rushhour

Hello there
I am moving to KL in April and looking for the best place to live where I have easy access to KLCC by rail. Many people suggesting bangsar but that seems too crowdy (although I havent visited yet)
I don't mind living bit further away of I get something nicer in my price range which is 2000-3000.
Any thoughts please?
Thanks

TehTarik

Hi rushhour, thought I'd reply since I didn't see one.

do u plan to only walk to the Train station or possibly take a bus or cab there and/or possibly some one can drop u off/pick u up daily?

anyway, assuming you want to live in an apartment/condo, the easiest high end ones to think about are around KLCC (expensive) and KL Sentral and Bangsar train stations. but if you also don't mind living with the locals (ie no expat community per se), there are also some more local family owned condos or apartments which are also near the train stations which are bit further out from KLCC itself.

do ask your real estate agent to show you a few condos near the KELANA JAYA LINE "LRT" (light rail transit) stations , which is one direct line into KLCC. else you can look at the AMPANG LINE "LRT" where you only need to change line 1 time to get to KELANA JAYA LINE

(eg of station areas are listed in wiki ie http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kuala_L...ailway_station)

And specific route planner, from the company itself MYRAPID
http://www.myrapid.com.my/rail/routes

alternatively you could ask for MONORAIL track although choices would be limited as the monorail is primarily around the city centre

Cheers

LivKL

Hi all - thanks for the great advice re Bangsar in the "Best Condos in Bangsar?" thread). I thought I'd write an update here instead of in that thread as I'm veering away from that option now and this location seems a bit more relevant.. So - we're here at last and spent our first afternoon on a serious flat-hunting investigation mission.

We saw condos in Suasana Loft Sentral, Sri Penaga Bangsar, Twins Damansara Heights, Suasana Bangsar South, Northpoint Mid Valley and Sri Tiara MidValley/Seputeh... wow, very different areas and styles and I now see what you mean about what you get for your money in each place. At the moment we like the look of Loft Sentral best ... although Sri Penaga in Bangsar was really great too! Sentral would just be the world's easiest commute for my other half though.

So... for anyone who is familiar with Sentral (both the area and actually the Loft condo too)... any opinion you'd share? I think I understand the area is part of a government regeneration scheme... is that right? Has it been as successful as it looks? Is the area considered a bit down at heel or decently upmarket? Do you think it has adequate amenities round there within say 10-mins walking distance? I think I read a mall was being built (a couple of years back?), along with an entertainment complex just north of the station...?

With comparatively urban living apprently the preferred formula for us (despite our promises pre-arrival we'd definitely go for the greenest area we could find!) could KLCC / Mont Kiara be similar contenders (although the longer commute to Sentral noted and also the higher prices in KLCC so I hear)? I've only been to Suria mall really - what's KLCC like as a possible residents' area...?

All opinions very gratefully received - thanks again for the input so far!!

For others new to KL and looking - here's my personal lowdown on what we've seen so far:
Suasana Sentral Loft (Sentral) - very well equipped (not least nice pool, cafe and shop on site), central location, nice finish inside, communal areas seemed occupied and social, high overall occupancy, quite "corporate" in style I guess, not so family-oriented but not bad either
Sri Tiara (Mid Valley/Seputeh) - attractive communal areas, shop, 2 tennis courts and a decent pool, more basic (but we looked at part-furnished options here), not so modern, seemed quiet environment and concierge lovely
Northpoint (Mid Valley) - amazing location over mall and by train, good finish, good amenities (gym looked great, pool somewhat overlooked), n.b. odd smell... could have been the wood varnish only recently applied...?!
Sri Pengaga (Bangsar) - amazingly well-equipped, had every amenity we could think we might want on-site, communal areas seemed very sociable, really lush envrironment generally, quiet and peaceful and green, very family-friendly I think. Great if you're looking for some respite from town after a day at work!
Twins (Damansara Heights) - OMG the SWISHEST flat I have ever been in! Brand new development (low occupancy), great finish, lots of space, communal areas not really finished yet so fewer amenities on hand. Not so near transport.
Suasana Bangsar (Bangsar South) - several incredible flats in this block!!! Tonnes of space, light and airy, nicely finished, no cafe or shop on site (yet?), low occupancy at the moment... I couldn't smell anything off-putting so am hoping not all the flats here suffer in the way mentioned earlier in this thread! Quite a distance from amenities as far as I could tell.

More soon I presume!

TehTarik

hi LivKl, I'm new here so I haven't had time to catch up with your posts and why you would be just prefer Sentral and Bangsar areas, but if you are planning to work in KL Sentral, you could consider staying at areas on the LRT lines I listed above and commute daily by train? personally , it's because I would dread staying too near my work place and would prefer to focus where I would chill out on weekends etc. hehe

anyway, looking at your comment on The Performing Arts, you could also look at a new area called Sentul East and Sentul West which is nearer to city centre, and has big park where KLPAC building is located in. the developer is YTL Corp in case you need to ask your real estate agent, and condos like Tamarind, Maple etc. The rent would probably be cheaper (than the likes of Sentral areas, Bangsar) because err...Sentul did not use to be seen as a "great" area to stay previously, but the new gated areas by YTL Corp has certainly rejuvenated some parts. for Expat community, people do head however to Ampang areas (near the embassies), Mont Kiara (there is an international school there though no great public transport) , Bangsar etc

anyway, here are some of my thoughts on the ones you listed below, since i know some of them cos I do like reading up on properties etc, though do bear in mind I'll be biased , hehehe, am not a fan of living in condos per se, mostly cos of my dogs
See below in BLUE >>> after your lines



in the end, I would say, the tenants or owner Find the condos/flats/houses that they each prefer best - cant suit everyone's preferences , to each their own, so Happy Hunting!

