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Try The Star Online Rm 4 000 should be enough for a double storey row( (link) house though as an expat you will likely be charged more. Ask your HR people to help and not just with the housing
send a message to teak, he is a foreigner who owns property in malaysia, I believe he lives there too.
Thanks for the shoutout foadi.
I agree with what everyone has said about Malaysia except for the phrase "inexpensive international schooling". If your company is going to pay the US$8,000-10,000 annual tuition per child then, yeah, it is inexpensive. But, at RM2,000 per month, that level of tuition could eat into your salary a bit.
I suspect that you would be posted in the KL area. Rents are higher there than other places but pretty much cheaper than Singapore. Again, if you are on an expat package, then you probably will have no complaints. How about a little more info? Do you know what your salary will be?
Try The Star Online Rm 4 000 should be enough for a double storey row( (link) house though as an expat you will likely be charged more. Ask your HR people to help and not just with the housing
This has not been my experience: Malaysians charging foreigners more. Any rental price listed in the paper will be the asking price no matter who steps up to the door to enquire about a rental. There are, of course, owners who actively seek out foreigners, expecting to get higher rentals since those on expat packages have their rents covered by the company.
Here in Kuantan, you can tell who the landlord is shopping for by the asking price. Normal house rentals are in the RM400-1,000 per month range. (E.g., I rented a 5-bedroom, 3-bath house for RM800 per month.) And then there were two houses where the owners were asking RM5,000 and RM8,000 per month. Since these houses were nothing special, I figured they had had expat factory managers -on expat packages- renting them before. I asked one of the owners directly and she confirmed that, yes, she was waiting until another factory manager came along to pay her asking rental price.
I agree with what everyone has said about Malaysia except for the phrase "inexpensive international schooling". If your company is going to pay the US$8,000-10,000 annual tuition per child then, yeah, it is inexpensive. But, at RM2,000 per month, that level of tuition could eat into your salary a bit.
I suspect that you would be posted in the KL area. Rents are higher there than other places but pretty much cheaper than Singapore. Again, if you are on an expat package, then you probably will have no complaints. How about a little more info? Do you know what your salary will be?
I am in the very early planing stage so I am not sure yet what the salary would be, but I would be in management in the IT industry.
I would be looking for a 1-year package just to try the place out and see if we want to stay longer.
The office is in Cyberjaya and my wife has a friend just north of that location, so we would have some help getting started in a new country.
If I was in your shoes, I'd choose Malaysia. KL is very liveable and easy to adjust in. If I had to rank the level of difficulty of these countries/cities, it would be: Malaysia (easy), Thailand (Normal), Indonesia (Difficult) & Japan (Very difficult).
Malaysia has the overall average climate. Warm hot 80s all year. Thailand can be extremely hot and not the mention their notorious monsoon season. Indonesia's climate is pretty similar with Malaysia. And Japan varies depending where you are. But summer in Tokyo can be really really hot.
Cost of living or quality of life, Indonesia would be the cheapest. But, poverty is very visible in Jakarta. You'd see lots of homeless people, slums and garbages in the streets. KL has very reasonable prices (and their food is beyond awesome). Bangkok has diverse and many choices when it comes to entertainment. But like someone said, their prices going up high.
Japan, or Tokyo in particular could be very overwhelming for a foreigner to live in at first. Cost of living is too high, and your apartment space may not be as spacious as what you had right now. I know many American & Aussie English teachers here. Most of them live in Tokyo suburbs (takes them 30 mins to 1 hr by train to get in here in Tokyo). So talk to your employer very well on where they are gonna put you.
I am in the very early planing stage so I am not sure yet what the salary would be, but I would be in management in the IT industry.
I would be looking for a 1-year package just to try the place out and see if we want to stay longer.
The office is in Cyberjaya and my wife has a friend just north of that location, so we would have some help getting started in a new country.
Having someone local help is good. Unfortunately, Cyberjaya is a ways away from decent housing except for a housing area called Seri Kembangan. I drove around there once and it is quite boring, but acceptable since the houses are fairly new. But, you would be a long way from KL and its entertainment centers. Otherwise, you are looking at a long commute in KL's notorious traffic jams.
Having someone local help is good. Unfortunately, Cyberjaya is a ways away from decent housing except for a housing area called Seri Kembangan. I drove around there once and it is quite boring, but acceptable since the houses are fairly new. But, you would be a long way from KL and its entertainment centers. Otherwise, you are looking at a long commute in KL's notorious traffic jams.
Good luck.
Thanks
We are looking at Mont Kiara. I mapped it out on google maps and it looks like a pretty long commute, but it seems like other folks working for the same company makes that commute.
The choice is really between Malaysia & Thailand. If you're single, go with Bangkok and if you're married, go with KL. I just got back from a trip to both BKK & KL. KL is more developed and has much better English. On the other side of the coin is that the Thai are friendlier and it's more relaxed due possibly to the Buddhist culture versus the high degree of Muslims in Malay. I love Thai food but KL actually has a greater variety due to the mixture of Chinese, Malay & Indian cultures there. BTW, I'm thinking of retiring in moving to 1 of these countries as well. If you can go there as an expat workign for a western company, fantastic lifestyle.
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Originally Posted by Tall Tiger
The choice is really between Malaysia & Thailand. If you're single, go with Bangkok and if you're married, go with KL. I just got back from a trip to both BKK & KL. KL is more developed and has much better English. On the other side of the coin is that the Thai are friendlier and it's more relaxed due possibly to the Buddhist culture versus the high degree of Muslims in Malay. I love Thai food but KL actually has a greater variety due to the mixture of Chinese, Malay & Indian cultures there. BTW, I'm thinking of retiring in moving to 1 of these countries as well. If you can go there as an expat workign for a western company, fantastic lifestyle.
KL also has that Buddhist culture, although I think Buddhism among the Chinese Malaysians isn't as much a part of their life as the Thais. There's also the Hindu culture in KL. KL was founded by Chinese tin miners in the mid 1800s. KL isn't the only place in Malaysia, of course, there's Ipoh, Penang, Melaka, Kuantan, Kota Bharu, Johor Bharu, Kuching, Miri, Kota Kinabalu.
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