Where is the best place to live in KL for a family with baby?

What's ur budget n where does ur husband work?

Bukit Bintang is not really child friendly and not many people who live there have children.  It is inner city and basically rather noisy and polluted. It is hard to use a pushchair in the streets as well. Live near where your husband will work and according to your budget.  There is quite a bit of petty crime as well, such as bag snatching. Mont Kiara is more family friendly, but outside KL city. Your budget will determine where you can afford to live.

Thanks for quick reply.
Our budget is up to 2.5k ringit/ month.
My husband company is in the technology park.
And, we intend to buy a second hand car there.
Is there any advice for buying car?
Thanks.

The technology park is nowhere near KL City and Bukit Bintang. It is at least 30 mins by road south of KL City. Unfortunately people think KL covers a wide area but in fact it is quite small and surrounded by suburbs that are not called KL but Petaling Jaya, Shah Alam, Ampang, etc. I think you should look at Bukit Jalil and that area because your budget will get you somewhere OK to live. Have you looked up the rules of importing a car?  Is it right-hand steer? You don't say where you are importing from either. You sound like you need to do some proper research - so check out the cost of importing versus the cost of buying a vehicle.  Look at www.mudah.my for car prices. Locally made cars are the cheapest. For importing you will have to pay import duty and would need an important agent.

Our budget can be up to 4k but we dont want a fully furnished house cox we will ship all stuffs there.
We still dont know which shipping company we use coz the idea of moving to malaysia just come up last week and it leaves me just 4 wks for packing, selling stuffs and renting out my house here. Ther are so many things to do as well as we need to prepare everything for our baby.
Do you know any good shipping company that we can use? The company gave us 10k ringit for the relocation fee.
Is Bukit Jalil a good surbub?
I had bad experience with thieves and broke into. We had been broke into twice in Australia so im still shaken when think about that.

For shipping, you wont get very much for that amount of money?  Not even a 20ft container from Australia to Malaysia unless you shop around.  I would recommend making an enquiry with this company who I have experience with as a receiving agent in Malaysia:

Asmah bt. Rahim
Operation Department
SUBALIPACK (M) SDN BHD
No.59 Persiaran Mewah,
Bandar Tun Razak, 56000 Cheras
Kuala Lumpur
Tel : 03-91712500 ext 104
Fax : 03-91733445
Email :[email protected]
www.subalipack.com

If you contact them they can refer you to their agent in Australia but they will probably be able to offer better terms than going straight to an Oz company.

People tend to live in condominiums in Malaysia with facilities like swimming pools and sports so burglary is not common as there are also 24 hr security guards. Crime is low otherwise, and when it takes place is more related to local issues and expats are not very often involved.  It is good to live in a condo where there are internationals as well as Malaysians. You can quite safely ask a real estate agent to show you accommodation as the fee is paid by the owner - so they will show you what you want and advise you.  Remember that you will need 3 and a half months rent as a deposit i.e. 2 + 1/2 months deposit and the first months rental to paid all at once.

When the first time I moved to KL with no child I was stayed in Bukit Bintang.
But since I have baby I move to Bangsar, I fell much better to live in this area. It's a lot safer and many expats living here. Many preschool arounds, Bangsar Shopping Centre and Bangsar Village is really nice place to hang out for mother with baby. Many places here is good for mother with young children. and there is Pantai Hispital one of the biggest in KL just 5 minutes from my apartment.
The apartment I live is consider the good one for family the rent range about 3k-5k.
To me Bukit Jalil is a bit far from town and I don;t think the neighbourhood is good there.

Anyway Welcome to KL, maybe we can meet up here. I am a mother of two children. 1 boy 2,5 years old and 1 girl only 1 year old If you want to know more about bangsar area you can just ask through messege.

Cheers,
Monthi

Unfortunately, Bangsar has changed a lot and is no longer a particularly safe environment.  Plus you need to travel everywhere by car and the traffic is quite heavy at most times of the day. It is a shop to you drop environment and has no other facilities than shopping. This lady obviously knows nothing at all about Bukit Jalil. It is a very safe and quite international environment outside KL with lots of facilities close at hand. Look on a map and see where it is located.

Hi agree bangsar is a crime hotspot. Most local women I know won't carry a handbag any more in bangsar. Also locals say bad for children as many problems with wild kids.

