PROPCAFE™ Guide: 10 Common Mistakes That Make First Time Property Buyers Stuck!

PROPCAFE is happy to share the dilemma that faced by many first time property buyers. This  guide should help the first timers, especially at this climate, to be more savvy when comes to property hunting. Hey, this will be the first property in your life, so make sure you get it RIGHT! Enjoy and have a good 5 minutes read here to make you a wiser, sharper and proud first time home owner!

1.

Cannot decide whether to buy his first home for investment or own-stay

This will make the first time buyer in dilemma when comes to pick the right property since investment and own-stay criteria can be contradicted to each other.

PROPCAFE has seen many first timers ended up stuck with unfavourable investment in the location that not convenient and fancied by the owner themselves.

When these properties cannot be rented out or sold, even buyers willing to force themselves to stay at these places temporary, it will not last long. Most of the time, buyers cannot wait to let go, so it likely to be forced sell at below market value in the end.

Advice: Make up your mind (invest or own-stay) before your property hunting journey starts. Not many first timers able to make good investment  decision in his first property!

2. Moving Budget!

Buyer or investor does not know or cannot control their limit/budget. This will make the first time buyer keep visiting many sales galleries with the property of different price range.

The nicer property they see, the more difficult for them to decide as everyone want to have a better and nicer house, but it comes with a price! Don’t put yourself into this situation when your desired property doesn’t match your financial capability. It will make you drag the plan further to fulfill your dream to own your first property.

Many first time home buyers end up nothing then start moaning on the property prices being unaffordable!

Advice: Set a budget with a range that not more than 100k difference. The flexibility of RM100k equates to around RM500 monthly instalment which is always achievable with some hard-core saving or salary increment over next two years. Only visit the property sales gallery falls into the price range that match your financials.

PROPCAFE™ Review : Aster Residence @ Cheras Hartamas – Accommodation ◦ Transformation ◦ Connectivity

3. First time buyer cannot decide to buy landed property or high-rise

Even budget is set, the buyer will still visit all type of properties that is within the budget. The problem will then surface to make many first timer cannot decide whether want to stay at landed at suburb (e.g Rawang) or high-rise in city centre (e.g. Petaling Jaya). You don’t want to suffer this! Follow your heart (if you are buying for own-stay)!

First home being a first home, it will be “replaced” in future! Most importantly is to start now! Without a starting point, you will not get anything in future, whether it is for you dream landed home or luxury high-rise.

PROPCAFE witnessed some first timers suffered their daily journey to workplace due to the choice of own-stay property. Most of the time, the time spent on the road does not justify the nice stay of landed property. Worst, the property didn’t appreciate much due to the new township that needs time to mature.

In opposite, another one young buyer picked a small pad but fantastic location in downtown, the property has been appreciating and at the same time he has plenty of fantastic spare time to enjoy his lifestyle before the next upgrade comes into picture.

Advice: Don’t get us wrong from the example above, not everyone like to stay at city centre. First, think about the living lifestyle you want to have in next 5 years. Together with your budget, it will lead you to buy a right property for you to enjoy life.

In short, lifestyle first and landed or high-rise is secondary for first home. You may move more than 3-5 times before you end up with your dream home. Be patient!

Conezion in Putrajaya

4. Buy property with partner or girlfriend/boyfriend.

Due to the unaffordability, this idea always comes into the picture. It is potentially a disaster in the making as relationship without legal commitment can change very fast. You do not want to share property with ex-lover for sure. The property will end up to sell cheap in the secondary market.

Advice: Don’t do it. Keep it simple and buy whatever you can afford even it is only a small pad as a start. If your partner also loves property, then buy one each. After two of you legally “attached”, make one of it as an investment.

5. Bring parent and sibling to join the hunt for your first property.

Too many opinions will make you only get the perfect property that meets all their requirements in million years. Being a first timer does not mean you do not know what you want and need your parent/sibling to advise. Of course, nothing wrong to seek their view as they could be more experience in property.

However, most of the parents do not know property, they owned one property because they just need one as a shelter and do not follow the property market trend and prices. Not to say to keep pulse of what next generation or millennials’ need.

Parent in previous generation mostly see property as a place to live, not to enjoy. In the other hand, some of them just enjoy to stay at a big house, yup, literally just within the house.

The home now is not just the brick walls, new generation buyers demand more like safety, landscape, overall environment and feeling to go home rather than just a home itself!

Advice: Stick to your own criteria and lifestyle. Bring them to view the two “finalists” with the mind-set that either one is fine for you. To hear from others is good but you know yourself the best, so don’t listen to them before you finalise your final two candidates or else you will never get one!

Aster Residence @ Cheras 56m Direct Linked to MRT Station

6. First timer to buy property for own-stay but choose to attend a property investment seminar!

It is so dxmn wrong as the seminar materials will confuse the first timers to look for wrong property hunting criteria. High yield, flexibility, high leverage, rebate bulk purchase, 10 million  loan capacity and etc.

Firstly, you may eventually choose an own-stay property that comes with all investors and student/bad mixed tenants. Secondly, the high rebate will normally make you think you can own more expensive properties which will also sway your decision making.

PROPCAFE sees many first timers ended up with investment properties instead of realising their first proper home. This is because when they walk out from the seminar, they believe it is possible to own multiple properties and becomes tycoon soon.

Buying an own-stay home becomes secondary as their mind is full of dreams and totally believe that they can straight to own a luxury property in few year time after their golden gooses laid eggs.

Advice: First time property buyers should forget about property investment seminar when comes to own-stay property hunting. Stick to your requirements and what you want!

Read  all PROPCAFE Guides will be sufficient. It is free of charge!

7. Cannot decide the location

First time buyer always will try to stretch their comfort zone due to the offering of nicer house in different locations which could be further from their daily routine spots.

The definition of far always depend on the radius and distance from your main and daily routine location. Rawang can still be a good location for you if your office is at Selayang or Northen Klang Valley!

Advice: First to set the barrier on your comfort zones that can fit your lifestyle and distance that you can tolerate. If you want to stay in Petaling Jaya and Subang Jaya, then cancel out the other options like Shah Alam, Setia Alam, Puchong and etc.

Again, look for the property in your preferred location with the consideration of your likely daily routine for next 5 years, not to look for nice property everywhere!

IOI Pay Later Buy Now Scheme

PROPCAFE™ Guide : 75 “DON’T” In Your RENOVATION Processes

8. Want the best of the world from size, facilities, lobby and everything

First timer needs to be realistic to know that there is no perfect home. Something needs to give in order to make a decision. For instance, if you “die die” want to stay at Desa Parkcity and enjoy the outdoor landscape and environment, then you need to give up the wishful thinking of having a big house there as majority landed houses at DPC are small. Even the project “Mansion” is a big link house! Yes, rm5 million terrace house.

In short, prioritise your criteria! Always think about 5 year horizon and what’s fit you the best.

Advice: Keep the key criteria list as short as possible. If you intend to buy a small pad, then facilities could be important as you may want to entertain your guest in residence lounge more often or want to enjoy the facilities more for yourself.

Having a baby soon or plan for it in near future means you need minimum two bedroom apartment to start with as the key criteria. Having an old parent/grandparent with you means you need a proper room at ground floor if you opt for a landed property. The list goes on.

9. Miscalculate the property prices especially comes with limited budget for renovation.

This happened when first time buyers missed out the details of the property offering. Certain property prices look cheap but it may be a totally bare unit without even comes with piping of air conditioners. The kitchen cabinet and electronic items can be costly and not to say to let the unit vacant for additional few months, just for renovation (since it is bare), can be additional costs for you!

Advice: Make sure you have the renovation budget and always have some numbers in your mind to compare bare and partial furnished properties which offered by developers.

10. Fed up and give up!

It is always difficult, as a first timer, to buy property as there are many concerns and factors that would confuse you and eventually make you afraid to make decision. The biggest mistake is FED UP and GIVE UP! This will make you end up with NOTHING!

Advice: If you are confused and could not make decision after your 6 month or a year hunting mission, take a break! Start from zero base again. Read more and less action before you re-start your journey.

You must have learnt a lot along the way, so use it to re-arrange your requirements, re-prioritise your factors, re-assess your needs, and review all things that matter to you, then you are ready to go again.

Make sure you do it right and good thing is, YOU ARE ALREADY READING PROPCAFE Guide HERE! Trust us, You will be alright!

Last but not least, make sure you finish  PROPCAFE Property Buyer Dictionary below before you make any move. You will be good!

PROPCAFE™ Guide : Property Buyer Dictionary – “120 Don’t” When You Purchase A Residential Property By PROPCAFE

Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window)
Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)
Click to share on Pocket (Opens in new window)
More
Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)
Click to print (Opens in new window)
Click to share on Telegram (Opens in new window)
Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window)

Related


PROPCAFE™ Guide: 10 Things You Must Know Before Purchase A Property In A Brand New Township 购买新城镇房产前须了解的 10 件事项

PROPCAFE happened to pass by few latest new township developments while we were driving around the country during the holiday season. So many marketing banners and signage to claim their accolades of being the best new townships. All sites have been hoarding up and some comes with new flyover bridge to link with other township. Along the way, you will notice all the wow features on the board like wetland, theme park, leisure park, shopping experience in its master plan and one even has trams to run through the township!

