I tin u better ask Shebby Singh...

I noticed this while walking with my wife at 1 Borneo here in KK last night. Apparently it's a promotion from yet another land banking scheme, this one based on properties in the UK. I checked out their website and they seem like a big group but everything screams "scam" to me.

http://profitablegroup.com/index.aspx

What do you all think?

It's not a scam. Eventually, they are one of the largest land banking companies in Malaysia over here.

Most of the land banking will have their investment in UK because so far it's the only country that encourage land banking unlike malaysia and other countries who have a stricter rules and too many blah blah when you want to deal with land banking. Thus, you can see most of the land banking companies will offer you the investment in UK.

On paper, it's a good investment, however, from what I heard, the risk is very high as you cant always monitor the exact development progress in UK and many have claimed they still earning peanut even after they have dumped in quite an abundant money into it.

its under the GMC company, they have anak company that sells mat kiosk, scamming top up machine company....what else could you expect??

Are you saying that this is indeed a scam?

You should know that landbanking scheme is not approved by Bank Negara and a few of them has been investigated by BNM. It is in the press and been discussed in this forum.

I guess it's a little bit like Walton International in land banking
I have went for a few seminars they conducted, quite impresive

And did you know that Walton had been raided by BNM recently?

Anyway, land banking works in the concept that land would appreciate which I would say in this current economics........one seriously need to give it a good thought.

the company name already rang my alarm bell. ><

Yea i know . . . but everything is okiz now i heard as they alreaddy publish in the star & their CEO are working side by side with BNM to solve this issue

Anyway from my point of view in this kinda market condition, land banking or properties investment will take longer time to grow
comepare to equity or etc. Not a good investment vehicle now.

how bout tis?

http://www.uklii.com

also in kk punya

This post has been edited by huakenny: Mar 29 2009, 07:03 PM

re Profitable Group / Profitable Plots / Syndications Canada. My personal experience investing with these people has not been a good one. I purchased two AAA land products in Feb 2008. The AAA are promised as of the highest quality and that you may double your investment in 3-6 months. After the one year investment anniversary you are entitled to 12.5% interest if the investment hadn't yet doubled. You can also exit the investment after one year with your principal and interest. It has been two and a half months since I chose to exit and I haven't seen a penny yet. I am tired of their excuses, don't trust them and have hired legal counsel to sue them for what they owe me.
They are quick to take your money and are very poor at keeping you informed.
I will never do business with this organization again.

Isn't profitable group the guys who always advertise during Premier League games, using the ESPN soccer commentators as brand ambassadors?

That is probably so. They do support football. I have never seen a TV ad for profitable group ( profitablegroup.com ) in Canada. I was introduced to them through a Financial Forum Roadshow in Calgary Canada. As I said I will never again invest with them.

Please get your facts right. Real estate and property have never been in the jurisdiction of Bank Negara. They are within the control of SSM. Bank Negara only controls bank related matters (refer to BAFIA act).

The proper jurisdiction is as follows :-

Min of Finance
SC Bank Negara SSM

Bank Negara - Bank related matters
SC - Unit Trust, Insurance etc
SSM - all others

* Recently the issue with Walton's Bank Negara raid was because of foreign exchange, which is a bank related matter. However its business is still under SSM's jurisdiction.

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Added on May 11, 2009, 12:40 pmWhat is the location of the land you've invested in? As far as I know there is no 3-6mth exit for land investments and it is highly unlikely appreciation over 3-6 mths is double based on the following facts :-

1) US & Canada Land - average appreciation 10-20%p.a.
2) UK land - average appreciation 50-70%p.a (the highest for land appreciation) - see www.voa.gov.uk
3) Land prices only increase after it has been converted from undeveloped/raw land to residential/commercial status. Buying and sellin land over a 3-6 mths it too short for land conversion to take place. This process takes +/- 5 years and if there are any complications it may even take up to 26 years (according to Walton's track record).
4) If you are dealing with land based in UK, there are restrictions on greenbelt land and there are 7 stages for those types of land to be converted, if allowed. Each stage takes min 6 mths.

This post has been edited by DannyOP: May 11 2009, 12:40 PM

2) UK land - average appreciation 50-70%p.a (the highest for land appreciation) - see www.voa.gov.uk

Completely untrue for undeveloped land- do you know what an average is? There may have been some years where UK land boomed by that amount but there are at least as many where it bombed. The last two years have been complete bombs. Average appreciation across long periods for undeveloped land sits with about the rate of inflation. Provided you pay the right price you ought to do OK . The issues with undeveloped land as an investment is you have to maintain it and keep squatters off, and it can be tough to sell if you need the cash quickly.

3) Land prices only increase after it has been converted from undeveloped/raw land to residential/commercial status. Buying and sellin land over a 3-6 mths it too short for land conversion to take place. This process takes +/- 5 years and if there are any complications it may even take up to 26 years (according to Walton's track record).

Partly true. Some land will never get converted especially in the UK. I note that Profitable Group are estimating returns in 3 years of 250% according to this Singapore TV advert. The position of Hounslow council on the Profitable Group Hounslow site is stated in this freedom of information request. They say they can see no circumstance where the Hounslow site would get planning permission. Someone is not telling the truth.

4) If you are dealing with land based in UK, there are restrictions on greenbelt land and there are 7 stages for those types of land to be converted, if allowed. Each stage takes min 6 mths.

Not true. Green Belt has legal protection in the UK. That does not mean it can never be converted but conversion is highly unlikely. The tiny chance of conversion is always completely misrepresented in advertising by land banking companies into an incredile opportunity.

The most common issue with land banking plots is you grossly overpay for the undeveloped land - sometimes as much as 15-20 times the actual value of the land. To put it in terms you might understand. Property with en bloc potential is a good investment generally in Singapore if you pay the right price.

If with other investors you pay a company S$15M for a share of an apartment worth S$1M that you cant live in and then even worse find it has zero chance of enbloc how will you get your money back?

I read somewhere that so far, not a single piece of land bank land from all the various schemes with land in UK has been converted for any viable use.

These land banks have been conning people in UK until they've run out of suckers there...

From the page on Wikipedia:

recently been invited to some Jardin Smith International ...also on land banking.....hehehe once i reach there.....saw tons of their so called consultants....lengluis everywhere hahaha....man...reminds me of LB...sunshine...

but best part is...layan for sake of 100 jusco voucher hehe which i just spent less than 20 mins ...btw...they rent ballrooms from 1world hotel to westin.....n provide so called lousy buffet (finger food) only

Capital Land also a good land investment