Wud like to survey what are the thinking of all investor out there about the following,

1) Wud you buy an empty hse ( with basic piping, wiring & cement floors )

2) Or buy a furnish hse like we all are getting now ( bathroom with toilet bowl & sink, kitchen sink, wood flooring &
tiles flooring )?

Price wise is a different of 50K.


All coment is welcome.

Your purpose is for rent out?

doesn't matter. let say for own stay

If for the purpose of buying, I'd rather choose the empty, then I will decorate it myself later.

Ya, agree, If I choose for own stay, i will use 50K to decorate myself, better and comfortable

empty house ... 50k renovation can have a lot of bargains ... with this economy ... even more value if you DIY


plus ... if since you're tight in the pocket to raise 50k sum, you could take up extra loan of 50k in your housing ...

50k and DIY, you can get better deals... and can even choose the different styles...

50K is no small sum

Choice number two, would be more appropriate.
You do not need the hassle to buy & install those necessities.

Actually there is a confusion here.
Empty house do have water taps, toilet bowl, tiles & etc.
Fully furnish house means it includes sofa, tv, fridge & etc.

In my opinion, if it is for your own stay, the quality of the furnishing is good and the design suits you, why not go for it? Personally, doing a renovation is a major project. Currently I just completed my condo renovation. In fact, the money that you spent on your renovation does not really ensure the quality if you are unlucky to hire a lousy contractor to do your job. So for your case, you can view a full furnished house and the quality of the furnishing. If you do not like it, you can choose not to buy.

Overall, my renovation result is still quite okay even though I am not 100% satisfied as some of the customised furniture does not really up to my expectation. Though 50K is not a small sum but it is also not a big sum till it is sufficient to renovate the whole house. If you are planning to have customised furniture, 50K is not sufficient for you to renovate the whole house including with all furniture and electrical appliances.

just a 2 cents from a guy who just did his renovation

How much the total cost for the furnished item?
If it exceeds 50k then you have yourself a good bargain if you like the design / furnished items. If you don't like the design, whatever price also not worth it as you will probably dismantle it (another cost) then rebuild the whole thing to your liking

For empty house, u need to have 50k cash in hand, if u buy furnished house, u can get the loan from bank, it will ease ur financial...
if u're not familiar with the renovation, contractor will chop you into 18 pieces, end up paying more.

lots of very interesting & useful advise. Hope that our develop wl let us hv a choice of a empty hse or a furnish hse in their new project. much more economically friendly, in every new housing there wl be many owner demolish their house & rebuild it, floors wl be dug up & re-tiles, main door wl be dismantle & one thing for sure that wl be thrown away is the kitchen sink. All these we hv paid but all gone into the drain.

agree with you, while 50K is no small sum, when it comes to reno, it wont get you far, if you go through the threads in this forum, you will realise that MTM cabinets, flooring, extensions, wiring, etc.. is not cheap. 50K may only be sufficient if you are buying a new unit to renovate, if you buy a old house, it will cost more.
you need to evaluate if the fittings is worth the 50K you are paying, if yes, and you like the design, by all means get the house that has been renovated

i agree with most of the opinions. buying empty house & decorate/renovate it by urself is much much economical...only if you know the right procedure & know the right contractor. last time my dad had been rip off by the contractor for a lousy job. a 3m top hung & 3m low cabinet had cost him rm10k. just plain chipboard only.

for loose item such as furnitures...just search and buy it urself is much better

This post has been edited by @MAN-kun: Jun 27 2009, 09:05 AM

You must remember, some equipment in a house are required to get CF. Things like toilet bowl, basin (I think...), and kitchen sink is a must for CF approval. Why do you think the developer gives lousy/cheap kitchen sink? They know you're going to rip it off when renovating, it's just there for CF purposes.

for own stay and being an avid investor are worlds' apart..

this is where alot of folks got mistaken.. thinking that once you are able to procure something.. doesn't automatically place you as an investor!

your purchase choice would probably be biased towards your emotional pull..
another thing.. there're plenty of investor-wannabes here.. it's unlikely you can find a genuine, practicing investor who can tell you a dozen of angles to look at.. besides the price factor alone!

I got a 1390sf apartment in PJ, 2nd hand, fully renovated, for about 50K more than market price.

For me I think its worth it, due to the following reasons:

1. Save all the hassle, and I mean a lot of hassle if you don't have time to go thru all the thinking, sourcing, quotation, etc.. Time save is money saved.

2. The existing renovation is not exactly my cup of tea, but its above average. The unit even has a 29" TV and huge Fridge intially, but removed by the time it changes hand. I was informed of its removal initially. Its very clean, so I can literally pay the price, and move in with my suitcase in the evening, literally.

3. Own renovation can easily leads to overspending, its due to our inherent greed for better object. I mean, why spend 50K if you can get 60K appearence by spending 5K more? stuff like that. Unless one is very disciplined.

So far, after about 6 years, I am still using most of the old units, even the king sized bed as my new wedding bed mind you. But some wife does not like that. So don't quote me on that. (we did change the mattress though before wedding, although the old one was still new, effective and firm by the time we got it.)

Just my two cents.

The underlying thing is, if the existing reno is acceptable, why not?

The answer is always "depends" .... isn't it..

Is the furnishing & fixture worth the RM 50k extra you're paying?

IMO... the key things that should make up the value of the RM 50k should be
the "Fixture" and NOT "Furniture" since the TV, Fridge, Sofas, etc... depreciates greatly.

So, if there's lots of Fixtures like "Wall Extensions", NIce Imported Titles, Plaster Ceiling, etc...
that may make up the extra RM 50k... then sure, why not.

But in most cases... it's usually hard for common ppl like us to figure
out the true cost of the "Renovation" already done.

Hence, it's generally less risky to just buy it "Empty". save RM 50k and
never to worry if the extra RM 50k was well spent.



www.shchoy.com

This post has been edited by shchoy: Jul 23 2009, 11:38 PM

wow, thats new to me....changing the toilet bowl also need CF

btw, as renovation wise.....if the previous owner did reno 50k 5years ago would be more now rite? i mean the tiles/plasters/wallboard etc would be higher now rite

but if you like the renovations then it would be fine to pay more....somemore, materials are more expensive now....i think many agents who are selling reno house would say this too

I choose empty house, prefer to do the renovation n redecorate myself becos I am in construction & ID line.

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Added on July 24, 2009, 9:50 amWhether the previous owner spend more than RM50k on the renovation still depend on what type of material he use, what kind of worker he employ to do the job and also whether he kena "slaughter" by the contractor too. If he is ignorant customer,most likely he is paying a bomb for something not worth that much.

This post has been edited by Tohsan: Jul 24 2009, 09:50 AM