Dog and 2 kids

[worldsurfer]

My disclaimer, I have read through the posts and sorry to say, I am not finding someone in a similar situation. I am considering moving to KL (Petaling Jaya is where the office is). I will need a condo/bungalow with a fenced in yard, 4brd min, a car and likely a maid and part time child care.

From what I am seeing, online, gated nice safe expat places to live are min 5k RM to 12kRM in...am I just seeing the very expensive foreign posting for rentals, does that seem right?

The other things I have estimated in RM are:

Rent = 8000 (3x first month)
Pwr/Utils 1000 250 (3 x first month)
2 x Cell Phones 250
Internet at home 80
maid 3000 1400 (3 x first month)
nanny 1400
groceries ?????
dinners our 2 a week ????

Are these estimates accurate?

Are there local income taxes that expats need to pay?

I have to figure 12k US for RT plane tickets to home and back for the family.

I figure I need at least 29k RM a month... for a comfortable international traveling lifestyle? True?

Thoughts?

[tumbleweeds]

I think that some of your estimates might be a bit on the high side. Cell phones, of course, depend upon your usage, but at least in my experience, with some local calling and overseas calls at least once a week, my monthly bill on a pre-paid plan (Digi) was never above 60 rm. You can get lower cost per minute on post-paid plans. As far as rent goes, it varies enormously, and I would think that you could find something quite suitable for less than 8000 rm per month - but again, it depends on what your requirements are. Take a look at Malaysia Property & Real Estate For Sale / Rent - iProperty for listings to get a sense of what's out there.

Power and utilities will probably run higher if you like running your a/c often. Again, depending on the size of your house/condo, but figure at least 300 rm per month, probably closer to 500 rm including water, gas, electric, etc.

Do you want a live-in maid or someone to come in two or three times a week? Again, price varies considerably, but I'd guess that your estimate would be on the high side, especially if you're supplying room and board. Take a look at www.expat.kl in their classifieds for maids and nannies.

I think that I'm probably much more frugal than you are, but 29,000 RM a month sounds to me like you'd be living quite extravagantly!

[tumbleweeds]

I'll add just one more thing to my earlier post. US$12k for you, two kids and a dog for airfare??? Don't know how much it costs to ship the dog, but you should have no problems finding airfare from the US to KL, round-trip, for well under $1500 per person. Malaysia Airways and Kuwait Airways both have reasonably priced fares between New York and Kuala Lumpur, and even the upscale Singapore Airways is not much more expensive unless you're flying first class.

[worldsurfer]

Originally Posted by tumbleweeds

I'll add just one more thing to my earlier post. US$12k for you, two kids and a dog for airfare??? Don't know how much it costs to ship the dog, but you should have no problems finding airfare from the US to KL, round-trip, for well under $1500 per person. Malaysia Airways and Kuwait Airways both have reasonably priced fares between New York and Kuala Lumpur, and even the upscale Singapore Airways is not much more expensive unless you're flying first class.

Thank you for the thoughtful reply. Very helpful.

[elmyda]

very helpful. tq