Investment or buying a home for ownstay in a brand new township is never an easy decision and many said that you need to have your imagination and also visionary enough to make a buy call. Instead of just keep “imagining” it, let’s talk about the 10 things that you must look at before commit your purchase in a new township! It is not a magic wand but this checklist is a must!

1. Developer

Make sure the developer is big, financially strong and experience enough to execute the multiple phases of a new township, which normally or easily take 15 to 20 years. Seriously, building a new township is not for all developers!

2. Sustainable Master Plan

Study the plan and think about the feasibility and factors that can make the town sustain in a longer term. Would the plan creates job opportunities, economy activities, population growth, livable environment, and amenities. In the end of day, it is all about Human. You need more residents than visitors! The master plan must be able to make that happen.

3. Linkages to Other Townships

Last thing you want a new township is an “island” that isolate from city or other townships. No “lonely” township will be successful. If you observe all good townships, it always near to or link up with other townships to create “synergy” and increase human traffic and expedite “migration”.

4. Accessibility

It is a basic for all townships to have multiple accesses to and from the township so that the “flow” will happen. Almost everyone need to travel everyday. If there is MRT/LRT/KTM, it will be a bonus (normally you don’t get this in new township as the population and ridership do not justify it). At least, the township must come with highway(s) or direct access(es) to main city road (eg. Federal Highway etc) or city. No link “Road” means No “Way”!

5. Execution Plan

Many buyers always forget to study the developer’s execution plan. It is very crucial! Why? Firstly, it can set your own expectation right in term of the time needs for the township to grow and mature. It will align with all the preparation you need for the move in timing, so you won’t moan when you get the key. Secondly, while you hope developer can quickly execute the plan fast, you do not want to buy into a new township with the focus is on building many residential properties in first two phases! The typical example would be the famous project in down south Iskandar and Forest City. The mere volume and supply in one go will kill all the demand. Residential plan in new township should properly craft out to meet the realistic demand in the area. Over estimation and over build in first few phases in relatively short periods will not provide right signal as it is natural that occupancy takes time. A wrong start and bad perception to the township will ruin the master plan. Ask more about it and understand the logic and explanation from developers. A good developer will make an appropriate time execution in phases especially comes to residential properties. From buyers perspective, comes to infrastructure and amenities, by all mean…. be FAST!

6. Basic Needs on Amenities, School and Safety

Other than all the fancy mall, commercials and etc, one should always zoom into the basic needs that a township should possess. Check with the developers on public infrastructure like cycling lane, public pedestrians walkway, cover pathway, recreation park/lake, community public/ multi-functional space for events, and designated green lung. The most basic needs like the plan of schools, market, police/fire station, and hospital. Many new township is more advance by including surveillance in public area like CCTV near traffic lights or specific secluded area. It is understandable that not all new townships can put in a perfect infrastructure and amenities in a short time, but plan needs to be there. If some are not in the plan, you need to ask the developer where and how can you get it to make your expectation right. In the situation that developer cannot answer you or have no idea or proper plan at all, you may just move on to another township.

7. Government Initiatives

Ideally, the new township should be on the corridor or region that fall under government’s big plan. Think about it, the township will grow in much faster space if there are plans from government to develop the area nearby so the new township can leverage it and mature in a shorter time as the completion of infrastructure development normally needs government’s help and solely based on developer will take a long time. To note, if government is not in there, then you may look for those infrastructure construction based developers have the upper hand on this. Alternatively, check the other townships that built by the developer.

8. Lifestyle Choice

Every township has its own design focus. Some go with excitement and vibrant design with work and play in mind. Others may go for lake, peace, less bustling environment to let those people who are “sick” with “crowds” but want to have a more green and “chillax” environment. Of course, majority would like to be in the middle ground! You have to make you mind up on your preferred lifestyle before commit it. Bear in mind, every township has its character. Your definition of ghost town  can be the most chill environment for others. Your busy streets and malls can be the nightmare to many as well.  Make sure you can fit into the lifestyle you buy into. For investors, well, you just need to do more homework to understand more your target tenants or buyers, which is not easy at all.

9. How Many Developers Are There?

The alliance of developers especially with big developers has its advantage of growing the township faster. Single township developer has its benefit to manage and make the township more “structured” but it lose the time factor to make it vibrant due to the scarce or limited resources. Having said that, it also depends on the size of the land in a township. The small township like Desa ParkCity does not need another developer. Mont Kiara in the other hand can be a wonderful township. Unfortunately, without master developer, the lands were sold to many developers which the township is totally out of control and now ended with as a concrete jungle and severely lacking of some urban lifestyle needs like park, lake and community touch points. In short, study the township land size and developers that involve will certainly help in your decision making.

10. Price Factor

Your entry of new township must give you an advantage in future with reasonably low pricing compares to other nearby townships with similar concept. It has to be similar in order to not compare apple with orange. No matter what, you are the “warrior” as the pioneer to venture into a new township, higher risk reward has to be there for you! If the price is already at the high side, you are technically facing high risk but getting relative lower return. So compare and do not go crazy about all the wonderful plans from developer. Cool mind makes great decision. As for the ownstayers who like the master plan and will stay in the new township for more than 10 years or unlikely to move again, then it is rather easier to decide as it is totally back to your own preference of future retirement home and township.

Property purchase is a big decision in our life. New township purchase can be very rewarding if you make a right choice but at the same, it can end with a total nightmare. To mitigate the risk of making a wrong move, you do not need to go seminar or pay for other to help you, you can just do it yourself by doing more homework. Yes, it starts here with PROPCAFE Guide. We have plenty of PROPCAFE Guides in our blog to help you! First, start with our PROPERTY BUYER Dictionary – 120 DON’T When You Purchase Your Residential Property
here
!

Ciao! Happy Hunting!

Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window)
Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)
Click to share on Pocket (Opens in new window)
More
Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)
Click to print (Opens in new window)
Click to share on Telegram (Opens in new window)
Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window)

Related


PROPCAFE™ Guide: Buying overseas property –  Singapore Property

SINGAPORE PROPERTY

Have you ever thought that the local property market scene is too boring and
sluggish
 and consider to look beyond Malaysia to purchase an overseas property or have some diversification your property portfolio or a hedge against Malaysian Ringgit against other foreign currencies, or to get an accommodation for those who send their children for oversea education.

We at PROPCAFE are pretty sure that many of us may have this idea in mind and it also comes with a bragging right.

Picture this:

Our parents will probably be quite enthusiastic than us about the fact that we have an oversea property and can’t wait to have vacation  abroad and share this in makan-makan gathering with family, FB stories, Ista stories, free marketing promo, happy kan?

If you have made up your mind that you need to venture into oversea property investment. Look no further, we have some recommendation for you. Let us narrow now the country you should park your money in.

A place that is just
1km
 from Malaysia. That is Singapore.

Why Singapore Property

Buying property is an long term investment, while looking at Singapore, we would say we are quietly optimistic about Singapore and here are the reasons.

Political Stability

We know how important is that given what has happened recently in Sheraton Hotel in PJ. There is also a Sheraton in Singapore too if you are curious and they are located in Newton.

Source: https://www.oyster.com/singapore/hotels/sheraton-towers-singapore/

Pro Business Environment in Singapore

It is easy to set up businesses in Singapore, you can do it online. It is even easier to transact with government, almost all transaction can be done online, no surprise here, that even in the midst of COVID-19 recession more companies are setting up in Singapore.

https://www.straitstimes.com/business/more-new-business-entities-set-up-in-singapore-despite-covid-19-recession

Low and Transparent Tax Regime

Headline corporate tax is at 17%, while GST is 7%, personal income tax ranges from 2 to 22% while property tax is taxed based on annual value depending on own occupation or lease out, you can read it all
here
.

Safe Haven Status

This is debatable while we would say the strength lies on the SGD denominated notes. The Monetary Authority of Singapore (BNM equivalent) takes an approach that appeals to investors in our view at lease, MAS monetary policy framework is centred on managing the Singapore dollar against a trade-weighted basket of currencies. This is also known as the Singapore dollar nominal effective exchange rate (S$NEER). We also observe that it is comparatively much easier to remit money out of Singapore eventually upon divestment against its ASEAN peers.

Low Interest Rate Regime

Housing loan rate ranging from 1.5% to 2% as at the time of this write up, it means that you can gear up more, since interest rate is considered low.

Government’s Proactive Role in Stabilizing the Property Market Price

Stringent property cooling measures are in place to reduce speculations. The pro is the properties price remain relatively stable, less speculative. The land sales are controlled by the government, hence supplies are controlled. The con is there are a lot of restrictions in place. Most people in Singapore don’t own multiple residential properties.

So we have talked about the goods what about the negatives of property investment in Singapore.

There Are More Condos Than Landed Properties

Singapore is a city, land of scarcity, an inch of land is an inch of gold. 95% of residential housing type are either HDB flats of condo, meanwhile 5% are residential landed properties.

