I'm going to play the devils advocate here and give a pessimist views on things.

I would only say it's speculation that property market would be good for the next 5 years.
Recently we saw a lot of developments especially in the recent 3 years. Why because our market just recovered and stabilised from the previous hit of recession in 97/98 and the big market downturn in 2000/2001. So it's correct that we're still at the young stage in property development.

But currently because of the young booming market; everyone is into properties thus the current uptrend in property price. Now the question is what would happen in the next 5 years? Maybe within this next 5 years the market is still blooming; but remember that oil price is also riding on the up trend surpassing USD90 per barrel on several occasion and is predicted by year end it would obviously be above USD90 per barrel permanently.
Not to mention we'll become net oil importer in 5 years time.

Thus what would the economy be after the 5 years period? Or are we suggesting that we ride on the trend for 5 years flipping properties to earn fullest returns for the next 5 years to sustain ourself for the next 10 years? Property prices are at all time high currently, so is it really wise to buy property for investment now? But obviously we're expecting it to grow further more. But how much can it grow since it's already at a high price? What's the peak before all tumbles down?

Another factor, is property price is going up at a very fast rate and predicted to grow even faster in the next couple of years; but is our increase in earnings able to keep up with this uprising trend?

Btw, to those that are not in the banking and finance line, you wouldn't believe how much the industry NPL had grown. I.e. lots and lots of ppl are getting into too much debt that they could not handle. That is why also the Government took the initiative to set up AKPK to help those type of ppl from the grasp of financial institutions. Us in this line is expecting US's sub prime crisis to hit us in another 2 years times at the rate of our rising NPLs. Taiwan took a hit 2 years back in year 2005 because financial institutions are offering too much credits to consumers out there; and M'sia market now are recently also aggressive in giving out loans which is also really not a good sign. To those who is able to manage, kudos! but to those who can't I wouldn't advice them getting into debts i.e. leveraging from financial institution in hope for a better return in properties.


Cheers!.........

The thing about shop lots is always location. You need to front it at a location where it is full of ppl and ample space of parking. Anyway, by buying shoplots, you'll be mostly relying on rental income, so you need to survey the surroundings before buying to avoid buying a "dead" place.

SUPEX had a "not-so-good-reputation" in the online community for property investor such as http://realestate.net.my/forum/ and http://www.myrealestate.com.my/

based on the interest rate of 6% per annum for 30 years and loan amount is RM300k.
Monthly installment is RM1,798.65
Total paid for 30 years is RM647,514.57
So total interest paid is RM347,514.57

They are companies out there doing that. I.e. gather investor to invest a certain sum to invest.
Anyway, if you want to do it on your own I would suggest start with family. Because there would be problem in trust. Especially with money. At the time of buying, you need to list down the owner's name. whose name to put?!....No way you're putting down 10 names...
At the point you think it's ripe to sell; what is the determined price to let go? would there be any vote on that? what if 5 thinks they want to gamble by waiting for another 6 months and 5 wants to sell now?!....

See the complication now?
Unless you want to draft out legal papers and guides to get things on the way. But than, your investment cost would go up with all these efforts. Thus I don't think it's advisable. For RM400k property, you could still secure it with loans. It's known as leveraging. You ensure low cash out in securing the property to gain maximum gain when you sell say a year later.