5 things to look out for when it comes to potential hotspot.

The problem with hotspots is that it’s already very expensive, right? However, the not-yet-hotspot is hard to identify. So, how do we know if that certain new neighbourhood may just become a hotspot in the future? What are some of the things we look out for and perhaps buying into it earlier versus later? Property is always an investment yeah.

We could also ask some prominent property speakers but even their answer must be treated objectively. Thus, instead of just asking for an answer, how about we look at a few things that we can research and review in order to at least know what happens before a non-spot becomes a ‘warm-spot’ and when the whole world knows about it, then it becomes a hotspot. Property investment do take some time but it’s worth all the effort and the time. In no particular order:

#1 –
Many prominent developers
 are also buying land within the same area. The prices they are paying are also showing a rising trend. Thinking objectively, if all these developers do not believe in that new area, they would not all buy land parcels in the area. So, the next question is this. What if all the developers were wrong? Their assessments were all wrong and they have wasted many millions or even tens of millions to buy that piece of land? YES, there is a chance all the developers got it wrong but when we look at past records, I think the chances of this should be pretty slim. How to know this?
Buy maps from Ho Chin Soon’s office to know more.
 Alternatively, drive around the area to know more.

#2 –
Public transport stations, linked is better.
Regardless of how we love to drive, public transport will be the norm in the future. In many advanced cities of the world, they either make the price of cars so expensive or the toll for going into the city centre so high and when we park our cars, the parking rates are outrageous to say the least. The closer the home is to the LRT / MRT / KTM and even BRT, the better it will be.

Beyond just higher cost of driving, when jams worsen further, it will also force a change in action and thus a better pricing for connected areas versus areas where people must drive or GRAB. Oh yeah, some parking rates in the city centre (Kuala Lumpur) today are easily RM25 per day today. It could only go higher. As for those empty land parcels being used for car parks and we have to pay just RM7 – RM10 per day? Those will soon be occupied by another high-rise property.

#3 – Interchanges to expressways.
Developers who build interchanges to expressways will help to push up the premium of the property development. This is because for many developments, the expressway may be right next to it but without a direct connection, it will take ‘forever’ to reach it. A colleague once told me that just getting out from her high-rise project into the main road will take her 40 minutes every morning. This is why many times, that connection may take many millions to build but the premium for the whole development will be many tens of millions more…

#4 –
Jobs, Jobs, Jobs.
Within a radius of 10km, there should be industries or even office towers. We can easily do a rough calculation of the potential number of people working there. If we could see some huge Multi-national (MNC) brands, this is a huge plus because it meant that professionals working there may be highly paid too. It does not matter whether these people will buy or rent. As long as we own a home nearby, it’s either capital appreciation or stable rental returns, both a plus to the owner. Yes, an international airport is going to be a huge plus point and for a very long time too!

#5 –
Education.
That SRJKC will help tremendously. There are over 500,000 students enrolled into a SRJKC all over Malaysia as at 2018. Yes, for those with teenage kids, a university with the course they love is usually a huge plus. Kids may not love to be near to their parents but parents would love to be near to their children. So, they may buy a unit nearby for their kids to stay and for them to have an eye on them too.

Families with school-going children will be willing to pay a slight premium for these homes too. It’s good to have a POTENTIAL new university but it’s better to trust such news only when we see the foundation of the university being built. By the way, a branded private university will be better than an unknown private university yeah. So, never think everything is the same.

Beyond just these 5, we should note that hotspots to some may not actually fulfil all our personal reasons to love the place. Thus it’s more important to look at all spots objectively, identify the potential ones and buy when prices are still not yet fully up. When many have yet to know about it, that’s when gems are found. When gems are found, that’s when the capital appreciation happens. Of course, there are a lot of other reasons too but these 5 would make any potential area be a potential hotspot in the future. Happy finding your own awesome new property.

written on 1st June 2018. Edited on 25th Jan 2020.

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Property Hunter Convention in Kota Kinabalu – Speakers are awesome

Search for more

Frankly, if there are any property fairs which are just a collection of booths and absolutely nothing else, it may not be productive to drop by. The reason is because a few of these are happening every month. Just go to your local hypermarket and there would also be a few developers setting up their booths every weekend if not everyday. That’s why I think all these organisers must really do more. Beyond just the sales people, please invite some prominent speakers who is going to share more and well, we can ask them lots of tough questions too. Win-Win for visitors right. Get to ask tough questions and get to seewhat’savailable in the property market; benchmarking could bedone instantly. There’s one in a couple of months which I think would be worth our time to drop by. It is in Kota Kinabalu @ The Magellan Sutera Resort. It is organised by East Malaysia’s leading property site,
propertyhunter.com.my
 They have a lot of listings too if you are searching for properties to buy. In fact they publish an
informative magazine every month as well. Read it here.

Convention Details as below:

These are the current speakers who will be speaking and I can safely say that I have learnt a lot of tips from each and everyone of them thus far. Always note that regardless of the market, it is very important for us to keep ourselves updated with the latest happenings in the market. Some of these speakers are based in more advanced property markets than us and they travel the world which meant an added perspective to what they have to share. The current lineup as follows:

Steve Melhuish

Steve is an award-winning entrepreneur who has built high-growth companies in Asia and Europe over the last 25 years. Steve co-founded PropertyGuru in 2007 in answer to his personal frustrations in finding a new home. Until 2016, he led and grew the business, with co-founder Jani, into Southeast Asia’s leading online property group. Prior to PropertyGuru, Steve was the CEO of an Asian social network firm. Previously, he served as an advisor to digital media, venture capital and start-up companies in Asia and Europe including Skype, AOL, Virgin Media, Vodafone, Extreme Media, iPass and Ariadne Capital. Steve also led global teams and a US$500 million turnover business unit for Cable & Wireless. In 2007, Steve was awarded the ‘Spirit of Enterprise Award’ in recognition of his contributions to entrepreneurship in Singapore. He has also helped PropertyGuru secure many industry awards including Hitwise #1, CNBC World’s Best Property Portal, SVCA Best Performing VC/PE-Backed Firm, SiTF Best E-Enterprise, Marketing Magazine Mob-Ex Awards and Influential Brands® Top Brand For Online Property Search In Asia.

Georg Chmiel

Georg Chmiel is the Chairman at Juwai and iCar Asia Ltd. Also, he was the Chief Financial Officer and Director of iflix International. Previously as the Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer of the iProperty Group (ASX listed company), Georg was responsible for the operation of the Group’s business. Georg was also Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of LJ Hooker with 700 offices across 9 countries providing residential and commercial real estate as well as finance services and member of the LJ Hooker Board of Directors. Earlier, Georg held the position of Chief Financial Officer and General Manager International at REA Group Ltd (ASX: REA) for almost six years.

Chris Tan

A lawyer by trade, he is the founder of Chur Associates, a boutique legal service provider. He was elected to serve the Malaysian Chapter of FIABCI (International Real Estate Federation) for two terms from 2006 to 2010 and was appointed to the Board of Directors of FIABCI International to preside over the portfolio of Young Members aged 35 and below for the term 2009/2010.

Faizul Ridzuan

CEO of FAR Capital, and bestselling author of “WTF? 23 Properties by 30”. With just RM2,000 in his bank account, he eschewed the mantra of “location, location, location” and took the path less taken in the subsidiary market, where he made his ringgit stretch as far as it could.

Siva Shanker

Mr. Siva Shanker is a Registered Estate Agent with the Board of Valuers, Appraisers & Estate Agents Malaysia. He has more than 30 years of experience in the property industry, having worked in both large international property consultancies as well as small local outfits. After several senior roles in large multinational property consultancies, Siva formed his own Real Estate firm, Linear Estates. Linear Estates was in operations from 2004 to 2010 and merged with PPC International Sdn. Bhd. In 2011, Siva then came on board as the CEO- Agency. Siva has been an active member of Malaysian Institute of Estate Agents for many years and was President for the Year 2013/2015. In recognition of his excellent services to the industry, Siva was awarded the Estate Agent of the Year 2014 award by the Board of Valuers, Appraiser & Estate Agents Malaysia.

Miichael Yeoh

He has over 20 years of experience in the property, mortgage and investment industry. Currently, he is the CEO and Founder of GM Training Academy PLT, he has helped thousands of loan applications by providing comprehensive mortgage advice, recommendations and solutions. He has published 2 books under his name; “Think Like a Banker, Act Like a Player” and “Property Investment, Size Up Your Return with Bank, Law and Tax”.

Dr. Daniel Gambero

He is the CEO and co-founder of strategic marketing consultancy firm, REI Group of Companies. He centres his speeches on rightness of property investment based on economic drivers’ performances, current and future market values, location, upcoming infrastructures and their impact on the market trend.

To the marketing managers from developers, this is really worth a serious consideration.  Here are more details:
propertyhunter.com.my/convention

If you mention that you are calling because you saw the message in kopiandproperty.com, you will get free cup of coffee during the event. 🙂  I will do my best to free up my schedule and drop by the convention as well.  It’s just a flight away. Oh yeah, Kota Kinabalu is a great place to visit as well, as a tourist. From the best seafoods to the local fare and even world-class resorts and beaches and more, well, that’s Kota Kinabalu for you. See you there.

