Finding a place to live

Known, not so flatteringly, as the "Retirement City", people were intrigued as to why we would move to Ipoh.

In our thirties, at the prime of our personal and professional lives, our friends thought it would not be a rewarding move. "Ipoh is for old folks!", they all chimed.

True.

From my observation, people who move to Ipoh from the larger cities such as KL, usually do so because Ipoh is their hometown, because of family ties. Few do so for the sake of career advancement. Ipoh is famed for not "paying as much" as KL, since the cost of living here is touted to be much lower. That does not hold water anymore, as the cost of living in Ipoh is edging closer to that in KL. But that is a topic for another day.

So, here we are because my hubby is an Ipoh-boy. My first 1 1/2 years were trying, as I learned to navigate a new town, learned to start from scratch again to find new acquaintances/ friends, learned not to rely on my mom for meals or advice or everything else that I used to rely on her for on a daily basis back in KL.

Truth be told, I felt isolated and lonely. Hubby has his job and his own hobbies to occupy him for the "after office hour" time, so it was not a problem for him. This after all, was the place he grew up in .

I was the outsider, to Ipoh as well as the family, I guess, since I am the "daughter-in-law". Even my brother-in-law's wife is an Ipoh girl. So I was well and truly alien.

That was 4 years ago.

As for finding a place to live, we made the usual enquiries from real estate agents and with my parents-in-law. Of course it is all about location, location, location. We wanted the usual hotspots of Ipoh Garden, Canning Garden, Ipoh Garden South, around the Tiger Lane area. These are established areas with old houses or condos you could rent or empty plots of land you could buy and build on.

Today, Ipoh has grown a lot. Not unlike the Klang Valley, people are beginning to live outside of the established central areas. New townships have sprung up in Meru, Klebang, Gunung Lang, Pengkalan and Taman Botani. Townships such as the one in Pengkalan called Tiara Lake Park are well served by stores such as Tesco and AEON Station 18, along with banks, coffee shops and a plethora of other retail shops. People who live in Pengkalan used to have to come way over to Ipoh Garden East to shop at Tesco and Jusco, but not anymore.

If you are looking to buy a home in Ipoh, you will be pleasantly surprised to find that you could purchase your dream home at a realistic and affordable price. Tops in terms of affordability is the recently launched semid-dees by Total Investment in Meru, called Meru Mutiara. The semi-dees start at RM398,000. Unbelievable for KL folk huh??
(imagesofipoh.blogspot.com and tihomes.com)