I’m going to blog about my quest to search for a good landed house for own stay….

XCool and I were looking for our ‘nest’ to embark on the next chapter of our lives. Our ideal location is between our families. We went to a lot of show houses and even viewed a few new sub-sale houses. The experience was a pretty bitter one. Why?

1. Klang Valley is running out of land for landed houses. In hot areas with available lands, developers prefer to construct luxurious semi-Ds or Bungalows. For terrace houses, the developers are moving further and further away. We want a good terrace house because buying a big house just doesn’t make any sense. It’s going to be just the two of us only. I rather stay in a small comfortable house. Easier to clean and we can spend more money in furnishing it.

2. Landed properties are so highly overpriced. Apparently, we were 3-4 months late. If we were to shop for one in Dec 2009 (or even Jan 2010), we could have saved RM20k-30k. I’m not joking. I actually liked one modal of terrace house so so much. The design, location and everything was just perfect. I called up all the agents I could find in that area and viewed a few units. The property in that area was so hot, the owners were upping the price by RM5k – RM10k within a week. Are you kidding me? I wouldn’t want to be a sucker. Concurrently, developers are driving prices up with every new launches. It’s insane!

3. XCool preferred new houses. He didn’t like the idea of staying in an old, previously occupied house. I respect his choice. He hasn’t got much other preference other than this so okay…. compromise is everything in a relationship….. I suppose.

4. Demand for houses are high. It seems that houses for new projects were grabbed within minutes on launching day. I even overheard that people queued up at the sales gallery around 3am. Everyone is buying houses like buying oxygen tanks in an oxygen-less world. Hmm…. that is also the reason why the property prices were driven higher and higher. Speculators are speculating a property bubble which is bound to burst. Will the prices be sustainable? I am quite unsure because even with the price hike, the demand is still high because population is growing and lands are scarce.

5. We have a budget. Personally, house for own stay is a kind of liability, just like buying a car for own use. The cheaper the better. I would rather save the cash to use it for investment properties. I’ve known people who bought a huge house when they got married. Their houses ended up so empty and dusty. Big house = hard to maintain without a maid.

6. Location matters. Even if we are willing to stay further away from prime areas, we still want to be able to easily access places we love to hangout. Since the both of use like to hang out in PJ area, townships like Kota Kemuning, Putra Height, Bukit Tinggi and etc were just very out of the way.

After all the headaches and heartbreaks, we finally made the decision to buy a new house from a developer, even though the house will be done in 2 years time. It was like a gift from Universe. There was only one good house number left on the chart. The other house numbers are taboo numbers like 4, 14, 44, 40. There was an early bird discount too. Yippie!

The sample house were done few days ago and we went to look at it a few times already. I’m very happy and satisfied with our decision. I can see a lot of potential in the house and already started making furnishing plans. Excited!

Thank you, Universe for the blessing. It is perfecto!

I’ve been researching on the property market for the last few days. It’s no longer a secret that recently there was a hike in property prices. I can’t help but to wonder if there’s a bubble brewing and when will it burst? I’ve gotten some many opinions from friends who are well-versed in this area. While there are no certain answers, I decided to wait a little.

This afternoon, though, I was looking through prices for all the properties I have once set my eyes on. One of my top choices caught my attention with its attractive asking price. This unit is considered a low-cost apartment but it has a fantastic rental yield. Depending on how you go about it, it can potentially bring in 10% yield, or at least 8% (minimum). I’ve called up the agent and will be viewing it tomorrow. If I could get a higher loan margin, I don’t even need to fork out any money and just receive cash-flow every month. This could be a good one while I continue to search for other good buys. Excited!! The mere thought of “kaching kaching” makes me happier than anything else. I am a money magnet. Money, money, come to mama!

Just end of last year, I wanted to get another really good property around that area. Sadly, I’ve missed the boat while busy setting up my business. The property has a high rental yield and now it has even shot up 30% in price. Oh well…I believe in abundance! There will be more good properties coming my way.

I started liking properties in 2008 when I bought my first property. The condo is now making 8% rental yield and the property price went up 20%. ^^ I’m also very happy to have friends like Heng and Mah, who are into it as well (and they are in the business too). It’s a lot better when you can get more opinions in this matter. Knowledge is power.

Sorry, folks. Still not ready to tell you my property buying experience for the last few days. Stay tuned….

Thank you, universe!