Stranger in a strange land

dpcondo

I’m going to have to evac my current premises by 27th of May. It’s rather unfortunate that I signed a tenancy agreement that allows for a 1 Β½ month termination notice by either party. I didn’t think much of it when I put my John Hancock on the dotted line since I needed a place to stay. This condominium has great security, plus it’s spacious and quiet. I’ve grown to love it in the six months that I’ve lived here.

Anyway, I’m quite adaptable so I don’t mind moving. It’s just the hassle of finding a place that’s close to the office AND affordable that’s the problem. I’ve been looking into Kelana Sentral Apartment but the place is a bit too small for my liking. The rent is RM 1,100 (which is essentially the same amount I’m forking out right now) and it doesn’t even have air conditioning to boot.

I guess it’s time to hit The Star and look for places to rent…which brings me to another dilemma – should I be purchasing instead? Paying 1.1k for rent every month for a place you won’t ultimately own is a financially ludicrous arrangement. I hear Casa Suites is going for RM 1,100 per month after the initial down payment, but it’s a bit far from my workplace.

Does anyone have any idea where I can establish the sixthseal.com pad in Petaling Jaya? I work in Kelana Jaya so I need to be reasonably close. Cheers!

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41 thoughts on “Stranger in a strange land”

  1. HB, It a buyer market now and you should think really good of buying but make sure job is secure. In states you worked a year to prove job is secure first. But everywhere is different. Well more freedom for you in owning. Some people buy home and sell in a few months to earn some money from it in buying and selling.
    Property with stores and bus stops near by and safe are good and near work not bad.

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  2. Serge Norguard: Cheers mate! Appreciate that. I’m also looking at Sterling. It seems to be an excellant place, but a bit on the high end. Premium prices too. :S
    KY: Thanks mate. I’ll do that. πŸ™‚
    eiling: I am planning to move to Kelana Sentral if they have a studio apartment for RM 700. No one is renting out at the moment though.
    ShaolinTiger: Hey thanks for that ST! πŸ™‚
    I’ll check it out. Yeah, I figured it would make more sense to purchase instead of rent if I’m going to stay in KL. Buyer’s market anyway. πŸ™‚
    jerine: Tropicana is Casa Suites right?
    Dan: Haha! Where do I take a dump and where do I shower? Where can I get online? πŸ™‚
    benjy8769: Thanks! πŸ™‚
    Vickie: Yeah, it’s a buyer’s market now here too. A lot of people are holding on to the apartment that I’m looking at coz the studio should be going for RM 900-1000 but the going rate is RM 800-900 so most owners would rather not rent. It’s stupid, IMHO.
    If you rent, at least you don’t have to fork out your own money for the installments. I don’t know the logic behind them.
    Anthea: Thanks Anthea! πŸ™‚
    I like Sterling but it’s way beyond my means…it’s too expensive, but the place is awesome. πŸ™‚
    erin: Hmm…I’ve heard a lot of good things about Ara Damansara for purchasing property. I shall consider it. Thanks! πŸ™‚

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  3. A friend of mine has places for rent in Kelana Mahkota. Units or rooms whichever you prefer. Email me for her number if you’re interested.
    Either way, good luck with the search.

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  4. Try Palm Spring @ Damansara. Rental for totally empty units should about RM800 above, obviously more if fully furnished. I live here and used to work opposite the “big Giant” at Kelana Jaya. If you take the Tropicana route from Palm Spring to Kelana Jaya, it will take you about 15minutes to work. If you take the LDP route from Palm Spring to KJ, the traffic would be quite bad if you leave during peak hours. Tropicana route the best. Good luck.

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  5. The Kelana Makhota area has a few apartments there. the new one is PJ Sterling. It’s really nice. There’s also kelana parkview.
    Just on the outskirts, Sri Bayu or Nusa Kelana. Both has shortcuts into kelana jaya.
    Good luck HB!

