Living in JB

[euphony]

on driving in JB. I have seen enough to make sure I am on defensive driving ALL the time. I have seen enough accidents and road rage to let the bullies get what they want. my car and life is more important. They can have their ego boosted. They are be king of the road for all i care.

I have seen a case where a car was on turning from a slip road onto pasir gudang. The car in front of me was fast so did not let this car come in and the joker cut in front of me as I slipped onto the slower lane and over took the earlier car and jam brake before speeding off.

On the same road, same thing again, this time this car was trying to bang (or acted like) into the car who did not let pass the 2 cars were literally 'dancing' on the 2 lane carriageway. It was more exciting that fast and furious!

And another time at Tebrau highway, there was a gan jeong spider tailgating me in very heavy traffic. A JB car die die squeeze infront of me. The car behind was not happy, overtook dangerously in 3 lanes went to the earlier car and stayed with the car side to side to prevent the car from exiting the road.

but having said that MY has got some of the best driving roads around with bends and never-ending straights, hair-pins etc that really allows the car's true characters to come out. Can never do that in start stop traffic in SG.

 

[2bFree]

This is shocking to hear simply because "Properties in Horizon Hills have been rated by The Building and Construction Authority (BCA) of Singapore or CONQUAS, as it is the national (Singapore) yardstick for measuring the workmanship quality of building projects". Hmm.....

I am now staying in my rented terrace at The Gateway for close to 2 weeks now and I agree that the tile quality (floor and bathroom) is really not that fantastic (feels cheap, have hairline cracks, chip easily) and the doors are pretty poor too. Enjoying myself though!

Oh back the defect, it has been an augish 5 month wait for the keys.. and another almost 2 months just for defects. I find that my house can be empty and nothing is done for one whole month even though its defect period and they are supposed to do the defect within 1-2 week. Imagine for this 2-3 months, I am paying about RM 15000 in housing loans just for defects retification. And another RM 10000 for two months rental for my actual renovation.

 

[wuqi256]

Hi, I'm new to this forum, and have been enjoying the very informative posts which I've read over the last few days.

I would like to invest in a property in Nusajaya, and have seen several semi-ds and cluster semi-ds in Horizon Hills. Went to East Ledang too, and was blown away by the beautiful houses there, but was informed by the sales staff that all the terrace and semi-ds have been fully sold! Amazing!

Would appreciate advice on whether 700K is a lot to pay for a 2-storey emi-d in Golf Precinct in HH. Has golf course and water view. Bare unit in Jln Penggiran 5/8. Quite near to perimeter fencing, and can see Coastal Highway constrution in the distance. Any disadvantage in this proximity?

Another cluster semi-d also in the Golf Precinct without the golf course and water view is asking RM650K, also a bare unit.

Would forumers advise if buying a landed house is a better investment option or one of the new condo developments coming up in One Medini, The Crescent or Puteri Harbour?

Would really appreciate advice on which is the best investment to make in Nusajaya. Thanks in advance to forumers.

Welcome, EL is still the best in terms of quality, in terms of immediate proximity though, i would still pick HH. 700k???
Sounds like its for a cluster as The Golf has appreciated quite a bit there.If just for 50k difference, i would pick the one with a view of the golf course. It sounds ok to me if its a cluster as the last time we went there, did not find any selling below 800k as i had a couple of friends who called. Maybe they haven't put up posters yet.

Investment or for own stay? Big family or small family with no kids.
To buy and rent out or to hold and sell later.
Proximity to schools/shopping?

These are questions that you yourself will know best. You can go for one of the condo units but i personally would pick clusters or terraces if you wish to invest as they are relatively safer (IMHO) long term wise in terms of maintenance at least. Do check to ensure that your unit isn't a bumi or the development is not on some agricultural,reserved land or commercial land. It will be best if its sitting on international/freehold lot

 

[wuqi256]

2bFree; This is shocking to hear simply because "Properties in Horizon Hills have been rated by The Building and Construction Authority (BCA) of Singapore or CONQUAS, as it is the national (Singapore) yardstick for measuring the workmanship quality of building projects". Hmm.....

2bFree
It is actually, not all the units are as bad, sometimes as with all purchases, you get lemons. The design and the architecture layout sucks for me and some of my neighbours but its something we live with as the lifestyle and standard
of living now is very different.

 

[wuqi256]

Approved by BCA doesnt mean anything much. In fact many Singapore HDB tiles cracked under pressure at times too and they are all approved by BCA.

Last month one of my friends's flat in Sengkang had his tiles cracked.. at least 10 of them in the living room and that happened to at least 10 other neighbours in the same block.

