Increasing Expat Population Drives Posh Condo Market to Soar

The potential of Asian countries have grown from mediocre to an alarming threat to oust already developed countries such as the United States and United Kingdom from their economic leading positions. The culture and the rich variety of resources also contribute to the growing investments in the each country.

The continent already has its own list of developed countries including Singapore, South Korea, Japan, China and United Arab Emirates (UAE) among others. These countries have been leading the world with unique characteristics and assisting western developed countries in fulfilling global causes and implementing international projects.

If Asian countries send their people to seek opportunities in the western part of the world, a lot of expatriates also reside in Asia, either building and developing their own business or working in Asian companies.

The rise of foreign firms opening in Asia and the increasing number of their population also increases the demand for luxury homes which can cater to their needs. The industry is also the shining beacon of economy for the higher end market.

Being able to live or work in areas where there are posh condominium give one an air of elegance and sophistication. It is an accepted fact that urbanization and development paves way for industrialization and modernity.

Singapore is an example. The city-island country has been recognized as one of the most developed countries in the world. With millions of expatriates living within its walls, condominium units are easily occupied even before it can be completely constructed. Pre-selling of apartments is rampant with developers piling public offices for building permits.

According to the review conducted by the Peterson Group Bespoke Condominiums and Residences, specializing luxury home rentals for expatriates for Singapore, the market has increased by 10 – 12% since last year. Similar demands are experienced in Hong Kong and Tokyo, Japan as well as in developing cities, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and Jakarta, Indonesia.

The cheap price of luxury homes compared to that of developed countries also accounts to the growing attraction of foreigners to Asian extravagant housings. Cities also promise expansion, enabling developers to increase the average size of condominiums, making them more appealing to expatriates. The number of large-residential housing around the prime cities is rising.

However, this growth and obvious boost to the economic sector and the strengthening of international ties is not without complaints. May humanitarian and environmental organizations are calling the unending urbanization exploitation of nature and impractical use of resources. Yet, the industry doesn’t seem to have any plans of stopping. 

Be Chic and Stylish with Expandable Furniture

For this day’s article, The Peterson Group Bespoke Condominium and Residences, provider of luxury condominium and residential company for expatriates in Singapore, Hong Kong, Jakarta, Indonesia and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia has featured expandable furniture for small apartment living. With the help of these furniture, inviting at least 20 friends over may no longer be a problem nor is finding extra space for your things.

1. Convertible Book Case to Coffee Table

How convenient it can be to tuck away your dining table in your own book case and transform it only when needed? Designer Orla Reynolds has done just that. On the first look, it is only a mere bookcase with colored lining. However, once you come near enough, you’ll realize those linings are actually detachable and when placed in the middle of the room, it can transform into tables and chairs. Much more, you can even detach the book case to fit the size of the room.

2. Expendable table

You may already have seen the cool expandable round table and just scratch your head on how brilliant the idea is. Well, we totally agree. And it is not only round tables that are being reviewed.

Nowadays, expendable rectangular shaped tables are becoming a trend. From wood, it has even been expanded for glass table. Believe it or not, there are even marble ones. With a mechanism below the table which allows it to expand in a capacity from 8 sitters to 20, these expandable tables can be used as a study table, coffee table, lover’s dining or party center.

3. Vertical Modular Storage

Modular storage comes in a variety of options, from basic stackable cubes to more stylish ladder side tables and shelves. Modular storage is an excellent option for small spaces because it is flexible and can accommodate your decor. You can move the storage easily and scale it to fit the space.

Modular storage also uses clean lines for a minimal and modern look. The furniture won’t clutter up your space either visually or spatially.

4. Fold-away Desks

If you think a desk would consume a lot of space and complains a lot about it a lot but still desperately need one, then a fold-away desk is highly advisable. Hooked into the wall, you can convert this desk into a frame when not in used. When needed, you can unhook it, unfold the frames into a stand and take a seat in front of it. Voila! You now have a desk.

How to Make Your Home Look like a Million Bucks

There are some reason why you are not yet fully satisfied of your full furnished home. It may have already provided a comfortable living space for you, bedroom for sleeping with a walk-in closet and its own bathroom, a complete kitchen where you can cook and eat a decent meal and a living room where you can sit with your guests or just enjoy being alone and watch TV. There is nothing to complain about but there just seems to be something lacking. 