In Malaysia most condos are furnished and most houses are unfurnished  many houses now are in gated communities and rents are far cheaper. So I reccomend find a house in a gated community.

By technology park be specific. there are a few tech parks

Hi First of all welcome to Malaysia. I am Kumar and I am a lecturer here. It is good to know that you have chosen malaysia. Good move. There are plenty factors to consider before choosing your place.

Budget
Transport
Safety
Convience
Economical

As you have chosen Technology park and it is quite far from Kuala Lumpur but with a transport you will be able to excess to a lot of areas like KL, Putrajaya,Mines and a few shopping areas. Clinic and medical facilities are nearby. They have very good parks and a stadium is just nearby. LRT or train commuters are easily available. Safety wise there is not mch to worry but off course there is no safe place in the world. If you choose TP you need to have a slightly higher budget.

As for buying a car, try to buy a new car as it will save you on the servicing and other features. Off course you can buy a second hand car but you need to make sure you get a good buy. Get a reliable friend to help you out. Off course I can give you a few names but that is secondary.

Be careful in making your choices as Malaysia is a very friendly place and you need to study the environment first.

Happy Comung abroad

Thanks,
I think we will stick to Bukit Jalil.
I want to live somewhere that i feel safe so i can enjoy everything else.
Will ask my husband what is the specific Techno Park and let you know.

Another question, what is a good brand of the car to buy? (Not to catch intetion from thief, have good price and also service)

I think the large format cars are the safest (4 wheel drive types) as they are high off the ground and can also avoid flooding and water on roads that pulls the steering wheel. There are quite a few different makes and models available. Remember to bring proof of your no-claims bonus years so you can get a discount on insurance - which is based on the value of the vehicle. Bukit Jalil is on the fast LRT train route, so it is quick and easy to get around on a north-south axis.

I prefer SUV's

Most expats have an SUV.

Nice cars...

There are lots of expats living outside the areas you mention Mike, its just that you probably live in one the expat areas and don't know what is going on elsewhere - let me guess, you live in Bangsar?  The Australian International school is close to Bukit Jalil area and a couple of  the most prestigious universities. including the IMU. Lots of expats choose to live away from the KL zone because quite frankly it is overpriced and the only reason is to be near to schools, bearing in mind that Bangsar does not have any international schools anywhere near it, so the kids are bused to other areas. Did you know that there is a German enclave in Nilai and a French one near Malacca. The price of units in Bangsar where internationals live or middle class Malaysians is at least RM3.5k per month and that does not get much these days and few of the condos are convenient to anywhere and a car is needed. Bangsar changed about 3-4 years ago when the older less well maintained condos started to charge lower rents and therefore different tenants moved in as owners did not want to spend money on repairs. So Bangsar has become a very mixed community and many of the wealthy property owners have sold up and moved to more up and coming areas to the west and north west of KL city. The office rents are also lower in Bangsar, which is why companies are taking over houses and turning them into businesses and why others relocate to office space there, even though the only public transport is the LRT which is miles away from most of the expat residential units in Bangsar - uphill most of the time. Yes, it has a couple of Malls, but they mostly carry over-priced items such as exclusive food shopping etc. and other items aimed at the Chinese middle classes who make up the majority of the population still. As said, the number of expats has dropped considerably for various reasons. Areas get popular and then get a bit run down and sometimes burn out - its just the way here in Malaysia.

Thanks Granitas

But you are misleading people to some extent, because you don't seem to have been to many of the areas you talk about on a regular basis.

For example, how often are there international events at the Bukit Jalil Stadium?  Not very often at all, but there are some low key local sports and youth events. So the traffic jams you write about are not daily or even weekly, apart from when there is an occasional Indian Market there which lasts about 10 days before a major festival. Otherwise, its probably a couple or three times a month and only some months. The stadium was closed recently because the turf had to be relaid so even when the EPL teams came to Malaysia, the stadium was not used, as they have other facilities. By the way, just remembered, there is a large Japanese community around Saujana and the Japanese School as well, now I think of it. Some  Australian families will have other non school-going children as well, but I guess the remark was unavoidable.

