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Showing posts from 2013

Nadayu 62

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Heh? Interesting... a new billboard advertising Nadayu 62 is up next to the MRR2 Highway but scant details; just a mobile number to "register". Went online but nothing about it on Nadayu's own website but on iProperty there is a lot of details with one intriguing disclaimer: Sorry, the new property listing you're trying to view is no longer active. This may mean that the listing that you searched for has expired or the property has been taken off our search result listing. Please have a look at other active listings that fulfill similar criteria at the bottom of this page. Hmm... why put up the billboard but pull it off iProperty? The salient features: In Nadayu Melawati - poshness!  950 square feet  Leasehold :(  Priced between 411 to 661 psf = about RM600K - which, in this day and age, is considered "reasonable" or "quite good" considering its location.  3 bedroom, 2 bathroom - standard but at 950 sq ft means that the rooms

Some political musings: Thailand

Admittedly, I love the place. I know it's not perfect but once I step foot in Thailand, I always feel so free and happy. The people are nice, even though you don't understand what they say but it sounds so nice! LOL and the food, the shopping and everything! I find the current situation there quite sad - as a neighbour, one hopes that they will resolve it ... so that I can go visit again soon! Although, it is still quite safe for tourist even now in Bangkok.. maybe not the southern provinces with the latest bomb blast. Sigh... A few years ago, my sympathies were more towards the Yellow Shirts - in fact some of my Thai friends are Yellow shirt supporters. But reading more into the situation, I am not supporting them now - they are agitating for a regressive form of government! A council, indeed?! Chosen by whom? It is almost like the ancient Roman system of choosing senators from the bonii (good men) who had to be rich enough not to require a salary from the state - hence

The Cost and Value of buying an existing property

A summary post of my thoughts and learnings from buying property and renovating - while there are tons of discussion forums, you'd have to trawl through a whole lot of (rather badly written) comments and sift through the rantings, boastings and fluff to even get a glimmer of useful information. So here goes and hope it helps: The majority of Malaysians prefer to buy brand new properties from developers. There are definitely advantages in terms of lower pricing and the satisfaction of owning something first hand. However, there are hidden costs to it too - primarily the risk of uncertainty that touches many aspects of a new development that includes: Risk of non-completion - this is the worst one, you're stuck with a loan or if you paid cash, you can't liquidate. Risk of non-compliance - I have viewed a 2nd hand property before where the owners have been cheated by their developer: the S&P states that the house dimensions were 22x60 but they only built it to 2

Feng Shui Prediction 2014

A strategic view, if you will: Lots of Fire element, hence it is an aggressive year. Very creative but also very confrontational. Economies will be vibrant in the 1st half of the year then cool down again in the 2nd half. So make hay while the sun shines. I think a lot of the worry is actually caused by the media (who need to have something to report! And doom & gloom make for sensational news) and by everyone else who have this mistaken notion that economies must *always* grow. No, they are cyclical. If you don't grasp that fact and put into your business forecasts, then you will *always* be wrong and miss targets. Banking looks set to do well (phew!) - I hope the worst of the compliance issues everywhere have been resolved after some major fines being meted out in 2013. Looking at the 24 Mountains chart and compared to the political stage here in Malaysia, we're in for ANOTHER dramatic year. This time, both the Snake (PM Najib) and the Rabbit (Opp Leader Anw

Expensive property, cheap marketing tactics...

This is dedicated to Mah Sing Properties and their Aspen Gardens development. Now I believe I must have given my name and phone number at one of their property launches ages ago... most likely at M-Suites. But lately, I've been bombarded with almost weekly SMS messages - and usually the same message is sent twice for their Aspen project. The first few I ignored but then it started to get quite frequent. And the promotion was not about discounts or whatever but for some rather tacky or unrelated activity - just to attract people to go there. And it has become increasingly bizarre of late:  - Today: a Cosplay party  - Last week: Zumba classes  - Earlier: Medical talk  - Months ago: Think a Feng Shui talk... I wouldn't have thought much about it if the SMS's hadn't been so frequent but they were so persistent that it was becoming very annoying. So I did a quick check on this Aspen Gardens - ehmehgerd - they are charging RM3.8million (starting price) for huge