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Press Release: Over RM80 million property sales took place at Property Hunter Expo

Property Hunter, East Malaysia’s leading property portal kicked off their first event of the year with East Malaysia’s Largest Property Expo, the PH Expo 2022 on Thursday, 22 April 2022, at the Sabah International Convention Centre(SICC).

Large Crowd Shows Revival Of Post-Pandemic Property Market Sentiment

The 3-day event marked Property Hunter’s first expo after two years of the Covid-19 pandemic. The event received a total crowd of over 8,000 visitors.

The launching of Bay Suites Sustainable Homes at PH Expo by Datuk Seri Panglima Masidi Manjun.

“After 2 years of pandemic, it’s very encouraging to see people coming out to buy their dream homes. The crowd turnout was beyond our (as well as exhibitors’) expectations. People were very keen to upgrade their homes and learn about new investment products in the market,” expressed Victor Yong, Director of Property Hunter.

The event showcased over 80 new projects from across Malaysia all under one roof. It includes some of the best products for homebuyers and property investors. The event also hosted a number of property-related seminars featuring renowned property industry experts.

Visitors surveying Parklane City

Developers from Peninsular Malaysia were excited to see the crowd at the expo and were impressed by the response. Present at the event include projects from Kuala Lumpur, Selangor, Johor and Penang.

Enthusiastic Homebuyers Shows A Growth In Sales

The event saw over RM80 million in sales and close to 180 units of properties sold in just three days, with Riveria Villas and Taman Jelita being two of the developments that were fully sold during the event.

Judging by the turnout and the positive response from the visitors, it is evident that people are eager to buy homes following the pandemic.

SHAREDA: Government and private sector collaboration crucial to recovery

SHAREDA is a supporting partner to Property Hunter Expo 2022. Its President Datuk Chua Soon Ping says “It is encouraging to see the buyers enthusiastic response during the event. The public sentiment towards post-pandemic recovery and real estate investment is clearly a positive one.”

He commented that as the market is opening up, the government and private sector need to work out an immediate plan to quantum leap the economic recovery.

According to the Sabah State Government release, the lowering of foreign ownership threshold from RM1million to RM600,000 with effect from 1 April 2022, as well as  to include commercial suites and properties under construction are moves well received by SHAREDA. In addition to that, the removal of clause 6.3 which requires the prior approval by Pejabat Hasil Bumi would positively facilitate the sale of property to foreigners.

“The introduction of our own Sabah-MM2H scheme would further encourage more investment into Sabah when the Asian markets are fully open by next year. By then, developers and state government agencies should join forces to promote Sabah in overseas markets such as Hong Kong, Singapore, Korea and China” says Datuk Chua.

Property Hunter is a leading property portal in East Malaysia where users can buy, rent or sell property on the website. For more information on the latest events and information, please visit:
https://www.propertyhunter.com.my/
 or follow
PropertyHunter.com.my
 on Facebook.

– End –

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Property Hunter’s co-founder stepping down

Michael Hiew is good friend to kopiandproperty.com and me. He works very hard and I think this made him put on weight (no time to exercise mah) This person helped to give exposure to kopiandproperty.com when it was just starting. To him, collaboration was the key and not competition. I think this was the reason why
Property Hunter
 grew to the stage it is today. Thank you Michael. Free coffee for you every time we meet. Gambate in your new venture.

Press Release: Property Hunter Bids Farewell to Co-Founder Michael Hiew

Michael Hiew, the co-founder of Property Hunter will be stepping down and leaving the company. Michael who has served as the company director since 2012 made the public announcement today after an internal briefing with his team here in Kota Kinabalu.

Michael will be relinquishing his role and responsibility in the company today to prepare for his migration. “My decision comes after months of reflection and deliberation with my family and management team. The time has come for me to prepare for a different phase in life, and I am glad to have the blessings of my business partners in this” says Michael.

Property Hunter was founded by Michael Hiew, Caleb Tseu and Elson Kho, together with shareholders Jack Wong and Vilson Lim in 2012 as an event organizer specialized in real estate. The group organized its first event “Property Investment & Home Expo” (PIHex) in 1Borneo Shopping Mall back in 2012, showcasing over 150 booths and concluded with over RM40 million worth of property sales during the event.

Ever since, Property Hunter expanded its event coverage to other cities in East Malaysia including Tawau, Sandakan, Kuching, Sibu and Miri, making it the largest homegrown event organizer in East Malaysia.

Today, Property Hunter is a full-fledged marketing solution provider for the real estate industry with expanded portfolio in print, online portal, mobile app as well as events. Its listing portal
http://www.PropertyHunter.com.my
 carries the highest number of sub-sale property listings in Sabah.

In a farewell statement, Michael shared that “Property Hunter is my brainchild. It gives me great pride to see its growth over the last few years and I am thrilled to be a part of its journey. Today I leave with a heavy heart, but I am confident that the new management team will be able to propel the company to a greater height.”

Caleb Tseu, expressed his gratitude towards Michael. “We are forever grateful for the contribution that Michael has done not just for this company, but for the industry. It was his bold vision to make property investment accessible to all Malaysian, including those in secondary cities,” Caleb said.

“It is sad to see Michael leaves as we have lost a good partner in our entrepreneur journey. However, we have learned from each other over the past 7 years and we wish him the very best in his future endeavors.” Said Elson Kho.

In a joint statement by shareholders Jack Wong and Vilson Lim, they said “Without Michael (Hiew), PH wouldn’t even exist. From distributing the first 30,000 copies of MyAds ourselves around KK way back in 2010, from operating a 150 sqft office with 2 staff, transforming that unknown entity to the Property Hunter of today, Michael’s footprint is all over each step of the way. But there comes a point in our respective lives that we have to make the best decisions for our families. And in Michael’s case, he has decided to leave us and moving back to Perth to pursue what he thinks is best for his family.”

“No matter how the world would change, how we decide to move forward with our own pursuit, one thing is certain: the bonds of affection, camaraderie and friendship will remain. We wish Michael all the best in his future endeavors, and we look forward to the day when our forces would reunite once again, for the good of our clients.” Jack added.

A new successor has been identified to take up Michael’s role in the company. The announcement will be made in the coming few months.

— end of press release —

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Property Industry – Revival Discussion.  How much has COVID-19 changed the world?

We are now in Conditional Movement Control Order until 9th June 2020.  How has the property market been since 8th March 2020?   What has changed and what will remain changed? What is the new norm that we are talking about? How many industries are trying to adapt to the change? How successful are they? People are still buying homes, right? Let the industry expert tell you in person about some of the actions you could still take.

A video to tell you a little more about what will be discussed during this show by so many industry specialists.

Topic:
Property Industry Roundtable: How much has COVID-19 changed the world? Let’s hear from industry experts
Date: 16/5/2020 (Saturday)
Time: 3:00pm – 5:00pm

Moderator : Mr. Leong Hong Kit

Video introduction for the event and the speakers are here:

Let’s talk about this and more during this upcoming Webinar yeah.  The panelists are as follows: (in random order)

#1-  Miichael Yeoh, CEO & Founder of GM Training Academy

#2 –Soma Sundram, CEO of Malaysian Institute of Estate Agents (MIEA)

#3 – Charles Tan, Founder of kopiandproperty.com

#4 – Chuah Huai Jie, CEO of ProSales

#5 – Jessica Jong, Mortgage Consultant of FIS

#6 – Vanda, Digital Marketing Specialist

Click here to register and we will see you on 16th May 2020 at 3pm, SHARP.

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Property Insight Prestigious Developers Award 2016

Last Friday, I was at the Prestigious Developers Awards 2016 organised by Property Insight at the Shangri-la Hotel Kuala Lumpur. When I arrived at the main ballroom, there were already lots of developers, all dressed to their best and I think the atmosphere was positive. Perhaps some of them already know that they won awards? Actually these days, selling is not as easy as previously. Thus, many developers would try to be the best in what they offer. Awards do help to project some additional prestige to that development. Buyers would definitely love to declare to their friends that they bought an award-winning project. The full list of winners as follows:

Besides just the development awards, do refer the full list of all other award winners for the night.

TOP 10 DEVELOPERS (in no particular order)

Ekovest Berhad

I&P Group Sdn Berhad

IJM Land Berhad

Mah Sing Group Berhad

Malton Berhad

Malaysian Resources Corporation Berhad

Sime Darby Property

Sunsuria Berhad

United Malayan Land Berhad

WCT Land Sdn Bhd

Developers

Best Emerging Developer – Skyworld Development Sdn Bhd

Distinctive Developer – Binastra Land Sdn Bhd

Best Affordable Housing Developer –  Syarikat Perumahan Negara Berhad (SPNB)

Best Boutique Developer – Alfranko Development Sdn Bhd

Best Township Developer – Matrix Concepts Holdings Berhad

Outstanding Developer – Northern Region – Asia Green Group

Outstanding Developer – Southern Region – BCB Berhad

Outstanding Developer – East Malaysia – Wah Mie Group

SPECIAL RECOGNITIONS

Personality Of The Year – Dato’ Ir Jauhari Hamidi

Outstanding Young Developer – Dato’ Sri Dr Vincent Tiew

Leadership Excellence Award – Dato’ Simon David Leong

Most Aspiring Personality – Dato’ Colin Tan

Happy browsing the projects associated with these winners and choosing the ones best suited to what we intend to buy. Award winners are not automatic successful buys. Evaluate what we buy as usual but we can add some additional points since these developers are award winners. I would not recommend anyone to just buy every award winning project. Cheers.

written on 5 Apr 2016

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New property? Here are important inspection tips.

