So, Day 16 brings more of our "House Hunters International" episode. After advice from the relocation agency, horror stories about unkind landlords and how adamant the landlords were about not meeting our requests, we decided to look elsewhere. The good news is that we knew exactly which neighborhood we wanted! Both Lee and the relocation agency set up viewings in 20 Trees... the neighborhood with the awesome pool, gym, playground and meditation garden.
We met Lee at the guard house where they traded my school ID for a visitor's pass. We parked and followed Lee to a private gate that you needed a clearance card to get into. Once inside the gate, if we were residents we would have a private lift (elevator) that let out only to our unit.
Once inside, we were shown a 3 + 1 condo. The + 1 means there is a maid's room attached to the "wet kitchen." The wet kitchen is separate from the main kitchen. It includes the washer, dryer, stove top with propane and a sink for washing dishes. It can sometimes be found in an outdoor area of the indoor kitchen. In this unit there was a large door separating it from the indoor kitchen, but it was still inside, just without aircon.
Here is the dining/living room.
Master Closet!
New large mattresses in two of the rooms...
Master bath that needs some blinds so we do not give the neighbors a free show!
Jaxson's room with a big bed...
Private balconies of the second rooms but not the master.
Guest room/office...
Still a decent view...
Balcony...
So, we really like that unit and we loved the price at 3,000 RM. Especially compared to the 4,500 RM for the large link house. Once again, we really re-evaluated our goals again and realized we got carried away with the possibility of living in something we would never be able to in the states. However, our goals here are to have at least a small space for guests, be able to travel and save money to pay off student loans... with that said, saving $500 USD a month seemed like a wise decision. After looking at the unit, we followed Lee to his friend's furniture shop to price some things out.
We actually drove a pretty good distance to the other side of town to walk through the Islamic Art Museum. Unfortunately, we did not have any ringit and they did not take cards. They told us where we could walk to get to the ATM, but by this time it was pouring rain and along with the lighting we decided to come another day.
We had some time to kill before our 4pm viewing. Keith had been wanting sushi since yesterday when we went to Carreforre. I remembered seeing this place in the Wangsa Walk mall called, Octopus.
Jaxson's "afternoon nap." He is such a trooper!
Right across from the Octopus (that was empty) there was a subway. Keith said they must be giving away free sandwiches because the line was unbelievable.
After paying what was equal to $3.50 USD for our sushi, we headed to Austin Chase for some coffee and a "snack." So, much for my weight loss plan... the desserts here are amazing and cheap.
We were a couple minutes late meeting James, but we had to wait on the showing agent anyway. When we told him what we had viewed this morning along with the price, the showing agent didn't even show us what we were originally suppose to see. I believe that it was the same size and layout as what we saw, but they thought we were willing to pay 4,500 RM. Why we would pay that for an 3 bedroom condo when we could have gotten a 3 story house is beyond me. Anyway, so they shuffled us up to a 2 story penthouse and guess what the price was.... 4,500 RM. How convenient for them!
Honestly, we hated it and we hated the price even more and were annoyed that we weren't shown what we were originally suppose to see.
James apologized, made a phone call and set up a couple more viewings for ten a.m. the next day. So, we are back to square one although at least we have narrowed it down to one specific development! We will keep you posted...
~Until tomorrow~