I love properties. That’s why I focus on properties versus spending unnecessary time on the admin part, opening the door for viewing part, fixing issues of my tenant part and many other parts. I think RENs have played an important part in my property investment thus far and I am happy to write this article to support them.
I love properties because I could touch it. I will always remember vividly the first time ever I bought a property. It’s a small 730 sq ft apartment but I felt so proud. My wife felt so proud too. Haha. Now, whether property investment is the best or not, I have no idea yeah. I am invested in the stock market which I also love. I have been investing into mutual funds for a very long time and is a ‘Gold status member’ (go think which brand).
Me: Yea, coz that extra patch of grassy land will be priced into the house price. That’s why semi-detached home is definitely more expensive than a terrace home but the actual built-up does not necesarily reflect the same yeah. Sometimes, the double-storey terrace may have a bigger built up than a semi-detached unit or it may be almost the same too. Developer will not give that extra piece of land to you for free yeah. They could actually use the land to build more units too.
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
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? Daily rental? 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?
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.
Actually the line which attracted me in the article was the final line. It says, “A public housing unit was resold for a record S$1.5 million (US$1.1 million) in June.” Wow… S$1.5 million for a public housing unit yeah. I checked with my good friend in Singapore and she said this is applicable only to the units in great location and superb views too. Nevertheless, I am very sure her unit would become 7 figures in the future, if not yet for now.
At the same time, a few of my friends posted in the Facebook about their success as a real estate negotiator; winning awards three years in a row etc. Let me understand this. The only way they can get some award(s) is because they have sold many properties. Does this also tell us that they have sold many properties which is below market price then? I have no answer. 😛 However, we look at some numbers from official stats from National Property Information Centre (NAPIC) which is Ministry of Finance’s valuation and property services department
When a home owner is worried about potential financial crisis, he is just worried. He does not suddenly decide to sell his property at a super huge discount unless of course the financial crisis has affected his financial standing. For example, loss of income or even a sudden need for cash. This is why not every property is up for sale even during a financial crisis. The good areas, with stable owners, we will find a couple of units up for sale and for these, it’s usually snapped up pretty quickly by people not affected by the financial crisis.
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.
I spoke in the INVESTFair 2023 in MidValley Mega Mall just last weekend. I cannot say for sure for all speakers but my session was full house and many more were standing just outside the seminar area. I am grateful for everyone who dropped by and listened. I hope I have played my small part in helping more Malaysians own a home.
“This is the worst housing crisis in 30 years,” said Gabriel Mraida, president of the Buenos Aires municipality’s Institute of Housing. According to income tax data “there are some 70,000 registered rental housing units in the city, but… about 500,000 households are tenants, just to give you an idea” of the scale of informal rental, he told AFP. Do read the full article with a lot more stories here: article in nst.com.my
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