theramblingman

Hi all,

I lived in KL some time ago and noticed quite a lot of changes to the city on a recent visit. I'm considering moving back and wondered where the best or most popular areas for living and working are now?

I lived in Bukit Bintang before, but my situation this time will be different as I'll be looking for an area to raise a family rather than party central. Any advice where to look around?

Cheers

OriginalSunshine

OriginalSunshine

Traffic is horrendous so you will want to minimise commutes

StillSearching

Please check Valencia, which is located north of KL and at the bottom of the hills. Very nice area, with a golf course, very big pool, an international school and a small grocery shop inside. Very quite place and far away from polluted center.

eCdD

If would by no means accept to live in any of the suburbs if working in the center/KLCC.

ChrisC1955

Hi All,
At the moment we live in Setapak and have an apartment there (KLTS) but we're actively looking at a landed property so somewhere out of the city but within easy reach like Sungai Buloh or Rawang.

StillSearching

In case you care about air quality, which is greatly reduced by plastic recycling facilities located mostly along the coast, south and north of port Klang, it is preferable to live further away from the port. It looks like Rawang is a better option in this respect than Sungai Buloh, because Rawang is 30 min north of Sungai Buloh and immediately north of the forest area, which helps the air quality.

Daily traffic congestion is a big problem in Rawang.

Both of them have a lot of industries and some of them polluting. It is worth to consider not to live next door to them.

ChrisC1955

Many thanks for that infoStillSearching

Gempharm

Hi all,

I am going to be moving to Malaysia in August and I am looking for somewhere to live that has an active expat community, but isn't too noisy or with a horrendous commute from Kajang. I would prefer a condo with a swimming pool. Not sure which are nice, some seem to have complaints about noise, excessive traffic. Looking at maybe RM2500/ month.
I'm going to be on my own, so family friendly isn't a need.
Does anybody have any recommendations?
Thanks!

StillSearching

Have you considered Ipoh, Perak? We discovered it after being very unhappy about air and noise pollution in KL.
Ipoh is perfect for expats, our neighbors were from Europe, India, China and other countries. All very nice people. Here is my assessment on Ipoh.

MODERN CITY-
There are a lot of new condominiums with the pools, very good shopping, very good grocery stores; nicely restored old part of the city. It has nice view on the mountains. Ipoh is not too big and not too small; it has enough of development for comfortable living.
Also 1 hour drive to the beaches from there.

RENT PRICES ARE VERY LOW-
The most shocking is how cheep is to rent there compare to KL, or KK, or Penang! It looks like they overbuilt there and it is why the prices are so low.
According to NUMBEO, rents are 124% higher in Kuala Lumpur than in Ipoh. Prices for restaurants and groceries are also lower in Ipoh.

AIR QUALITY-
According to meteoblue site, it is indeed much better than in Penang or KL.
Blue sky every day, no smell of toxins in the air. We live north of Ipoh, in the country club surrounded by the hills. It is a really peaceful life here.

HOW TO GET THERE-
There are flights from Ipoh to Singapore (~USD100) and Johor. I didn't find any other destinations.
Therefore if you need to fly internationally from Ipoh, you would need to fly through Singapore.
2 hours to Cameron Highlands, Pahang
Train or car: 3.5 h to KL, 2 hours to Penang

WHERE TO LIVE IN IPOH-
There are several options for a place to live we liked and one of them is a new development, Upper East. It is near a park and it has a very big and beautiful pool. But we found that the best option for us is Golf Vista at Meru Valley.

We didn't find that we are lacking anything we could find in KL.

eCdD

Almost every hour there is a direct bus from and to KLIA. With your own car Penang Airport is the better option because of the terrible traffic around KL.

In October Ipoh finally will get a flight to Guangzhou.

Ipoh is indeed great for MM2Hers. You can buy apartment for only 350.000 and no special taxes like in other states like Penang. And the rents are really very low due to heavy oversupply.

Gempharm

Hi,

thanks, I do like the idea of Ipoh, unfortunately I will be working near Kajang, south of KL, so the commute would be about 3 hours each way from Ipoh, so wouldn't be feasible.

eCdD

Yes, keep Ipoh in mind for your future MM2H (or home office) life in Malaysia

Because of KL traffic I would recommend you to give up the idea to go to the expat areas in Bukit Bintang, KLCC or Sentral.

I don´t know about good Condos in Kajang, but I guess there are. If not, Bukit Jalil is not too far away, but first look around Kajang directly. Your life quality is so much better if you live close to your work place in KL.

OriginalSunshine

eCdD

My life is much too precious to be spent with commuting KLs MRT. Feel free to do so, I feel free to recommend the thread opener not to do so.