Almost 80% of the Singapore populations live in HDB, public housing flat, while 20% live in condo and landed properties.

Landed properties in Singapore do attached with high price-tag with average price at >$1.6m.

So basically, just trying to say if one is with limited budget you can probably look at smaller size condos. If got budget, itu kan lain cerita.

High Entry Barrier

MYR against SGD. RM3 is SGD1, you do the maths.

1 bedroom condo will cost about $700,000 SGD or RM2.1 million. You can’t purchase the public housing or the HDB flat if you are not Singaporean or Permanent Resident. You may get some information
here
 on the eligibility to purchase a HDB flat.

High Cash Call Up Front
Maximum margin of financing being 75% of SPA Price
Stamp Duty: 3% of SPA Price
Additional Buyer’s Stamp Duty (ABSD)
 20% on top of the SPA price if you are buying as a foreigner.

Let’s work out some numbers and get ready a budget and some cash for some serious property shopping in Singapore.

Say the budget you are looking at is
$700,000.

The estimated up front cost will be:

25% down payment

$175,000

RM525,000

5%, 20% 3 mths from OTP

3% stamp duty

$15,600

RM46,800

2 weeks from OTP

20% ABSD

$140,000

RM420,000

2 weeks from OTP

Legal Fees

$3,000

RM9,000

Total

$333,600

RM1,000,800

You need approximately RM1mil ready before shopping around for properties in Singapore. In terms of % for cash out lay, we are looking at approximately 50% down payment if you are purchasing it as a foreigner, it is pretty steep right barrier entry.

So you are still interested in investing in Singapore?

If you do, hang in there. Get your coffee ready and we will share with you how it is done!

Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window)
Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)
Click to share on Pocket (Opens in new window)
More
Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)
Click to print (Opens in new window)
Click to share on Telegram (Opens in new window)
Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window)

Related


PROPCAFE Guide: High or Low Floor? Key Factors to Consider When You Buy or Rent a Unit of High-Rise Property

When comes to buying or renting a property, it is not just about location-location-location, it is equally important to select a right unit in order to ensure you have the most value buy. However, best value may not be the case for those who buy it for their own stay. there are a few important aspects you should consider when comes to choosing one of the most expensive assets in your life. PROPCAFE hopes this article can help you with this.

As mentioned, there are many factors to consider when you select a unit of property whether you are buyers or tenants. From water tank location, refuse chamber room, lift lobby, privacy, direction, to own Ba-Chi Fengshui requirement, it is all depend on individual”s preference as many times, the negative is positive to others. For example, nearer to lif lobby could be seen as noisier to some buyers but it could be a positive for others who do not like to walk far from the lift lobby to their unit, especially if there is an additional fireproof door at the lift lobby with proper “soft close” door. Same to refuse chamber room, not many like to carry the thrash for long and the key is to ensure there is the design of the thrash room is segregated properly with additional doors and ventilation.

PROPCAFE is not covering all the above but focuses on the biggest dilemma of the buyer which is to make a decision on whether to go for a high or low floor. We will solely focus on this area to share the pros and cons of high and low floor units.

What is so good about the high floor?

The scenery and Aerial View – The panorama view of nature or the city to many residents is priceless. For those without a balcony and a small sliding door/window, it will be relatively less important. One common mistake is to pay the premium and buy a high floor but lower than the mountain because it means you will not be able to enjoy anything at night but a total blackout! In addition,  sometimes the view could be blocked in the future by new developments.

Lower Interest Payment During Development – Although higher floor units are more expansive, as it is the higher floor, based on the schedule H, the progress payments will come in much later than the lower floor, therefore, you may save more loan interests than others.

Unfortunately, there are many negative factors that may affect the high floor units

Lift waiting time – Given the lifts are likely to park on the ground floor, waiting for the lift will take some time, not to say it is during the peak period. The worse is, if the building comes with high density and relatively fewer lifts provided. You just need to be a very patient resident :). Some developments mitigate this issue by having high-speed lifts which in fact help a lot and separating the high and low floor zone may solve this issue as well. So, always ask developers about this given the density of the property nowadays is getting higher, thanks to the artificial cheap offering in the market.

Crowded Journey – As it is at the high floor, be prepared the journey will be long and crowded as you will be the one who will stay the longest in the lift together with others.

Noise Pollution from Highway and Main Road – Many buyers do not aware that the noise will travel up and it will be louder for higher floor units. For those who have units on a high floor and facing the main road or highway, good luck! If you think you can still avoid the noise late at night because of lesser traffic, please think twice. You just need one motorbike to wake you up at night! PROPCAFE fully experienced it when we were at a service apartment from Genting Highland. OMG! Even though the road is very far away, but the noise traveling from the lower part of the hill to the apartment is so bad that we had to give up the fresh air and close all the windows and sliding doors. Even that couldn’t help much!

Leaking issue – The highest floor always exposes an additional risk of leaking from the top of the building. The good news is, you don’t need to deal with your neighbor but a developer or JMB/MC who are more responsive than others.

Risk of Emergency Escape – Any emergency like fire, landslide, earthquake. You will probably be the last to get out of the building if everyone goes out at the same time. The high floor residents always need to act fast in this sort of emergency.

Fear of Height – If you have acrophobia, forget about the high floor. You will not enjoy it and waste your balcony for life or until you are treated by “exposure therapy”. :).

Low water pressure – Depending on the location of the water tank of the building, the water pressure could be low if the water tanks are located at mid-floor.

Risk for Children and Suicide – There are many cases of children falling down accidentally from the high floor and those who are suffering from mental health may be more prompt to commit suicide to fall from the building.

The inconvenience of lift maintenance issue – If the lift breaks down like the traffic will be slow and the high floor will be affected the most. Under the scenario of all lifts are malfunctioning, the high floor residents may need to have iron man capability to use the staircase.

Close Proximity of Other Buildings – If your property is surrounded closely by other buildings, you are not only having walls and other balconies as you view, your privacy could be affected as well. Your high floor premium price will be depleted.

What’s make the low floor unit a better choice sometimes?

Facility and Garden View – Without an aerial view, low floor unit residents may have a nice facility floor or garden view sometimes can be surprisingly beautiful

Shorter Lift Waiting Time – This is certainly the benefit for low-floor owners. Some may just choose to walk e.g. you are at Mezzanine or first floor. This will help a lot too when you are to go down and take up your food or item deliveries. Of course, relatively less concern on lift maintenance.

Faster Emergency Escape – This is the opposite of high floor units and imagines about 911 or on fire when lifts are shut down?

Elderly and children friendly – The lower floor is easier for the elderly and children to move around and especially nearer to the garden or other facilities which they may hang around often.

Height Scared Heaven – This is the one for those who are having acrophobia.

What are the cons of having a low floor unit?

Higher progressive interest payment – On the surface, the purchase price could be lower than others, but low floor owners need to pay more progressive interest payment due to the schedule H.

Noise and Pollution – If the low floor units face the busy main road or highway, the units may get direct noise and carbon dioxide pollution.

Privacy – The low floor may have a privacy issue if it is too near to the main road which has high traffic. The tinted window and sliding doors are compulsory.

In short, choosing a high or floor is not as straightforward, it depends on the location of the property and the direction of the units. It may give you a different answer. So, don’t worry if you only see few pros for high floor units :).

The own-stayers and tenants need to weigh the pros and cons and choose the one that best fits their own needs or health condition. As we mentioned above, for those who have an elderly parent or acrophobia, then don’t get a high floor for the sake of the view. The decision is simple and clear. Those who can take more risk, are young and patient, and always want to sip a cup of coffee at the balcony, go for a high floor unit. The view may change your mood for the day. There is no right or wrong when it comes to own use as it is all very individual.

Investors normally will love the high floor and are more than willing to pay for a premium. This is because it is always perceived that more tenants or future buyers appreciate the view. Is it true? Yes, or No, it is all about how high is the premium, view (relatively to the low floor) when it is transacted in the secondary market and rental market. The relative comparison comes into pictures. During the depressing environment today, it probably just serve as a liquidity factor for owners than having the right to demand more premium.

Generally, tenants and buyers are not fully aware of the pros and cons of the high and low floors which make perception skew toward the favoritism of the high floor.  It could be very annoying for owners to hear from agents that their low floor units cannot demand the same as the high floor units without further understanding the benefits of the low floor for certain profiles or types of tenants or buyers. With this, PROPCAFE hopes to provide more information and humble view here for own-stayers, investors, tenants, agents, and developers to build a better understanding and eco-system of the property market in Malaysia. There is right or wrong when come to the floor selection, it is all depend on your own tolerance (negative factors) and preference (positive factors). Happy hunting!

Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window)
Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)
Click to share on Pocket (Opens in new window)
More
Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)
Click to print (Opens in new window)
Click to share on Telegram (Opens in new window)
Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window)

Related


PROPCAFE™ Guide: Investing Singapore Property

Investing Singapore Property The Walkthrough

After reading our earlier write up about steep entry barrier to Singapore Property, still feeling unfettered and you still adamant about investing Singapore Property.

