Uncle MK and others, thanks for all your advices. My work place is in Jurong East and a friend of my mom just told me that two bedrooms HDB costs about 1.5K, so I will def look into that.

I suggest you rent a condo unit. Better, much much better.

My mom's friend told me it will be around 2K for condo, so it is still within my budget and I will look at both HDB and condo, then make a decision.

For an expat of your calibre, it is best you rent a condo, even if it is a one bedroom unit. You can always request the landlord to provide you with a sofa bed in the living room so when your mum comes to visit, you can sleep on the sofa bed while your mum use the room. When colleagues ask where you stay and if it's a condo, you will gain more respect. Face is very important here. Moreover it is a lot safer to stay in a condo and you get to use the swimming pool and gym. You can also invite colleagues and friends over for BBQ. Life will so much better living in a condo. Just ask around your fellow expat friends. You just spend a bit more every month and it's a whole different lifestyle you get to enjoy. Condos next to MRT stations will be best as it takes you a short while to travel and allows you to have more sleep.

Thanks for your insight. I guess another thing I need to get used to is "face is important for Asian culture". In the US, you can live your own life without dealing with so much peer pressure. That is something I need to get used to since my personality is so causal and laid back.

Yes, you have to understand that face is very important in Asian culture. You have to respect that.

Condo rental is so cheap and affordable, and it is getting even lower and lower every month. If you call any property agent now, they will share with you how much the rental and property price had gone down recent years. There are so many new, nice and vacant condo to choose, many landlords are really desperate after keeping it vacant for months. You will be spoilt with choices, try to get short term rental contract, as rental market is getting bad to worst till next year.

Face is not everything in Asian culture.

Face thing is only important for insecure people and I wouldn't take an insecure persons advise too seriously.

Just live your life appropriately. Don't deprive yourself of any enjoyments (you are working overseas after all) but make sure not to excessively indulge. If you like a comfortable living (gym/swimming etc) within the means by all means go for a condo if spending that few hundred more can be considered, I would say in Singapore entertainment can be the major cost i.e drinking dining etc so just watch out on these areas.

Do an expense tracker and you can monitor your cost accordingly.

Go enjoy those free condo facilities, all paid by landlord in Singapore. Very worth...