Finding a Place to Live

Every time we have moved I have been super stressed and extremely anal about finding a place to live.  There is always the new and usually much higher prices to deal with and of course figuring out which area doesn't just look nice but actually is nice to live.  In Denver, without having kids, the area was not as important as just locating ourselves between where we both worked and easy access to the mountains.  Pricing up there nearly made me stroke out, but I learned to calm down and we found a suitable place to live in a nice enough neighborhood.  Houston was a little different since we just had Zoe and were beginning to think about the schools and areas with playgrounds.  The actual house prices were the same but you got more house for the money.  However, we now had to think about the taxes and HOA dues and traffic into the office.  Ugh!  It just was one stress on top of another.

When we found out we were moving to KL, I began to start looking for places online (this is the OCD coming out) and figuring out how much it would cost us here.  Of course, another stroke was looming in my future before I realized I was looking at Ringgits instead of Dollars.  I found some places online that were nice and in our budget and then we spoke to David's boss who told us to check out their neighborhood.  Luckily, it happened to be in the same suburb I had looked at so that was a plus.  But if I have learned anything from our previous moves it is this, the pictures online are LIES!  They never look the same and you truly cannot find a home from those listings. 

With all that said, we gave the agent an idea of what size and type of community we were looking for and let them do the rest (that is what they get paid for anyway).  The past two days, David and I went out house hunting with our agent Manjit (woman).  Tony (my manny) and the kids just hung out here at the apartment so that we could concentrate and get through this quickly.  Side note: it was a good thing they did not go with us, it is freaking hot!  They don't typically have the a/c on in these places since they are empty so the sweat just rolls...and they were all 3-story places!  Not posting the attractive pictures of the sweaty mess I was, just use your imagination.

We looked at 3 different communities all in the same suburb called Mont Kiara. All these places would cost us the same amount so we basically just pick what suits us as a family and what will fit our furniture. 

•  Duta Tropika is a gated community that is a little older, but has a lot of advantages.  David's boss as well as another co-worker lives there and we all get along wonderfully.  The place is just a very friendly community of expats and has a great safe feel. 
• Serene Kiara is also a gated community that is very new and only about 50% full at the moment.  It does not have as much community green space and the pool and playground are a bit smaller, but the houses are all separate and you have an amazing view of the city from the hill it sits on.  You also have  a small yard for the kids to play and a gate to keep them in the yard (knowing my kids, this is a plus!)
• MK10 is a condominium tower that is brand new and absolutely stunning.  We would have an entire floor with a private lobby.  They have two huge pools, a large playground, indoor driving range and a putting green.  If you know my husband, then you know those last two items completely got his attention.  We can only afford the 8th floor, but the view is still breathtaking.  

Yes, I am so incredibly blessed.  I don't know how or why God chose me to pour out these blessing to but I will take them and praise Him for them all.  And yet, even with these blessings, we still do not have a place to live.  We finally decided today to go with Serene Kiara since the layouts fit our furniture and our lifestyle the best.  There is another coworker of David's who lives there and they can carpool.  It is closer to the school that the kids will hopefully get into and only about a 10 minute drive over to our friends at Duta.  An offer was made for the place we liked the most today, but there was also another offer made for that same one.  After the owners countered, we chose to not go with it just because we wanted it so much.  In the end, we still want a good deal and we need to be able to be comfortable with what we are paying and getting.  So we turned that one down and have inquired about another place in that same community with the same floor plan just a little further up the road. 

My prayer is that we have something finalized by the end of the day tomorrow.  It will take about 3 weeks for the place to be ready to move in and then we still have to wait for our stuff to arrive from America.  I am ready to be settled in a house instead of this apartment.  As nice as it is to have everything done for you, I still like getting into a normal routine with the kids.  This seems too much like being on vacation.  I am ready for play dates and friends coming over for dinner!