. But ofcors more pricey than non gated ones lor.
I ran some rental listings in Cape Cod rentals... so far .. like gated not a lot leh..
Originally posted by lostintransition:
are gated apartments like our singapore condos with gate/security around the blocks? do you have to pay maintenance fee on top of your monthly rental for such facilities?what sort of things do you look out for when finding a place to rent apart from the usual? how to tell if the heating system in the apartment/house is good? coming from the tropics, we are totally clueless about heating systems. do they normally have floor heating?
wow...wrote a full page and lost....crap!
i guess MA apartment are old so they should be GAS. When u move into apartment most likely you have to apply for GAS. So the Gas company will send someone to light the pilot on the heater and Oven so not to worry they will teach you.
What do i look for when i check out apartments?
Facilities mgt if they are professional or sloppy...see if apartment are well maintained, any working crew on site working. Any 24 hours emergency on maintainance. It speak volume on security as well. Most apt does not have 24 hour security guards.
i do not recomend staying off Turnpike (in ur case) or next to freeway.
Sunlight direction this actually affect your apt temperature. It helps if it get too cold.
traffic......this is not easy but if you can stay against the traffic to work than your commuting time is reduce.
ADD up : when i move to my apartment i bought a new filter for the heater to avoid Carbon monoxide.
Originally posted by jojobeach:Aye.. post dinner beer ...
Ya got Goggle earth ? It be your best friend when it comes to looking at location.
Most homes use forced air system..
Ya, gated communities means it is access controlled. But ofcors more pricey than non gated ones lor.
I ran some rental listings in Cape Cod rentals... so far .. like gated not a lot leh..
thanks for checking! yah....we haven't seen much gated communities in our online search so far.....
by the way...jojobeach, are you staying in MA too?
Originally posted by Arapahoe:wow...wrote a full page and lost....crap!
i guess MA apartment are old so they should be GAS. When u move into apartment most likely you have to apply for GAS. So the Gas company will send someone to light the pilot on the heater and Oven so not to worry they will teach you.
ADD up : when i move to my apartment i bought a new filter for the heater to avoid Carbon monoxide.
happened to me a few times too....wrote a full page and the next min it's all gone...i don't have the patience to rewrite most of the time =PP
gas heater and carbon monoxide sound dangerous.....i'd definitely miss good'o singapore's weather...i'm the sun and heat kinda gal =P i can picture myself to be damn miserable during the winter months....bbbbrrrhhhhhhh...hence will try to escape the harshest cold whenever possible!
Originally posted by lostintransition:thanks for checking! yah....we haven't seen much gated communities in our online search so far.....
by the way...jojobeach, are you staying in MA too?
Nope.. don stay in MA. Big land down south I stay.. and I move around lots.
Take your time looking for your home... no point rushing. We women tend to suffer from buyers AND renter's remorse.
iTs true if you are looking for buy a place take your time to look for it. I see people make mistake when they come to buying house. Many issues to consider.
BTW, have you drop by Popular Book shops to get english and taiwanese recipe books?
They got great ideas for making lunch boxes aka Bentos. Asian style.
we've been checking around for rentals and we found this nice ranch style home (3 bedroom) with oil heating. it's $1.2K/month and they will pay the electric bill but we would need to pay the oil bill. we've been told that the oil tank will be full when we move in and we would have to fill it when we leave. coming from the tropics, we are obviously clueless about all this. is this a common rental term? roughly how much will the oil bill come up to per year? how do we fill up the tanks? is oil heating a good option in MA or are there other types of heating that's more efficient and cheaper?
Originally posted by viciouskitty74:BTW, have you drop by Popular Book shops to get english and taiwanese recipe books?
They got great ideas for making lunch boxes aka Bentos. Asian style.
i've got tonnes of cooking/baking books that i don't even know if i'll be bringing them over this time round.....so have stopped myself from buying anymore stuffs! =) but yes, i do love those taiwanese recipe magazines...they are the only things that i buy when i visit taiwan!
Pack them up, send for scanning services.
Same for your photo albums.
If possible, scanned up as much documents that you have, which you are bringing to the states.
Same with your music CDs & favourite DVDs.
Originally posted by lostintransition:we've been checking around for rentals and we found this nice ranch style home (3 bedroom) with oil heating. it's $1.2K/month and they will pay the electric bill but we would need to pay the oil bill. we've been told that the oil tank will be full when we move in and we would have to fill it when we leave. coming from the tropics, we are obviously clueless about all this. is this a common rental term? roughly how much will the oil bill come up to per year? how do we fill up the tanks? is oil heating a good option in MA or are there other types of heating that's more efficient and cheaper?
