Buying a House and Car in Malaysia for expatriate

Main places for expats to settle are Kuala Lumpur, Georgetown and Johor Bahru. Upcoming popular places are Kota Kinabalu, Kuching and to a lesser extent the city of Ipoh. In recent years prices of properties (sale or rental) have sky rocketed with the result that not every expat can afford to live in for example Kuala Lumpur city center without paying at least RM6000 per month for rent. On a positive note, foreigners are allowed to own property in Malaysia (freehold) and prices of properties seem always on the rise.

You can take up a mortgage to buy a house based on your work permit, via the MM2H programme or via a Labuan Company. Everybody can own a house in Malaysia, provided that you have enough financial means. This will be audited up front and the bank will also do an appraisal to determine a value of the house you want to buy. Banks are usually willing to offer expats a mortgage based on this appraisal, but do know that often they will not loan you the total buying price of the house (usually somewhere between 75% and 90% of the total value of the house). This means you need to come up with the remaining part of the price yourself.

Prices of houses in the popular areas as Kuala Lumpur, Penang and Johor Bahru range between RM300.000 to well over RM2.000.000. For around RM600.000 you will already buy a beautiful condo just outside of Kuala Lumpur city center. A two story bungalow outside of KL city center usually costs around 1 million ringgit. Outside these popular places to settles prices are noticeably lower.

In case you do not have enough financial means, the best solution is to rent a flat, apartment, condo or serviced apartment (enumeration on the ground of luxury). A condo is the most popular one among expats. This usually is a large apartment with numerous extra facilities. These facilities usually are a swimming pool, a garden, a barbecue site, fitness, a nice lobby and many other extras.

Most condominiums start with a size of around 600sq ft (often referred to as a studio condo). There are also condos of over 2000sq ft with a Jacuzzi, a sauna and a very large shared swimming pool. You will probably not be able to find an average condo in Kuala Lumpur for less than RM2000. A more luxurious condo will cost you RM5000 per month or even more. Luxurious condos in the neighbourhood of the PETRONAS Twin Towers can easily cost over RM15.000 per month. In Malaysia is quite normal to pay at least two months' rent in advance and in most cases also half a month to cover the utilities bill. Contracts usually start for one year minimal, but often two years. It is not easy to find something for short term rental in Malaysia and if you do find something be prepared to pay a considerably higher monthly rental price.

Kuala Lumpur has several neighbourhoods that are popular among expats. The most popular expat neighbourhood is Mont Kiara, here you also find many international companies and schools. Another very popular area is Bukit Bintang in the centre of the city. In Mont Kiara you find huge condo's that are often quite affordable. A possible disadvantage is the location (sometimes the condo is located at a remote part of Mt. Kiara) and the distance to the city centre. Without your own car Mont Kiara isn’t the best place to live. Other very popular expat areas in Kuala Lumpur are Kenny Heights, Bangsar, Ampang and Damansara.

If you are looking to rent or buy a property in Kuala Lumpur, you are in great hands with Nadine Maas. Nadine is an International Real Estate Agent and originally from the Netherlands. She works and lives in Kuala Lumpur and is specialized in working with and helping Expats who are looking to live in one of the popular Expats area's like: KLCC, Bangsar, Mont Kiara and Damansara Heights. As she is an Expat herself she can easily relate to other Expats. Not only does she help with finding the right property, but she gives you advise and tips when it comes to moving to Kuala Lumpur, information about schools, transport and all the other matters that need to be arranged when moving to Kuala Lumpur. Nadine works for the biggest International Real Estate firm RE/MAX and can help you from A - Z with finding that right property for you. For more information you can email Nadine directly nadine.maas@remax.my or take a look at her Facebook page.

Many foreigners do not want to live in Kuala Lumpur or similar densely habited areas. They come to Malaysia to live on an island such as Penang or Langkawi. Here you can rent a house for a very small amount of money. If you want to have a nice house (without air-conditioning) then it is possible to rent something for RM500 per month. If you want something more luxurious, for example a beach bungalow, you can rent something for around RM3000.
 

Relocation

Transport costs vary per transporter and are different per country. From Europe it usually takes 3 weeks before your furniture will arrive in Kuala Lumpur (Port Kelang). Do visit the relocation company and ask them if it is possible to store your furniture temporary so that you can rent something short term to have more time to find the perfect home.

There are numerous relocations companies in Malaysia. We used Allied Pickfords Movers and heard good things about Santa Fe, Royal Relocations and BW Worldwide Movers. Most of these relocation companies offer good services against competitive prices. They often have their own storage facilities so that you don’t have to leave your furniture at Port Kelang for too long. Temporary air-conditioned storage for two months, before delivering it to your new house in Kuala Lumpur, costs around RM1000. These relocation companies are usually also able to help you out with paperwork and even with the work permit or dependant pass procedures (for example Entourage Relocation Services).
 