The Peterson Group, matchmaker of the best homes for our expatriate members living in the hearts of successful cities of Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Jakarta, Indonesia and Hong Kong, must admit that even though we are providing luxury homes to our clients based on their needs and specifications, each room would still need a private touch of home owners for them to claim the place as their own. 

For some who would want to make their space look like a million-dollar space more than what luxury it already exudes, the following tips may help you:

1. Choose the right color

Choosing colors are sometimes overlooked by many individual as long as they can choose their favorite or have a color shade which is safe to go with. Contrary to what so many people think, deciding and reviewing colors is one of the most challenging struggles by the most expert interior designer. The color palette should match the furniture used. If elegance is what you are after without jeopardizing safety, black is mostly advisable.

2. Know the basics of fabrics

Throwing in some furs or sheepskins can help enhance the quality of the room. It is an easy thing to add on your coffee table, just makes sure the color fits the theme of the room. A sumptuous fabric for a new curtain or for throw pillow covers can provide an upgrade your sense of style in the living room or bedroom. Decorate the pillows or curtain swags with satin tassels or other luxurious trims. Splurge on a few thick, thirsty luxury towels to give your bathroom an instant upgrade.

3. Create  a focal point

Focus on something peculiar and unique which can attract the attention of your guests. This center piece is common in luxury homes and can boost the impression of your artistic taste. The right piece can give the room a "wow" factor that instantly upgrades your decor. 

An Expat’s Arduous Life

For years, The Peterson Group Bespoke Condominium and Residences is aiming to provide quality luxury housing for our member expats in Singapore, Hong Kong, Jakarta, Indonesia and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Our main goal is for them to live like they have not been away from home by providing bespoke condominium, apartment or residential units with their own choice of room, interior designs and convenience. We even offer chauffeur, pet and cleaning services. However, we also realize that the services that we offer may not be enough for them to feel at ease.

We have heard complaints of different weather conditions, language barriers and cultural variations from our expat members. Perhaps, the difference of situation makes it harder to adapt.

For many expatriates who seek bigger opportunities in other countries, the challenges are boundless. There are only two choices: either settle abroad or return back home. The latter may not even be considered an option as it would mean starting all over again.

To make migration easier, we have reviewed our members’ behavior and asked their own opinions as well.

1. Accept the Change

Acceptance is the first step to embracing change. Failing to accept change can induce difficulties. Hence, you should be ready to face changes in yourself, other people, places and lifestyles, as the result of the move itself and the effect of time.

2. Find a Mentor

TPG has included in its services mentoring of expatriates. Based on our reports, mentorship has been effective for new expatriates since mentors can help them organize legalities and may somehow ensure help on administrative and logistic issues. They can also be family members or friends

3. Focus on Continuity

Despite being in a different country with different culture, traditions, religions and beliefs, there will always be factors which you can find similar in your hometown. Focus on it and it can help you manage your transition.

4. Find Similar People

TPG has been building a community of expatriates and has held its first convention last October, 2014. Our main goal is to provide new camaraderie to businessmen and foreigners who can share their experiences. Finding a group of people with similar international experiences can be a good way not only to debrief but also to broaden your existing and establish a new social circle.

5. Plan ahead

Surely you have made plans about living arrangements, jobs, social activities and so forth when moving abroad. It may be that your planned schedule only includes home-office routine. This may not be advisable when you want to adapt to the new country. Take time to go out, explore and find out new things. Who knows, it may help you accept and appreciate the country more.

Feng Shui Reading for Your New Home

I know what you are now thinking. How a luxury cans bespoke residential service start lecturing its clients of Fueng Shui? The Peterson Group Bespoke Condominium and Residences has a long-time reputation of providing homes for expatriates in only the convenient places in Singapore, Hong Kong, Jakarta, Indonesia and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and only offers primary locations. Is it possible that all those services are accompanied by good fortune of feng shui? 

Feng Shui is one of the first things people look into when they are looking for a home. It’s not that we do or do not believe in Feng Shui. It’s just that we have hundreds of clients who have been requesting the right feng shiu tips from us that is why today’s article focuses on the feng shui readings applicable for new movers. 

According to a review written by one of the most famous feng shui expert, Rodika Tchi, the most basic rule in attuning your homes is to find a good vibe for positive chi to enter. Universal energy should be allowed to freely flow into every room and crevices for you to achieve comfort, peace of mind and ample amount of fortune.  Here are the following steps you can review:

1. Place the most significant piece of furniture in the command position. 

2. Keep the entry way open to allow the negative vibe to enter freely from the foyer to the overall surround of the place.

