Visas are free.

Housing here is expensive. While in Thailand you can frequently save a lot of money by renting an apartment short term, it seems to be the opposite here. I don't think you will get anything near the beach for RM1000, let alone a house. I do know someone who got a one-bedroom for RM 700, but it turned out it was full of apartments being rented by an hour. I'm told you can get something for RM 700 near Gurney Road, which is near the water but not near the beach, and that's an apartment, not a house. There is a large ex-pat community here and there are ex-pat prices, and the places I hear about that are cheap are for locals only.

One of the problems is that all of the apartments that are built for occupation by foreigners are luxury places, three bedrooms and two baths is the norm. There are some two-bedroom places. Rents are 2500 to 3500. If you are only here during the off season, you might get one for RM 1000-1200.

I keep hearing about cheaper places, but I have never met anybody who actually has one except the guy staying in the hot-sheet place.

Malaysia always used to be much more expensive than the Philippines, and that probably hasn't changed.