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Amani Renas
Joined: 16 Mar 2008
Posts: 72
Location: The 3rd Dimension
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 Posted: Thu Mar 27, 2008 7:21 pm Post subject: Housing In Medan (or Indonesia General): Some Tips Needed! |
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I'm leaving for Medan in July, and I just wanted to know what some of your experiences have been with housing in Indonesia. Do you rent? How was signing/finding a proper lease, etc. did anyone try to stiff you on the price? What size usually are the rooms/apartments/houses, etc.?
For the first two weeks, my school is putting me up in a hotel, and then after that I have to find out where I am going to live. I am totally clueless as to what I should do during these two weeks, how I should go about searching for a place, and even though my school said they help me find accommodation, I still would like to know what to be prepared for i.e. what the heck is a proper living arrangement!
Any help/advice/anecdotes would be greatly appreciated!!
-A.  |
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pauleslteacher1
Joined: 17 Mar 2007
Posts: 108
Location: Indonesia
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| Posted: Fri Mar 28, 2008 2:38 am Post subject: |
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Hi....Amani
Congratulations on your new teaching position! Welcome to Indonesia...
I lived in Medan for 3 years when I first came to Indonesia in 1998. It is still my favourite city because of what you can do on the weekends. I love Dana Toba = Lake Toba (4 hours, but worth it) and used to go there alot... Also Brastagi and Bukit Lawang are really nice too..
In regards to housing....I was working at EF at the time (the only good time) and the free housing they gave us was in Setia Budi Indah - Tas B.... Which is a really nice complex located about 20 minutes by taxi (if no traffic) from the centre of town...
Renting a house can be a bit of a nightmare in Indonesia and I would advise you to let your school help you with that... As soon as a Western person starts asking about almost anything with a price, it suddenly costs alot more....
All in all Indonesia is a great place to live and teach!
Btw... I'm sure we would all like to know what school you will be working for... 
All the best..
Paul |
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Amani Renas
Joined: 16 Mar 2008
Posts: 72
Location: The 3rd Dimension
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| Posted: Fri Mar 28, 2008 3:42 am Post subject: |
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| pauleslteacher1 wrote: |
Hi....Amani
Congratulations on your new teaching position! Welcome to Indonesia... |
Why, thank you kindly! 
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| I lived in Medan for 3 years when I first came to Indonesia in 1998. It is still my favourite city because of what you can do on the weekends. I love Dana Toba = Lake Toba (4 hours, but worth it) and used to go there alot... Also Brastagi and Bukit Lawang are really nice too.. |
Cool! I heard a lot about Lake Toba and I am excited to be in a place that isn't an "ex pat central" like Jakarta!
| Quote: |
| In regards to housing....I was working at EF at the time (the only good time) and the free housing they gave us was in Setia Budi Indah - Tas B.... Which is a really nice complex located about 20 minutes by taxi (if no traffic) from the centre of town... |
Cool! I hope I can find a place somewhere nice like that! Did you live with other teachers? If so, what was that like? What was the food like? What was the heat like? The people? Did you learn any of the language? I swear I'm going to bombard you with a million questions now...be prepared!
| Quote: |
| Renting a house can be a bit of a nightmare in Indonesia and I would advise you to let your school help you with that... As soon as a Western person starts asking about almost anything with a price, it suddenly costs a lot more.... |
Good gracious...I need that NOT to happen to me! My sis and I got TOOK when we rented a lovely house in M�xico...it was not pretty and I'll bet they were mighty upset when we decided (finally) we weren't the gringos to be f***** with anymore(pardon my French).
| Quote: |
Btw... I'm sure we would all like to know what school you will be working for...
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Well, the school is Sekolah Djuwita...the guy who interviewed me seemed pretty nice and I'm in contact with two of their teachers who seem pretty honest, and not like drones in the slightest. They've changed their package up (from what I've read on this blog) quite a bit and I kinda negotiated some extra stuff with a few more responsibilities. I've also seen what their school looks like...it seems like a pretty fair deal. I've got great teaching qualifications but I'm no Dean of students, lol.
Can you tell me more about Medan? I don't want to get "all up in your business" but we (I'm going with my twin sister) are excited to learn more about our new home!
Thanks for writing me back!
-A. |
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sherlock
Joined: 30 Jan 2007
Posts: 72
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| Posted: Fri Mar 28, 2008 6:02 am Post subject: Re: Housing In Medan (or Indonesia General): Some Tips Neede |
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| Amani Renas wrote: |
I'm leaving for Medan in July, and I just wanted to know what some of your experiences have been with housing in Indonesia. Do you rent? How was signing/finding a proper lease, etc. did anyone try to stiff you on the price? What size usually are the rooms/apartments/houses, etc.?
For the first two weeks, my school is putting me up in a hotel, and then after that I have to find out where I am going to live. I am totally clueless as to what I should do during these two weeks, how I should go about searching for a place, and even though my school said they help me find accommodation, I still would like to know what to be prepared for i.e. what the heck is a proper living arrangement!
Any help/advice/anecdotes would be greatly appreciated!!
-A. |
Wow, a logged on this morning and there are all these posts about Medan...seems to be the flavor of the month. I am currently living and working here and maybe can shed some light on housing.
Most schools include housing in their package so I would be negotiating that. Unless you can speak Indonesian and have a few weeks to cycle or becak around town looking for a house to rent I can see there being trouble.
Things move slowly, people who were renting a house out now are not and sometimes the phone numbers on the hand-made sign out the front of a house don't even work. To make things worse there is no central agency to rent out houses, you actually have to go around the neighborhoods and look yourself.