By the way, that new property deserves a close inspection. Do not only find out later because it will be very troublesome, especially if you are already staying or a tenant is already renting. I wrote this article some time back.
The To-Do list for inspecting your new home (click to read)
 An experienced
real estate negotiator (click here to know him)
 read it and added a few more important points. I do think all are logical and easy to follow tips. Please do read what he suggested and take actions yeah.

#1 KEYs are key

First thing when we enter the house, use all the keys given to us by the developer. Please check the set of keys they gave you. The reason is because during a recent key collection, I noticed developers are getting sloppy and usually 1 out of 3 sets of keys are not usable. (It may not be a major issue but hey, they are supposed to provide USABLE keys!)

#2 Water is a serious issue

Turn on the taps and let the water run. For the sink and the toilets and bathrooms. Try and hear any weird noise(s). Let the water run to check leaks on sinks and check the floor level in bathroom. If the water doesn’t flow fast enough (10 min of constant water), then that’s a defect. (nobody wants to wait 10 minutes after shower for the water to drain properly)

#3 Electric is next on the checking list.

Electric point is a bit hard if there are only light points but no lights. At the least, bring a phone charger and just try and charge using all the available 3 point plug first. Those are the most important ones as any renovation would need to use these points.

#4 – Slanting floor is common too.
(but not for all areas)

Floor wise, bring a water bottle filled with water. Put it on the floor and see if it rolls. If it rolls fast, u know it’s slanting. Of course certain area like kitchen or even shower room might be purposely designed as such for water running purposes. Of course, the living room area should not have a slanting floor yeah.

#5 – Gap in tiles

Tile gaps are usually 2mm indoors n 3mm outdoors. Note down the model and the supplier of the tile for easy future replacement. If it’s timber vinyl, developer nowadays will be giving a thicker 4-6mm ones. Just check for gaps and and floating ones or not. Floating is usually caused by over heating n you know you will need to do tinting for that area. Timber floors are sensitive to heat especially in Malaysia.

#6 – Yards are supposed to hold water

Test the wet area too if you have one. The yard is suppose to handle water n soaks. So test the water point, let it run, see any complains from the bottom unit if you are buying a condo.If landed, check ur water tank area. Usually above the stairs. Many units have water leakage issue as developer did not put enough water proofing. Hence you may be able to see dry marks or fungus marks. For fungus marks, you can usually see with your eyes. Or you may be able to feel wet patches and certain cases powdery ones too.

So, home sweet home guys
 the rest Charles did a good tip guide

— end of tips from Leon. —

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Property investment – My A.I. is better than your A.I.

A new acquaintance told me during a lunch many weeks back that with artificial intelligence (A.I.), the property buying decision no longer needs to be influenced by real estate negotiators. He’s also a real estate negotiator (REN) himself. I told him that if the RENs are only opening doors with the owners’ keys and then wait for buyers’ decision, then it’s definitely a doomsday for them, with or without A.I.

However, if the REN is able to add value to the buyer by providing more relevant information and even value-added solutions, then these RENs would continue to prosper and well earn their millions year after year. Today, I read this article and it sort of changed my perspective a little.
Article in USAtoday.com: IBM shows off an artificial intelligence that can debate a human and change some minds.
 In brief, this IBM computer squared off against two human debaters on some topics and eventhough both the human debaters won, the IBM computer managed to change the minds of people with their ‘knowledge enrichment.’

What happened during the debate is that the computer debater used IBM Cloud to scan billions of sentences to generate a coherent and persuasive position on the various topics. The machine then listens to its opponent’s speech and generates what IBM claims is a spontaneous compelling rebuttal, exhibiting a type of argumentation that until recently was simply out of reach for the machines.
(Yes, it sounds like a human but billions of sentences is not possible for any human. The only reason why a human could beat it currently is because the computer still could not hold its own on “listening comprehension or constructing a speech that can either be spoken or written or understanding the nuances of claims, meaning what supports a proposition or what may be against a proposition.” Please note that this debater is already able to rebut the human debaters points with points it found during its scanning!)

Some humour on what may happen:

Prospective buyer:  Will there be jams around this area? (At the same time opens his A.I. app downloaded for free from online)

REN: Do not worry, the only jam is on the main road and is between 7am to 8am. After that, the road clears up.

Prospective buyer’s A.I. App: (using sound of a famous American actress): That’s not entirely true. Within the past 7 days, the median duration for jams on the main road is 78 minutes. This is expected to last until 31st July as per announced by XXXX construction company in their website on the road maintenance. After scanning billions of sentences however, this XXXX construction company has been fined 3 times this year and 32 times from the day it started its business. I will conclude that their promise of completion of roadworks by 31st July is 97 percent likely to be inaccurate. So the jam will continue even longer…

REN: I hope you make your decision fast because the potential buyer in the morning has indicated his interest. (At the same time, opened his A.I. app and scanned the name card of the potential client into the app)

Prospective buyer’s A.I. app: At approximately 845am today, you (REN) wrote in your FB that you are angry because you woke up late and your potential buyer cancelled viewing last minute. As it is now 1030am, I will conclude that the potential buyer in the morning DID NOT VIEW and that you are lying. I have also recorded this conversation to be used as an evidence if my owner wants to take actions against you. From your FB, I have compared information and I know that your REN number is xxxxxx.

REN’s A.I. app: I have checked the background of this potential customer. Based on his position title and company name as well scanning through billions of data, his salary is unlikely to be sufficient to get his mortgage application to be approved by 12 of the local banks. However, after scanning his FB account, his wife is someone called XXXXXX and she is a famous blogger who wrote in one of her articles last year that she expects to earn RM100,000 due to the popularity of her blog.From available information online, her claims can be believed because the traffic to her blog is 100,000 views per day.

REN: Are you buying this ON YOUR OWN or with YOUR WIFE?

Prospective buyer:  I am buying alone…   (END OF THE DEAL! Haha)

Who’s A.I. app is better?!  Enough of humour but always remember that the best RENs would rely on technology to be even more resourceful. As for how far could A.I. go, how about watching some old movies? From the potential world war in The Terminator series to A.I. vs humans in I.Robot or even that emotional yet scary at the same time movie called A.I.? Yes, in this movie, the humans become extinct but A.I.s continue to evolve… It’s may not be that far-fetched anymore yeah. Happy investing and if anyone found any awesome free A.I. apps, let me know yeah.

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written on 19 June 2018

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Property investing in 2019? Get inspired first. :)

Like many people, I love to read something positive and inspiring to start my 2019. Here’s a compilation of inspiring quotes for property investments from famous people, except the last one. (That’s mine)

“Landlords grow rich in their sleep without working, risking or economising.”  by John Stuart Mill, English philosopher and economist
(Okay, property prices do not rise every day or every week or even every year but as soon as we stretch it over a longer period of time, the sum is usually positive)

“Ninety percent of all millionaires become so through owning real estate. More money has been made in real estate than in all industrial investments combined. The wise young man or wage earner of today invests his money in real estate.”  by Andrew Carnegie – Scottish businessman and philanthropist
(Again, with the current times, an internet start-up may earn more money and faster but most start-ups fail within first 12 months. Anyone has another ‘GOOGLE’ idea?)

“I made a tremendous amount of money on real estate. I’ll take real estate rather than go to Wall Street and get 2.8 percent. Forget about it.”  by Ivanka Trump
(Yes… President Trump related…  Her message is not aimed at Warren Buffett definitely…)

“Now, one thing I tell everyone is learn about real estate. Repeat after me: real estate provides the highest returns, the greatest values and the least risk. ”   by Armstrong Williams
 (Very bold claim indeed but as long as we are not entering property investment to speculate, then what he said is very true indeed)

“It’s tangible, it’s solid, it’s beautiful. It’s artistic, from my standpoint, and I just love real estate.”    by Donald Trump
(He meant we can touch it, we would usually love the design to buy it too.)

“In any market, in any country, there are developers who make money. So I say all of this doom and gloom, but there will always be people who make money, because people always want homes.”  by Sarah Beeny
(Super true. Despite market transactions slowing down since end 2012 in Malaysia, I continue to see developers showing profits in their reporting to BURSA…)

“Owning a home is a keystone of wealth… both financial affluence and emotional security”.   by Suze Orman
(Ever thought of having no roof over our heads when we retire? Or the need to pay rental every month when we no longer have any income coming in every month? She’s right!)