Let us at PROPCAFE provide you some more investment pointers for your further consideration.

20% Additional Buyer Stamp Duty

If you are a foreigner in Singapore, let’s say you are a Malaysian you need to pay 20% on top of the SPA price or the property price.

We also would like to raise caution that even in the event that you manage to source for undervalue property reflected in SPA price, however for the assessment of stamp duty, Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS) may levy the stamp duty based on market price (property valuation price). This would potentially be a hidden cost, we would strongly advise potential buyer to account for this accordingly.

The Singapore tax authority also closes off the loop against non individual buying Singapore Residential property, a flat 25% ABSD, if the buyer is other than individual.

ABSD on top of SPA price does it still make the investment viable?

Our take is that if we solely look at the price point it is NOT
investible
if the time horizon for the investment is of short term view, say 3-5 year. As the appreciation that you can get from property appreciation as been taxed up front. It is simply not logical to do so. Now remove the short term investment hat off.

However if you are looking for long term investment, diversification from Malaysian properties, why not.

Some push factors are:

A recent of downgraded by
Fitch
 on Malaysia’s Long-Term Foreign-Currency Issuer Default Rating (IDR) to
‘BBB+’
 from ‘A-‘.

Meanwhile Fitch rating for Singapore is at
AAA.

Meanwhile we should remain optimist, it is also of no harm to have some back up plan set up.

Some take away from Fitch’s report are of

– Public Finances: A downward trend in general government debt/GDP, for instance due to implementation of a strong fiscal consolidation strategy after the pandemic recedes.

– Structural: An improvement in governance standards relative to peers, for instance through greater transparency and control of corruption.

Do you foresee improvement? Lets not get too stressed on this shall we.

Let’s put forth the assumption that ABSD factor can be mitigated as this problem typically can be overcome if we have significant savings.

Or there is a change of resident status from foreigner to permanent resident. Then our call will be upgraded to buy buy buy.

HDB or Private Condo, or Landed Properties

If you are permanent residents and fulfill the eligibility required HDB it is. But our take is not to treat it as an investment instrument after all the HDBs are primarily meant to resolve the housing needs of the local masses

What is HDB difference between HDB compare to a Private Condo

80% housing in Singapore are HDB or public housing while 20% are private housing (either apartment, condo or landed properties.

So can you compare a PPR flat vs HDB flat, yes you can.

Similarities:

Looks generic, the older HDB flat do look almost the same.

Built by government

However the newer built one, often not the same anymore. Newer ones are modernized.

Pinnacle@Duxton (below) is a SGD1mil HDB located right in the middle of Tanjong Pagar, part of CBD Central Business District in Singapore.

Skyville at Dawson (below) that is located in Queenstown, is also a newly built HDB that we think look like a condo at a very central location.

Perhaps you have this burning question in mind, so now PROPCAFE you are saving HDB looks same same like condo. Perhaps a certain extend if we evaluate it based on exterior look only.

However, there are some key differences, let us narrow down 3 key factors.

Privacy and security

HDBs are accessible by general public while condo’s access is secured

Neighborhood amenities

HDBs town are typically more convenient as it is surrounded by eateries, groceries shops

Condo facilities

There is no in-house gym, footpath, sauna or private swimming pool for HDBs.

Costs

If you buy directly from government, generally HDB starts from SGD100,000, to SGD700,000 depending on flat size and location, more mature HDB town will be slightly more expensive.

While condo, a studio will start from SGD600,000 to a couple of million, meanwhile landed properties will usually command about SGD2mil, depending on the size of land plot as well as the tenure of the land.

So now you have some knowledge on the Singapore housing market and would like to get your hands to one.  Question, where to start? Go to online search portal.

There are 2 only search portals that are commonly used in Singapore, there are.

propertyguru.com.sg

99.co

What we like about these 2 portals is that for past transaction prices, layout, are all shared transparently to ease buyer.

Transparent and Accessible Dousing Data

Singapore maintains very transparent on their housing market supplies, alternative you can check transacted price in Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) website (
www.ura.gov.sg
).

The Singapore development master are updated in URA website, the government state land sales is controlled and is released for development through the
Government Land Sales (GLS)
 Programme through open public bidding.

The Master Plan is available for public viewing.

Singapore vs Malaysia Property worth to ay 3 times more, what about yield?

This writer thought that these are 2 different country, one to each own. Don’t compare too much, just accept that there are not the same, just to name a few, differing political landscape, education, the institutional trust and income level.

Malaysia will always be Bolehland, while Singapore will always be Majulah Singapura!

So you now you are ready and get some hold some serious cash to plonk down a deposit to BBB SG properties.

Let’s us walk you through the buying process shall we. investing Singapore property commences with the sign off of OTP, Option to Purchase.

In our opinion this OTP document is the most important document for the house purchase in Singapore. Make or break also depend on this document, we will share more with next write up for final piece of Singapore property purchase.

Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window)
Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)
Click to share on Pocket (Opens in new window)
More
Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)
Click to print (Opens in new window)
Click to share on Telegram (Opens in new window)
Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window)

Related


PROPCAFE™ Guide : PROPCAFE Property Investment Strategies in Year 2017. Whack, Keep, or Cut?

It is now year end and time to chill and at the same time think about what to do in the coming year based on what we have gone through in 2016 and the condition of economy now and future.

Again, PROPCAFE founders’ whatapp group does not stop, it works 24/7. In fact, higher “intensity” was observed after few founders added more “stocks” in the end of this year while everyone is screaming on bad property market, dropping of rental, and worrying on property gluts. What is the logic? When  inflation and higher cost is creeping in like no tomorrow and weak ringgit continues, which investment works more effectively as best hedge? Well, nothing is so simple as wrong properties and buy without considering your affordability may create disaster too!

All PROPCAFE founders are ready for year 2017 and happy to share what are in our mind but, please, don’t “bulat-bulat” quote or apply it as every investment need to be assessed carefully with both internal (“your capability and affordability”) and external (“economy environment”) factors.

What would you do in Year 2017, Mr. PROPCAFE?

Soy Cappuccino:

“Property market in 2017 is still expected to remain conundrum and it is most likely to be dragged until 2018. From 2014 to 2016, Malaysia property market had been volatile with lot of uncontrollable factors like government unclear policies, financial institutions strict credit controls, and unpredictable aggressiveness of developers taking own initiative to dip their legs into the creative financing packages.

For me, the strategy to be adopted in 2017 will take account of what is going to happen or will happen in the property marker from 2018-2022. It is noticeable that the mass market products ranges from 350k to 650k with smaller sizes are really flooding the market and not to mention that Government keeps on pushing and introducing affordable homes in almost everywhere. Market will definitely be distorted in this product category in next few years. It is definitely a good news for those are genuinely looking for their first home but unfortunately the financial institution doesn’t really blend into the policy to be in line with the affordable home after statistics showed that one of the highest loans reject ratio for housing loan is coming from the low end 180k to 450k products. You got the affordable house built but you don’t get the facilities to buy, the equation just doesn’t jive together. I am trying to avoid this segment for now at least.

In Year 2017, I am looking more details in premium mid to high end ranged property in matured market for longer term horizon and preparing myself with more cash for longer holding (12-24 months) and emergency “special edition good” buy that fit into my own financial status. I see 2017-2018 is the good time to buy provided you are already prepared with your cash flow for this time back then and ready for the ‘time’. However, I will be very selective by giving more priority on location, liquidity, overall masterplan and also the longer investment horizon.

I think we hear a lot from many Property Guru or read a lot from books which saying that when the market is bad, it is not a good time to sell but to buy. Honestly, I don’t quite think the same about “selling” part during the winter time is any bad. A lot of people has misconception that during the bad time, it is at best interest to keep their investment until the good time is back and then only to put it into the market. I personally think this is a very risky to do that. For me, now is the best time to put all my investments on the market to see, test and gather which property is worth to keep and which is not worth to keep. At the same time, it is one of the best times to test whether your investment is a good or bad one and how much you really know about property investment. No better time to learn now. The good one will be liquid and in demand even during this bad timing, need not to say it will be better during the peak time. For those which take longer time or rather no taker even you plunge down the price at loss, then you should able to separate the bad apples from your basket. It is not necessary I am asking you to sell all, but merely to put it on the market to test it out. At the end, you make the judgment and it is your call to keep or to cut. 😊

Oh ya, I almost forgot to mention about about the government policy. If you noticed today the government is bringing in the Chinese resources, Hello 👋 Ni Hao Ma! And you will never know what they will bring tomorrow. Maybe the Konnichiwa or KamsanHamidan.. You get what I mean? So are you prepared for the China 🇨🇳 mari punya market? 😝 Happy New Year and let’s embrace the year of 2017 together. 😬”

Flat White:

“Avoid buying anything between 400k to 600k in 2017. Believe this segment is oversaturated for the next 10 years.

If finances are able, pick good value new launches above 700k and if holding power permits, go for high end. Believe this segment will make a come back in due course. Otherwise eye on subsale value buy. There are gems hidden here and there.

