Let us look at things this way:

Buy home at location near workplace, facilities: high price=can't buy. Conclusion: not an option at all.

Next, buy far from work, less facilities, affordable price, but the cons: longer travel time=less time at home, more on petrol and car maintenance. Is that ok? If you can't bear, yet you consider owning a home is advantageous for you and generations in future, then is there any more choice?

To answer this, some expert advise people to buy that home, say, in BSC, but rent near your work place (some can't afford as this is servicing a bank loan and paying rent. Your own home can be rented out too to offset some cost but certainly, rent value at far places is lower than what you need to pay in city where you work). An eg.:

Buy home in BSC and service bank loan at say, RM 2,500/month, rent a house for own stay in city at say, RM2,000/month. Total cost= RM4,500/month.
To cut cost, rent your BSC home to others at say, RM1,400/month. Net cost = RM4,500-RM1,400=RM3,100/month. Wow! That's a lot really. Now compare to just staying in BSC and travel far daily, well, sounds terrible, isn't it! Pay RM300 more for monthly petrol and toll and budget an extra car maintenance at RM 100/month ( vary with car condition) the total outlay is RM2,500+RM300+RM100=RM2,900/month.
Your own situation may differ but this is roughly the way to work it out.

Conclusion from above eg.: RM200/month cheaper to stay at BSC.

Regardless of whether you opt to rent or stay, after some months or years, when facility around your home improves and the value of your investment rises accordingly, then you can consider either selling it off for a profit and keep it to earn dividends/bank interest. As years go by, your earning power may also increase to lessen your financial outlay. Together with the profit from selling your landed property, your option will be: upgrade your borrowing power to buy a better home.👍Or, keep all that money and downgrade to renting from others. There are people who choose to rent house for their stay 'forever' and enjoy higher cash liquidity. This is good for emergency and old age. No law says that one MUST have your own home afterall. Wise, right? Home ownership has more or less reached a costly stage to arrive at this point.

However, continuous renting for your stay has its own setback. The longer you rent a place, the more repair you have to foot. Rent agreement does not allow one to put off house repair. So before things get worn out, that may mean you need to move and look for another place to rent all over again but finding a suitable place sometimes may need time and that is when you face inconvenience.

This is the way I look at this. What about you?

This post has been edited by Supreme1394: Jul 28 2013, 09:11 PM

About whether to buy KLK homes, I can definitely tell from visiting other vacant homes built by other developers that Klk still scores way above. You won't believe that many newly built homes look soooooo shoddy, with floor tiles looking like those in public toilets and porch painted so crudely.

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This post has been edited by Supreme1394: Aug 7 2013, 12:41 PM

Anyone renovating their homes there?

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This post has been edited by Supreme1394: Aug 8 2013, 10:29 PM

Is it easier if leave all dealings with contractors to only the ID designer? Not sure how much they charge for this service though but that way you cut lots of stress. Anyone has some experience to share on this?

Thank you for sharing.

Just to share:
We were about to sign an invoice for a piece of furniture. Before that, one assistant assured that any defective goods can be rejected upon delivery to home. Ok, good. And another then asked for FULL payment upon placing the order. What? Even Lorenzo only wants 30% upfront.

The same girl also said: no reject for defective goods too! We turned to the earlier blook. He now changed his word: goods can only be inspected in their shop before being sent to my house. I argued what if damage occurs during transportation from shop to my place? Then he conceeded and said ok can reject at my place but he needs time to replace the goods! What the hell, which version of their spoken words will be used eventually on delivery? And why ask to pay all straight away? All this happened after we had given our particulars and luckily we ignored their request to sign!

