As a guide, 1 storey can become 2 ..(1 cannot become 3)
.2 can become 3.

3 is max

Ultra wide lens effect.

Terasek in bangsar? Yeah they all pretty old..Some of the wooden roof truss even got attacked by termites.

But that area (and TTDI) is an enclave for complete house make overs..Some are really very outstanding ...

Basically it boils down to : 1) budget 2) taste....of these neighbourhoods

Ya - loh.

All the wooden frames on the door frames have to be changed. Even the toilet doors were rotting

The wood on the roof seems okay as someone came to check the water tank guy and he mentioned the wood is still quite solid.

Roof tiles have been there since late 1970s so probably needs to be replaced.

A lot of my neighbours still have not done any renovation on their houses - they keep the houses neat and tidy but they are all mainly old people. Cannot see younger people at all on my street - all the residents seem to be old folks

Yes, these 2 areas are a haven for makeovers as DBKL planning policies tend to be fairly lenient if you approach the correct people.

Many of these houses are now passed on to the 2nd generation of the original owner therefore the person that financed the renovations tend to have bigger budgets which usually translates to better renovations.

Bangsar is an ageing neighbourhood. Not sure why it has thus far failed to retain a younger crowd in its residential areas. Generally the same story for the condos as well as other than Nadi and Gaya much of them tend to be occupied by 40s or above residents. Quite different from the KLCC area condo I call my main residence as most tend to be in their low to mid 30s.

Roof truss tend to be made from stronger wood than those used for door frames and I was once told many contractors treated it with diesel as a termite treatment and acts as one of the best vapour barrier.

Not quite sure what s the real demographic there, but i do know a young couple who recently bought a two storey house there n plan to have a complete make over.

But u r prolly right..most younger group tend to prefer condo over landed. Security is always the biggest issue.

Actually i like Sri Penaga opposite Bangsar Shopping Complex - looked at a smaller apartment in there and the compound is beautiful. Looks like the price has dropped quite a fair bit there (judging from asking prices in iProperty) since 12 months ago.

I was thinking of investing in another condo once i retire but now with the outlook in Malaysia looking so bleak, i am having second thoughts

Do you mind me asking what is your expected monthly expenses if you are to stay in Malaysia?

I believe the regulations have changed in the last couple of years. I can confirm this as firstly I talked to the owner and secondly I did work on some plans for new development. 4 storey is the max permitted... that is OFFICIALLY permitted. Malaysia being Malaysia if you grease the right palms you can do 50 storeys no problem but that's a little out of topic...

KL is growing more developed and we will see many high rises soon in addition to what is already here. I admit I have mixed feelings as I like the kampung feel of the old KL.

Good ones are still upwards of RM900 per sqft though. A bit expensive unless it is a very nicely maintained unit.

The issue with buying such an old condo as a form of investment is it will never be a positive cash flow investment and capital appreciation is now below rate of inflation.

Spoonfeed me a little. Price and sqft?

I think i will need about rm10k/mth for me and my wife. We won't need to pay rent/mortgage and car loan - just need money for food/groceries, fuel and utilities. Possibly budget a bit for helping siblings.

I don't know if rm10k/mth will be sufficient as we are quite thrifty.

I inspected one unit asking for rm1.01mil (1033 sqf) in Jan 2020 - unit was renovated slightly but facing Jalan Maarof so a bit of traffic noise. Cannot remember what floor - i remember it was quite high up. I suspect this property will go for rm900k at most now.

The gardens were beautiful and swimming pools were quite impressive. Quite an 'atas' feel

This post has been edited by Garysydney: Feb 17 2021, 03:20 PM

Thanks

Bangsar might be worth it to live in, not sure about investment. Most Msian "condos" are ruined by the people inside, so sometimes you end up paying more if you want to stay in a place where the people take care of stuff...

DBKL regulations are usually in line with most other PBTs.

4 storeys is now the max hence places such as East Residence could exist.

However when it comes to renovating, then at most you could build a half storey only.

The main difference however with DBKL is they tend to be a bit more lenient as to what constitutes a half storey.

I wish KL had better density and planning controls.

Yes it's true though that the 2 cases I mentioned were either full reconstruction or new build

When it comes to renovating it depends on the foundation works. Many 2 storey are built with tolerance for 3 storey (such as mine). So that's the max DBKL will allow for reno of that particular house. At least that's what I was told...

Yeah well we all know who's to blame for the high rises mushrooming everywhere and loss of so many green lungs

The rental market for the higher end is not good at all at the moment. My wife has a 3+1 condo in MK which we used to get rm6k/mth a few years ago but the condo has been empty since Jan 2020. It is a very nice unit but we didn't get any serious offers until Oct/Nov 2020 - the offers we got were around rm4k but were private leases (which my wife detest) and they had so many conditions in their offers (move furniture around, remove blinds, install mosquito net, want single queen instead of 2 single beds,etc...). My wife is very fussy with her selection of tenants so rejected those who put too many conditions in their offers and usually not even look at those offers. We have only been renting out to corporate tenants (Uniglo especially) before this but Uniglo has been cutting their expat staff last year since Covid. We pull the unit off the market in Nov 2020 because my wife wanted it for her own use when we retire soon.

We have another 1 bedder in MK that is rented out for rm1,600 (maintenance rm220). That unit is quite easily rented out and our current tenant is a good paymaster.

We don't owe any money on our units so we are quite happy just leaving it empty

kena apply to change 1 storey to 2 storey

I see, so depend on foundation la

Should be sufficient if you spend wisely. Since you have the budget already, you have to account for inflation of say 2% p.a. and then work out how long can your current funds last you. I think if you can get 30 years you should be safe already