Once your property investment is successful, everyone said they should have followed you.   by charles tan.
(This has happened many times. Bought into a newer area in Penang, people asked why not buy the popular areas? Few years later when I sold at a good profit, they said, ‘I should have followed you.”   Bought only high-rise units thus far in my life, people asked, why not buy landed, it’s more secure and higher appreciation.  After I sold my high-rise in Kelana Jaya for more than double the price, they said, “Wah, high-rise also can rise so high?” I rest my case…)

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written on 4th Jan 2019

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Property Investment 101: 10 Reasons to start the property investment journey

Learning from someone who has invested as a working professional since 2002

Google for reasons for property investment and you will an unlimited number of articles about this topic. After having invested into property for the last 18 years or so and having properties in 6 cities / towns in Malaysia, here are 10 reasons I think are important for property investment. All the WHYs…

Let’s not kid ourselves. There are a lot of reasons to buy or not to buy a property. In fact depending on which side we are in, we could debate until the fish can fly and we will still be debating. For those who seriously are starting to believe, here’s one article for you. “10 reasons why we should buy a property.” For those who prefers to rent, feel free to google for why renting is better than buying too. Hundreds of thousands of articles I think. Happy reading to both sides yeah. Here are the 10 reasons according to me.

#1 – It’s safe and real.

Shelter is the first thing everyone needs based on
Maslow’s hierarchy of needs.
 In brief, this is the foundation before we start thinking of other things. Imagine getting a job within Greater KL (Selangor too) but we have no place to stay?  Yes, it’s true, we do NOT need to BUY because we can rent too. Well, someone has to buy that property to rent to people who love to rent, no?

#2 -It’s safer and easier.

View a home, like it. View the surrounding amenities, like it. Check google map for the duration of drive to office every morning, like it. With these three likes, we have already done the minimum due diligence if we are buying a home for own-stay. Of course, then look at the price. Try doing the same with stocks? Understand the business… maybe. Get to know the management team… maybe. Know who their competitors are, know the industry and more… wah, not easy. It’s not that easy to invest into a stock yeah… Buying one is easy, not investing into a good one.

#3 – Leverage is possible.

Invest RM50,000 into the stock market and when it rises by 10 percent, we gained 10 percent. Invest RM50,000 into the property market (10% downpayment) and even if it gains just 5%, that’s RM500,000 x 5% up which is RM25,000. Our total investment was RM50,000. Return on Investment is thus RM25,000 which is 50%. The reason is because we usually buy a home with a loan and usually it’s with 90% home loan. Sounds unreal, just like a scam…

#4 – FORCED to save.

In a good way, anyway. We buy an affordable place to stay as a start. A RM200,000 home with just a 2% increase in price every year will be RM500,000 30 years later. 2% is like inflation rate. Someone would exclaim that RM500,000 30 years later is NOT MUCH! It’s true, RM500,000 30 years later may not mean much but how else could we save RM500,000 if not forced through buying a property? By the way, the property price increase has been 6.7% on average for the periods of 1990 – 2016 for Malaysia.
Here’s that earlier article.

#5 – It does not suddenly lose half of its value overnight.

Okay, except for that time when it dropped by double digits in 1998. As for losing the investment value suddenly, there are many other types of investments which would lose that. If you are around my age, you would remember a company called Enron. The stock price was over US$90 and in a few months dropped to less than US$1 and in the end, worth nearly nothing. Gold fluctuations? Oil fluctuations? It’s hard to control them but with a property, as long as we did not buy the wrong one and we could wait, the trend is always moving upwards.

#6 – Demand will always be around.

(I meant for Malaysia).  Looking at the demographics, Malaysia has a median age of 29. This is as safe as we can get. Any lower and Malaysians may not have enough demand since not that many Malaysians have worked and saved enough yet. At 29, that’s pretty okay! Graduated at 23, worked for 6 years, saved RM8,000 per year and that’s already RM50,000 for a first property… Plus the fact that people at 30 may have just gotten married and is now looking for an upgrade property followed by another one a few years later when a baby comes.

#7 – Everyone’s on your side.

Developers would not want prices to fall. Block 1 at RM400,000 and Block B at RM350,000? I think the developer would need security guards to protect them… Banks would not want prices to fall. They lent to us based on a value of RM400,000.  A year later, the price falls to RM350,000? I think the banks will be sweating because if something happens, they will immediately lose RM50,000 even if they were to auction our property…. The government will not want prices to fall. They prefer prices to stay almost the same so that voters will be happy that they could buy.

#8 – It’s the least we could give to our kids?

Let’s not think about giving them money because in future, that money we give them will only be enough for them to buy a home VERY far from us or VERY SMALL if it’s nearer. However, if we give them a property, they will thank us for thinking well ahead before they even need to think about property. Plus, if we suddenly need money for their studies, we could also sell that property too. Saving half a million ringgit for their studies is super hard. Slowly paying for a half a million ringgit property is much easier.

#9 – Retiring better if not earlier.

Without an income when we retire, do we really want to worry about rental if we did not own a property by then? If we bought a property every 10 years, we should have 3 properties when we retire at 65. Selling one is more than enough to last us longer than what the average Malaysians have in their EPF account. EPF says the minimum savings one should have would be RM228,000 in their account when they retire. At the moment, majority of Malaysians are nowhere near this number.

#10 – When we get lucky in property, it’s super huge.

Our RM50,000 worth of stocks may increase 3 times (super low probability) and we suddenly have an extra RM150,000 to spend. However, if we used the same RM50,000 for a 10% downpayment and our RM500,000 property tripled, that’s RM1,500,000 of extra money. (again super low probability but with time…) Think Sunway in the beginning when everyone thinks of it as a mining land and today… Think Puchong then… and today.

Last but not least

If we google for ‘reasons to invest in properties,’ there will be never ending articles about it. Don’t worry. If we google for ‘why NOT to buy a property,’ there are just as many articles. So, the world is fair and everyone has their own say. From my understanding, no one has actually gone bankrupt simply because they did not buy a property yeah. It’s usually due to some other reasons.

Haha. If we dive deeper into the types of properties to buy, then we have even MORE debates; high-rise versus landed, popular hotspots versus emerging new spots and more. Renting to students or to office professionals. Perhaps that’s for another article. Till then, happy deciding.

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first written on 6th Oct 2018, edited 9th Dec 2019, reedited 3rd May 2021 and now reedited 5th March 2023.

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Property Investment 101: 3 Learnings from a landlord.

3 Must-Do Actions for future first-time home buyer. (Advice from the landlord, yeah that’s me)

One Fine Happy Day, my tenant called me

My tenant called me one day and said, “Charles, I intend to move out in 2 months time. I have bought a new place.” For 4 years, the tenant (a Malaysian Indian engineer) was diligently paying his rental for my 730 sq ft apartment. He was driving a Proton Iswara though he is already a senior engineer in a multinational company. He was telling me that he will stop renting because he is buying a landed property from the secondary market. His new home is easily 2.5 times bigger than the apartment he is renting. Probably 2.5 times the price of the apartment he’s renting too.

I did share with him why property investment is compulsory
(read here if you like to know too)

Once, during one of the conversations with my tenant, I also shared with him why buying a property is always compulsory. His rental is lost forever. I know, it’s like me telling the tenant that he should stop renting from me and getting a place of his own right? Haha. It’s okay, I prefer all my tenants to also benefit from conversations with me and if they accept my point of view, they can start making plans to get a place of their own. Nope, I did not ask him to drive an Iswara yeah. That was his choice. Haha. How much was an Iswara then? It was around RM35,000 I think. Something along the price of a base model Proton Saga today.

Source: carlist.my

3 Must-Do Actions for future first-time home buyer

#1 Always have a PLAN even when we are renting from a landlord.

I be honest even as a homeowner. By renting, you are only making the landlord rich slowly, over the years. All the money you ‘lost’ since rental is a cost will add into the ‘win’ for the landlord via the principal payments even if the home is still under mortgage.

Many years later, the wealth of the homeowner has increased by leaps and bounds and if we did not make plans to own a home, then a home will be out of bounds. Have a plan. Know where you intend to buy. Know how much you need to save. Always keep yourself updated on the listings of available homes. Who knows you may chance upon a good deal some day? STICK to the PLAN…

#2 After having a plan, then ACTION becomes key.

Save money for downpayment for a home even as we pay rental. Save on rental by renting a place (or even a room) which is cheaper than what you could afford. Then, you can save money even as you rent. Drive a cheaper car (why not a second-hand car, no need to feel loss of image lah) than you can afford so that you also save money. Basic idea is simple, reduce expenses, increase savings and be ready!

We can spend RM500 for a small room or we could spend RM1,500 for the whole unit. This is savings of RM1,000 per month or RM12,000 per year.

We can spend RM7 for a meal or we could spend RM20 for a meal set in a nice air-conditioned cafe. That’s RM13 savings per meal or RM39 per day or RM14,235 per year.

We can spend RM800 per month for a new Japanese branded Segment B car paid over 9 years or we can get a new Proton Saga for RM450 per month. RM650 savings per month is RM4,200 per year!

Just doing these three things, we could have easily saved RM30,000 per year. Now, do you wonder where your money went to?

#3 Remember, AGE is an advantage for first-time home buyer

The earlier one buys a property, the longer the repayment period could be stretched to. It could be up to 35 years or up to 70 years old, whichever comes earlier. This is why as we got older, the monthly repayment may get higher. This is also why many people who’s over 40 tells us that it’s so hard to buy a decent property!