P/s pls bear with and ignore my spelling errors, I'm using an iPad to type this all , very tiring and it keeps making me mistype things

Cheers

VintagestyleKL

Hi LivKL,
I just wanted to thank you for the up to date information on Bangsar apartments. I'm about to start my apartment hunt in Bangsar and had already made appointments to view some flats in Suasana next Monday. I'll keep all the points you have made in mind (very useful) and will also refer to your other notes. I will update this thread with any new findings.
Thanks again.

LivKL

Wow, Teh Tarik thank you for that comprehensive response! So helpful... and in fact it reflects some of how our thinking developed and changed over the weekend!

VintagestyleKL - my pleasure to be able to be helpful! Good luck with your Bangsar search! Others on this forum know lots about Bangsar condos from their input so far, so with luck there'll be more good advice from others to follow!

To update re more areas within our search, we had another look at Sentral and in fact felt that it is still a bit soulless - as mentioned, SS Loft has a lovely cafe and shop on site... I'm not surprised, as there's nothing else nearby as an alternative except what's in the Sentral train station as far as I could see. As you mention, Tek Tarik, supermarkets are a fair way away so even if the work commute was free, the "living" commute would steal the cost savings! Furthermore, the moment you step outside the condo you're ejected onto a main street, no green in sight, with just roads and new developments. It wouldn't feel like coming home - and even my other half has decided that a one-minute walk to work just doesn't compete with the comfort-factor feeling of Home at the end of the day. He also feels confident that the train between Sentral and KLCC will be decently quick and easy (we won't get a car out here if we can help it).

So - despite the allure of Sri Penaga, the more urban enviorment is still winning for us, and having now been there to look around in more detail, it seems KLCC is winning out... and so far the prices seem ok enough to be able to still compare pros/cons with other areas. We saw 4 options there on Sunday - two in Hampshire 2, one in Hampshire Park and one in Stonor (?).

Stonor was lovely, more of a low-rise feel and with a sociable-looking pool area near the foyer with kids etc. A nice modern entrance to the block, too. Literally a stone's throw from Suria and the park there, so life would be so easy for shopping, entertainment and the trains, and it felt quite green for such a relatively urban location. The flat we saw was finished really nicely and had the most fantastic view of the Petronas towers - just wonderful... but on a low floor so a negative factor was that it did feel like it could get quite noisy and/or hot and airless...

Hampshire 2 was on a surprisingly lush street (we heard birds, what a treat) and the entrance was swish and felt calm. A little further from the train but hardly far - 5/10 mins?? The facilities were smart and not very overlooked (pool, I mean) but no communal area as far as I could tell, apart from poolside, but poss no big deal. This flat was higher up the block so felt airier, but there are other condos very close to this block so it did feel like you could end up looking through your neighbour's window! Still - I think it had a balcony so could screen yourself a bit with pot plants etc... For those more security-conscious, I think there are only 2 flats per floor (?) with the entrance to each either side of the lift - and the lifts have a system where your keycard opens either the doors on "your" exit side of the lift or the other, and then give onto a private foyer where your front door is - so it's kind of like having 2 locked front doors...

Hampshire Park was right next door, on the same calm-feeling street, and very similar but with a slightly better pool (in my opinion) on the ground level. Again, a quiet feel to the block, residential in style and with a wide entrance (some grass, even!) and foyer that made it feel easy to breathe there, despite quite big buildings close by. I was told there's a decent mix of ex pats from different places, and also local owners here. The flat we saw was finished to a decent standard, not super modern, but quite practical in layout. Notably, though, there was a site pretty close by that looks like it's being cleared to prepare for a new condo to be built, so living here from now (March '12) I guess could mean several months of building work noise.

Tricky stuff. I also heard that tenancy agreements tend to start either on the 1st or the 15th of each month, and you usually need to be ready to put down about 3 months' worth of rent (2 months' deposit plus a month in advance or something like that - in any case, prepare for a fairly high initial lay out!)

Nearly there I hope...

rushhour

Hi @TahTerik and @LivKL
I am very thankful to such a detailed and excellent response. I will comeback with more questions later.
Thanks again

LivKL

Thought I should update this chain as in the event we signed a lease last night and it contradicts the choice we thought we’d end up making!

