Expat commuting to work from Johor Bahru

[sundaymorningstaple]

Nice try ksl, but this time sms actually showed him how to set up the hyperlink (and also gave him the rules regarding the signature link). Also told him to read your posts from a year or so ago to learn just how far you can go before I say anything.

[ev-disinfection]

Well, I personally feel that Johor anf KL is more moldy than Singapore is....
Have you driven past the shop houses and seen the exterior in these 2 states? It is just that most people don't notice it, like i do. Expats in Malaysia or Singapore.... care to comment.

BTW, I have tried your vinegar and had met you when you were giving out samples at a food fair, a couple of months in Suntec City.... and they tasted good.

[ScoobyDoes]

Well, I personally feel that Johor anf KL is more moldy than Singapore is....
Have you driven past the shop houses and seen the exterior in these 2 states? It is just that most people don't notice it, like i do. Expats in Malaysia or Singapore.... care to comment.

That's funny, I spent nearly 5-yrs living in KL before moving to SG and i had mold once or twice on shoes but then learned where to store them better. Other than that, no issue.

It was the same in my first apartment here......exactly the same.

Now we're in the second apartment here and everything is going moldy, including the doors, shoes, belts and our wardrobe. The wardrobe didn't even go moldy in Hong Kong where humidity is ~100% in the summer! It has less to do with the country and more to do with location, estate planning, apartment design, wind flow and exposure to sunlight etc.

With regards the shop exteriors you mention, it might have more to do with maintenance and the quality (price) of the paint.

[ev-disinfection]

Well, i guess you keep your place clean / dry in KL, but here, your place / aircon fancoils could have been already infected when you took over the place.

As for the paint, the protein in most paint, is a food source for the molds, even the high end marine paints,

Storing of the unused paint is also as important as the area of production, once molds get into the paint cans / barrels, they will remain dormant until you use them on surfaces, and once moisture and dampness sets in on the painted surfaces.... the molds reproduce.

But generally, comparing the painted buildings in SG and Malaysia.... the Malaysian side fared worse.

[carlsum1986]

Well, i guess you keep your place clean / dry in KL, but here, your place / aircon fancoils could have been already infected when you took over the place.

As for the paint, the protein in most paint, is a food source for the molds, even the high end marine paints,

Storing of the unused paint is also as important as the area of production, once molds get into the paint cans / barrels, they will remain dormant until you use them on surfaces, and once moisture and dampness sets in on the painted surfaces.... the molds reproduce.

But generally, comparing the painted buildings in SG and Malaysia.... the Malaysian side fared worse.

well there is more land in malaysia and there are buildings that are spread out all over the country.......it is definitely easier to maintain buildings in singapore with the limited space which limits the amount of buildings

[revhappy]

Well, i guess you keep your place clean / dry in KL, but here, your place / aircon fancoils could have been already infected when you took over the place.

As for the paint, the protein in most paint, is a food source for the molds, even the high end marine paints,

Storing of the unused paint is also as important as the area of production, once molds get into the paint cans / barrels, they will remain dormant until you use them on surfaces, and once moisture and dampness sets in on the painted surfaces.... the molds reproduce.

But generally, comparing the painted buildings in SG and Malaysia.... the Malaysian side fared worse.

Why only Malaysia and SG? How about Thailand, Indonesia, India, Phillipines. So is whole of Asia living in mold. Come on lets get over it and move to a better topic

[ev-disinfection]

Yes yes.... enough of this mold talk.....

Think about this, once more and more expats working in SG starts to stay in Malaysia (Johor) / Indonesia (Batam) the salary packages will go down. The reason why some or most expats get a bigger package, is to offset the living cost here in SG.
What do you all think?

[Bayam Trees]

Hi, I am a SPR working in Singapore and live in Horizon Hills, Nusajaya. Being staying here close to 2 years. Purchased a Cluster home back in year Oct'06. In fact I was the second house buyer when the Gateway princit was launched. The property ownership consists of 40% S'porean, 30% foreigner (middle east/Sri Lankan investor), 20% SPR and 10% local. If you plans to stay here, I would be glad to share with you my living experiences with regards to the environment of  Nusajaya. Please PM me. Cheers.

