Property Investment 101: More space is not necessarily more usable space
Actual conversation about additional 6ft x 6=70ft space (land with grass)
Ms. N: My husband says that he likes to do some gardening.
Me: That’s nice. I love gardening too, just that these days, time is not enough.
Ms N: Yea, sometimes when he is busy, his plants will be in a mess.
Me: Just need to be aware that the payment for this gardening hobby is quite big yeah. Just need to make sure it’s really something your husband really loves.
Ms. N: Oh, really?
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.
Ms. N: Thanks for the reminder. Let me tell him this fact first.
Another week later, Ms. N and her husband viewed a few more units and decided to buy a double-storey terraced unit instead.
Landed home these days and landed home a long time ago are different yeah
A long time ago, there are no townships where the developer has a masterplan. Where the total development would include lakes and parks for the residents, huge and nice playgrounds for the children, club house for residents with 12 badminton courts and more or even wide inner lanes so that when both sides park their cars outside the house, the road is still fully USABLE!
This is why that extra patch of grass does not mean you actually need it because if we need to take a stroll, then the park outside will be way better than walking inside the house. If we need to give children an enjoyable time, then it’s better to go to the clubhouse with an olympic sized swimming pool instead of buying a small pool, pump it up and then put it inside the car porch for the kids. The lifestyle these days are different actually.
For a double storey landed homes of some time ago, the room on the ground floor is usually small and reserved for the maid yeah. These days, the room on the ground floor is usually big, with own bathroom and is definitely aimed at the parents of the couple. All these are changes that we need to be aware of. Sometimes, the room on the ground floor may also be furnished like a home office too. How will the future be changing I am not too sure but it will not be going back to the small room reserved for the maid in the future.
What about in the future then?
In the future, trends may change. I would not want to predict too much. However, if you ask me, a master-planned development will be a very good one to buy into versus just an ad-hoc project unless of course this ad-hoc project happened to be close or nearby a very good master-planned development yeah. As for master-planned development, research more, go online and understand more versus just listening to the sales person yeah. Some may promise a lot but may not be able to deliver all. While there’s no such thing as a guarantee, when we are buying a property of many hundreds of thousands, we may prefer to buy from the ones who have done it before.
Happy deciding.
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