After viewing a very likely option in KLCC, I explained to the agent that I was still thinking about Bangsar because I liked the greener, slightly older-looking streets, and facilities of the Sri Penaga condo… but the higher prices there per square foot and the need to shell out for a car or taxis for the other half to get to work (and in fact for me to get to “very close” facilities) was a concern, bearing in mind Bangsar’s notorious traffic problems. Worse rent/space ratio + higher commute costs balanced with a living environment I thought I preferred… tricky. Ultimately we need to be within an easy commute of Sentral, and Bangsar could still fit that bill... so worth not discounting quite yet perhaps.

She said she could show me another apartment there that afternoon that was within budget but of course smaller than the KLCC option. It did have an extra bedroom for no rental uplift… why? It seems there are two kinds of landlord here, as everywhere I guess – the ones who offer a slightly lower price to get a good tenant in fast, or the ones who offer an inflated price and can afford the time to haggle or hold out for someone who’ll pay. This landlord was the former kind.

I hear (as noted below too) that Bangsar is viewed by some as a bit over the hill now as prices remain high for condos that are old and shabbier than what you get if you venture a little further out of the city (e.g. to TTDI and Damansara, which are closer than they look on the map!, or Mont Kiara where there are incredibly modern-looking condos in gated developments going up), and the Bangsar traffic is awful (but is it genuinely worse than elsewhere??). Still, a benefit is that there’s not so much construction work there because it’s an older area where the space has mostly been utilised in the way that it will be for a while to come, while in Sentral and KLCC apparently there’s something new built every 5 minutes (and fast, too – a high rise completed in 3-6 months for structural work and marketed by 9-12 months?! Yikes)

In the afternoon I simulated my husband’s commute home in a cab, and it was quick and cheap (not rush hour though). I looked round BSC before the viewing – for those who don’t know it, my thoughts were that I liked the terraced café culture there. No super designer clothes stores (that I saw) so not like Suria KLCC, but that’s good for me. Also not touristy like Suria KLCC. I also liked the yummy food court on the very top floor that I nearly missed, and the special occasion type restaurants on the floor below. Cold Storage was lovely but expensive… but there is a cheaper supermarket a short cab ride away with a fresh meat & veg market out the back that is apparently good. (Incidentally the next day I took a short cab ride down to Telawi and liked the much more down-to-earth feel for practical shopping there, so despite the upmarket feel of BSC that isn’t the only option in Bangsar, which I feared it was at first).

And then on viewing the apartment, it all fell into place. Clearly felt like home, everything felt right… and as has been mentioned earlier here, each person falls for what works for them, and this place just worked for me! Despite the worries over the commute, we’re still opting for it because of all the other massive benefits.

A little detour to talk about living areas in the context of the commuting issue… I went on big driving tour round the wider KL city yesterday with a relocation company - and I understand more now why living here is (as we were forewarned by BE members already in the know!) an almost-unavoidable commuting lifestyle…

It's almost like a fair portion of the "real KL" exists only in the suburbs (which all seem so closely linked and inter-related they're essentially one long continuation with different names) but they have no decently thought-out LTR links and in the main if someone says "Oh, it's very close!!" what they actually mean is "It's 10 minutes in your car, provided there's no jam (and if there is then it could be 30/40 minutes - so a taxi is a risk but there's no train either)".

It strikes me (admittedly while I am still VERY new here!) that either:

1. you buy a car (n.b. very expensive, I hear, for foreign makes) and if you can bear coming in to the city proper for entertainment/work then you put up with traffic jam chaos, signage chaos (and apparently police who stop you to try to con cash out of you and apparently motorbike car jackers) but you benefit from living where there’s more lush greenery, a breeze, and being able to (work)/play/shop where you want in the very many suburbs where a lot of businesses operate from, where I think the university is, where I think most of the schools are etc etc, and (crucially for me) from where you can access the genuine cheaper living and more authentic benefits of Malaysia - wet markets, local supermarkets, decent but not super-glam shopping centres, cheap and lovely cafes etc designed for longer-term residents not tourists. These suburbs are closely connected by car and easily cater for those who can zip about to get what they want. Or

2) you live in the centre where you don't need to worry about the traffic problem at all because you get cheap rail travel in and around all the places you use and pretty much all of what you want is on your doorstep if you’re not an obsessive bargain-hunter, but it's hotter, noisier, dustier, possibly has more building work going on, and you constantly have to navigate your way past the pricey, westernised and touristy version of KL, and you have to use a taxi to get out of the city proper to access the savings and authentic “opportunities” available in the suburbs in which case the cheap prices are probably negated by the cost of accessing them by taxi (not to say there’s no authenticity to be found in the centre, of course!!!) There’s also the issue of how to get away from KL if you’re planning a weekend away somewhere off the beaten track. I don’t know much about car rental but if we don’t get a car, which I’m really hoping not to, then I will need to investigate…

Hope that’s useful (if rambling) info…! Best get ready to shift out of our hotel now! P.S. for anyone interested, Asian Tigers can do a removals effort from a hotel to your new condo for a pretty decent price - we've got a lot of stuff with us and they quoted us 500RM with only 2 days' notice required. Seemed pretty good if they pack it all up and unpack too (else it'd be taxis all day to and fro for me with a bit of stuff on each journey I guess??).

bakedbean

Great info