HDB gave them free replacement of course.

Wuqi mine is at ampang 1 where at least 10-20 other buyers are doing renovation. I have spoken to them and the feedback is the same, lousy after-service, at times no service cos cant even find the customer service, tiles crack in toilet walls.. etc.. walls not painted well, inferior quality for doors, main gate etc. Have been to Bestari height showhouse and I was surprised that their main gate is much much better than those kampong main gate of HH

Now I know why, yours is one of the earliest units that was unsold and should have no more defect period ending a short while ago. Walls not painted well, etc these can be easily solved, they used a layer of zinc plating for the door so some of them i observed had some deformaties. Too many folks bought or finally decided to move in, just a year ago, myself, my neighbours and even some bros here was saying how come still so empty. To quote a learned friend: Nabray, empty, all empty, once they come, all come in at once. Suddenly everywhere you see renovation going on, etc. Still, even though there is so many people moving in at once and thus more defect reporting, they should have taken more care of those joining the queue towards. I guess its a combination of factors but its still no excuse. You should take it up further with them.

Yes, Bestari is really done well but because of high tension towers so nearby just like Nusa Bayou, thats why my friends don't recommend it.

If the one Nusajayaphile is looking at is the one facing the golf view where the new Semi-Ds are going to be built, then best not to. If its those units like those numbered at no.17, even at 800k, it will quite a bargain.

 

[Serenity]

Bad News: Bank BLR now 6.6%, your installment will be increased from June 2011. Very Sian.

 

[avalon74]

I have many encounters in JB because I am a high-mileage driver, about 5000km a month and about 3500km in JB alone. ............

Wah, really high usage.. 10k servicing every 2 mths?
ard 500 litres of petrol per mth?

 

[avalon74]

I have many encounters in JB because I am a high-mileage driver, about 5000km a month and about 3500km in JB alone. ............

Wah, really high usage.. 10k servicing every 2 mths?
ard 500 litres of petrol per mth?

 

[avalon74]

I discovered one thing is true no matter in which of the countries one drives in:
A nice word even when you are right solves more problems than an aggressive finger.

Fully agree

 

[Whathefish]

Last checked 2 1/2 storey Semi-Ds are in the range of 1.1mil to 1.3mil.

 

[ginfreely]

I am now staying in my rented terrace at The Gateway for close to 2 weeks now and I agree that the tile quality (floor and bathroom) is really not that fantastic (feels cheap, have hairline cracks, chip easily) and the doors are pretty poor too. Enjoying myself though!

Hi, can share how much is your rental for the terrace? Is it fully or partially or non-furnished?

 

[ginfreely]

Hi, I am not sure if your cluster could be facing golf views and waters now and when they finished construction of the semi-ds, will your cluster view be blocked? You have to think about it cos i think now in the golf some clusters or terraces are able to see golf view but when the real golf facing million dollar semi ds are completed next year, it will block the view for sure

Last time the HH sales person told me all the HH Golf or Gateway terraces' view will be blocked eventually i.e no golf view.

 

[LeMans2011]

Wah, really high usage.. 10k servicing every 2 mths?
ard 500 litres of petrol per mth?

That sounds like me but i drive about 4k monthly, i pump RM30 every day.

 

[aangsc]

Last time the HH sales person told me all the HH Golf or Gateway terraces' view will be blocked eventually i.e no golf view.

block by new housing ? That is real dirty tactic , when it was sold earlier for the view and now it is taking away !

 

[InformedHH]

Hard to believe that Horizon Hills has so many problems. Dun misunderstand me.

All the bros out here are praising HH. How come?

I just cant believe that your house has so many problems whereas none of the HH owners here so far has even said a single thing about HH

Oh back the defect, it has been an augish 5 month wait for the keys.. and another almost 2 months just for defects. I find that my house can be empty and nothing is done for one whole month even though its defect period and they are supposed to do the defect within 1-2 week. Imagine for this 2-3 months, I am paying about RM 15000 in housing loans just for defects retification. And another RM 10000 for two months rental for my actual renovation.

I cant believe it. At this rate, I signed the contract last Oct and I think I can only move in this Oct. EXACTLY 1 year. Well you may want to feedback to their higher level staff. The staff at HH, township i think, is usually not in when I called. Imagine I can call him 3 times a day and he is either out or makan or busy. And out of the 100 times that I can tried calling him, I only managed to talk to him 3 times. Can u imagine that? And somemore he is either on "urgent leave" or "mc"

Well.. Lets leave it to fate. And my 3 toilet wall tiles have at least 30 tiles which are CRACKED. I dont dare to tell them to retify anymore as I dont want to wait for another 2 - 3 months and another RM 15,000 wasted on instalment. The contractor approved by HH, an old man said that its better to spend RM 10 to RM 20K to knock off all the tiles and change to those better ones.. cos in his opinion, HH gives CRAP quality tiles and main gates etc.. and even the room doors are inferior. I am sure those who have lived there or gone to visit will know what I am talking about.

