Today, I had lunch with a very capable young friend. She is many years younger than me but she already owns her own business in partnership with a very prominent personality here in Malaysia. A rich one. Over lunch, we were talking about her first property and I asked why is she not thinking of buying a second one. She said, she prefers landed but these days, landed are either too expensive or too far away. She does not want to travel a long time every time just to reach her destination on time. Then, I asked her why she prefers landed over her current apartment. As usual, the three major reasons were presented.
1) Bigger
2) More Land space
3) Standing on actual land.
Bigger. This was true long time ago when landed properties were the norm and high rises were all flats or apartments. Then, many years ago, the condos started. Most of the time, it was those 800 – 1,000 sf ones. These units are really smaller than the typical terrace houses then. Today, there are many more bigger units, from 1,500sf all the way to 2,500 sf or bigger. A typical 20 x 70 double storey terrace house would have a built up of just 1,800sf – 2,200sf which meant that just thinking about size alone, its no longer true that landed is bigger. Condos are actually getting bigger, more of them coming. Landed are getting smaller, most of them or they now give you more storeys, townhouses or superlinks etc. It’s also shorter. Expect 65 sq ft or lower for the length and 20 sq ft or lower for the width. Do not be surprised, 18 x 60 is quite common these days.
More land space. I am not sure how you want to compare the tiny plot of ‘grass covered land’ within your 20 x 70 terrace house with a huge park within the modern condominiums of today. Some even have a rooftop garden, complete with an infinity swimming pool. Some allows you to do BBQ on the rooftop while you chit-chat with a huge group of friends. Yes, it is true, you do not swim everyday and you also do not ask your friends to drop by everyday. If you insist that hey, the condo’s BIG plot of land is SHARED while I own my own piece of land, then yeah sure. You win. Do remember, nothing stops me from using the whole big plot of land within the condo. I am not sure if you can use your neighbour’s plot of land.
Standing on actual land. Actually, this is true. If you own a landed property, you stand on the ground itself. Meanwhile, if you are in a condo, sometimes even the ground floor may not be standing on the ground because the car parks might be below. Tell me however, is standing on the actual ground really more important that having a place to stand? As usual, if your answer is that hey, I am prepared to pay a huge premium so that I can stand on my own piece of land and not standing on another person’s rooftop, ok you win.
The purpose of this article is not to tell you to buy condo. It is to tell you that if you like landed, just say you like landed. Don’t give the three reasons above. You can even say I buy landed to show people that I am richer. That’s a pretty good reason too. Or you can say, my parents love only landed property. In fact there are lots of other reasons which you can attribute to just the landed ones and I would agree. As for capital appreciation reason, that’s another story altogether. Happy Investing, whether it’s condo or landed.
written on 3 Oct 2014
Next suggested article: Playing with ‘Borrowed’ risk. Are you one of them?
0 Responses
For the, the most important reason to stay on a landed property is that I can park my car right in front of the entrance. This is especially useful when you have sleeping child in the car. You don’t have to deal with any elevator or need a third party’s help.
KC, this is a valid reason. Condo can’t beat this reason. Haha… In my current condo, I needed around 70 steps to reach my door from my actual parking spot.
My reason of buying landed is.. with the following reason
– Long term investment
– Less common area to minimize the conflict with unreasonable/selfish neighbor
– Full control of maintenance due to water leak or quality issue
– Don’t have to deal with any elevator if it breaks down
Generally, there is pro and con either landed or condo, in fact, staying in condo has the advantage in security and scenery view, it is difference life style. I am ok either landed or condo and do not have specially preference staying in landed is a must. I enjoy staying in condo too.
Hi Ang,
– Long term investment – really depends lar. RM800,000 going up RM1.6 million better or RM246,000 growing to RM700,000? Both real cases for reputable developer projects in Penang.
– Less common area to minimise conflict – I think you never have neighbours parking too near your gate, both sides….. 🙂
– Full control of maintenance due to water leak or quality issue – Agree partially. Tough to say though even if condo has more of such issues. my condo in Penang, 6 years ++, never faced such problems yet.
– No elevator – Agree. Condo cant beat you on this one but this selcomd happen coz typically, there are at least 2-3 lifts for same block. One new condo I bought even have one private lift and other common lifts. So, such chances would not happen.
Hi Chialih,
Long term investment – really depends lar. RM800,000 going up RM1.6 million better or RM246,000 growing to RM700,000? Both real cases for reputable developer projects in Penang.
— My answer: i think latter is much more advantage as less captical and RM700,000 is still attractive in price for landed. however, agree with that no doubt. i think the timing factor make a huge difference in term of purchasing price.
– Less common area to minimise conflict – I think you never have neighbours parking too near your gate, both sides….. 🙂
— My answer: either condo or landed has its own problem, but my view is, condo has more common area, it is high chances cause of conflict especially bad neighbor or others, you know, human is a creature uneasy to be managed, difference people has difference mindset or thinking, it happens to be people likes to do thing for their own interest or convenience. that is why building regulation comes to picture.
– Full control of maintenance due to water leak or quality issue – Agree partially. Tough to say though even if condo has more of such issues. my condo in Penang, 6 years ++, never faced such problems yet.
— My answer: You might be luckily enough away from this common issue
: ), personally, i had a bad experience before with old apartment (already sold out), a water leaking issue (from outside) happened in all 3 bedrooms’ wall, one of the bedroom in root top was even terrible impact with water sipping in after rain. Management unable/unwilling to resolve this due to insufficient fund even though many year of maintenance fee contribution, everything is on your own and care in expediture. the repair was a workaround until the wall outside of the whole building wall is repaired, but when management will take action? they always give you the same answer. So, what is the point of paying maintenance fee, there are things beyond your control in apartment/condo.
– No elevator – Agree. Condo cant beat you on this one but this selcomd happen coz typically, there are at least 2-3 lifts for same block. One new condo I bought even have one private lift and other common lifts. So, such chances would not happen.
— My answer: not all the apartment has this feature with private lift.
I’d prefer single story for own stay and also owns a couples of condo within walking distance, as a swimmer like me use lot of swimming pool perhaps BBQ sometimes. 🙂
Hahaha…. I just told my wife that in the near future, we should get a single storey home or perhaps buy two units of single storey terrace and combine it into one. And yes, a condo when I need the facilities….
A while back i was hunting for a place to stay. The budget was 700k to 1.1m and my targetted area is near my then current home in USJ. At tht time (1.5yrs ago), given a choice, I can choose to stay in Saujana Residency condo for 750k 1500sf or Usj Heights superlink 1.1m 2800 sf. If like this die die also choose landed lor, right or not? Seem like the landed offer more value psf wise, if budget allow.
Plus I have a toddler so its much easier carrying her and her bags, pram, diapers etc. Alas, by the time I want to buy Usj Heights already 1.4m, so end up I bought in Shah Alam section 13. Investment wise, I agree that nowadays condos capital appreciation can be more than landed.
haha. if like this, yes, die die oso landed. 🙂