Of course once you have seen the house you like and call the number, you will probably be paying a premium for being a foreigner. I have been through this process, can speak Indonesian and have contacts here and it is not a fun experience. My advice would be to get the school to organise housing, but if you want to do it yourself PM me and I can help you out a bit with some more advice.
One place quite a few people live in is Tasbi (lol at it being called tas-b - Taman Setia Budi Indah - get it Tasbi). Please be advised that it is not a complex, rather a richer /middle class neighborhood of Medan. Most people agree that Tasbi has had its day and a lot of the houses are aging. There is not much security to speak of, anyone can come and go as they please so using the work complex is a bit misleading. In any case, it is a decent enough place to live and decent houses go for ab out 15 - 30 million a month depending on how much you get ripped off.
There a other, newer complexes, but they are more expensive and you may not be able to afford them unless you are on an international school wage. A lot of ESL teachers live in local neighborhoods, but again, their schools organise them.
I hope this has helped a bit and its great that you are coming here...will try answer some other questions when I get some more time, but for now....back to work. |
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Atoms for Peace
Joined: 06 Feb 2006
Posts: 135
Location: NKRI
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| Posted: Fri Mar 28, 2008 6:12 am Post subject: Re: Housing In Medan (or Indonesia General): Some Tips Neede |
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| sherlock wrote: |
decent houses go for about 15 - 30 million a month depending on how much you get ripped off. |
Surely shome mishtake... |
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sherlock
Joined: 30 Jan 2007
Posts: 72
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| Posted: Fri Mar 28, 2008 7:25 am Post subject: |
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| Surely shome mishtake... |
Indeedio - noticed it after I wrote it.
Should read 15 - 30 juta a year. |
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Gamushara84
Joined: 07 Mar 2007
Posts: 32
Location: Earth.
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| Posted: Mon Mar 31, 2008 1:33 am Post subject: |
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There a other, newer complexes, but they are more expensive and you may not be able to afford them unless you are on an international school wage. A lot of ESL teachers live in local neighborhoods, but again, their schools organise them.
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What are local neighborhoods like? |
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sherlock
Joined: 30 Jan 2007
Posts: 72
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| Posted: Thu Apr 03, 2008 2:38 pm Post subject: |
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| What are local neighborhoods like? |
Some good some bad. The advantage living in local areas is location. You can live closer to the centre of town and closer to work so transport costs are less. If you live in one of the complexes it will cost more to go anywhere or get into work. |
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rachelhessel
Joined: 16 May 2008
Posts: 11
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| Posted: Mon May 19, 2008 8:31 pm Post subject: |
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| I am up for a job at the same place. You will be going this summer? |
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reddrake
Joined: 04 Apr 2008
Posts: 47
Location: Riyadh
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| Posted: Tue May 20, 2008 3:05 am Post subject: Re: Housing In Medan (or Indonesia General): Some Tips Neede |
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| Amani Renas wrote: |
I'm leaving for Medan in July, and I just wanted to know what some of your experiences have been with housing in Indonesia. Do you rent? How was signing/finding a proper lease, etc. did anyone try to stiff you on the price? What size usually are the rooms/apartments/houses, etc.?
For the first two weeks, my school is putting me up in a hotel, and then after that I have to find out where I am going to live. I am totally clueless as to what I should do during these two weeks, how I should go about searching for a place, and even though my school said they help me find accommodation, I still would like to know what to be prepared for i.e. what the heck is a proper living arrangement!
Any help/advice/anecdotes would be greatly appreciated!!
-A. |
I agree that you should negotiate for housing, but don worry hunting for housing is fun also.
my suggestion come about 2-3 weeks before the class start, ask for one of the school staff to accompany you, and to be safe bring you own indonesian friend also.
Starting from now, have the school send you a local Medan newspaper, check for the rent houses in the classified. start calling them (ask your indonesian friend to call them, so you know they won rip u off). Usually after the price negotiation is done. they gonna take u to a notary to sign the legal paper. after that within 2-7 days u can live in the house, and don forget to ask for the rent contract, this is IMPORTANT.
Be very specific about the dates, whether is the date they start counting the rent, utilities bills, PBB (land n building tax) and even neighbourhood fee (Iuran RT/RW). read the contract 2-3 times, asked your friend to help.
And if you really wanna feel like Indonesian, i suggest find a middle upper housing area. |
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guruengerish
Joined: 28 Mar 2004
Posts: 424
Location: Australia
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| Posted: Fri May 23, 2008 10:36 am Post subject: housing |
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I lived in a number of houses in my eight years in Indonesia. There were a number of things I would put at the top of my check list were I to go house hunting again.
1) how far away are the loudspeakers? I mean of course the mosques, but asking about speakers is a nice way to put it. These start at 4.30, so one next door can wreck your beauty sleep.
2) whenever I was going through a house, I would head straight for the loo (US Bathroom) and check that the toilet really flushed, and that the tank filled itself and a bucket was not needed. Check that the taps are also not purely decorative, and that water comes out of them.
3) wherever possible, visit the house just after some heavy rain. They don't have time to mop up the leaks if you're quick, or slap some paint on that ceiling stain.
4: if an expat negotiates the rent, you can bet on it being much higher than if a local was renting the same place.
In the majority of cases, once you've paid the deposit and moved into the house, ALL repairs are your concern. If you're renting for a year or so, try and get a contract drawn up, and specify which things will be repaired by the owner, and who is his nominated person for when s/he heads overseas! It's a real pain if all the air con units are down, and the owner is 'overseas'.
Schools could help with these things, but rarely do.
I'm sure others will add a zillion things to this basic check-list. |
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