Mightly as well buy East Ledang which have everything. Sigh!

 

[house]

HH are good in their tight security and golf view but quality not so excellent. The owner knows better.. (I am not HH owner)

 

[aangsc]

I thought Horizon Hills was best in class unmatched and superior in terms of service and basically everything else.

I don't think anybody say it is best in class . I faced some problem initially as well when it comes to rectification. You can't just leave thing as it is after putting in the paperwork and hope that it will be done in M'sia. I have to follow-up every week to check what has been done and I purposely inform the maintenance officer that I will go down to see the sub-contractor about the problem. After that, things started to move quite smoothly. I think there is clear warning from the start of this thread when it comes to buying property in M'sia ; do discount quality and service by 50% if you are from Singapore. My terrace went through 3 rectifications over last 15 months but only the first was critical issues. Get to know the officer in charge of maintenance , it helps.

 

[wuqi256]

Now I know why, yours is one of the earliest units that was unsold and should have no more defect period ending a short while ago. Walls not painted well, etc these can be easily solved, they used a layer of zinc plating for the door so some of them i observed had some deformaties. Too many folks bought or finally decided to move in, just a year ago, myself, my neighbours and even some bros here was saying how come still so empty. To quote a learned friend: Nabray, empty, all empty, once they come, all come in at once. Suddenly everywhere you see renovation going on, etc. Still, even though there is so many people moving in at once and thus more defect reporting, they should have taken more care of those joining the queue towards. I guess its a combination of factors but its still no excuse. You should take it up further with them.

Hi Wuqi,

I supposed because of the fact that my house was completed about 1-2 years plus ago and its vacant for so long, defects are bound to happen. I heard that some 3 storey owners are complaining now that the 3rd floor has very weak water pressure, esp during peak period. One even lamented that the water can suddenly be cut off while he was bathing halfway. These are the issues with the water department, not with the township but I wonder what are they gota do with it. I have lived on by changing all the tiles with rm10k+. No choice but I hope my other units should have no problems with so many defects.

This is very very strange, there is a water tank on top so i am not sure how water can be suddenly cut off when he is bathing unless there is a burst water pipe or someone living here shutting off your water supply for fun.

I did notice some neighbours kids going around using an allen key to close off peoples water for fun. One of my neighbours got a guard to follow them back and told their parents off. As for the quality and design actually, it could be better but the primary consideration for me is still security and feeling of living here is very different from elsewhere. Of the units i have, i have 2 units with very little defects and one unit (the one i am staying) with more and another one having the most. So sometimes, the defect issue varies from house to house.

 

[wuqi256]

Hi, actually if u ask seasoned owners, many turned a blind eye to it. Initially I turned a blind eye to the main gate, which is sub-standard and no better than those old terraces in Bukit Indah. Its all due to the security that I closed one eye. But when I bring my relatives, who have properties throughout Asia and Malaysia to view the house, their first strong reaction is:" What??! This kind of gate?? Buay sai lah!" RM 800K house they dare to give you this kind of gate?? "

When they got it, they like the space, but the quality of the doors, parquets, wall tiles cracks.. there are no hiding. They were disappointed and said only Singaporeans will buy it and not complain. Cos Sporeans come to Malaysia to look for houses which can guarantee them top security which is the #1 most important factor in looking for a house. But of course I have seen many Malaysians buy the house at RM 800K and spend another RM 300k to knock off the main gate and all the tiles.. cos they simply cannot make it.

Actually some of us dislike the design but overall, still prefer here. True, the gate is really cheap type, when i last asked them about it they claim that they did a survey in the very beginning asking for owners feedback, how likely they will change the fittings, etc. I guess they assumed people will just change it themselves, still you are right, for the amount of money paid, people do tend to expect more. Some may prefer spending 10-200k to improve the house and do renovation. Some will just buy comparable developments like EL and just pay few hundred thousand more per unit to get more quality in the doors, etc.

 

[wuqi256]

HH are good in their tight security and golf view but quality not so excellent. The owner knows better.. (I am not HH owner)

Agree, the design could also have ben done better. I have neighbours who have 2,4, 5 and 7 units here. All love it here but agree that the architect should not be used again.