As for your truly, will sell one and buy one (or two).😅”

Black Coffee:

“Buy within affordability and allow buffer for at least 12-18 months (exclude capex commitment) for emergency.

Buy in area with catalyst such as MRT2. IMHO, shopping mall no longer a catalyst as Greater Klang Valley is too saturated with malls and success rate is questionable with long gestation period even after completion.”

Kopi O Peng:

“Investors are experiencing the external challenges that out of their control such as banks’ credit control, falling property prices and rent. Bank tightening policy depicting challenges to get financing, not only impact the primary property market but also the secondary property market. Sellers or investors can only close the deal if their subsales purchasers able to secure a loan. The best Investment strategy in 2017 is apparently, buy to hold, or buy to rent. Ideally, one can find 40% below market deals, with rental yield of at least 5%, there are aplenty of such deals in the market now. Indisputably, properties in matured area are more liquid and promising.”

Caffe Correto:

“Year 2017 is probably the trough (or near to) of property cycle. Therefore, it would be the best time to buy for future (2021-2022)! Always remember that you are buying now and harvest in future, not now to sell! So, why care about the economy NOW? Whatever come down will go up (cycle), that’s the Economic 101.

Plenty of great locations and easy entry package from developers with much reasonable price (those with Net price still at or below market price, not inflated price of course) are expected to come! So, get ready your cash! How? Sell your good apple in current bad time? To me, it is more on how much cash you want to prepare. If one property can give you back the cash that meet your 2017 property strategy, then go for it whether it is your good or bad property 🙂 By selling one and make you ready for 4 properties purchase in this exciting cycle (easy entry with good value buy, high potential properties), then why not? The key is what do you do next on the cash! Dump into one best value buy but high cash outflow (i.e. high value property) is not in my thinking as diversification is absolute important in this junction. Therefore, use it efficiently to accummulate more value buys to build bigger portfolio for future capital appreciation and rental income flows. Throw all your cash into just one may not be the wise thing to do.

Remember 2006-07? Good package, great incentive, developers were desperate, cloudy economy, low interest rate and every said property was expensive. Look similar isn’t it. Missed it last time? Now, choice is yours!”

Café Latte:

“FY17 is the best year to hold your properties. Let the supply tide subside. It is the best time to take stocks, cash out or dispose non performing inventories, and hold on to cash cows.”

Affogato:

“2017 is the best time to be a new property investor. The whole market is getting cold feet, but developers are throwing a lot of incentives and so called “newbie investors” who have recently try got keys, are going to be cash stretched – “market is nowhere like where it was 3 years ago.” There will be ample of opportunities be it secondary market or newly launched projects. MRT part 1 will finally go live. The game play has changed from 5 years ago. Throw away all the guru’s advice. It’s winter season in the property cycle now. Be discerning, be diligent and do a lot of home work for new investors. Existing investors, stress test time. How deep is your liquidity, how wrong were your selections (nobody really cares about how right they were, because given the cycles uptrend, it’s hard to go wrong). So what went wrong. Time to bite the bullet, learn and move on. Make sure don’t make same mistake again. Rental market will continue to be depressed, so projected cash flow will all be on the worst case scenario. Exciting times indeed.”

That’s all for now. No long winded stories to take up your precious festive time. Lol. Use it for your homework and FAMILY of course.
“ From Love, Hate, Passion to Buy, Sell, Rent – Home is my Family”.

Happy Property Hunting and Happy New Year!

Photo Source: Credit to Mr. Khong WC and William

Remember to subscribe with us at www.propcafe.net to get the latest first hand property information before it goes public!

Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window)
Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)
Click to share on Pocket (Opens in new window)
More
Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)
Click to print (Opens in new window)
Click to share on Telegram (Opens in new window)
Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window)

Related


PROPCAFE™ Guide : Property Rental Tips by The Makeover Guys

Hi everyone! As we have just entered the beginning of year 2022, one of the most exciting and busiest time for most or at least some of us, embarking on a many uncharted journey such as new goals, new career, new challenges, new resolutions, new car and of course new home too.

When we are talking about new home, the word “renovation” naturally will come into our mind. Many of us who just got our new home probably have had been planning to start the renovation since last year which is rather not a good year. As we all know, many activity had been temporary halt due to MCO and renovation work was one of them.

Renovation work schedule which had been interrupted due to MCO had caused the accumulation backlog of work and when the renovation work resumed after MCO was lifted in August 2021, we noticed there was a sudden surged of cost in home furnishing such as renovation, electrical appliances and furniture due to sudden tremendous demand from the market simultaneously. As rising cost of for home furnishing to make it
liveable
easily up by than 20%-30% compared to pre-pandemic, this poses a new challenge to the new home owner especially for rental market.

As some of us are totally new in market who probably don’t know how and where to start, getting some tips and advice from the experienced people in the industry might be helpful, we think.

Therefore, PROPCAFE paid a personal surprise visit to The MakeOver Guys’s office to get Mr.Gavin Liew to share some of his insightful tips and strategies with us. Mr. Gavin Liew is an avid property investor himself and he is also one of the founder of The MakeOver Guys. When we says “experienced people” , we are not just referring to someone who had done a few jobs in their entire career. The MakeOver Guys has been staying relevant in the industry for having completed more than 2,000 makeover to date. If that number does not justify them as an expert, then we don’t know what does.

Vince (Left) & Gavin (Right) – Founder of The MakeOver Guys

Let’s hear him out what he got to say.

BOOSTING YOUR RENTAL YIELDS LIKE A PRO!

By Gavin Liew, The Makeover Guys

Hi everyone! previously PROPCAFE™ shared an amazing compilation of
75 DON’Ts in RENOVATION
. I have to say, it was one of the most comprehensive list of tips I have come across. If you missed it, you can find the article
here.

Receiving the keys to a new property is an exhilarating experience. But more often than not, the excitement is pretty short lived, when owners realize the sheer amount of work that must be endeavoured to make the property
liveable
.

In today’s high-supply environment, making your property
liveable
 is just the first part of the equation. The second part is where the real challenge lies; being
 competitive
in the rental market.

Let’s face it, the current rental market is a rather tough one to conquer. The sudden influx of newly completed properties has given our prospective customers (tenants) so many options to choose from! So much so that it calls for new strategies to be formed in order to stay relevant.

What worked 10 years ago, just isn’t going to work today.

In hopes of tackling these difficulties, I’ve gathered a few tips, strategies, and
mindset shifts
 that need to take place, in order to boost your rental yields like a pro!

1) ELIMINATE “TENANTS” TO ACHIEVE A GREAT RENTAL PORTFOLIO

Yes, you heard that right. The first secret to having a great rental portfolio is to eliminate ‘tenants’ from your life.

You see, the word ‘tenant’ in itself is limiting your growth as a property investor. As you might already know, the opposite of ‘tenant’ is simply ‘land
lord
 ’.

And this powerful word,
landlord
, tends to give property owners a false sense of empowerment.

Let’s start by taking things back to the fundamental truth.
We are in the business of real estate investing to make money
 .

Our property is our
product
, and those on the opposite spectrum are our
customers
.

This is the
key paradigm
 shift that must happen, if you’d like to start boosting your rental yield like a pro.
Eliminate The Word ‘Tenants’, And Start Calling Them ‘Customers
’ instead.

And why is that?

Your customer is essentially giving you a RM30,000 contract (say, for example based on a RM2,500 a month rental rate). I’ve seen many instances where people will go out of their way to secure a RM30,000 contract for their job, but on the other hand, be
extremely rigid and stingy
 when it comes to their rental properties.

MAISSONS, Ara Damansara

Just as it is in every business, the customer’s satisfaction should always be priority, and this does not differ in the property investment world. When one manages to wrap one’s mind around this ideology, we are certain that your business would run more smoothly and be able to generate better returns. You are doomed to fail if you behave like a lord to your ‘tenants’ (and we’ve met many who still do).

I can truly say, without hesitation, that anyone investing in real estate who doesn’t change their paradigm and strategies to match this important shift will struggle as the cycle changes and a new reality begins.

2) UNDERSTANDING YOUR CUSTOMER PROFILES –
The Rise of the Millennial Renter

With the long term trend of rising house prices, it comes as no surprise that millennials now make up the dominant demographic within the rental market. This is one of the main reasons why strategies that worked 10 years ago, isn’t going to work today.

The Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary describes Millennials as those born roughly between the 1980s and 1990s. In short, that means anyone below the age of 38 years is more or less, a millennial.

Growing up in an era of rapid change, millennials have vastly different priorities, expectations, and values than those of prior generations.

So what do all these mean to you, as a property investor?

Understanding these traits mean you can use it to your advantage. Let me give you a few examples.

Millennials prioritize
work-life balance
: This is very important for a millennial so providing convenience always wins. Fully furnish your offerings so they need not fret on the tiny details and have more time for the crucial stuff.

Millennials are
tech-savvy
: Post ads online (duhhh :P), and pay a lot of attention to the photography styles used. Extra brownie points for those who can pull off instagram and pinterest worthy pictures for your ads!

