The Big White House

Our Palembang house's rental contract will be due within the next few months. The land lord wanted to extend his lease for another 2 years but we are trying to get him to agree to the following first:

1) Repaint the walls and gates of the house.

2) Agree to pay for the repair cost for roof leaks (past & future).

3) Change a new set of sofas - one of the seats have broken through, the fabric is 15 years old and dirty!

We have been eyeing one of the corner houses on the next road to ours that used to be rented by a Malaysian. The guy had left and the WHITE HOUSE (everything outside and inside are all painted white) is now for rent.

I called the contact person to make an appointment to take a look. To our surprise, the house is actually very big inside. The master bedroom leads to another smaller room and a connected bathroom. The airwell space is smaller and does not have any ponds for our fishes. The kitchen is just adjacent to the living room without any partitions. There are 2 guest rooms but of a size smaller than ours. The place is also empty (does not come with any furniture). At the back there's a store room, a wet kitchen room, a maid's room, a garage for the car and a staircase leading to another level that has 2 more rooms and an open area (balcony) for hanging washed clothes.

This house's rental costs Rp50 million/year compared to our semi-furnished Rp30 million/year. The grass is always greener on the other side (its true for this house - they have nice Japanese spiky grass) but can we afford these kind of luxury? I doubt the company will pay 65% more for an empty house for me, my wife, my son and my maid....