In Their Own Words

I had worked with two other agencies before calling Istana Living. The difference was immediately apparent — rather than sending a long list of available units, my advisor spent the first call understanding how I actually live. The portfolio she prepared three days later had four properties, all of which I genuinely wanted to view. I moved into one of them six weeks later.

We relocated from Zurich with our two children and engaged Istana Living for both the portfolio and the lease service. The lease review was genuinely valuable — Rajan flagged a reinstatement clause that our landlord's agent had buried in paragraph eleven, and we negotiated its scope down before signing. That kind of attention is what we came to Singapore expecting and rarely find.

I was pleasantly surprised by how unhurried the whole process felt. When I mentioned I needed a bit more time to consider between two properties, there was no follow-up pressure — just a note saying they would hold both for the week. Small thing, perhaps, but it told me something about how they operate. I am now comfortably settled in Holland Village and happy with the choice.

The Home Administration service has made a genuine difference. Before, I was coordinating contractors myself from Hong Kong — an exhausting process across time zones. Now Serene handles all of it. She contacts me only when a decision is truly mine to make. The biannual reports give me real visibility into how the property is being maintained. Worth every dollar.

We could not visit Singapore before our move, so everything was done virtually. Istana Living arranged video walk-throughs at times that worked for our Berlin schedule, and the written property portraits gave me a sense of what each building actually felt like at different times of day. It sounds simple, but no other agency offered that level of context remotely.

I found the process straightforward from first contact to key collection. My one minor observation was that the portfolio took a day longer than initially estimated, though I was notified in advance. Beyond that, every interaction was professional and warm. I have recommended Istana Living to two colleagues since and would not hesitate to do so again.