Promoting Bangsar is also misleading, without mentioning the downsides. The traffic jams in Bangsar are legendary and it can take over an hour to get out of the area at some times of day. The queue to go to BSC sometimes stretches right down the hill to Bangsar Village mall, which is a car park most of the weekend. Forums are about discussion and exchange of views - not about arguing as you seem to think because not everyone shares your views.

What is abundantly clear as well from how you write, is that you don't really think much of the Malaysians and think it is unsuitable to be around them.

On the question of transportation, I believe there may be shuttle buses from LRT Bukit Jalil to the Technology Park.

But more importantly, there are shuttles that run from KLCC, Pasir Seni and Sentral to the Technology Park.  It would be worth checking these facilities out as they give additional freedom of where you could decide to live and potentially the need for only one car.

If others have information, please provide it.  I only read about these shuttles in an earlier posting on the Expat.com.

Hi all,
Just ask my husband ab the company location.
Here is what i got:
Technology Park Malaysia
57000 Kuala Lumpur

Ab car, we think we might look for an SUV, or maybe best to ship our car there.
Need to ask the shipping company ab this.

We lived in a gated complex here and we were broke into twice. So i think, i better stick with condos.

Will let you guys know ab everything else soon.

On a regular basis?

I just read that Bukit Gita Bayu is an excellent place to look for housing as it has a huge expat community, mainly Australians, and they are of course very social and fun.  Perhaps you could check this out?

Good Luck.

Hi ,

My name is Adil Kamran , iam from Pakistan , next month i am with my wife were coming to Malaysia for searching jobs over their can you plz guide us to provide some information of availability of jobs in KL.
This is my email i.d plz send n email on my email address. [email protected]

Regards
Adil.

Hi all,

Please note that some posts have been removed.
Personal attacks are not welcome on the forum.

Thanks
Armand
Expat.com Team

Thanks.

There are a few primary requirements to work in Malaysia. If you are coming on the foreign worker programme, you may be interested to read this:

http://www.mida.gov.my/env3/index.php?p … gn-workers

As you will see there are limited types of jobs for which you can apply:

manufacturing, construction, plantation, agricultural, services and domestic help sector - services sector consists of eleven sub sectors: (restaurant, cleaning services, cargo handling, launderette, caddy in golf club, barber, wholesale/retail, textile, metal/scraps/recycle activities, welfare homes and hotel/resort island.

You may already know that the minimum wage in the KL area is RM900 per month.  Workers tend to get paid up to about RM1,500 per month in some of the above sectors.

If you are coming as a knowledge worker, you will need at least a university degree and some experience. The minimum age is 27 years (or 23 years old for IT jobs). You will need to be offered a job with a salary of RM5k per month to qualify for an employment pass.

There is currently a crackdown by immigration and other government bodies to curb the number of non-Malaysian workers, to reduce unemployment and improve job prospects for Malaysians. This may have an impact on the timing of your visit.

There are a number of people from Pakistan on this forum, so perhaps you may think about contacting them personally and seeing if they can help you or have useful information for you. If you scroll back through the various postings you will find these people.  There is also a search function of members.

Sorry for late reply guys,

My husband has just had a minor surgery so im kinda busy with my baby and other stuffs.

We ask the shipping fee, its ab $6k Aud which is we need to pay another 10k ringit for the shipping fee. Im thinking maybe we need to buy new stuffs in Malaysia and if we move again, we can sell them. Do u think its a good idea or we r better ship our stuffs there?

Ab the car, still cant decide which brand to buy, but absolutely a SUV.

I asked the lady in the Manza, she told me ab bukit jalil or mont kiara. Mont kiara is a way too far. Gravitas, is bukit gita near the techno park?

Best wishes to your man. I understand it is a stressful time. If your shipment is paid by the company, I would suggest you accept that option. It takes time to find furniture, etc. that you like.  It took me 3 years to find anything I was prepared to buy in Malaysia and the quality is very low, unless you pay quite high prices.  You need to be certain that you wont be charged import tax on your vehicle.  A SUV is a very good solution in Malaysia, as the roads can be rather uneven in certain areas and flash flooding due to rain storms can cause problems in keeping the vehicle safely on the road. Resale of furniture is not easy unless you are prepared to almost give it away.