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  6. good luck in finding your new nest although i can’t help much here… and umm.. rm1100 for rental is kinda expensive though, but i guess you could effort it (envy…)

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  7. The condos near Ara Damansara (D’aman Ria and Crimson) are quite reasonably priced and convenient if you don’t mind the traffic jam at the tunnel leading to the LDP. If you’re talking about landed property, sorry dude but I think it’s out of your budget range πŸ™‚

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  8. Wow, Hb, I am amazed. somewhere I got that tape. I guess you could call me a land lord now. But what caught my eye was Stranger in a stange land. years ago, i, and several others, used to take a bunch of kids to Willmore KY. icthus a music festival . It is right in the middle of nowhehere. But we had 16000, Yeah, sixteen thousand, convergerge on that little town, last time we went there. three days of head banging rock, or what passed for it ,back then. I remember I gave lecture– we are leaving here with 24 , and I do not want 25, or 26 comming back, OK) I was one of the leaders. at age 25. telling our church, they ( the kids) they Needed to go.
    They never let me down. And one of the bands played that song “we are stangers, we are alliens, we are not of this world. speaking of followers of JC. Just so you know, HB, it does not get any easier. But is still fun. And that is the whole point, I guess. I am now 50. Every decade, I have said, well, I will be doing this. Every decade, things change. But we are all kids at heart. God bless HB.

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  9. As a friend, I would say if you are gonna be there less than a year, rent. If you think you are gonna be there more than two years, go look for the shitiest, cheapest place, place you can afford and buy it. and hang on to it, for a while. Divest your self of stupid encuberances like high speed computers, cell phones, and such like trash. Stock markets rise and fall, but they are not making any more land, you know. It will increase in value. Land lasts. But establish a home base. somewhere. If not land, then friends and family, and stay in touch with them. True friends and family last.
    Tom

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  10. M: Thanks buddy, I’ve gotten in touch with her. Cheers!
    Paying it forward. πŸ™‚
    Audrey Hepburn 2: Thanks for the tip. Er…you work very close to where I work too. πŸ™‚
    Palm Spring, will keep an eye out for it. Thanks! πŸ™‚
    Aishah: Thanks Aishah! I’m quite taken by Sterling and Mahkota too, but it’s out of my price range, since I want the entire unit to myself. Sterling can go for 1.5k but I can’t afford that unless there’s someone to share the rent.
    cindy: No lah, I can’t afford it, I’ve just been paying it for the privacy it affords me. I kinda like my privacy, so the premium is for privacy. I can probably pay rent for 2 1/2 months if I just get a room but yeah, I’m willing to pay for privacy. πŸ™‚
    Hmm…now come to think of it some quick calculations have shown that I shouldn’t be able to afford a 1.1k rent, but somehow it’s managable. Probably coz I use my credit card a lot. :S
    1.5k is where it starts to become really expensive, I can’t afford that range too or it’s Sterling, FTW! πŸ™‚
    deriku: Yeah, I like Crimson too, that was one of my choices before I moved into my current condo. The studios are around RM 800. πŸ™‚
    chris: Yeah, but I’m thinking if the market will stabilize if I work elsewhere and have to rent the place out. Oh well…
    tom robinson: Yeah, I actually read the book by Robert A. Heinlein. πŸ™‚
    Thanks for the tip, my friend. I’ll take it, you have the wisdom from your years of experience.
    Thank you for sharing it with me…about what’s important in life.
    You have an awesome week tom! πŸ™‚

    Reply
  11. Buying is the proper thing to do in theory, but not something you want to do if you’re in a hurry. I’d say find a place to live then start looking for a place to buy, prices may continue to fall – but in any case better not to buy in haste.

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  12. Thanks Hb. In my mind i still 18, but I have forgotten all the bad stuff that went along with that. ( being 18) i was no saint, for sure. Next time you grasp the hand of someone in their eighties,in a nursing home or on the street, remember, they were once your age, and for a while we are all the same age. Very transcient, but for now, we live here. That’s why I cannot live a life of “quiet contemplation”, be it Budist, Fransiscan, Mennonite or whatever. I need your advice. I alredy like fuji cameras, ( I had A Fuji 35 MM Optic, before it got destroyed, and it was pretty good. Hate to say it, but Kodack aint even in the race, and I cannot afford others (Swiss) but am about to purchace a digital cam, about the size of a pack of ciggatttes, for about 100 usd. it is 12 mg pixcel, but only has internal zoom. Is that a good deal?
    Tom

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  13. What abt an apartment at Taman Desa? My frend wanted to sell off. It is currently rent out for RM1500 monthly.
    Let me know if u r interested in buying.

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  14. How do you cope when everything crashes around you? In no way am I suggesting it is right now, but as it is in mine, how do/did you?