3. Make a clear division for a multi-purpose room. A curtain or a display cabinet can visually separate a room’s function to another.

4. Unify your environment with a consistent and harmonizing color scheme even when you are using different shades of single color.

5. As much as possible, use functional equipment and furniture. For condo living for instance. There are available couches which can be used as a bed later on or a writing desk which also has drawers underneath it for extra space.

6. Enlarge the Room with Mirrors since it can invite more positive energy in

7. Do a vertical cabinet for an upward success. You may also be surprised how every inch can be helpful for storage.

8. Clear cutter daily and make this an everday routine.

Feng Shui or not, we believe every condo owner should follow these steps. Positive energy can be summoned especially when you keep things neat and organized. When you take these steps in your small space you create your own private sanctuary: a welcoming environment you’ll be glad to come home to every night.

Living Abroad Is Not As Easy As Other People Think

Living abroad may seem a very big opportunity for many people. It actually is but it can also get a little disadvantage for many. Aside from the language barrier, there are also issues involving a different culture, tradition and customs that need to be adjusted with. A lot of expatriates and foreigners give up before fully adapting because of the communication issues and adjustment complaints.

Undoubtedly, expat life can be very exciting. The experiences and challenges of life abroad develop one as a person, teach new skills and enhance capabilities, create new meanings in life, and generally translate into valuable memories, which are worth remembering for many years ahead.

Thankfully, today’s modern age is providing more opportunities for broader communication options. This generation is indeed a borderless world as so many claims. What was once months of travel and seemingly impossible journey is now 15-hour plane ride away. Still, no real time chatting or any advanced invention of hologram can take the place of a real loved one.

One of the dark sides of an expat’s life is being lonely. Businessmen and workers leave homes to expand their opportunities in other countries. Students are being sent to foreign land mile away for a better future. The reality of repatriation turns out to be as not easy as expected.

Hundreds are being listed under the Peterson Group Bespoke Condominiums and Residences. The company provides keen and detailed home attributes for these expatriates according to their own specifications to help them ease loneliness brought by being in a foreign land. But no luxury apartment in the heart of the majestic Singapore, the busy city Jakarta, Indonesia, the vibrant Hong Kong or the rich Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia can fully exude the feeling of home.

Reviews has stated that for young people who are sent miles away in a foreign land, they may sometimes feel somewhat stuck in a limbo which makes them uncertain of either being there nor here.

This feeling is quite understandable given that for many, life in the host country is perceived as temporary, however as time passes ‘home’ in the native country becomes more distant. The main concern is that while being temporarily abroad, the lives of one’s peers, relatives and friends back home move on too: families get established, careers progress and house mortgages get paid. And even though equipped with new skills, experiences and prospects, at the moment of repatriation the recent traveller finds him/herself in a situation where a job needs to be found, new accommodation arranged, and social ties renewed.

How to Keep your Home from Looking Cluttered

Some of us may have the habit of keeping things that are considered clutter for some people. With proper organization of these things, we can certainly do a creative system and at the same time not put to waste the things that we have invested in.

Matchmaker between expatriates of Jakarta, Indonesia, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and Hong Kong and the best luxury residential and apartments, The Peterson Group Bespoke Condominiums and Residences has these following tips on how to keep your home from being cluttered:

1. Layering
There are just certain rooms that look incredibly rich, full and interesting. These are the kinds of rooms that seem to tell a story in every turn of your head. But layering can go wrong if you don’t have any idea on what pattern to match with another.

a. Start with your vignette
Rich spaces feature things on top of other things, most often framed art leaning on top of each other, then small knick knacks partnering with stacks of books to create more layers. But don't stop there. Bring a plant into the mix, and have a branch or two just overlap your layering work, adding even another layer into the mix.

b. Obscure and Conceal
There is a reason why your friends’ plant is on top of a book. You may have noticed it since they have intentionally obscured it from your view yet still turn out to be a very good design. Don’t be afraid to match your things on top of the other. It can also be a good game for your guest to discover something which lies hidden yet totally exposed on top of another.

2. Be Vertical
Wasting those precious spaces on top of your wall can be a shame. Create further storage on top of your cupboards. There will always be an extra storage spot on top of something. You can also take advantage of empty high spots with a simple stick on hooks. Review the hidden nooks and cranny of your home and you might find something.

3. Create Dividers
Instead of putting a thin divider, take advantage of a bigger one like bookshelves which can be convertible to another storage space. A good divider can help you get organized with your things and minimize complaints of extra clutter.