i'm not a capital gain person, per se..

there's a lot of good to have good monthly rental as opposed to buying a property towards waiting for an appreciation.. (the bank has already done the appreciation for you, if you know what i mean)

haha.....one is always being forced to sell at a higher price to cover the interest charged; i.e. to settle the bank's mortgage loans........

im not sure what u meant here, so care to elaborate further?

Folks,

The property we bought say this in the advt. "Guarded Community with Perimeter Fencing"

Does this mean its gated community ?

Yeap, it should be....
Anyway, it's best to confirm whether the guards are being paid by the developer as your monthly maintenance fee (if you does pay) or it's by the own RA formed.

boon got it right.. refer to Post #82

ohh, thats all? I thought I missed something there.

If thats the case, its the same as UT, as we r being charged fee's 3%-6% upfront everytime we subscribe to one.

I think get a small unit condo by Sunrise @ Mont Kiara. Good security, good maintainence & good price appreciation.

Hi SHaresa,

Mind sharing with us which condo in MK?

as long as under Sunrise is good, my opinion. If new development too expensive, the older ones are slightly cheaper but well maintained. You should go and look around.

Sunrise property is way out of a lot of ppl's league I guess.
I seriously doubt that many middle income earners can afford it.
I know a lot of expat preferred staying in Bangsar as I knew of 2, and also Mount Kiara and Sri Hartamas.
But how well is the demand for rental in that area? I'm not sure, anyone familiar with the areas in MK and SH?
But if to buy it for own stay, with the same amount; one can probably get a bigger unit elsewhere.
I'm not against it totally, it's just that I do not like condos maybe because I am sort of a "kampung boy" who prefers lands and gardens. When the amount to purchase a condo can get me a anded property for own stay; that's when I felt that it's not worth it to buy the condo.
I would think of Condo as a tool for investment, but than again; high priced condo usually does not return good rental income.
So left capital gain. But property appreciation is always based on demands, and a bigger risk I might say.

Boon, Sunrise made MK, and I must say they have been doing a good job on that. The reason why Sunrise is very popular among the middle to high-end property investors is because of the returns. If I remember correctly, all the initial buyers of their condo are currently enjoying a minimum 50% capital gains, ON TOP of double digit rental ROI (%) every year.

Companies usually pay expats rental allowance, so a 5k rental a month in MK is very common. Demand for rental has been superb, but I foresee its not going to be as HOT 2 years later due to the number of incoming new supply.

Boon, when it comes to own stay, everyone got their own preference. MK condo's are expensive bcoz there are expats willing to pay 10k permonth rental for a condo in a posh area or close to 2Mil to buy the unit. The same expat wont even pay 1k to live in a bigger landed bungalow, say in Rawang, do to its location and unsuitable community living. What is right for them, may not be right for you, and vice versa.

Bottomline, just get a house or condo that makes you and your family happy. Any capital gains or excelllent rental income that comes after that, is just a bonus

This post has been edited by Pai: Sep 26 2007, 01:01 PM

simple as it may seem.. but alot of people failed to see thru this..

i'm not quite sure how you relate it to UT though.. althought both property and UT are marked-to-market but the selling off (or liquidation) don't follow the same rules.. (e.g you can't sell the UT to another buyer except to sell it back to the issuer)

but for properties.. if you sell it at developer price a year later.. you're actually making a loss..

there may be a mis-conception on this area.. the profit margin can be handsome on both expensive or less expensive condos/apartment/flat.
however the level of risk is not the same..

there're in fact real instances where the profit margin on a penthouse unit of a condo that rake in fantastic rental income/profit.. (i did a research in ampang back then, and i was amazed) but the carrying cost, which translate to the risk involved.. is also fantastic.

fantastic 2 rule applies.. "risk and return"

Hi, all.

Me and my bf are planning to get married in 2010. We are both 24 this year. I would like to purchase a house before our marriage but my bf insisted that we should just rent. We kind of have some disagreement because of that. Since you all have so much experience in property, can you pls. help me to analyze whether we should rent / buy with our situation. If we were to buy, how much is the property appropriate based on our financial situation.

*We planned to stay about 15 years the most starting 2010 cos we will be moving to the US once our PR status is approved. (Applied PR status through his brother - a US citizen)

*Now, my bf is looking for opportunities to work in overseas but there's no guarantee that he can secure a job in overseas before our marriage. If we are still in Malaysia by then, we still have to look for a place to stay.

*As for financial status, we don't expect our family can help us on that. So my prediction by the year 2010, our savings should be enough for:

1) Wedding (Budget RM40K)
2) House purchase legal fees/simple renovation/furnitures and etc (Budget RM60K)
3) 10% of the house purchase will get from our EPF

*My prediction for our combined salary by that time should be around RM8K monthly.

The problem is, due to financial constraint, we can only manage to buy a completed home in that year. I'm sure the house pricing will go up very high by that time. I know the right thing is to put a large downpayment, but I'm afraid we can't. We'll have to take the longest period loan from the bank.
Is this wise? Or should we just rent?

Since you both are planning to go overseas and live there, why spent money in properties?
Just rent a simple house and wait for the opportunity.
Reserve more money or budget for your startup in a new country.

That's only my opinion for if I'm in the situation I would want lesser commitment when I shift. I.e. I wouldn't even think of owning a car.

This post has been edited by b00n: Sep 26 2007, 03:20 PM

Well, true...but just that after I did some research, I find that renting a house is very discouraging and it's usually for people who stay less than 3 years or always on the move (due to job and etc). As for me, I'll be staying for at least 15 years. Is is worth renting for 15 years? Moreover, we can't make good use of our EPF by renting. I'm just so lost.

It depends on individual situation. If buying a house then become highly leverage or having serious cashflow problem then start with renting would be a better choice. Only buy when have sufficient fund and cashflow in healthy situation, don't need to rush on it.

Why 15 years for waiting for PR?
Again, if the PR is approved sooner.....would you guys shifts?

On your next query, you mentioned that your BF is already looking for opportunities overseas but obviously no guaranty. But if he found one which suitable, would you guys shift?...

See how blur you are in handling this matter.

You guys have to stand firm. I.e. choose whether or not you guys would stay in M'sia. Like for the above 2 queries; if there's opportunity or if the PR is approved sooner, would you guys immediately take flight or wait for 15 years.

If dreamer is here, he will explain better I guess. He stayed in the States before.

Renting is basically the best options IMHO if you guys do plan to leave. It's harder to leave with attachment and commitments.
Even if you wanted to sell of your house which you eventually bought, there's many months of procedures; and inclusive of looking for the right sales, it might even take you 1 year to completely detach from the property. Would that affect you guy's plans?!

property price going up every year,
its always better to own your own house rather than help other people pay their installment.

This post has been edited by nnpjj: Sep 26 2007, 04:38 PM