Millennials prioritize
lifestyle
: This generation of people don’t mind paying more for socially sought-after things. Basically, things that are high in-trend. So make sure your interiors are in-trend and relevant.

Millennials and
the internet
: Even the oldest of Millennials have had internet since their high school. It’s no surprise they have a high dependency on it. Therefore, do provide internet services if you can.

Just remember, your customer profiles have begun its shift to millennials, and you can no longer employ the same strategies you used to to attract Gen-Xs and Baby Boomers.

3) THE EQUATION FOR HIGHER RETURNS

Contrary to popular belief:
Fitting-out and completely furnishing a property DOES NOT equate to higher returns.

Higher returns can only happen when your customers’ quality of life is improved via the things you provide, and
it MUST be better than what your competitors have to offer
.

So therefore, the equation for higher returns should be:

Basically, what this means is, your goal as a property investor is to
improve the quality of life
 of your prospective customers. When you’re furnishing your property, always think about how your choices will affect the quality of life for its dwellers.

Before and After – Residensi 22

So, the next big question is, how do you
define an improved quality of life
for your customers?

There are quite a number of ways. I’ve listed down a few common things your customers typically look for:
 ● Convenience – A hassle-free home that’s move-in ready. This means, your customers can save lots of time from having to hunt around for the essentials such as bed linens, cutleries, appliances, etc.

 ● Low-move in cost – This is pretty related to convenience. If everything is provided, it also means your customers don’t have to fork out more cash for living in a place that isn’t truly theirs! Don’t forget, they already need to allocate 3.5 times the monthly rental value up front (2 months security deposit, 0.5 months utility deposit, and 1st month rental). That’s already quite a sizeable sum.

 ● A clean, comfortable environment – Nobody wants to live in a dirty old dump, if they had a choice.
And, they do!

 ● Great interiors – In all honesty, who wouldn’t want to live in a great-looking home? This is a strategy that’s centuries old and is still heavily employed today in all hospitality industries.

If you put yourself in your customers’ shoes, I’m sure you will be able to list many more beyond these.

4) OKAY, I GEDDIT NOW. SO WHAT DO I DO NEXT? –
Liveable and Competitive

Once you understand the philosophies behind what drives rental rates and returns up, you’ll be able to strategize and prioritize what you need to do with your property.

Let’s face it,
we are in the business of real estate investing to make money
. This simply means we
do NOT want to overspend
.

So how do we create impactful yet practical spaces, without negatively affecting your ROI?

Below are some examples of typical rental interiors, and what you can do to make it more relevant for today’s market and stand out from your competition.

The top picture is something you’ll often see being offered in the rental market today. The essentials are all there; the lights, fans, dining table, chairs, air-conditioner, kitchen cabinets. It certainly is
liveable
, but as we mentioned earlier, in today’s environment is has to be
competitive
 too!

Walls play a huge part in the ambience and environment. In this case, what you can do to increase its competitiveness is to focus on the walls. Wallpapers or textured paint is a great way to increase the perceived value of the space, without having to spend too much.

Here’s another example of a typical rental property offering.

Rental properties often look like this,
liveable
, but certainly not
competitive
.

The most expensive things in furnishing a home is already in there. It really doesn’t take a lot to bring it to the next level, and to stay competitive in today’s rental environment.

Picture courtesy of The Makeover Guys.

By providing beddings and linens, it really just kills two birds with one stone; it makes the
space look so much better, and it gives your customers convenience. That extra trip they’d
need to make to buy their preferred beddings and linens can wait till they’re truly free to do
so and it lowers the urgency.

Here are a few more pictures you may use as references to create competitive rental environments without burning a hole in your pocket. Enjoy the pictures!

Sample work from The Makeover Guys for the Expatriate Property Segments.

Sample work from The Makeover Guys for Standard Property Segments.

So there you have it! Hopefully you’ll soon be raking in the moolah with the help of these tips!

Waaay too busy and would rather have someone take care of it all? The Makeover Guys are here to help! You may reach us on our website at
www.themakeover.my
 . If you’d prefer to speak to our friendly consultants, do visit our facebook page at
www.facebook.com/themakeover.my
 and drop us a message!

For more inspirations, feel free to follow our instagram page at
www.instagram.com/themakeover.my
 .

In our next articles, we will be sharing more in-depth tips on how to create these interiors so
do stay tuned!

Thanks for reading! Till next time.

PROPCAFE would like to say a big thank you to
Gavin, Amanda
and
Vince
 from The MakeOver Guys for spending their valuable time to meeting with us and on behalf of all the readers, we would like to thanks Gavin for sharing his insightful tips with us.

p/s If you ever wondered if this is a paid post, we can tell you it is not but we have to admit, we did received something more valuable (at least to us) – friendship, warm hospitality, knowledge, time and few cups of coffee! 🙂

Tips on how to prevent falling into renovation scam.

Since we touch on the topic of renovation, PROPCAFE come across there were few cases of renovation fraud which happened not long ago where at least 40 owners were scammed. Refer to the news
here
.

PROPCAFE want to take this opportunity to share this to all of you and keep reminding us on this.

Why? Because they scam, they hide and then they come back and repeat
.

How? They offer you renovation package and at the same time they entice you that they have tenant ready with xxxx amount rental per month waiting for your unit. And once your unit renovated can immediately rent out to their current awaiting tenant for your renovated unit. They make it like an easy deal. Renovation package and Ready Tenant. Seriously?

Here are some of the tips from us to prevent from becoming victim of renovation scam.(not 100% proof though)

1. Try to view your renovation and tenant as two different matters. If you are looking for renovation, look for credible and proven record of renovation (for eg The MakeOver Guys hahaha). If you are looking for tenant, need not to say, look for licensed agency and professional agent.

2. Do not renovate just because the renovator has a tenant to offer to you or something like GRR. Renovate because you want to renovate and you have a clear target on your rental and market.

3. Never pay 100% for renovation or high amount of deposit. We think anything below 10% or lower as deposit is still OK depending on the total amount of your renovation.

4. For renovation, upfront discussion with the contractor payment on progress basis.

5. If you are doing it yourself without help of an ID company, monitor their progress closely.

6. Do homework to check on their past track record. Like review or communicate with their previous customer for their honest feedback.

7. Believe 50% what you see or hear from them, photo, video or whatever marketing material (even this day news also can be misleading) . The remaining 50%, you do your own research. See the actual final product. Talk to their customers.

8. If anything sound too good to be true like cheap, easy, be skeptical and be more careful. Have a reasonable doubt especially if the company is new.

9. No one say it is easy to be a landlord. Landlord works very hard but most time we only see the easy part. Reward come after effort although no guarantee in equal amount. But no effort most likely lead you to no reward.

10. Again, to conclude deal for tenancy it is advisable to go through professional licensed agency, better NOT from the renovator. Sometime some co do offer to help you to get a tenant, however just treat it as a bonus but not as part of the deal for your renovation.

11. Be humble and listen to people who has more experience. But filter it wisely. Because nowadays most people here on social media they after something else. Even some people who has one or two properties (some don’t even own any property) talk like a guru. True guru is they are sincere and most time they won’t admit themselves as guru.

12. Don’t think you know everything. Best if you think you know nothing and seek for help and knowledge from correct channel and wise people.

That’s all from us for now. Till we meet again. Hope you guys enjoy it, See ya!

Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window)
Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)
Click to share on Pocket (Opens in new window)
More
Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)
Click to print (Opens in new window)
Click to share on Telegram (Opens in new window)
Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window)

Related


PROPCAFE™ Guide : Townhouse Living Concept

Townhouse: Introduction

Malaysia is generally blessed with choices and variety of housing depends on budget, lifestyle, location, size of family etc. The choice of housing loosely can be divided to strata and individual title. For strata title, you own your own parcel however the facilities, lift, common area and services such as security and cleaning are communal and usually the up keeping and maintenance of these common area and services are outsourced to managing agent.

Local council will not be responsible of the maintenance and upkeeping (except if Pangsapuri Perumahan Rakyat) of common area of strata properties. Therefore, the owners are obliged to pay the maintenance fee for these outgoing expenses. In order for residents to co-habit peacefully whether within their parcel or common area, they need to obey by-laws failing penalty will be imposed. The common stratified residential properties are apartment, condominium, serviced apartment, condotel etc.

Where else individual titled properties, they are the most popular choice among house buyers. Usually, individual titled properties are landed in natural such as terrace, semi-detached and detached home. As long as within the local council rules, the owners has full ownership of the property. However this may cause a dissent in community as no by-laws binding the residents for mutual respect to co-habit peacefully.

Due to change of lifestyle and demand of feature such as security and facilities, some developers have incorporated strata concept in the landed housing. This strata landed concept quickly gaining popularity as owners demanding landed living with single exit/enter point, guarded and gated, facilities such as pool, gym, garden etc. they will also prefer to be in control of the upkeeping and maintenance of the precinct rather than rely on local council. The classic example is Desa Park City by PerdanaPark City and Setia Eco Glades by SPSetia.

However there is another class of housing that often forgotten by house buyers. Townhouse living. Read on to find out more.