[x9200]

As for the paint, the protein in most paint, is a food source for the molds, even the high end marine paints,

Only that most of the paints do not contain proteins and majority for this part of the world contain anti-fungal agents .... unless they are chip and natural, raw latex based.

[x9200]

Yes yes.... enough of this mold talk.....

Think about this, once more and more expats working in SG starts to stay in Malaysia (Johor) / Indonesia (Batam) the salary packages will go down. The reason why some or most expats get a bigger package, is to offset the living cost here in SG.
What do you all think?

The number of the participating expats is too small - no critical mass for any significant impact IMHO. This option has its merits balanced on subjective ground of each individual so will probably never be too popular. It does not offer the Singapore living equivalent at lower price.

[FinanceMan]

I've got a question (well, two) for those that have already made the leap across the strait:

1. How is the Internet over there? Both in speed and reliability?
2. How did you handle immigration?

On the last one, I get a three month visa and I'm tempted to do as many of my friends do in other countries and 'not worry about it', but it sure would be inconvenient if, one day, Malaysian immigration decided they didn't want me to come back in.

There's the MM2H scheme, mentioned here a few times, but I'd rather not tie up my capital in a fixed deposit if I can avoid it. Are there any other immigration programs for the Iskandar project that might apply?

Cheers

[observe]

Hi all,

We've just recently moved from Singapore to East Ledang, Nusajaya. If you're interested in learning about our move experience and if you have any questions on East Ledang, feel free to visit http://expatjohor.blogspot.com/

Rgds
Creammocha

Hi Creammocha,

I'll be your neighbour in East Ledang in 2012. Read your blog and saw that you guys are driving a car with foreign license plate. So you guys have taken up MM2H scheme and imported a car with no tax? And you get to keep your foreign license plate too? Don't you need to register a Malaysian plate?

By the way, I found some updates on the construction progress of Medini here http://www.gcdmedini.com/update/current ... ini-site-0

[observe]

Hi Guys,

we moved over to HH in June, no problems at all. If you need any help, info, assistance, just give a shout.
Pretty much plugged into agents, vendors, etc etc, even managed to bring our mutts over with no hassle.
Always up for a cold one,
Cheers

Mark

Hi Markz,

Any updates on the Pros and Cons of your stay in HH? I believe the fresh air and unblocked view of the Horizon are definitely great for stress relieve.

[observe]

Hi - I wrote this response in another forum so please forgive the "cut and paste". As such there are some points below pertaining to questions/comments people had in that other forum but still relevant to your questions I think.

To answer your questions specifically, A: yes you can get a visa to live in Malaysia and still work in Singapore and B: yes you do need to stamp your passport everytime.

==========BEGIN COPY OF MESSAGE========

I'm an expat with a family and we're building a house in Ledang Heights (right next to East Ledang). I have several friends that are doing the same (nearly all expats) and some are already living there.

When we first starting looking into it, we experienced the same negative responses that I'm reading here. You need to see through the prejudice and clutter to make a decision that works for you. My wife and I both have engineering and architecture backgrounds which helps.

Commute:
Many people don't realize that this development is 7 minutes over the Tuas link, and not north over the causeway. Most people making negative comments about the commute have only driven over on the weekends when traffic is at its worse. During the week (when you and your kids will be coming into Singapore for work and school) you can expect a commute of 35 to 50 minutes into the CBD. My kids attend the Canadian School. When the new campus is completed (near Chinese Garden) their commute will be only 25 minutes (all these times include border crossing/immigration). These are average times that I have personally experienced. The worst traffic is during weekends and holidays (Chinese New Year) and when the odd terrorist escapes from local custody (that one took me 3 hours at the border. Typical weekend traffic is about 45 minutes to an hour at the border - but this is coming from Singapore into Malaysia. Malaysia to Singapore is against the flow of traffic and faster. Remember you will live there and you don't care how long it takes for others to come into Malaysia. You'll be headed into Singapore against the traffic). No problem for someone used to a minimum 1 hour commute (or 2 hours in the snow).

