Buying Property in Malaysia - my take

Ok, I don't profess to be a mega property investor (yet) but I do like shopping around either through iProperty, the newspaper or at launches and roadshows... and gawd, the amount of marketing crap out there can be mind numbing at times.

(just a short rant now) WTF does e-home mean? An electronic home? A virtual home? Come on lah, just because there is email, e-commerce, e-banking and e-going-to-toilet, must have e-home also la?

I wonder who were the suckers who bought into this nonsense.

(ok, rant over)

Coming back to the topic: I want to say something about this 'cos of the 'headless chicken'-like behaviour of a close friend of mind who couldn't make a rational decision on a property purchase to save his life.

Why?

'Cos he gets so easily taken in with:
1. The snazzy, lovely and rather impractical interior design of the show unit. It's a Show Unit! That's why it's nice! Dumbass.

2. No legal costs. Oh yeah, right. Work it out - the legal cost has been factored into your repayment, fool. Seriously, just bite the bullet and pay for it already and reduce the loan amount! Like that also have to teach one ar?

3. Bumi discount - Ooooo I know I am going into dangerous territory here but lets be rational. If you bought a property on the basis that you got a good discount from the developer - does it not tell you that
a) they can't sell it and
b) they're probably giving you a lousy location / lousy positioned unit?

Furthermore, if you wanted to re-sell it later on, it is tagged as a bumi unit then you can only sell it to other bumis who KNOW you got it at a discount and hence, will demand the same discount from you. So at the end, do you even gain anything? Not really, right? Just pay the normal price and stand proud, my man. A handout demeans everyone.

fuiyo.. suddenly got all political pulak. Scared.

Just remember:
- interior design don't mean squat
- location is everything
- low interest rate is everything
- watch out for penalties
- developers who try to lure you to the showing with satay parties with clowns are dodgy (generally. A developer with a buffet is good. A developer who doesn't want to do anything and stands by his location and product is the best.)

Happy shopping!

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