Boss,
Just a different point of view....ya

If looking for subsale, more attention should be place on the unit location, higher ground, facing, parks, ample parking, guards, LRT station, amenities, no HTC, heavy traffic, swtp etc.
House condition, even if recently renovated you won't know everything until you move in and stay there for 6 months to a year. Unless the previous owner give you 12 months warranty....la

A basic house in a superb location is better than a nicely renovated house in a lousy location.
Renovation is best done oneself as you can control the quality of material use and it isn't necessary to do all at 1 go.
Of course some parts like piping and wiring and flooring and any wet works is best done before you move in.
Depending on budget, what you can defer, it maybe better to defer as manatau you may not like staying there after 2 to 3 years and decide to house hunting again.
Remember, you can spend 500k for renovation but banks / valuer normally won't recognize that 500k during valuation, if lucky maybe they recognize 50% of it, if lucky.

Happy hunting Boss....

Boss, that's why it's called house hunting.
Good location i would say in general USJ is pretty good and also the places you mentioned.
But all good location will also have not so good area and good area.

The thing i wanted to highlight to TS is that finding a unit located in a good area takes priority over the renovation done.

And if you can find a unit that's in good location, nicely renovated and below a million, better keep quiet.
Otherwise ppl will come and buy it before you can call the agent or maybe agent themselves sapu first..

If buying landed property >20yo, I would think a basic unit would be preferred choice without paying for any reno cost previous owner had spent. I could save the purchase costs to strip all fixtures to check for any defect problems, and most importantly, re-wire and re-pipe the whole house so that I know at least for next 10 yrs I would not need to worry of wear n tear from old wiring n piping issues.

So depends on own budget, if going for old property, that's additional budget one needs to spare.

If piping only, you need to at least change the tile for all toilet, for kitchen piping, the contractor can connect from main valve, then go up to roof, and connect from the back from the house, the most budget one. Bur if you can find the same tile, or you not care about the different color of tile  or currently the house is come with PVC flooring, then still can do underground pipe change with less cost. Bit If you want to change your whole house tile, repiping is not costly.

Rewiring i am note sure how much, but it is not that difficult to do, and the wire can just remove from wall by hacking, for tile wall, they can insert in between of tile, just cutting a bit of tile and filling with white or grey cement, still not that bad.

I guess 10 to 15k for both repiping and rewiring, and rewirinc cost is higher than repiping. Next week i check with contractor again as the electrician will come, my contractor do repiping for me because i change all tiles for whole house, painful.

I am the one buying renovated unit, in the begin i thinking just budget do, only change the tile in toilet (redo water proofing) and remove upper floor wood flooring. But in the end, do more and more.

By the way, as my experience of current house, and my house in hometown, wire are quite lasting, my hometown house already 30 years after renovation and move in, now all wiring still function well.

My current stay in puchong already 15 years from developer, so far everything is good on wiring.

If you are to rewire whole house. Upgrade it to 3 phase.

This will increase the value of your house

Basically you split the electricity supply into your house into 3 separate line. So the risk of overloading will be less, and you can have more AC point and even a full Power AC EV charger in your house. Without 3 phase wiring, EV charger will be limited. To further future proof, you can even install solar panel and the NEM meter with TNB.

As for piping, good to re-pipe whole house if budget permits, old pipe tends to clog up causing lower water pressure. Not to mention the old water tangki, good to change then along with new pipe.

3rd will be toilet upgrade, pipe, tiling, waterproof and toiletries. All these if it's new, you will feel more comfortable as a home.

The above 3 to me is essential for old landed terrace. Shouldn't cost more than 50k.

If budget permits, then the rest will be good to have.
- autogate, new and bigger gate will make your house appears to be wider.
- flooring, parquet(common in old sime Darby houses). If possible polish it or replace with new ones.
- windows, doors etc.
-kitchen. Replace if needed,.some owners might've upgraded their kitchen recently.
- extension. This will require a lot of cash and MBSJ permit but if done correctly and frugally, will add long term value. An extended house with permit can fetch better value.

Fully agreed with these must do, just in my view, one more must do to add if buying old house - engage a good roofing specialist to do full roof and gutters inspection. Not necessary must do full replacement but check for broken pieces, and also assess for what additional works to do such as repaint, waterproof treatment, heat insulation and etc.