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| Freedom castle |
I need to find a place to stay for around six to eight months in Penang. I'll have at least one trip outside the country (to Thailand I think) for visa purposes during that time period. I need to figure out how long I want to stay in Thailand(?) so I can factor that into my Malaysia plans. Housing should be one of my biggest expenses and it will need to fit within a budget of USD 400 per month. I don't want to double pay for housing if not necessary.
Short Term Housing
Serviced apartments and the like are aimed way up the financial ladder and are not something I could consider. A general starting price would be around USD 1,000 per month and on up from there. So those are right out the window. Hostels could be an option, though they would take up more of the budget than is optimal. Still, I would keep hostels on the table. Hostels could cost up to USD 300 per month for a bed in a dorm. You could find cheaper hostels with a corresponding decline in quality. The cheapest might cost USD 150 per month which is easier on the budget. The best thing about staying in hostels may be that there is no deposit or commitment. If you don't like it you can move on.
Medium Term Housing
Turning to apartments, I found they are not as affordable as I had hoped. The main obstacle is that nearly all apartments in Penang are constructed as three bed, two bath units. That's way more space than I need. So unless a couple of you want to join me here, I'll need to look for some other option. There do seem to be some decent apartments advertised starting in the USD 350 range, which I might be able to make work with some creative accounting, but then I run into other problems.
Problems such as a one year lease. I might come back to Penang at some point in the future for a year or longer, but this year I won't be staying that long. Some owners are okay with short term leases, but I would say they are the exception. So that narrows my options.
Another issue is race based discrimination. A lot of the apartments I see listed specifically state which race they are looking for. For example, "Prefer Chinese only." So I've missed some other options because of that.
If I could get around those obstacles, it would seem possible to rent an apartment and then in turn rent out a room or two. That would give me more control over my environment, but I would be dependent on finding people to stay there to make ends meet.
Economies Of Scale
Instead of renting a whole apartment I could just rent a room. In this case there may be more flexibility with the lease length, but there may still be race based issues. Rooms are classified as "master" or "big," "medium," and "small." The medium and small rooms are sometimes referred to as 2 rooms. So if you see an ad for "2 rooms" it means they have a medium and a small room available separately. The master room should have its own bathroom. The medium and small rooms will share a bathroom.
If you plan to rent a room you should make sure to ask if cooking is allowed. In Malaysia they differentiate between heavy and light cooking. Heavy cooking just seems like cooking to me. Light cooking would be something like instant noodles or rice to go with whatever you bought on the way home. Check if it is fully furnished, partially furnished, or unfurnished. Partially furnished may not mean that anything more than the kitchen cupboards and lights are installed. You might need to add all kitchen, living room, bathroom, and bedroom furniture/appliances. Check if there is a water heater in the bathroom and AC if it matters to you. Since you are hardcore you will definitely not need the AC in Penang (the weather is awesome).
If you use an agent to find an apartment you should expect to pay between a half and one month's rent to them as their commission. Supposedly this fee may be negotiable, but you'll be paying something if you use an agent. Aside from the agent fee, whether you choose an apartment or room you'll probably be asked to pay one month's rent as deposit, one month's rent in advance, and up to half a month's rent as a utilities deposit. These might be negotiable also.
Where To Look
As I was planning my move to Penang I read online that someone said there were "For Rent" signs all around and you could just walk around and call some of the numbers. Well for the most part that's not true in any of the places I went to. Online websites have been the best resource for me by far. It's pretty common that real estate agents will post ads for whole apartments and individuals will post ads for individual rooms. I don't know why more owners don't post their own apartment ads, but that's what I've found.
Agents may be a necessary evil, but look around. Not all will have your best interests in mind.
A good website for looking for whole apartments is fullhouse.com.my. Two good sites to search for whole apartments and individual rooms are ibilik.my/rooms/penang and mudah.my.
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| View from my temporary room |
