Rosebres

Anyone on this forum lives at Horizon Hills? We are considering retiring in JB. I am an overseas Singaporean living in the UK and my husband is English.
Ideally I would like to retire but carry on working on the internet from JB.

I like the look of Horizon Hills, and would like to know:-
1) How is the broadband connection, is it reliable?
2) How good is Malaysia Post when it comes to overseas package, ie do packages get stolen and went MIA - missing in action.
3) Is there a bus outside the estate that will take me to Aeon Mall ( I looked at Google Map and I think thats the nearest post office)
4) Do we need a car? Can we get away with just taking taxis.
5) Cold Storage supermarket - any online delivery? ( I assume there must one in JB!)
6) How are the neighbours - are they friendly and down to earth?

We will be visiting Spore next year so will nip over across the causeway. I noticed that a resident at Horizon Hills is renting out a property through airbnb, so we will stay there for a few days to get a feel of the place.

Is there any other estates in JB that we should consider?

ex reg

Out of interest are you choosing JB because it is so close to Singapore??

Thairetired2016

We decided against Malaysia for retirement. Even our Singaporean friends advised against buying into any of the new developments. Only exception is Penang.

ex reg

Am I misunderstanding??
You want to move to JB???

Thairetired2016

We DID consider a move to JB for retirement.

ex reg

Yes, sorry I did misunderstand.
I got you and the OP mixed up.

Rosebres

Yes, we have a bolthole in Singapore and would like to live in JB with easy access to Spore.
Did look at Batam but never heard of any expats or Singaporeans retiring there.

Rosebres

Why? What is wrong with JB or Malaysia in general? Is it the security issue? Or the extremism of the the religion?
I am aware of the oversupply of properties in JB and personally I feel the threshold of RM 1 million is too high.

Thailand will be too much of a culture shock for me, I will need an intrepreter since I cant speak a word of Thai. I have siblings on both side of the causeway and can speak the lingo.

ex reg

For me access either way is no longer easy.
When working, years ago, I might cross the causeway 3 X 2 times a day or more without problem.

Now except to go on holiday maybe twice a year I just don't want the bother of queueing.

It really is a pain and both Governments are to blame.
They could even with the facilities they have make it so much easier.

Thairetired2016

We visited Malaysia frequently over many years. On our last visit 02/2017 we found religion has become too obvious. Security is a separate issue. Racism I can live with this exists anywhere in the world.
I don't speak much Thai but I get along. It is an easy language to pick up unless you start writing/reading. Never needed an interpreter.

geedee

Hi Rosebres

Do you need a house / garden or would you look at a flat (apartment)?

Puteri Harbour might be worth a look.....

As to car vs taxi, we managed with a taxi for quite some time but eventually gave in a and bought a car, main reason we have kids and things aren't the fastest here if you have any kind of emergency.

I think HH has 100Mbs fibre optic (Unifi) but not 100% sure.
Nearest cold storage is in Plaza Pelangi, not sure if they do online / delivery.
Not sure about Poslaju (Malaysia post) for overseas... we use DHL when we need to.

Lived here for 4 years and not sure about a lot of stuff it seems... :-)

Good luck!!

ViolaEmm

If buying a unit in Horizon Hills, you need to go at least Semi D at newer phase. Or else the quality is really bad and Malaysia weather can be quite harsh and deteriorate the house quick. No-one wanna spend a lot of money fixing the house later.

Nearest post office at Aeon is the national post. They always have long queue so I advise u to use private courier companies. One of them I use is an agent inside Tesco Bukit Indah. They have a good range of courier to choose from.

Parcels in Malaysia got lost. Every once in a while. No matter which courier u use. So far so good for me though.

genm

It's been 10 months since I moved here Nusajaya. It was great cause my health greatly improved under this hot weather. I am thankful for that. But one of the main reasons I chose JB was that Singapore was very close, too. I thought I could live in JB and enjoy Singapore. But yes, as someone mentioned above, it could be painful to cross border. Stress is the least thing I want in Johor. I have other things to focus on anyway. (I'm half retired. And I work online, too.) Then I realized that here I have to enjoy JB, not Singapore.

So I am about to embrace JB. Instead I will have to visit Europe regularly.

RedApe

Have you considered Sarawak or Sabah. The religion issues are a lot less aggravated there because Islam is actually a minority faith. I live directly across from the Malay kampongs and it can get a bit noisy at calls to prayer, but many areas in Kuching don't have nearby mesjids. Less expensive than purchasing property in Johor under the MM2H visa. Some reduced requirements as well. You do need a local sponsor, so may have to work through an agent or property manager to find one.

See Sarawak MM2H Official Website of Ministry of Tourism, Arts, Culture, Youth and Sports Sarawak

Rosebres

Oh dear, that does not sound very good to me. It seems to me that you choose to retire in JB because of its close proximity to Spore but you are not enjoying JB at all and had to travel to Europe ever so often?