The SUV of the year was a Ssangyong.  I drive one and it has a Mercedes engine and gearbox, so tremendous performance and value for money.  Everyone has their preferred vehicle, so you need to see what is available on www.mudah.my and decide how much you want to spend.

Bukit Gita is reasonably close to the Techno Park - about 10k.  The best thing is there is an Australian community there because of the school.  I have to say, that everyone has to compromise when they move to Malaysia.  For example my compromise was to live in an area I liked, I could not afford the most expensive rental or price, but am happy to be where I want to be in a less modern and expensive unit.

Moving around by motor scooter is plain normal here in Malaysia. Your man should also check out if there are Shuttle Buses to the Technology Park from various destinations.

If your husbands company is offering to ship your furniture over to Malaysia then it is not bad to take them up on it.

Although one thing to consider is that many rental properties are already fully furnished with sofas, dining table, beds/mattresses, fridge, cookers, washers, dryers, tv, coffee table and everything else that you will need, so you might find that when you arrive in KL that your furniture would need to be put into storage. If a rental property is already furnished the landlord is unlikely to want to remove all the furniture as he too would need to pay to put it into storage.

When you do find a suitable accommodation, before signing a rental agreement with the landlord, you can also make requests such as for additional furnitures such as a child's bed or children's desk and chair to be added or for a table to be removed, or for replacement of an old fridge etc.

So if you do choose to bring your own furniture over you will need to search only for unfurnished accommodation.

By the way, there are specialist companies here that can furnish your entire rental property very nicely on a monthly basis and many expats choose to do this.

For SUV's (I drive one too), you can test drive them before making your choice. There are lots of car dealers in KL and the price is always negotiable.

The popular ones tend to be Japanese brands such as Honda CRV or Nissan X-Trail, but these days Korean cars are far more stylish and better priced. Hyundai and Kia are particularly popular here and Volvo is becoming more and more popular. I'm not very familiar with SSanyong so cannot really comment on it. As far as resale is concerned, European cars are the best followed by Japanese and then Korean. However, if you need just a 5 seater and you have a limited budget then I would go for a Hyundai or a Kia. Of course, you can pick up a very nice secondhand SUV for a much lower price.

Thanks Gravitas and Mike for quick reply.

We need to think ab the shipping as you all advice us to take the offer.

Will ask ab the tax and what to bring there.

Will get back to you when everything is fine here as my husband is still recovering and im still crazy with all the misc stuffs here.

Hi all, just moved here on last Sunday.
Bubby got sick and hasnt better.
Do you know any agent that can come and show us houses at nite, after my hubby finish working so we can find house earlier?
We'r staying in the Sri Petaling hotel and i found the neighbourhood is quiet nice. The food is cheap as well.

Hi there,
for professional advice from A-Z, please do send me an email at [email protected]
i would be more than happy to assist you.

Thank you

Hi Besamic, you can basically check out the local paper (the star) and contact any agent there. Here is Malaysia the agents cooperate most of the time and split the commission (which is paid by the landlord and not the tenant). Just tell them which areas you want to look at. I'd recommend also checking out some other areas aside from Bukit Jalil just to see what other areas are like. Usually the agents can give a lot of free advice.

Hello everyone > some off topic posts have been removed from this discussion. Note that free advertisement is not allowed on the forum. I also invite you to give useful informations on the forum instead of giving only your email address.

Thank you,
Christine

Aside from The Star, you can look online at iproperty and also at propwall which both show apartments for rent in all areas. If you like an apartment building it is worth to check out the rates on these sites then you may be able to negotiate a better price through the agent.

Hi Mike,
All the agents we saw, they put up price a lot. Im really dont have good images about agents here now

Some agents made us wait like half an hour ( thats not the way an agent should do)

Right now we r really tired (exhausted should be the right word) in looking house.

No agents we saw gave us good advice so far. They just sticked with what they have and kept takikng ab those.

Hi besamic, send me an email with your contact details and i will spend a maximum of 10minutes to know what i need to know in order to proceed.
With me, its simple. I will either say yes i can or no i cant. If i need time to get what you require for, i will tell you i need a dateline. Thats how an agent is supposed to work. To mr.mike, i may seem greedy just because i work alone, the truth is. I dont trust people in accomplishing my job that involves a third party requirent.
Do contact me or leave me your email address.