Of course this is a forum where majority of members have sunk in money, and therefore be very unreceptive to other view points. Sure, but this is an open forum where all sides can be discussed and debated, I am sure that there may be some who are sitting on the fence who may find my points valid and useful I'm helping them make the right decisions because unlike here, in real life I have not met people who have so many positive views on investing and living in JB. I have a Malaysian colleague who lives in JB and he actually told me that his grills are made using hardened steel, I have Singaporean colleagues who have bought property in Malaysia and had all their furniture stolen, my parents who have wealthy friends keep telling me other horror stories and not one has had a positive experience, with factors due to bad maintenance, value depreciation, crime etc. They visit my relatives who recently rented a new condo in Larkin, one lift was down and when my parents visited again, the same lift was still down, strange all these views are never expressed here, my manager from KL, kept praising the high standards of the HDB he lives in and says that his KL condo is worse maintained than the HDB in Singapore, it opened my eyes and see that this thread is kind of one sided.
I am also shocked that some senior and I would say wealthy people here can be rather childish and resort to comments like "don't like JB, don't come or else you would be decapitated", compare owing vs renting properties to wife and prostitute, I really shake my head. I too have been in and out of JB for decades and have not one encounter with crime, but if I am going to make a decision to live here, I would live in a condo, no landed for me for security reasons and I would like to add, most random crimes in Malaysia, thankfully are committed by small timers, give them the money and most of the time there would be no trouble.
Anyway I don't see what having to live in JB gives one a special privilege to make valid comments here, this is the internet age. Much information can be gathered nowadays to form and make opinions. There are YouTube channels to view first hand instances of brazen crimes of anywhere in the world you want to live in, it gives you the "worst case" scenario so that you can either accept or reject, which is infinitely more useful than always trying to experience it first hand. One YouTube upload is equal to sharing of thousands of experiences, so why always rely on first hand accounts if you are just an individual? You will not be able to encounter such incidents because you are only a sample of one.
Anyway those who have positive experiences in JB and do not see any issues with security, all I can say is that they are lucky. As for being a stick in the m&d, I have many friends in SG who absolutely refuse to even visit JB, those I would really say are pathetic too. As of now I am enjoying good life with weekly trips to JB and enjoying the variety and low cost, and when feel like it, just check into JB hotel and enjoy. I may or may not eventually retire in JB and am leaving all options open, as it is, life is good enough for me not having to buy any property in JB and still enjoying the benefits.