Townhouse Living

It is important that readers understand about townhouse concept which is not a new concept. PROPCAFE observes that home seekers are a bit apprehensive of townhouse concept where multiple owners are owning strata properties that sharing common roof, wall, floor and structure. A typical townhouse in Malaysia will have not more than 3 storeys and on rare occasion 4 storeys. Unlike condo or apartment, it is arranged in a row of 10-12 units/row similar to terrace house. Hence the townhouse is a hybrid of condo (sharing) and terrace house (landed) concept. For ease of understanding, refer to the sketch below.

Townhouse concept diagram

Source:
http://blog.lamidesign.com/2016/07/stacked-townhomes-new-prototype-design.html

Why choose a townhouse, one may ask? There is no question of the popularity of landed home among Malaysians where it has become an aspiration of many to own ONE. The beauty of owning a landed home is aside the shared walls with neighbour, the property belongs to you. If there is water leakage or cracks, no finger pointing of responsibility.  Where the building depreciates, the land always appreciates in the long run. In a nutshell, if location is good and it is affordable, a terrace home will always be the preferred option among Malaysian home seekers.

When land has become scarcer (and more expensive) and lifestyle changes, stratified apartments are being built. Essentially, rather than being built horizontally, the units are built vertically. The major advantage of strata living is owners are only responsible for individual parcel where the communal area such as facilities, lift access, security, rubbish collection, cleanliness are taken care of by Management Office. Therefore it is a no frill maintenance and management of the apartment while owners can enjoy the facilities and a secured homes/ environment in preferred locations. The biggest concern here is the upkeep of the building which, IF not properly maintained will bring about many issues to the property.

THE TOWNHOUSE, WHY? For a start, as a home seeker, you maybe looking for a landed houses however you do not have the budget for it. Essentially you are looking for a VALUE purchase. You do not fancy an apartment as you dread to lug your bags from car to home. You may not fancy your beloved car parked out of your visibility. This is where a townhouse fills in the gap.

Being a stratified development, the townhouse owners have full control of the communal area such as cleanliness, landscape, security and rubbish collection which are governed under the Strata Management Act 2013 (SMA2013). Unlike individual title, townhouse owners are not allowed to alter any façade without the permission from MC. The result in the long run, this will create a cleaner and more uniform façade. In long term with better control and maintenance of façade and communal area, owners expect to have better capital appreciation.

Terrace Link House Versus Townhouse

Townhouse usually has basic facilities and therefore the maintenance fee is low. For example Propcafe just visited Ayden @ Warisan Puteri, the expected maintenance fee is only RM0.08psf and for 1851sqft unit, the maintenance fee is less than RM150 per month! One of the main advantages due to low rise nature, townhouse does not need lift and this is going into the maintenance fee saving.

Another point worth noting IF two or more generations staying together under single roof, townhouse will be a perfect solution. The younger generation can stay on an upper unit while the elders can still stay at a lower unit, maintaining the privacy and yet accessible to each other.

Feature

Landed Home*

Townhouse

Apartment

Ownership

Individual

Strata

Strata

Facade

Varies depends on Owner

Fixed without alteration of facade

Fixed without alteration of Facade

Facilities

No

Yes with basic facilities

Yes, depends on plan

Communal Living

Yes, Close Knit

Yes, Close Knit

Yes, depends

Security

No or FnG

Yes, GnG

Yes, GnG

Maintenance Fee

No or Minimum

Yes, moderate

Yes, high

Privacy

No

No

Yes

Capital Appreciation

High

Moderate

Low

*Not include stratified Landed Home

Note

The table above is strictly based on PROPCAFE personal observation

One of the major concerns of the stratified owners is the shared wall, floor and roof with interleak issue. In the past, this has proven to be a stumbling block as owners have minimum recourse for this issue. However worry not! Under SMA2013, the management has responsibility and power to investigate and accordingly serve Form 28 to responsible parties to fix the issue. The management has power to rectify and recover the cost to from the responsible parties. This has eliminated the issue of finger pointing as well as saving the time to fix the issue before it escalates to bigger issue.

For ease of understanding of the procedure, just refer to the simplified flow credit to Rehda Institute. Upon receive notice from management, the owner shall allow access to the property to verify inter-floor leak, failing the owner can be fined up to RM50K or jail up to 3 years! This is a provision and power given to Management Agency and stratified owners should take this seriously. Further to this, there is clear policy and guideline how source of interleak can be identified, rectified in timely manner.

Source:
http://rehdainstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Issues-and-impacts-on-Strata-Mngmnt-act-and-regulations-By-Ms.-Lee-Kim-Noor.pdf

Compare to the past, the strata management act has been improved tremendously and purchasers shall not be concern of purchasing a stratified property where sharing of wall, floor etc were the concern in the past.

For more information of dealing with inter-floor leakage, please click on the link below

http://dnh.com.my/dealing-with-inter-floor-leakage/

Conclusion

In summary, if you are looking for affordable landed house option, with a large built up, security feature, basic communal area and affordable maintenance fee, townhouse is an option that worth exploring  given the significant improvements in SMA2013 to array the fears of ownership in stratified development.

Stay tune to PROPCAFE™ 1
st
 townhouse review,
Ayden @ Warisan Puteri
 by IOI Properties.

Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window)
Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)
Click to share on Pocket (Opens in new window)
More
Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)
Click to print (Opens in new window)
Click to share on Telegram (Opens in new window)
Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window)

Related


PROPCAFE News : PropCafe.Net @ Another Milestone!    崭新的里程碑

PROPCAFE
 would like to say a big thank you to all our readers and followers over last 4 and half months. Without your support, PropCafe would not reach this far.

4.5
 Months,
51
 Posts ,
23.5k
 Visitors,
69.5k
 Hits &
100,000
 Views

As at 28 May 2013, PROPCAFE has reached another milestone by exceeding 100,000 views based on the World Press Statistics (see below). The monthly viewing count has increased from 7k in Feb to 34k in May. The average daily view also jumped tremendously from 400 to more than 1,200 in May with the highest daily view of 2,538. This was achieved by having an accumulated visitor of 23.5k. Again, these unexpected figures are impossible without your support!

当初我们发起这个部落格，目的只是想记录我们对某个发展计划的看法，发展商的动向，产业的长期及短期动向。若干年后，重看我们记录的点点滴滴，想必有一番滋味。我们发起这部落格的目的不在于名成立就，出书或上电台什么的。

我们7个当中，几乎没有一个是从事与房地产有关的行业，我们只是房地产投资的发烧友，半路出家的将心得与读者分享。我们当中有的从事金融业，有的是专业会计师，工程师，小商人，或是博士研究生，是来自五湖四海，各行各业的各路人马。

由于网络上鲜有双语产业评论，于是我们在部落格上，除了英文评论之外，加入中文评论的元素。

当然最理想的是可以做到中英文 50%：50% 的比例。我们当中虽有半数受过华小中文教育，但毕竟这已经是N 年前的陈年往事，N 年后要重拾笔杆用中文写稿，真是一大考验，相当吃力。
用中文书写，打字，学拼音，五笔，仓吉输入法，也得耗相当长的时间，比起用英文书写，用中文写得用上2倍的时间。

经过考量，故此我们的评论还是大部分以英文书写，我们考虑到英文的普及率较广，三大民族都看得懂，包括受华文教育的读者。因此我们的评论还是以英文为主，中文评论只能作为画龙点睛之效了。

PROPCAFE also want to share another statistics from a different source:
C Panel
(see below).

C Panel

The results are shocking and encouraging!

34.5k
 Unique Visitors ,
61.2k
 Visits,
244k
 Pages (4Pages/Visit) &
3.96mil
 Hits

Other than Malaysia, PROPCAFE is so glad to see the readership spreading across the world. Top 5 countries including Singapore, USA, Japan, Hong Kong, and China. We also have substantial viewing from Australia, UK, and Indonesia. See top 25 countries below.

Although the number is growing exponentially, PROPCAFE.NET is still new and learning. Those comments and compliments given might be just as simple as the word “Thank you” or the click of “Like” button but it means a lot to us. We enjoy what we are doing and we do hope the readers also enjoy reading our very amateur review.

Recent Collaboration

PROPCAFE was delighted to work with Property Time – Terry Value Publishing recently on Cyberjaya property coverage. The publisher had lifted one of our most popular articles
PropCafe.Net – Cyberjaya @Love it or Hate it!
 and featured it in the property section called “ Get Real” in Malay Mail (Issue : 5th April 2013)

Last two months, PROPCAFE had been approached by developers, publishers, property agencies and property related entities or bloggers. We have to apology to and disappoint many of them as we are still trying to ensure the related works are in-line with our principle, mid-term strategy and target. However, PROPCAFE is still welcome any suggestion from any interested party who wish to collaborate with us.