One more important thing. After we retire, there may NOT be a need to own a home. Just sell that home and rent instead. The remaining amount, use it to travel. The world is such a huge place to visit. Lots to explore, lots to see, lots to try. This is if we truly believe there is no need to own a property. The right time is after retirement, not before.

Before that day comes, just hedge against inflation by buying a RM500,000 property. 30 years later, this same RM500,000 property may be priced at RM1,000,000 but that’s just because value of money has gone down… due to inflation.

Conclusion

Still renting? Think about it after reading this article yeah. As a landlord, I also hope for the best for you; first-time home buyer. If my tenant chose to continue renting, I will continue accepting the rental. However, I will always share with my tenants about the advantages of owning a place versus renting. Cheers.

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Property Investment 101: 3 Powerful Tips from Bos Molly

Kuala Lumpur & Selangor Property Investors Club

I am a founding member of this very amazing club which I have learnt a lot and also shared my knowledge, experience to. Kuala Lumpur & Selangor Property Investors Club. Recently I attended another one of the super informative sessions only for members and one of the speakers invited is none other than someone whom I have been following for a while. She is none other than Bos Molly. Take a look below:

This is her FB page:
https://www.facebook.com/bosmollycha

Her life story unfolded within that 45 minutes of speech

She shared her story from the days when she was a top student to the days when she came to KL and tried her best to do many things at once and then to the days when she felt she had let her father down and then to days when she learnt about property investment and how she started gaining some successes and even to the story of how she had to change her Kancil car after one heavy downpour incident with a VIP customer. One word to describe her sharing in my own assessment.
WOW.

Listening to her made me realise again that when we really want to be successful, we need to learn as much as we could and then apply those learnings. Both are compulsory to do but everything starts from learning from the ones who have done it before. In her conclusion, she shared three super powerful tips for anyone thinking of starting the property investment journey. All three are MUST-DO and all three are something that hope to continue doing too.

#1 – Start Small, Grow Big

Start Small, GROW BIG

I started kopiandproperty.com in Nov 2013. In May 2014, I wrote this article.
“Property Investment? Think Big, Start Small. My view.” (don’t mind the format yeah, it’s not so nice looking yet at that time)
.  Molly has just shared this important principle using her life story. Start Small, Grow Big. Too many people wants to become rich super fast. Seriously, if it’s really so easy, why are there still poor people in this world?

Property Invesment takes time. Learning about it from experienced people. Researching for the right one. Viewing to select the best one. Waiting for all the process to complete. Continue maintaining it over the years. Nothing about the whole process of property investment is fast. However, as we start small, we will start strong and when we start strong, we can build over time and many years later, we realise that our investment has grown to become a sizeable one. Thank you Bos Molly!

#2 – Delay Gratification

Whoa, this is super hard to do. Haha. Let’s get this fact right. Bos Molly was STILL driving her Kancil when she had bought 10 properties. She is now driving a BMW. She reiterated her point. When she has money, she used the money to invest so that she has more money and she just repeated the process. By the way, she is definitely someone who could buy a much more expensive car than just that normal looking BMW which she showed on the screen.

In other words, delay gratification has helped her tremendously to boost funds for her property investments. Imagine if her money got stuck in a new car early on in her investment journey? I love this point tremendously and I wrote this just recently about how three engineers somehow managed to delay ‘rewarding themselves too early.’
Engineer: Salary so little, what to do?

#3 – The Importance of Passive Income

She told everyone present that we must improve both active income and passive income at the same time. I think this is a great reminder to anyone who’s buying a property and paying a price which is so high that the repayment is way above the potential rental. If this happens, then the property investment is no longer an investment yeah. At the same time, Bos Molly told us that she continues to work very hard so that her active income would continue to lend support to her investments. Otherwise, there’s no way that the banks would lend to her.

Many times people focus too much on investing alone but the base to everything we do is actually active income. In this case, the earnings. Perform well at work and the company will pay us more, else find another company to pay us more. If we could not find, change what we do yeah. We may not be good in what we do. I wrote a similar view in this article some time back as well:
4 Pillars for Financial Success

Young, Successful and Still Down to Earth

I admire Bos Molly because from her sharing, I could feel this is someone who’s down to earth. There were no airs of superiority like many speakers whom I have listened before. Not once did she say this sentence, “If you want to be as successful as me….” She did not tell me but I think in her own assessment, she’s a work in progress towards a goal she has set. I wish her all the best and I am very sure I would get another chance to learn from her again in the near future.  Thank you Bos Molly.

I leave you with her recent two videos which I found to be meaningful, especially to the younger ones. Think deeper when you watch these videos.

Message: When Opportunities Come, Grab it and do it wholeheartedly!

Message: Find opportunities with your capabilities. Make it work.

Here’s Bos Molly’s FB again. Follow her for continuous stream of interesting and meaningful videos:
https://www.facebook.com/bosmollycha

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Property Investment 101: 4 reasons I rent out my units fully furnished

Would you like to rent out your unit fully furnished?

Every time people asked me about buying a unit and renting it out, I will ask them many questions. Most of the time, they did not know that renting out the unit is really not as simple as just renting out the unit. Some examples? How would you like to rent out your unit? Is it via aaily rental? (short term accommodation) Monthly rental? Sub-divide the units for more rooms? Who’s the target market? Are they students? Private university students? Local university students? Are they office people? Are they foreign workers?

Will you be renting out as a bare unit? Renting out partially furnished? Or would you like to follow me by “Renting out the unit FULLY FURNISHED?”   Today, we focus on just one. Renting out fully furnished and the 4 reasons I like it.

#1
Lower risk target market

Yes, I personally think its lower risk. If your tenants are struggling to make ends meet, why would they pay extra a few hundred Ringgit to rent your place every month? Assuming it’s RM500 extra between a bare unit versus a furnished unit, that’s already an extra of RM6,000 per year. By the way, many will show off even if they are struggling but it’s usually by buying a fancier car because that one everyone could see. Renting a home? No one could see, so no need to spend extra. These people will not be renting any fully funshed home lah. They will just rent a room (probably smallest one) but they drive a BMW or a Mercedes. Renting a unit cannot show off lah.

Secondly, if the person is really needing just a place to stay, there is NO need to rent a fully furnished place. I mean an empty room with just a mattress is sufficient too. Any cheap place would do. Room rental is even better. Fully furnished unit is definitely not needed. I remember when I was renting a student house previously, the main theme was just ‘cheap.’ So a fully furnished unit will skip all these.

#2 SMALLER marketplace. Oops??

Marketplace is smaller. Yes, those who would furnish their units well and renting them out are fewer. So are those who wants to rent fully furnished, these are fewer too. What this meant is that your competition would be lesser even if your target market is also smaller. In this marketplace, there is very little need to negotiate hard. If you need to, there’s something wrong with the tenant, please allow him to rent someone else’s unit. Following is a true conversation with a tenant for my Penang unit.

Potential tenant: Wah, your place is just so-so but you want to rent out RMXXX? I have seen a few furnished units for just RMXXX.

Me: I agree. That’s why if you prefer those units, its best that you take them. I think it would be foolish if those units are similar to mine and you still want to negotiate because the price difference is so huge.

I also look at the tenant when I was saying this in front of the real estate negotiator too. Sometimes, people are funny. So, we just follow them and be funny back to them lah.

#3 Someone has done it successfully

By the way, this is just my personal experience yeah. However, I can safely tell you that I have been renting out fully furnished for many years and all the units are spread across many different towns and cities here in Malaysia. There were definitely some months when it was empty but generally once rented out, it’s continuous and my tenants have always been good to me. (maybe because I am good to them as well?). So, this can be a model to go since it’s tried and tested too.

#4 It’s not short-term yeah

Frankly, if I could do earn rental daily, I would love it too. Many friends have told me that they just needed to rent out their units for 6-8 nights (weekends) and any additional nights after that are extra versus if they were to rent out on a monthly basis. I agree and sometimes I think for some units, this strategy of daily rental is really a better option.

However, there are also other downsides too. It’s more uncertain. It’s more work lah. If you clean it yourself, you will be tired.  If you get others to do it for you, then the above 6-8 nights may not work lah. You will need more nights because you have to share the rental with them too. Competition may also be tougher as even the hotels would try to take away this targeted tenant yeah. There are more reasons but I think I have stated enough why I personally prefer to rent out fully furnished yeah.

Conclusion

It’s your unit yeah. So, you should decide how best to mazimise the returns. No one can say for sure that their model works for you. With tourism returning, short-term rental will be awesome again. When it’s for students, the number of rooms could be higher than if it’s for office people. Sub-let works better when people need just a place to sleep.

I have friends who rent out empty units and said that it’s so fast and easy. This works too because there is no need to do so many things before renting it out.

Just remember that as long as you have a strategy which you prefer and it works, stick to it. Oh yeah, remember to treat your tenant well too. I always believe good people will meet good people, if you get what I mean. Happy renting out your unit for continuous rental income.

Edited article on 8th March 2021. First written in July 2015. Latest edition July 2023.

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Property Investment 101: 3 ways to invest into properties

Property Investment 101: 5 ways to invest into properties

Diversification in investment is encouraged, property is compulsory

People say, “never put all your eggs into one basket” because the risks are very high that if the basket were to fall, all the eggs would be broken. It’s the same for investments. Diversification is necessary. My personal opinion is that dieversification is necessary but investment into property is compulsory. The last I remembered, not many people prefer to stay in a cave or under the bridge these days.

