# Moving to KL with 3 kids



## Mile (Apr 25, 2014)

Hi all nice people,
I would very much appreciate your help and suggestions.
We (me, my hb and 3 kids 8,4,1 years old) will move to KL in July.
I visited the city a few weeks ago to see schools. I saw 3 and at the end it seems we will choose British International School. My hb will be working in PJ area. My questions are:
- any feedback about the school?
- which area do you suggest us to live in (considering the location of school and my hb office)
- would you suggest living in a condo or in a gated villa community?
- we will need 4-5 bedrooms in our new home, what could the average rental price be per month?
- we are considering to have a live in helper. How much does that cost approximately?

TIA for any little (or big!) input you can give!


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## anonserg (May 13, 2014)

Hi Mile,

BIS branch in KL is relatively new infact to most people in KL its unheard of until recently. Of course its a good school given the network it came from. But the school location and husband's office is located in the area with worst traffic jam in the city (the neighbourhood is congested but lack of public transport, an underground trains project is ongoing and will finish in 2016 or so) so u have to really careful in selecting the location (not to scare u in anyway).

whether to live in a villa or condo this is depending on your budget of course plus what your family needs. condos are usually cheaper and u get all the communal amenities too. but if u want garden area for your children to play and have more space (esp if ure hiring a helper) then i guess villa is more suitable.condos usually have up to 3 rooms the most in this area so u may have to pick landed property eventually. security in both types are more or less the same. theyre usually gated and guarded but 'things' do happen.

u may want to consider anywhere near or inside tropicana golf club damansara (many condos, linked house and bungalows). u can google map that and make your way from there. 

as for hiring a helper u can contact maids agency in damansara area (u can google that too) some of them have website with the candidates profile u can choose from. their monthly wages vary from 800-1500. i dont really know who decide the figure actually. i guess the agent set the minimum for u then u give increment as u see fit. most helpers come from indonesia, cambodia and philippines. i suggest u hire people with past experience working in singapore or dubai as they seemed better at what they do and of course hire the one that speaks good english! (usually filipinos are better speaker compared to the rest)


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## david lau (Apr 20, 2013)

PJ covers quite a few areas. Which part of PJ?


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## Mile (Apr 25, 2014)

Thanks anonserg for the very helpful information!!
David, it should be somewhere near to Taman Paramount...


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## david lau (Apr 20, 2013)

There are few condos near BIS, eg Riana Green Tropicana, Tropicana Grande.

Gated Villa community: Tropicana Indah, Tropicana golf and country resort, Desa Park City.

Have you visited The International School at Parkcity?


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## Mile (Apr 25, 2014)

Thanks for the information! Will look into the condos you mention. I didn't have the chance to visit that school.


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## anonserg (May 13, 2014)

Hi Mile

I hope everything is doing well in your prep to come down here.
Since you mentioned your husband is working in Taman Paramount you can actually avoid living in Bandar Utama altogether and perhaps consider another area with better traffic and expat environment. (this apply even to the locals here , we try to avoid living anywhere near the Lebuhraya Damansara-Puchong as much as we can due to its horrifying traffic)

I suggest you look for a residence in Seri Hartamas/ Mont Kiara/ Bukit Damansara area (these areas are not that far from Bandar Utama but huge difference on traffic situation. You can still consider sending your kids to BIS still but there are many international schools here due to their expat community but the one that stood out more than the rest is Cempaka International School ('Cempaka' is already an established brand for private institution in the country with so many locations throughout)

Cempaka Schools Damansara

Plus it is not that difficult for your husband to commute to work as it's highways and expressways all the way and his traffic to work is against heading the city centre so itwont be so bad.


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