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  15. Just keep sucking air, and trust that things WILL get better. it just takes time. All persons are impatient. but our time is not the same as His time. What we see as forever, is a blink of the eye to Him. An old saying from I dont know where is “compose your soul with serenity- it might be a long wait, but why are you in such a hurry anyway. Where are you going, that I have not been?”
    Tom

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  16. I’m afraid can’t help u much finding a place since I’m not there.. but I do wish u’ll find one as good as the current one soon!
    And just to let u know – i’ve finally updated my blog πŸ˜€ thx for the motivation hhaha!

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  17. at ur age now . . .should purchase . . rumours said to wait another 6 months down the road for better pricing. . .paying RM1.1k a month, u can practically afford to buy one dude

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  18. Jade Zheng: Casa Kiara eh? Hmm…I shall check it out. πŸ™‚
    Thanks Cindy! πŸ™‚
    Riduan: Oh nice! Thanks for the tip buddy! πŸ™‚
    lcy: Thanks! πŸ™‚
    I shall find another abode. πŸ˜‰
    julian: Cheers julian! Yeah, that’s true, prices might continue dropping, I’ll wait a week or so, consult some people and see how it goes. Currently, I’m more towards renting. Thanks mate! πŸ™‚
    tom robinson: A 12 MP digicam the size of a pack of cigarettes for USD 100 is a pretty good deal, but without optical zoom, you might want to reconsider, depending on what kind of photos you take. Cheers! πŸ™‚
    Good luck!
    tze: Taman Desa is around the Cheras area right? It’s a bit too far away from where I work. Thanks for the offer though! πŸ™‚
    E: That’s a tough one, mate. I guess the only thing to do is to ride it out, wait for the dust to settle and do some damage control after that.
    I wish you all the best, my friend.
    tom robinson: Cheers mate! That’s some good advice there. πŸ™‚
    Cheryl: Awesome! I just checked it out. πŸ™‚
    BTW, I will be in Penang over the labor day weekend. Tour guide? πŸ˜‰
    M: Great! I’ll be seeing more of you if I live over there then. It’s a very nice place, that condo. πŸ™‚
    foodcrazee: Yeah, I know, some people are paying 1k for monthly installments after the downpayment for Casa Suites. It’ll be the same as renting and you get to own the place after…er, 15 years or so. πŸ™‚

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  19. let me recommend you a few places. since I live around the area! πŸ™‚
    1) casa suites near tropicana mall. Its upmarket, only 10 mins drive, and great for a bachelor. Downsides? Parking sucks, its always jammed being so close to the LDP and its noisy.
    2) Ken apartments in SS2. decent price, quite large (3 rooms IIRC), ok facilities, closeby to ss2 so you don’t need to drive a long way out whenever you wanna tapau. downsides? Its ss2 so there’s jams (again!) its living chicken-coop style (high density).
    3) Mutiara Oriental, near aman suria. Great place, not overcrowded, close to commercial area, quite decent price, upmarket. a good recommendation IMO.
    4) Cita Dsara. Mutiara dsara, on the way to tropicana. Low density, reasonable price, quiet, great facilites. As a matter of fact I’m looking to buy 1 unit there! πŸ™‚ drawback is its not that close so that you can walk out for a burger, but oh well………

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  20. Purchasing is always better.
    Assuming you have enough for the downpayment and legal fees. Work out your monthly payment PLUS assessment and maintenance fees. Those are the hidden costs that can kill you.
    My friend’s quite nice. I thought of her seeing as you need a place quite soon plus its in the vicinity of your old place.
    I think she should be quite flexible as to the term of lease so if you really think owning is the way to go, renting her place could be a stop gap solution while you scout around for the killer bargain.

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  21. veddder: Thanks for all the solid leads, mate. πŸ™‚
    Much appreciated. Mutiara Damansara and Cita Damansara sounds promising, shall go and check it out. πŸ™‚
    M: Yeah, I’m thinking along the same lines too. Thanks for putting me in touch with her. Cheers! πŸ™‚
    Jys: Yeah, I know about Kelana D’Putera. I was considering it when I just came to KL, but settled on my current place now.
    LOL! Jesus, I nearly automatically typed my current condo’s name. :p
    pm: I’m not promising anything coz I am highly dubious about your intentions. πŸ™‚
    paul: Nope, the owner had to move back from Perlis, so it was in the clause – if that happens it’s 1 1/2 months notice. :S

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