Here's a link you can research on. Home Heating Cost QnA
and another one about oil heating
If they are paying for the electric.. then I recommend using electric space heaters :P
Usage depends very much on how warm you want.. how big the heating area. How well insulated are the walls. And how much winter clothes you want to wear while in your home.
Oil heating prices are tied to crude oil prices. So it will fluctuate like the prices in gas stations.
Selecting heating fuel. Department of Energy.
Natural gas is a betta option base on my personal preference. but got solar lagi best lor !
Oil heating.....isn't that expansive. Talk about MA your winter last for at least 6 - 8 months.
Just curious for $1.2 a month can you not look for a suburban single house? That might either have Coal heating or Gas with a fire place?
Coal you just have to prevent carbon poisioning.
I still cannot live without a bolster.
Will need to go get one tomorrow.
Originally posted by Arapahoe:Oil heating.....isn't that expansive. Talk about MA your winter last for at least 6 - 8 months.
Just curious for $1.2 a month can you not look for a suburban single house? That might either have Coal heating or Gas with a fire place?
Coal you just have to prevent carbon poisioning.
fireplace is very inefficient way of heating a home lor.
But the location for that ranch home is probably in rural area hor... so every month have to have a oil truck come and top up the tank lah.
Anyway.. all heating methods have it's short comings lah.
Even electric heating also will have problem when they experience rolling blackouts.
It's always best to have a alternative heating .. just in case.
I haven't been to the US since I was in elementary school, so basically all I can give you is some tips on American language.
Dozen = 12
Also, "drink driving" as it's known here is known as "drunk driving", DUI (driving under the influence), or DWI (driving while intoxicated).
Plus, I'm sure you know that many words have an American spelling. For example: color, favorite, criticize, realize, center, theater, ton, etc.
Also, an "inch" is roughly 2.5 cm. A "foot" is roughly 30 inches. A "yard" is roughly a meter. A "mile" is roughly 1.6 km.
LOL, I don't know if any of that helps.
Another thing: if you want to use your Singapore cell phone in the US, you have to sign up with either AT&T or T-Mobile. Sprint and Verizon use a different technology (CDMA) while AT&T and T-Mo use the same as Singapore (GSM).
hey da-vid, thanks for the language and cellphone tips!
so...the weeks have been passing in a flash...all i've been doing is learning to drive, packing, cleaning up my apartments to get ready for selling/renting.
we've also been busy on the internet looking for houses to rent and looking at some cars...
someone has recommended us this car website called http://www.intlauto.com/ has anyone here used it before? we've spoke to them on the phone and the service/prices seem really decent. they can arrange for lease at reasonable cost even without any credit history.
as for housing..we'll probably need to view them in person before deciding but we've shortlisted a few that are available for rental at our budget. is it normal to use one real estate agent to help look for rental? or do people contact various estate agents to check on their direct listings? typically what's the agent commission like? we told a lady that we are looking around and have contacted several agents based on what they've advertised and she told us off saying that she doesn't want to waste her time on us since we are also working with other agents??!! maybe we aren't that familiar with how it works over there...but i thought she was quite rude.
Originally posted by viciouskitty74:I still cannot live without a bolster.
Will need to go get one tomorrow.
i too cannot sleep without a bolster....am so tempted to bring my old saliva-stained bolster over to the US in my suitcase...but husband threatens to divorce me =PPP
Originally posted by lostintransition:hey da-vid, thanks for the language and cellphone tips!
so...the weeks have been passing in a flash...all i've been doing is learning to drive, packing, cleaning up my apartments to get ready for selling/renting.
we've also been busy on the internet looking for houses to rent and looking at some cars...
someone has recommended us this car website called http://www.intlauto.com/ has anyone here used it before? we've spoke to them on the phone and the service/prices seem really decent. they can arrange for lease at reasonable cost even without any credit history.
as for housing..we'll probably need to view them in person before deciding but we've shortlisted a few that are available for rental at our budget. is it normal to use one real estate agent to help look for rental? or do people contact various estate agents to check on their direct listings? typically what's the agent commission like? we told a lady that we are looking around and have contacted several agents based on what they've advertised and she told us off saying that she doesn't want to waste her time on us since we are also working with other agents??!! maybe we aren't that familiar with how it works over there...but i thought she was quite rude.
You can ask an agent to let you look at the rental hot sheet. That's what I did when I moved here.
Typically you should only use one agent. Just because this agent will get paid for his/her efforts.