This is why there’s another saying among those who did not buy a property yet. They say, “renting is cheaper than paying monthly mortgage.” I say, renting is FOREVER. Paying for a monthly mortgage has a full stop at the end. What are some of the different property investment types then?

#1 Residential Property

Buying a place and stay is one of the best ways to start. While one property does not really classify as an investment but at the end of the 30 years period when one has completed paying for it, then the fully paid property becomes an asset which could be sold. Maybe it could be sold for a profit but at least it would be sold at a price plus all the inflation over the years. In other words, it’s a hedge against inflation.

This property type; Residential property could be for own stay or could be bought and then rented out. They include landed properties such as terrace houses, semi-detached and bungalows. Some other names include super-linked (bigger width terrace) or even townhouses. They come with a residential title. These properties come under the protection os the Housing Development Act (HDA). In other words, the developer has to complete them on time if we are buying from them directly.

Typical loan margin if it’s the first property is usually up to 90 percent and this allows the buyer to buy them easier compared to commercial properies. The property price appreciation would depend on the neighbourhood development. A more mature neighbourhood would usually appreciate faster because there’s a higher demand for them.

#2 – Commercial Property

Properties within this category would be the properties which are for commercial use. Some say it’s for business use. So, this is usually not for residential occupation. These include office buldings, factories, warehouses, shoplots and more. Usually, these units are rented out for business usage and may be leased out on a multi-year leasing. Not many businesses would want to just rent for a year and then be forced to move out.

Thus, when we bought the right commercial property, chances are the income will be stable. However, the typical margin of financing is between 70 – 80% and this would require a higher upfront capital from the buyer. The price for a commercial property is also typically higher than a residential property. This is also reason why most property investments do not start from commercial property.

#3 Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT)

If we do not know which property to choose, we do not have the time to do the viewing, we do not have time to handle issues with tenants and we just want something as easy as buying / selling shares in the stock market, we can also invest into REITs. It’s not time consuming at all and it’s very affordable to start anytime too. Read a more in-depth article about REITs here:
5 Advantages of investing into REITs

REITs are like buying shares but this is a share of the company which owns real estate properties and they would usually distribute dividends to their shareholders. The business model is to continue to manage these properties well so that the profits from these investments would continue and the companies could continue distribute the dividends on a continuous basis.  They would also acquire new properties when there are opportunities and if these properties appreciate, then the income from the leasing would increase and the investors would get higher dividends.

Conclusion

Personal finance 101 advocates may usually skip property and they themselves would talk about everything else except for property investment. Just remember, saving money from lunches and dinners and buying cheaper handbags does not mean anything once we realise we have to continue paying rental forever even after our income has stopped. By the way, if we spend all the money we have, then at the end of the day, we would not even have any ‘eggs’ to eat.

My personal advice is to start with the property we would be staying. Buy one versus renting one. If we are staying with our parents, then do not waste the opportunity to invest into another property for rental income or even to invest the savings into REITs. Buying a property is also like a ‘forced savings.’  We may not see the fruits until the end but property is the best hedge against inflation. When prices of everything moves upwards, property prices would also follow. Happy investing.

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Property Investment 101: Budget 2023 highlights for property

Let’s run through the Budget which was unveiled by PM Anwar Ibrahim recently.

Source:
 theedgeprop.my (click here to read the full article)

Houses for the rakyat

In line with that, there was a list of allocations for affordable housing programmes:

1. RM389.5 million to build People’s Housing Project (PPR) and People’s Rented Housing Programme

2. RM358 million to build 4,250 Rumah Mesra Rakyat units

3. RM463 million to build Malaysia Public Housing Project (PPAM)

4. RM50 million to repair run-down lifts in low-cost strata houses

5. RM460.2 million for building new and renovating houses in rural areas

6. To build 7 million units of affordable houses for armed forces under Satu Anggota Satu Rumah programme (SASaR)

7. More than RM500 million to maintain Rumah Keluarga Angkatan Tentera and repair the living quarters and institutions under the Ministry of Home Affairs

Stamp duty exemptions for first homes maintained

For first-time homebuyers, the following measures announced in the October budget have been maintained as follows:

1. Full stamp duty exemption for homes priced RM500,000 and below

2. 75% stamp duty exemption for homes priced between RM500,001 and RM1 million

Housing credit guarantee scheme increased

The housing credit guarantee scheme has been given an allocation of RM5 billion to help up to 20,000 borrowers with no fixed income from the gig economy to get loans. This is a significant increase from the RM3 billion budgeted in October.

Stamp duty on property transfer by way of love and affection revised

The stamp duty of only RM10 for transfer of properties between parents and children, and grandparents and grandchildren, which was proposed in the October budget, has been revised to the following:

1.     First RM1 million – full exemption

2.     Balance above RM1 million – subject to an valorem duty rate and given 50% discount

They are applicable for transfers signed from April 1 this year, and only where the recipients are Malaysian citizens.

Stamp Duty Exemption continue to be the highlight

First-time homebuyer deserves as much help as possible. 100% stamp duty exemption for RM500,000 homes and below and those between RM500,001 to RM1 million gets a 75% stamp duty exemption. Some may say the ones who could afford properties more expensive than RM500,001 should be quite rich already. Well, I think it’s okay lah. This is just for the first property. Just need to remember to ensure ONLY the first time homebuyers get it yeah. Let’s not have the ones who are buying the second property also pretending to be the first time and then also getting the stamp duty exemption yeah.

Unfortunately I did not know if there was any such help given to first time homebuyer when I bought my first property in 2002. Yeah, I bought my first property just before I got married because that was a firm requirement from my father-in-law. Yes, I intend to tell my future son-in-law the same demand too. We must always learn from good things yeah. That firm requirement was one reason why I started my property investment journey too.

All the best.

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Property Investment 101: A buoyant property market is not necessary all rosy

Recently, I spoke in this event. it looks like I am singing but I am not. Haha.

It’s the “PropertY Rental and Leasing Conference 2023” by Comfori.
 They have lots of other CPD Points events too. Click here to view and sign up yeah.
 No need to mention my name. No extra discounts.

During my sharing, I also mentioned this statement:  “Property Investment 101: “Renting may be a trend but it’s forever, not just 30 years.” I reminded everyone that in many advanced countries, the lack of property is the cause of poverty. The reason is simple, people never could stop paying rental and it keeps coming month after month. Unfortunately the salary does not come month after month once we are no longer capable to work full time.

Then, I saw this article.

“‘I’m so exhausted’: Tenants face hard choices as rents surge in Singapore”
This is the title of an article about the state of property market where renting is concerned. Here’s that full article in
channelnewsasia.com
  Condominium rents increased 34.4 per cent year-on-year while Housing Board flat rents went up 28.5 per cent, according to flash figures from property portals 99.co and SRX. The URA Rental Index, published earlier this month, showed an overall increase of nearly 30 per cent last year – a 15-year high.

Do read here for the full article.  It includes many more actual stories of people finiding it an uphill task just to pay the rent with their salaries because when we look at the numbers, there’s no way anyone could have such high salary increments.
channelnewsasia.com

It’s tough to buy that first property, I know

I viewed, compared and viewed more units for 6 months before buying my first home which is just a small apartment of 730 sq ft. I was also worried whether I could pay for the monthly mortgage. However, I went ahead because I know that as hard as it was, I would need to pay just 30 years or so. Plus the real fact is, I would have spent any extra money into something I want if I did not need to pay this mortgage.

Most of the payment goes into interest in the early years, I know

As bad as the first 8-9 years where most of the payment goes to the interest versus to the principal, I know that if I rent, then 100% of that goes to the homeowner and none would go into the principal. I also know that the homeowner has his / her own expenses and cannot just allow me to stay for free even after I have paid them rental for 30 years.

Salary is low. Does it happen only today?  Honestly?

Someone informed me that our minimum salary is just RM1,500. How to survive if one is earning RM1,500 today? I still remember this property developer who told me that he was only earning 50 sen per day when he was working as a helper in a restaurant. He did not spend a single cent of that earnings as the restaurant provided food too. Did we save? Did we also try to improve what we know so that we could do more than what we could today and thereby earning higher pay?

I also want to tell everyone that these days, with the right experience and skills, the salary we could get is very high because the company could choose to hire in Malaysia versus to hire in some high cost countries. They could easily pay a senior manager here half of what they pay in their home country and that senior manager here in Malaysia would still be super happy because the salary is benchmarked internationally versus just against the local companies here. Back then… there were no such opportunities.

Happy deciding and doing the right thing.

P/s: I did not say anything about buoyant market’s impact to the homeowners yeah. It’s positive usually.

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Property Investment 101: 10 tips on choosing a good tenant

Choosing a good tenant with 10 tips from Charles

Before I start, I need to remind everyone again that there is really such a thing as “Law of Attraction.” Somehow, we always seem to attract many people who’s just like us. Our friends… our colleagues… our tenants… They are like us! Be good to people, usually they will be good to us too. I give you a real conversation as below with one of my awesome tenant in Kota Kinabalu.