我们非常感激发展商，传媒对我们的欣赏及支持，甚至有发展商联系我们，付费要我们帮他们撰稿及推介他们的房产，我们只有笑而置之，无能为力。

我们希望我们的评论是中立的，是从投资者的角度去分析，不想因为受了某些好处，而左右我们对某个发展计划的看法。我们不是效仿古人范仲淹的 “不为五斗米而折腰”，而谢绝稿费和广告费，
我们只是志在于，可以与读者分享我们中立的看法，谨此希望各路人马见谅。

古人有云，“贫者因书而富，富者因书而贵”， 古时候人们只能从书本上学习咨询，书也是唯一学习的管道，随着现在的科技发达，许多讯息可以通过各个管道，尤其是网路上获取。我们希望我们的部落格可以让各位读者受益，希望可以做到 “贫者因 blog而富，富者因 blog 而贵” !!    blog = Propcafe.net

What is next?

PROPCAFE is in the midst of setting its strategies for the next 1.5 years and believe us, it will be more than just Property Articles here. We are coming out a revolutional concept of business model which not just related to property but also living lifestyle. PROPCAFE believes this model certainly will excite many of the property enthusiats out there. Finger crossed, it will happen one day!

In addition, PROPCAFE encourages all property “crazy” like us to share their view and post in the PROPCAFE as a guest editor. We are sure there are many humble and successful property gurus out there! So, please do let us know if you are interested especially for those who have strong interest to write in Chinese and Bahasa Malaysia! Hopefully, one day PROPCAFE can achieve its aim to be the first trilligual property review platform in Malaysia!

PROPCAFE will always hold a key principle of sharing independent property review with or without the commercial deals in future. We will not be here to write a sales pitch for developers but will continue to share more critical information (good and bad) so that ownstayers or investors can make an informed decision. Of course, sometimes, we as a normal human being, have our own favourite projects or hate lists. We assure you that we will give you both. In fact, PROPCAFE’s editors have clashed and disagreed on the view of certain projects uncountable times. But, we agree to disagree and we certainly treat it as the fun part of Property “TCSS”. From Love Hate Passion to Buy Sell Rent – Home is my Family!

Thanks again for those who have been supporting us! You guys are awesome!

Cheers and God bless!

Yours Sincerely,

PROPCAFE Editors (Yes, 7 of us!)

Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window)
Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)
Click to share on Pocket (Opens in new window)
More
Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)
Click to print (Opens in new window)
Click to share on Telegram (Opens in new window)
Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window)

Related


PROPCAFE News : PropCafe.Net is on facebook @ www.facebook.com/propcafe.net

Greeting to all!

We are glad to announce that PropCafe.Net is officially on facebook now!

PropCafe.Net official facebook page address is @
http://facebook.com/propcafe.net

Please do click the “Like” button on PropCafe.Net facebook page to follow us.

You can visit PropCafe.Net’s facebook page now by clicking
here
.

Just in case if you are not aware that PropCafe.Net also has a mini forum for discussion.

It is also a common platform for new project information sharing.

Please do visit PropCafe.Net’s forum at
forum.PropCafe.net
 and join us as our “live” forum-er to share your views of any other projects that you reckon is interesting or perhaps any projects that we might have had missed out.

You too can be a keyboard hero!

Please visit the forum now by just clicking
here
.

Thank you Terima kasih ?? ????? merci ??????????? ?????

Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window)
Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)
Click to share on Pocket (Opens in new window)
More
Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)
Click to print (Opens in new window)
Click to share on Telegram (Opens in new window)
Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window)

Related


PROPCAFE News : 75% Avista Warisan Puteri Snapped During Official Launching

Official Lauching of Double Storey Terrace – Avista at Warisan Puteri Sepang

Avista Warisan Puteri, the latest residential development in the
Warisan Puteri
, was launched last Sunday 18 Sept 2016. More than 300 guests were attended the official launching. According to developer, during the launch event,
o
ver 75%
 of the double storey Avista units were booked
 and were priced from
RM663,344.

Developed by IOI Properties, Avista comprises 182 units of freehold 2-storey terrace houses with built-up spaces from 2,277 sq ft. Every unit features a lot size of 22′ x 75′ and comes with 4 + 1 bedrooms. The development is at 75% advanced stage of construction and is expected to be completed this December.

Avista Warisan Puteri comes with a single entry and exit point to their neighbourhood, guardhouse and perimeter fencing to enhance the neighborhood security.

In addition, Warisan Puteri is situated next developing Bandar Baru Salak Tinggi where lot of development has been taking place recently.  Warisan Puteri is connected by a network of highways such as the Putrajaya-Cyberjaya Expressway and the Maju Expressway (“MEX”). On top of that, an upcoming interchange at ELITE highway will further enhance the connectivity.

The accessibility enable Avista Warisan Puteri connected to various amenities –  the Xiamen University situated 1.5 kilometres away and the KLIA Transit Express Rail Link (ERL) located 2 kilometres away.  The Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KUA) and Kuala Lumpur International Airport 2 (KLIA 2) are also not far away.

Avista Warisan Puteri home show unit comes with the 11 ft high ceiling at the living and dining rooms, which provides more natural lighting ,ventilation and sense of spaciousness. One of the most noticeable design of Avista Warisan Puteri is the towering 25 ft high family hall which allows the flexibility to utilize the air space to create a mezzanine floor for a study or play area depending on your creativity.

For package wise, currently Avista Warisan Puteri is offered together with IOI Current Promotion “Buy Now Pay Later” enables customers to defer their payment for up to 9 months and this promotion ends on 8 November 2016.

For more info on Avista Warisan Puteri , please visit
www.ioiproperties.eom.my/Avista.

To know more details on Warisan Puteri, don’t miss the detailed township review of Warisan Puteri by PROPCAFE – go to
https://propcafe.net/warisan-puteri/

Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window)
Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)
Click to share on Pocket (Opens in new window)
More
Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)
Click to print (Opens in new window)
Click to share on Telegram (Opens in new window)
Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window)

Related


PROPCAFE Property News : Hampton Damansara @ Country Height Damansara By Mayland

PROPCAFE visited Hampton Damansara sales office yesterday. Hampton Damansara? Not many discuss about it as many do not know where is it! Some say it is too exclusive as the location of Country Height Damansara is not for everyone, and in fact it is not for every rich man. It is once called for Uber Rich. Now, It is good to see that great location no longer only for
#
Uber
 Rich, now we have
#
grab
 rich,
 !

This project Hampton Damansara (the only highrise service apartment) here give investors and buyers a chance to own a piece of it especially to those love forest and exclusive location (some say more private).

One of the PROPCAFE founders now only buy properties at both sides of LDP, and once he said
“it won’t go very wrong if you stick with it and pick the value buys along this route”
.
 PROPCAFE may do a review soon on this project, stay tuned and subsribe to us to be the first one to get the review.

Here we give you some key information for your reference.

Hampton Damansara By Mayland

Freehold, 3.2 Acres, 2 Blocks, Total 700 units (hearsay, half of it i.e. one block will be used for service suites managed by hospitality company)

Bedroom: 2+1 (915/924sf); 3+1 (1351sf); 4+1 (Dual Key limited units)

Facing: Forest of Country Heights Damansara or LDP Highway

Petaling Jaya area (but KL Address :))

Facilities: Too many to say but key highlight – In-Door Golf & Aqua Gym

What can you expect on common area? Mayland usual GRAND LOBBY and GOLD/POSH setup in common area.

What is in the unit? Emm..in fact “A little bit too much”! Kitchen Cabinet with Hood & Hob & Built-in Oven, Fridge, Washer/Dryer, Bathroom with nice stand alone Bathtub, Plaster Ceilling (ceilling height 10.5ft), Aircond (all rooms and living), Wardrobe for MBR and Water Heater Boiler.What?!! You will not see it often in other development nowadays

Waiver for SPA and Loan Legal Loan fees

1 Car park for small sized unit and 2 car park for bigger sized unit.

Seriously, this location is superb as it is rather exclusive (close to all amenities yet not too near to it). It is right besides the toll plaza of LDP (opps noise but besides toll, it should be less than the properties besides straight road where cars are running!). There is another plot of land besides this Hampton Damansara which toward Harmoni SPK is planned for landed/lownhouses from the same developer. Current access need a bit of “exploration” but a new hospital is WIP besides the Empire City project, expected upgrade on the infrastructure to serve it. Empire City also has new accesses in their plan (well, the project is moving like snail at the moment. But we are talking about 3-4 yeas time. So, let’s see). If the mall CAN complete in the next few years then this Hampton Damansara will be the Gem and is the big boy which separate from the rest of empire city series (apartments/studio-office suites). Worth to take a look.

Photo Snap at the opposite road from the LDP to the Country Height Damansara which will be the site for Hampton Damansara.

Forest Living at PJ (but KL address!) – Freehold “Uber Rich Address” Country Heights!

Enjoy and share your view and comments later under this post after your visit there!

Stay tuned with us by following our
fb
 or subscribe to our blog to be the first one to receive the first hand news from us. Thank you and happy Hunting.

Show gallery address: 8trium, Level 3, Sri Damansara (same building with Court Mammoth/Decathlon)

Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window)
Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)
Click to share on Pocket (Opens in new window)
More
Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)
Click to print (Opens in new window)
Click to share on Telegram (Opens in new window)
Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window)

Related