Buying a car

Unless you're here on an expat package you will find out that buying a car in Malaysia is very expensive. Often expats get a onetime car allowance. If you get such an allowance you are lucky; do make sure this is at least RM50.000 as it is almost impossible to by a relatively new car for less than that amount. If you are not here on an expat package or did not get a car allowance there are a couple of places where you should be able to find an affordable car. One of these places to check out is Mudah.com.my; an online marketplace with a huge selection of used cars. Another place to look for 2nd hand cars is at PJ Old Town. Here you can visit the car market every Sunday morning from 7.30am to 12.30pm.
 

Buying furniture and homeware

Prices of furniture are usually much cheaper in Malaysia compared to prices in the US or Europe. However, when you are looking for high quality designer furniture, be prepared to dig deep into your wallet as prices are usually very high. Local fabricated furniture usually is cheaper than imported items. High end furniture shops can be found all throughout Kuala Lumpur, but not at that many places outside KL. Bangsar and Ampang are two areas with many furniture shops. Better affordable furniture can be bought at Macy's or IKEA. There are also quite a few chains with 'Italian design furniture', but often it is still fabricated in Malaysia (Lorenzo is an example). Not everybody will like their particular style.

There often are lifestyle fairs in Kuala Lumpur, where many furniture brands display their products. Usually you can enjoy huge discounts, especially on bedding, mattresses, curtains and lamps. Another advantage of buying furniture at Home & Living Fairs is that you often get all kinds of accessories together with your purchase. When we bought our bed and mattress there once, we also received free pillows and a free mattress protector.

A popular online place to buy furniture is Home24. Three popular auction websites in Malaysia are Lelong, Mudah and Ebay. Two other popular online shops to buy small electronics are Superbuy and Lazada.

Home electronics & homeware is often quite expensive in Malaysia. Especially prices of fridges, washing machines, coffee machine, vacuum cleaners and microwaves are higher in Malaysia compared to prices in the US or Europe. This specifically goes for prices in stores like Best Denky and Harvey Norman. You are better off buying electronics at online stores. For example; we bought our fridge and washing machine for very competitive prices at Jintex Electronics, a well known online store run by friendly people.

Another place where you might be able to find household items at affordable prices is via the Lowyat Forums (Homeware section). Though this is not a webshop, you can still buy items online. The main difference is that you often end up at one of the many shops around KL to pick the item up (and to pay on the spot upon collection, which is known as COD - Cash on delivery). The amount of people selling via Lowyat and delivering at your doorstep is growing every day. Numerous Lowyat sellers offer similar services as webshops you might have used in your home country. Maxx Audio (Lowyat member: htkaki) for example sells beautiful high end audio products.

Other Job Vacancies in Malaysia :

• Asistant Architect KL Sentral ( Salary : RM8,500 / Month )
• Head chef Desa Sri Hartamas ( Salary : RM6,500 / Month )
• Sales executive for hospital product Melaka & JB ( Salary : RM5,500 / Month )
• Executive Iklan Bandar Utama ( Salary : RM4,500 / Month )
• Android Developer KL Sentral ( Salary : RM5,000 / Month )
• iOS Developer KL sentral ( Salary : RM5,000 / Month )
• Assistant Chef B.Bintang( Salary : RM3,500 / Month )
• Semiconductor Salesman Penang ( Salary : RM3,500 / Month )
• Cooking Teacher Pavilion ( Salary : RM3,000 / Month )
• Quotation Executive KL ( Salary : RM2,800 / Month )
• Accounts Assistant Penang ( Salary : RM3,000 / Month )
• Purchasing executive N.Sembilan ( Salary : RM3,500 / Month )
• Kitchen Washer Bukit Bintang ( Salary : RM2,500 / Month )
• Cafe Supervisor Mid valley ( Salary : RM3,000 / Month )
• Perodua Salesman PJ ( Salary : RM10,000 / Month )
• Ticketing Service staff Imbi KL ( Salary : RM3,500 / Month )
• Japan Travel Consultant KL ( Salary : RM2,700 / Month )
• Kitchen Staff Solaris ( Salary : RM3,500 / Month )
• Waiter Bandar Utama ( Salary : RM2,500 / Month )
• Receptionist Hospital Mont Kiara ( Salary : RM4,000 / Month )
• HR Executive KLCC ( Salary : RM5,000 / Month )

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