Tenant: I realised the door knob on the master bedroom is broken. May I get it fixed?

My wife: Yes please get it fixed. The cost for the change or repair or whatever, just let me know. I can tt you or you can take it out from the rental.

Note: Tenant did not say how much. My wife also did not ask how much or set a limit. This tenant has NEVER needed reminder on rent since the first month. Trust element was established earlier on.

A few days later.

Tenant: Just wanted to let you know that after work today, I went to buy a new door knob and fixed it already. (Took a photo and sent to my wife via Whatsapp)

My wife: This is good. Let me know if you prefer me to tt you or you prefer to reduce the amount from rental.

Tenant: No need lah. It’s only RM16 for the knob and I managed to fix it by myself.

Do you also have such tenants?

We were also very nice to him too

Tenant really appreciated all our gestures too. Example, when air-con was not working well, we immediately get the technician to check and replace the aircon when the cost of repair is half the cost of buying a new one. From the day tenant told us until the new aircon was fixed was 72 hours…

I cannot say 100% of all my tenants are good people but I can safely say 80% are awesome people (rental on time within first few days of new month, no need reminders… ) and another 10% are okay people (a little more demanding). Remaining 10% is best to forget and we will do our best to choose the tenants too. Here are 10 tips to choose that tenant too.

Remember, the extra money is not going to be worth the many, many months of headache in the near future. Here are 10 things to think about when choosing our potential tenant. (renting out fully furnished)

1. The Don’t Like at First Sight type.

If you do not have a good feeling about the potential tenant during the first meeting itself. Note, this is not like meeting your potential husband. There’s no need to try and go out a few times and see what happens. This is JUST a tenant. If you don’t like, don’t rent. There is NO need to try to ‘give chance’ and evaluate before rejecting. Remember, ‘ejecting’ them will be very hard in the future.

2. The Unrealistic Negotiator type.

After the viewing, they try their best to negotiate for a VERY much lower price by commenting that your home is way below their expectations. Alternatively, they ask far too many extras. Well, if it’s really that bad, it is better for them to view other cheaper units. For this type, I think they are just too calculative. Since I am not one, I would not rent out my unit to one.

3. The ‘Don’t Care’ type.

Sorry but I really mind a lot about those who do not even take care of how they smell. Messy perhaps. Drunk the night before, perhaps. Did not wash their clothes? Perhaps. Whatever, the perhaps may be does not matter. These are not my choice too. Even if they had just come from the gym, they should have taken a shower before coming for viewing. If I know how to respect people, they should also know how to respect me.

4. The Secretive type.

Come on, questions such as what do you do for living SHOULD be answered easily and directly. As the homeowner, I have no issues telling you what I do for a living but if you could not do the same, I think there’s something wrong with you. I know, I know, even if they could tell me, they could be lying. For that, I would have to just admit I was fooled… Else, your job should NOT be a secret.

5. The Threatening type.

Before they even come for the first viewing, they ask for lower rental. They would not want to view unless you lower your rental. Fat chance, please try on others. I will never price myself out of the market for fully furnished but without even viewing you are already trying to negotiate lower? Just a note, fully furnished units mean they can move in just with their luggage…

6. The Missing in Action type.

It’s hard to at least meet them once. They ask their agents / friends / anyone else to be the middleman. It’s okay, just let them be. I usually prefer to meet my potential tenants before I say Yes. These days, it’s possible for a video call too. I am very sure they want to know who their homeowner is, right. If it’s hard to meet them the first time, when you need to meet them in future, it would be almost impossible.

7. The Complaining Type.

When you started asking, they started telling you that they were looking for a new place because their previous landlord was VERY BAD. It may be true, so asking them to explain why their landlord was bad may also reveal why their landlords were bad to them. Until today, I think my tenants’ relationships with me has been quite good. Somehow, all of them are successful people!

8. The ‘pretend to be’ Foolish type.

They came to view, knowing it is a fully furnished unit. After the viewing, they ask if they could rent the unit without the furniture. If you say no, they would most probably say, how about lowering your rental. I do not need this, this and that. Apologies. I would not negotiate at all. I would let them loose. I think they deserve a better landlord who would move the furniture out for them and after moving the furniture out is willing to charge them lower rental.

9. The Second secretive type.

When we ask them how many people are staying, they have to think for a while before answering. It would be good to include this into the tenancy agreement if they have informed us the number. I am worried if they are going to sub-let my place and turn it into some crisis relief centre or a student ‘megamall’. Couples who are both working would be great.

10. The ‘Not-Enough-Money’ type.

They asked if they can pay just one month advance and one month rental. The another month deposit, they want to pay later. This was an actual tenant issue for me. I was foolish to accept what the tenant said. Within a few months, she has started to delay and then ‘forgotten’ to pay! Fortunately it was settled after a few months. I would not want to rent to these people ever again!

Other important notes.

A GOOD tenancy agreement is a must.
Here’s an important article written by my good friend, Ron Ong.
Malaysia does not have a Tenancy Act at the moment though the government is saying that it is something in progress. If the tenant says there is no need lah. Then, I will say ‘don’t wantlah.’

My property may be worth a few hundred thousands if not more. The rental is likely to be just a thousand or thousands of ringgit every month. The risk versus return is just too high yeah. If the tenant turned out to be a ‘devil,’ it will take me a very long time before I could remove them, legally. Welcome to the world of owner and tenant.

Engage good real estate negotiators

If we are engaging a real estate negotiator to help us rent out our few hundred thousand home, please ask them to at least read through the below tips too. While potential tenants could still fool the best precautions from owners but as usual, better minimize the potential risks before they happen. Stop using the slow market as an excuse to relax our guard and simply rent to any Tom, Dick and Harry okay.

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written on 18 Aug 2019. Latest Edit 30 Jan 2022.

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Property Investment 101: 4 tips for First Time Home Buyer

4 important things to understand for first time home buyers

I was once a first time home buyer too

Are you a first time home buyer? I was one as well, once upon a time ago. Are you worried because this is going to be a purchase of a few hundred thousand ringgit? I was as well. I thought buying my first property was very scary and buying my second property would cause me potential bankruptcy!

Do you want to know some tips from a former first time home buyer who is NOT from any property developer, not from the bank, not part of any real estate agency and does not run any property course? Yes, that’s me. There’s no link below to ask you to buy any property or whatsoever. Just tips from a former first time home buyer who now have access to swimming pools in condos in 6 cities  and towns in Malaysia.

Yes, all that description describes me, a blogger in
kopiandproperty.com
 Happy reading and joining me in this property investment journey. Just 4 questions to start pondering. Note, nothing in this article tells you to buy tomorrow. That decision is up to you yeah.

#1 – When to buy?

Honestly, for first-time home buyers, stop worrying about when is the market going to recover or when will the market reaches the bottom. No one could ever tell you when that will happen. Property buying is LONG-TERM. This is not buying this year and sell next year! These stories were very yesterday. Today, it’s more of finding the right property and ensure we do not buy something overvalued just because everyone says it’s a great buy.

Always understand that when we buy that first property and use it for own-stay, we save on rental which will likely be
HUGE if we are to calculate them for a few years. Earlier article here.

#2 – When is the crisis coming?

Second thing everyone thinks they will gain a lot is when a crisis comes and the property prices crash. By the way, every time there’s a crisis, home prices will drop. This happens in ALL markets. The reason may not be due to property though. It may be due to loss of jobs, thus the seller selling the property and starts renting instead. In other words, when a crisis comes, it does not just affect the home owners, it affects the home buyers too.

In fact, from the 1998 to the 2008 and even when we look at all advanced property markets, the same things happen! However, it will soon recover once the economy moves again and well,
prices are usually up because salaries tend to rise with time. Earlier article here.

#3 – What’s the future like?

Frankly, no one knows for sure. If anyone were to tell you 30 years ago that China will be the 2nd largest economy today, you would have been rolling to the floor laughing. Well, it has happened. If someone were to tell me a property I bought for RM247,000 could be sold for RM640,000 8 years after, I would also laugh and tell the person to stop joking. It did. Just remember, inflation would continue to make the value of money become smaller and that’s why prices move upwards yeah.

If we look to Malaysia, then we should realise our median age is 30. In other words, our young population is still many times our older population. Note though that ageing nation will happen sooner than later but it’s a mere 7%. Demand for homes remain robust unless everyone prefers not to stay in a home instead. If not stay in a home, then stay where?

However, it has got nothing to do with
buying property only in the youngest country yeah.

#4 – Where to buy?

That mantra of location, location and location is a correct one. However, for first-time home buyers, if we buy based on the mantra of WHY, WHY and WHY, then our choices will suddenly expand and the price range will drop too.

Everyone must remember that once upon a time, there were only those few mature neighbourhoods. Today, there are so many new emerging neighbourhoods. Most of these are not within 10km away from the KL city centre. In fact it’s moving further away too. Open up your choices and stop looking at places where everyone is looking. Value is to be discovered and usually does not show up if everyone knows about it already.

Usually, driving just an extra 10 minutes would reveal properties which are much more affordable compared to that area we wanted to buy.

Conclusion

Buy one which meets many of what we like, not when we find one that is PERFECT because it’s likely to be EXPENSIVE too. Buy one when we could afford, so that we do not spend that extra money on something else which we could afford but does not need.

