hi, just completed my purchase of a unit here and hopefully will be moving in end of the year.
any advice and anything important i should know.
also when is the agm?

I own and stay here and ive got no complaints, in fact im on the MC also.
bought last year at 650+, thats more or less still the going rate for non auction units.

the main reason got so many units at auction price is because this project was mainly sold overseas at a premium as an investment property with guaranteed rental returns of x% for foreigners with the selling point being that it was in "Mont Kiara". technically that is true as its on kiara 3 and in a few years time it will be considered exactly the same but for the time being, its surrounded by construction and parts of the original kampung and this situation wont change for the next 5 years or so.

coming back to why there are so many units on auction is because, with the downturn of the economy and the glut of high rise units in the market as well as significant number of expats leaving malaysia with the weakening ringgit, this condo could not deliver the promised rental returns and couldn't go for the rental amount required to make a profit for the overseas owners.

Subsequently, these owners default on their repayments and the units go on auction.
their numbers are small though as for the management and maintenance fees, we have more than 80% paying their monthly fees so i assume that their loans are being repaid promptly.

in the last year, we have > 10 new local owners and i welcome this trend as we will have more malaysians and less foreigners staying and maintaining this beautiful condo in the long term

TLDR, good investment for long term and own stay.

undesirables? not really, there are a few african people living there now but they are quiet and mostly keep to themselves, its a quiet condo with low residency and is well built with decent facilities considering its size. the only irritating thing are the few stupid dumbasses who smoke in the stairwell and throw their butts down, but we have asked the security to keep an eye out and catch the fuckers who do that shit and impose the RM500 fine on their unit.

we cannot ban airbnb as there is no such provision under strata title.
to my knowledge a few of the foreign owned units are airbnb units but i think that number is less than 5 units.
in any event, we are taking steps to register all the nonrental/non owners visitors and it is being implemented as you need a card to go up to any residential floor.

we are actually in the process of getting quotations for the cardio equipment for the gym.
for a small condo, we have a function room, a childrens playground, a pool, a gym, a games room, a reading room and squash court. i think thats not bad facility wise for a small condo with only 160 units.

recently we have converted the water feature into a koi pond, although the pond still needs more koi as its big.

we have been constantly reviewing the facilities and constantly upgrading as per necessary, it takes time but its getting done. we have a small but very dedicated group of owners on the management committee.

when i first moved in 2017, i actually attended the first AGM post developer where they formed the MC with the aim to bring down the management fee. however, after seeing the costs involved and upon advise of rising annual costs, the MC were not able to reduce the maintenance fee. Rising cost in 2018 together with other condos around raising their management fees have actually justified this and im confident we wont have to raise the fees for the forseable future too as a result.

the guard house at the back has been there since the beginning, long before i moved in as the space behind the condo has always been earmarked to be part of Jalan Kiara 4 which is part of the greater KL plan. however, when we spoke to city hall and were visited by its officers some time ago, they informed us funds were not available in the foreseeable future so we are not sure if we will ever see the road or not, but believe you me, im also always enquiring on about it.
please bear in mind that a massive storm drain separates this road if its ever built and our condo and we will have to build a bridge across this, this will no doubt cost quite a bit if it ever happens, and all owners will probably have to chip in for it at the time as even if completely deplete our sinking fund and management fund i dont think we will have enough to fund the construction cost.

hope this answers your questions. have a good day

just to make sure there are no vested interests, flight are you a property agent or living there?

i live here and im not confident the road will be made soon, not with the political situation in malaysia and our current lack of funds
on top of that, inspirasi has built an elevated end on kiara 4 that closes into their unit. whether than can be rectified im not sure but given that UEM owns the plot between inspirasi and aston im sure they will find a way to get it done which will benefit us although i fear that the road will be elevated.

As for funds, we have > 1 million in our sinking fund but that is nowhere enough to build such a structure if the road is eventually built (especially if we need to build a raised structure to connect) and we will most likely have to do a capital raise in the future to entertain such a notion IF Kiara 4 is built. On the other side of things, if the connecting road is built all the way thru, traffic will significantly reduce on kiara 3 and it will essentially become a side road rather than the major thruway. that itself will make getting in and out much much easier so the major traffic build up will be a thing of the past and it will shift to kiara 4.

As for living here, all i can say is that its great. its quiet as there are only 180 units, extremely safe and the facilities are good. If you are buying for investment, this is not for you, please stay away, we want a wholesome family place, not a place for you to rent out or try to make a quick flip.
It is very affordable for those wanting their first homes in the heart of KL and given that its freehold, the sky is the limit, just for comparison, inspirasi is leasehold.

Yes maintenance is expensive, almost 700 ringgit for maintenance monthly as there are only 180 units here but monthly collections are > 80%. In other words we are healthy finance wise and well managed. Bear in mind this has NOT been raised for > 5 years now. how many other condos can say the same. I can assure you this as im on the committee and have been so for the last 3 years and i can tell you that all the related costs keep rising year on year but we have been able to maintain that without cutting the quality because of that 0.40 psf. I dont think we will have to increase this coming year again though i cant guarantee that for the year after.

Like it or not, stay or not i dont care, if you join us welcome, if you dont, your loss or your gain or whatever. One thing is for sure, location wise for this price i doubt you can find a better deal to be honest.

Local bumi? Maybe 3-4 families
A few indian and punjabi families
Majority of the locals are chinese singles and families
One or two South Asian expat families
A few Asiatic Expat families (Taiwan/Korea/Japan)
1-2 African families (with young kids)
A few middle eastern families
Some units are currently unoccupied but 65-70% occupancy i think

As for auction at 450? from my knowledge maybe that was the starting price but most closed closer to 600. i dont think any closed less than 550 but i could be wrong.

This post has been edited by spursman_forever: Jul 14 2020, 09:02 AM

No more like 40% chinese, 30 percent all the rest and 30 percent vacant

its about 80 plus percent, the ones that arent paying are the auction units, and a few of the vacant units. those will be recouped when the units get sold.
80 + % is a very good collection number already actually

AGM upcoming saturday morning, hope owners turn up