Security
Again, please note there is a difference between JB (Johor Bahru) and Johor (the state). This development is not in JB. It is in a township called Nusajaya, which is the capital city of the iskandar project. These communities are gated and guarded and the entire area is not as highly populated as JB. JB (by singapore standards) has a higher crime rate. However, anyone who has lived outside of Singapore is familiar with employing some common street sense. JB is no more dangerous then any other major city in the world, and Nusajaya is "country living" by comparison. Your commute to Singapore is direct on the highway and there is no need to go down any local sideroads (if this is a concern - it's not for me).

Government and Iskandar project
It is true what one of the posters said - government changes can impact your investment. This is true anywhere in the world. Will they shut down the Iskandar project? Perhaps parts of it. The Iskandar project is huge. On a grand scale it combines several projects into one. For my investment I care only about one of those projects - Nusajaya. This is the "jewel" of Iskandar and the new government offices are almost completed. It would be foolish to kill that part of the project. Could it still happen? Perhaps but I doubt it. Just take a drive around the area and you'll be amazed by what is already built. Ask yourself this question - if the worse case scenario is that you have a beautiful home within a 1/2 hour commute of Singapore CBD and nothing else happens with that development, will you still be happy? That one was an easy one for me.

Construction Quality and cost
You get what you pay for but don't confuse total cost with Construction cost. Just because the total cost is cheaper than singapore does not mean the quality is worse. The reason things are cheap in Johor is because the land is cheap. The next variable you have to play with is the construction cost and this will vary by developer. You don't want to go cheap here or you will get some of the problems that others have posted about above. Make sure you go with a reputable developer. The only way to do this is look at existing homes. Also make sure your contract is ironclad - deadlines, materials, etc all need to be included in the specs. Be very vigilant about this. Saying floors are "hardwood" is not descriptive enough. You need to know type of wood, plank thickness and length, etc or you will end up with parquet veneer.

East Ledang is actually of good quality. I've checked it out myself. It's not top of the line (finishes, etc) but its very good value for money. We decided on a custom designed home on a larger piece of land so we are building in Ledang Heights. There you can get much bigger plots and can build your dream home. Ledang East has smaller plots and smaller homes. Still - that's a personal decision. If you like what you see then go for it. Although it's not advertised there is still plenty of land available 3rd party at Ledang Heights. It's 100% sold to other investors so the people in the office there won't bother mentioning it to you.

Can you get cheaper housing? Of course! Price is based primarily on land so it's all about location, location, location. Ledang area is prime for a very good reason. It is the closest (as the car drives) residential community to the Tuas link. It is also a beautiful sprawling gated community. Just take a drive around there to see all the amenities going up. Marina, commercial district, etc.

Schools
We'll have to wait and see. There are already some signed deals that see International Schools in the area but that's about 2 years away. For now you need to make your decision based on a commute for kids into Singapore. This commute will vary depending on school location - see above for our personal commute times.

Immigration
How do you retain your EP? PR? etc. There are lots of options to this and a bit too long to add to an already long post. But it's not a problem. You can send me a message separately and I'd be happy to talk you through it.

Final Analysis
Taking all of the above into consideration the decision was easy for us. We're moving into an 8000 sqft custom designed Balinese villa on 30,000 sqft freehold land complete with landscaping, pool and 2 dogs. Total cost less than my 1300 sqft condo in Singapore. Yes, I will be saving money and increasing quality of living

Hi TragicallyHip,

Thanks for sharing your personal experience and knowledge. How is your stay in Ledang Heights so far? Any major issues?

[observe]

I share you opinion. Ledang Height is the up and coming high end gated community in Nusajaya. It is almost for sure that that rich and famous will move into the area due to its proximity to the new admin center. I had bought a 10,000 sf balinese home in the area. It is an open concept home with a koi pond in the middle and 4000 sf build up. And for the same price I can't even get a good 4room flat in Marine parade.

Hi jimynch,

How's your stay in Ledang Heights so far? Care to share some of your personal experiences of staying there? Any major issues?