Buy one so that if we do become those countries where properties got too expensive, at least we are benefiting from it and not suffering from it. If we think of Malaysia as a follower when it comes to real estate, then get ready for what has already happened in many of these advanced property markets.

Happy reading and please feel free to write in to share. Let’s help as many first-time home buyers as possible to understand that opportunities do not exist only for the super-wealthy or those buying to speculate. It exists for all Malaysians but some just do not have enough information to make their decision yet.

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Property Investment 101: Only buy freehold, some say. This is what I say.

First thing is this: Unattractive but freehold is a buy while attractive but leasehold is a no-buy?

Please do ask some of your real estate agent friends to give you a few names of properties which are freehold but the appreciation has been slow or it has not even appreciated much over the years. If they could not tell you, I think they better do more homework.

Then, ask them about some leasehold properties which has increased in prices and people love to stay there. I bet they could also immediately tell you a few. If they could not, as usual, better do more homework because they should have general knowledge about the market if this is indeed their career.

Truth is, we must not make decision to buy or not to buy simply because of freehold vs leasehold yeah. A trap is still a trap even if it looks very nice while a great catch remains a great catch even if you need to pay money in order to keep the catch in the future. I love both freehold and leasehold as long as both of them meets my expectations when it comes to property investments. Period.

What if there’s two identical properties and one is freehold while the other is a leasehold?

If anyone were to ask me this question; a choice of two identical properties with an identical price tag, I will also choose freehold. However, this is seldom the case. If there are, then there would not be this question in the first place yeah.

An attractive property may just be on a leasehold land while a not so awesome property may just be on a freehold land. So, which on to choose then? Maybe we run through 3 Q&As as below then, shall we? Decision is definitely all yours to make. For me, my choice is clear. It’s all about the property, not the ‘how long can I hold’ part. Haha.

Capital appreciation probability?

Freehold is better than leasehold! (People say lah) Truth is, I have yet to find a conclusive report showing this. However, I have owned both freehold and leasehold properties and I have found no actual difference when it comes to price increase. It depends on just the property’s attractiveness and never whether it’s freehold or leasehold. By the way, all the price movement charts and graphs also does not provide one line for freehold and one line for leasehold. 🙂

Renewal will ‘kill’ you. (Too expensive)

Now, people wants to say that but with the leasehold expiring soon, it’s price sure start to go down. Well, ONLY if one refuses to renew the lease. Now, they will tell you it will cost you millions! Fortunately for all of us, we have this
Article in iproperty.com
 and this is now the calculation for the renewal of your leasehold works. It does not cost you millions… for the usual properties in the market.

Government can take back your land!

Imagine a few thousand units of properties within a leasehold area and it’s about to expire soon. The government has NO use for the land. Do we think the government will forcefully take it back by NOT allowing the people to renew the lease? Seriously, the government will prefer to take the money plus the votes of all these owners who paid to renew the lease lah.

Now imagine an important transportation masterplan that MUST cut through a freehold land of a few thousand units of homes but it will benefit the whole city of 10 million people for a long time to come. Do we believe the government will decide NOT to use the Land Acquisition Act (LAA)
1960 (click here to read more if you want on LAA 1960)
and pay the owners’ market rate compensation and instead continue to allow the 10 million people in the city to suffer from unimaginable traffic jam? Sorry yeah, even freehold land has no FOREVER.

Tenants surely prefer to stay in a freehold property lah

After renting out to many, many tenants over the years, not a single one of them asked me if the unit they are renting is freehold or leasehold. If freehold, they are willing to pay higher and if leasehold, they will only be willing to pay a lower rental. A tenant feels exactly the same whether they stay in a leasehold or a freehold property. They will pay you the same rental too. They also do not search for rental properties by looking at whether it is a leasehold or a freehold.

Staying Focused if the key. Think of WHY

Stay focused. WHY do we want to buy that property. If the due diligence has been done and everything’s good, please go ahead even if it’s on a leasehold land. You should never be too concerned on the land status. I know, for some countries, the leasehold land may just be more serious because of land scarcity issue. In Malaysia, this should not be the deal-breaker. As the marketing ad says, “diamond is forever.” Very true for its elements but it’s value as a secondary diamond ring will not be increasing year after year. Meanwhile for leasehold, keep renewing the lease and it may just be forever… Happy buying!

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Property Investment 101: Good News, Bad News, it does not change whether you buy or no buy

Used to be so hard to find good news

Seriously, during the Covid-19 times, even the news were all negative. As usual, kopiandproperty.com was one of the few media continuing to write from an objective point of view. 🙂  Haha. Nevertheless, it was tough because no one likes good news and the number of clicks when it is good news is much lower than when it’s bad news. I knew about this long time ago but will not resort to writing bad news, sorry.

In fact if there are some ‘foolish’ bad news comment, I will write about it so that people understand that the perspective may be very wrong. One real example? Ringgit is depreciating so much it is worst in the world. This is a ‘bodoh’ statement. Here’s the actual number.
Ringgit versus major currencies
By the way, US$ has risen versus any currency you know. That’s a fact. Period.

Now, everything seems to be positive news

Just google ‘property market Malaysia’ and you get something like below. generally all are positive news yeah. Seems like I do not need to write much. However… look beyond this image to the next paragraph please…

The reason to buy should be a valid one

If the reason to buy is because the property is next to your parent’s home, whether market good or bad is secondary. Buy it now or lose it forever maybe. If the reason to buy is because your colleague is selling it at 30% below market because he is leaving Malaysia and not many people know about it, better buy it now. Market has got nothing to do with it because even assuming after we buy an undervalued property and the market transactions slow down, the prices will recover in the future. Unless inflation disappears from this world, else prices would continue to move up! Our salary will also be rising too. if it’s not, it’s not the world, it’s something wrong with the person.

If the reason is not a valid one, then skip the buying and do something else

If you are buying because your best friend said so, better think again, regardless of whether market is good or bad. If your friend is a real estate agent, then ask for more information before deciding and if the information could not be found, better skip too. Usually your real estate agent friend should be able to give you information so that you can decide.

If you are buying because the discount is high but you do not know if the price is low or high, then skip lah. Higher discount has got nothing to do with whether it’s under or overvalued. One main reason for prices to fall a lot may also due to the prices being too high in the first place. Again, nothing to do with whether market is good or bad.

A wrong purchase will set us back many years in our property investment journey. It may even ‘kill’ all our chances at the next investment opportunity. Investment also does not have to start with property as well. It could be many other choices. Just do not rush into anything we do not yet understand enough. Happy understanding and reading. Decision can be later lah.

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Property Investment 101: Be ready to pay higher legal fee when we buy a property

It’s never just the first 10 percent of the home price

If we intend to buy a property, we need to save some money every day, every week, every month and probably for a few years. While the aim is the first 10 percent downpayment, that is actually not enough. There are
stamp duty to be paid (click here to read)

and there is also the legal fees to be paid. Here’s a bad news for property buyers. The legal fee is increasing and it has already started to be in effect starting 15th July 2023. How much is the increase? There’s a nice infographic in
Article in thestar.com.my

Source: thestar.com.my

Within the same
Article in thestar.com.my
,   The last increase was way back in 2017. Senior lawyer Datuk Roger Tan said, “The increase in costs has been made particularly acute by the Covid-19 pandemic and its impact on the economy. Lawyers’ operating costs have also risen significantly in the last few years.” He added, “One does not ask for a discount when one consults a doctor. Here, the lawyer’s job is to protect and uphold your legal rights to your property as a vendor, purchaser, borrower, landlord and tenant.”

Malaysian Bar president Karen Cheah said there is a need to increase the scale and fixed fees chargeable to ensure lawyers are able to cope with the current financial situation.“

Property transactions from licensed housing developers will automatically get up to a 50% reduction in fees, depending on the value.

Senior lawyer Datuk Roger Tan said, “The sale and transfer of property valued at RM500,000 and below will now be subject to a conveyancing fee of 1.25% (previously 1%). For properties valued between RM500,000 and RM7.5mil, the conveyancing fee is now 1%.” Do read the article in full here:
Article in thestar.com.my
,

Inflation will always happen and this time the legal fees are up

It’s a chicken and egg situation really.  That bowl of noodle which used to be RM5 is now RM8. The glass of teh tarik which used to be RM1.50 is now RM2.50 if not higher.  Well, when the cost of food increases, the salary would have to increase in order for the same person to be able to afford the same bowl of noodle and the same glass of teh tarik. Alternatively just eat at a cheaper noodle shop and drink air suam lah. With employers having to pay higher salaries, the cost of everything else will start to increase too.

Cost of materials will also increase and for property, let’s do not wish that the property developer will cut cost when constructing the property yeah. Just yesterday evening, I had teh tarik with a good friend who told me that buying a property for the children will become compulsory. Even he felt that the property price will keep rising. I told him that it’s at least still possible to buy in some less popular areas. By the way, when the prices rise, it will rise for all areas yeah. Only whether it’s faster or it’s slower than the usual average.

It’s not possible to stop more potential price increases though. Just need to keep pushing and doing more and thus earning more. It’s a race and we better continue walking faster.

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