I recall my experience years ago: After making a full payment for a sofa set, the goods delivered to home had to be rejected due to a long black mark on a pure white sofa seat! The lorry driver then called the shop many times using my handphone and told me that the sales guy wasn't in so he informed another worker there on this. He drove off with the sofa.
1/2 hr. later, I called the shop and spoke to the sales guy handling my purchase. Guess what? He said he was not informed on this on the spot ( he wasn't in!) and he said since that wasn't done (despite us informing the shop's other worker), the shop will not be responsible as he claimed that the lorry man has disappeared with the goods. It was a commissioned lorry, not theirs. But he had charged us the transport cost and he had also commissioned the lorry himself! As far as I was concerned, my dealing was only with him. Obvious yet he screamed all the way. The angel in him was no more.

All this meant that we got no sofa after paying the full price close to RM3,000. Anyway, I spent quite a long time throwing threats and named the head of the Consumer Ministry and licensing authorities who may revoke his business licence before he was subdued and agreed to resent a new sofa. Finally we got a defect free one, after the date promised. Of course, not without another round of calling and repeating the threats.

Lesson learned: never ever pay the full price before delivery. That will minimise your losses if you are too busy to pursue the claims with the tribunal. Secondly, if you can, only buy from branded shops, as both the above are roadside outlets. But if you really have no choice, check the small prints ie. the terms for delivery at the bottom of the invoice BEFORE you sign up for the purchase. Promises mean nothing, only black and white in writing can help if later on, you need to refer a dispute to the consumer tribunal for claims! And mind you, these road side shops get to group their shops in a row into so called furniture expo or 1-stop centers and are selling up-market furnitures. Some are truly by designers and of export quality. A dining set with chairs costs RM4,000+. One lady customer realised that the chairs cost more than the table, as each chai is priced for a few hundred ringgit and just a modern sofa table is more than a thousand ringgit.

This post has been edited by Supreme1394: Aug 20 2013, 01:33 AM

In addition, use modern technology ie. handphone to take pic. Of the defect with date on, and the lorry no. Plate and time of delivery. All these provide evidence for claims. Write the reason for rejection in the delivery invoice as well. Keep a duplicate copy.
Important: If you need to sign while placing an order, do NOT sign at the space for 'Received by' or Received above goods in good order and condition'. Both these are meant for signing later when goods are delivered to your place! If you sign while making the order, you are saying that you already received the furniture when you haven't yet!

This post has been edited by Supreme1394: Aug 22 2013, 03:56 PM

Lessons with some contractors:

1. Payment should be by schedule of work completed.

2. Have a penalty clause for work delay. Some may dump materials in front and hang up for months! The idea: get as many deals as possible while owners cannot move in at all once walls are broken and floor drilled.

3. Make the contractor responsible over theft or loss during renovation. Put in writing that they are to use their own keys to enter and lock your premise as well as station workers to guard during off hours and you only inspect work in their presence.

4. After consulting your designer on what is needed, have him or you to call for meeting with the contractors. When you are not sure of certain materials proposed such as tiles and tinted glass, insist that they tell you the outlets selling them and make a visit to see for yourself. After that, decide what to use and put the specs in the quotation. Or else some of the materials supplied may be of cheaper range and you have no basis to argue at all.

5. Get 2 quotations for the same work and compare terms. Note: The cheapest may not be the best in workmanship. It is not wise to bargain and bargain to the end. Let them earn some good margins. Or else it may encourage shoddy work to cut cost that you can't see such as laying tiles with little cement or even poorly done work as sabotage!

On ID:
Employ interior designers who are not employed by builders or factories. They should have no link whatever with the building guys. Pay them for consultation and supervision only. That way, they should have no vested interest in construction materials used to cut costs! Avoid the scenario where contractors and ID gang together to bully. Preferrably get designers from a big team or those long in the trade who have established names as contractors can get many deals from them. This makes contractors listen well to them. I have seen a single operating and young, mild mannered ID having a tough time arguing with a rowdy contractor to change some items that the latter brought to site! An established team will suffice. Growl or scream they will get their way through. Older IDs are successful and have stronger persona😈 and many deals to induce the contractors into cooperation. You can also accept young ones as long as they are attached to a team of established names.

This post has been edited by Supreme1394: Aug 22 2013, 04:36 PM

No major problem at all, only minor ones.

This post has been edited by Supreme1394: Aug 22 2013, 08:02 PM

My true sympathy for this. My unit has nothing like this, all excellent smooth plastering and paint job except that dots of paint were left unwiped in a few places. I am extremely glad that KL-K has done an excellent job for us! Cracks on the external wall and fencing were there before but they were done up well just before we took the keys.

By the way, renovation will be done strictly before moving in. My ex- neighbours renovated his old home and stayed in throughout that duration, ... and my... no space to walk to fridge or even the toilet, with all his furniture dumped everywhere. He had a stroke after enduring the noise and dust and tension daily supervising the work!!😵. He became off-minded and scream or ignore people he used to befriend before like me. We used to speak lots while his renovation went on, sigh...What a tragedy at retirement!! He only wish to live out his long beheld dream of having a nicer home and yet this has taken away his sanity after spending his savings.

Haven't dropped by there for a week or more. Any Banyan has got electricity into home?

This post has been edited by Supreme1394: Aug 23 2013, 07:20 PM

What chemical did they say they use?

Banyan owners: electricity sudahpun sampai ke rumah.

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This post has been edited by Supreme1394: Aug 29 2013, 09:56 PM

Among the 3 schemes that are completed, it is very very quiet there today, hardly a few homes are occupied. Also no renovation work seen. Wonder why? When are you moving in? We may move in next year.

Meanwhile, KLK is fixing some minor defects.

This post has been edited by Supreme1394: Aug 30 2013, 10:50 AM

Ate wantan mee soup at a Chinese corner restaurant called Sure Good in Taman Industri Alam Jaya (TIAJ). Tasted delicious. The shop also have Tai Chaw (big fry) dishes and mix rice. Prices cheaper than PJ.
We went for lunch again and ordered wu guay dau (french beans) fried in chicken slices. Also good. Salted vege soup tasted slightly fatty.

Opposite BSC at the traffic light is Jln. Meru Tambahan, a straight road and less than 2 km. on your right is the entrance where you see a stone wall with N IAJ. This turning is the one before Alam Jaya. The sign 'Taman' has only one 'N' left and read as N IAJ. Turn in and go staight till see the shop.

The shop is quite full during lunch. Was recommended by a Chinese Lady at a hardware shop in Puncak Alam 2.

This post has been edited by Supreme1394: Aug 31 2013, 01:45 PM

There are talks by 2 Interior Designers at 2pm today 31/8 and 1/9 at PWTC KL 'Perfect living '13 exhibition.

This post has been edited by Supreme1394: Aug 31 2013, 04:56 AM

1. For safety reason, any renovation that involves structural changes to walls ( extra window opening) and beams (cutting the beam and putting up new ones) and structural extension of walls requires you to engage a draftsman to draw and get approval signature from a practising civil engineer. The latter will submit your plan for MDKS's approval. Then you will get a permit to start work. For some common extension such as kitchen, the local authority has standard plans to sell and therefore you don't have to draft your own plan. It cuts cost. It pays to go and check out on all this and just pay a small fee for some of these plans.

2. Any asset under loan servicing belongs to the lender. If your home is charged to the bank under a bank loan, the property literally belongs to the bank which will compell you to take up fire insurance as part of the loan servicing (the component of it is stated). When you have paid up the loan in full, then with the loan clearance letter from the bank only you can apply to the Pejabat Tanah dan Galian for the title to be tranferred back to your name, and hurray! Only then you own the home wholely, and so again...., then buy or don't buy insurance you decide yourself...lol.

This post has been edited by Supreme1394: Sep 2 2013, 12:58 AM

Sounds like you know about fung sui. And also a considerate neighbour.

This post has been edited by Supreme1394: Sep 6 2013, 02:16 AM