Avenue K revitalisation

Avenue K is coming back to life again. As the renovations are finally done, the new tenants are starting to move in. It looks that the mall management has got a clear strategy that works: Have mass market appeal retailers like H&M, Starbucks, FOS, Popular Bookshop, Cotton On, G2000 and so on. Have NON-HALAL food & beverage outlets to act as an alternative to KLCC's fully halal F&B landscape The newly opened Food Atrium (think yesterday was the soft opening) looks like it has potential. The prices are more expensive than both the KLCC foodcourts - a quick glance at the menu boards yesterday looks like a range of at least 10 bucks a meal up to 20 bucks. I had the Vietnamese noodles that was RM17.90 - fairly generous with portion and meat, so no argument there. I think it will definitely be the choice to eat for Chinese shoppers at KLCC - after all, KLCC's food choices are totally halal (as if the 45% of non-Muslims in this country don't matter a

Budget 2014: Real Property Gains Tax (RPGT)

Well, the shoe has finally dropped - the expected RPGT has been increased to 30% for sales within the first 3 years of property ownership, dropping to 20% in year 4, then 15% in year 5 and then back to 0% from year 6 onwards for Malaysian citizens - the 30% applies for the full 5 years for foreign owned properties. A flat 5% will still be imposed for property gains made by businesses after the 5th year. Means that those who only just bought properties to flip within the past 2 years or so (given the lead time to sell a property) would be affected immediately - unless the gain itself is large enough to compensate. But of course, human nature being what it is, the 30% will be a dampener for sure as sellers would want to maximise their returns. Only thing is pity those who may be in a desperate position, maybe they need money for something else and have to sell a property - then they'll be hit quite badly with this. Moving forward, would this ease speculative buying? I don

Psst! Secret...

A little bird told me that Bank Negara is adamant about pushing down the merchant interchange fee by as much as 60% i.e. from 1.2% down to 0.5%! The banks are obviously not happy about it because it is going to be an immediate hit on revenues. However, for those banks who are big on merchant acquisition, the impact may not be as bad IF this drop in rates brings about a large growth in volume due to wider acceptance. So the volume growth off-sets the drop in earnings per transaction. To me, this is a good thing because one of the resistant points towards more cash-less transactions is the merchant rate. Retailer don't want to accept cards for small transactions because they contend (which I think is bullshit) that they don't make money off these. Please, bitch, you shouldn't be in business if that is the case. Unfortunately, this move is one-sided in that it is only about the MDR but the majority of people out there don't even have a credit card (like 70% of the

Enchant1MST: 1 Malaysia Spiritual Tourism City

It started with what seemed to be a fairly innocent news piece about an announcement on a large development in Pahang, specifically in Gambang that would cover 250 acres. The purpose was to build a huge multi-faith complex ( excluding Islam of course, because... err .. well.. lets not go there ) that would house retail, function halls, a resort and most importantly, a final resting place ( ashes only, I think! ) for your dearly beloved and/or yourself of course. Going through their website , the stated intention is noble enough. Creating jobs, attracting tourists and so on. No doubt, it will help the local economy there which is about 30km away from Kuantan or a 3 hour drive from KL. However, look a bit further into their business model and it starts to look very much like an MLM where the product being sold are the columbarium niches at about USD700 a pop. Which is cheap now and what they are promising would be that each niche will triple in value or more in time - so it's e

The Eternal Gripe: House Prices, or "Get over it!"

Latest op-eds like "60% of Penangites cannot afford to buy houses" and the perennial favourite "Graduates cannot afford properties" really get my goat. Seriously. Am so fed up with all the whining the newspapers do about this issue. Fed. Up. Frankly, why we are even using a fresh graduate salary as a benchmark for purchasing property? They shouldn't be buying one fresh out of university anyway. If you just started work - this is what you should be doing: Rent a room, not an apartment - A ROOM. Save money. Build up your savings. Build some more savings. Depending on your job location, you may need to buy your own transport - either a bike or a small car. Keep it cheap first, OR get a second hand car (make sure you ask around for a reliable mechanic!) Buy an apartment or a flat first. Don't buy a new property, buy one that suits your needs and your budget and is in a high demand location for rental - this usually means high density but with c

Malaysia's credit rating downgrade to Negative and how to fix it

It was bound to happen eventually - the lax way the government wastes money, leakages everywhere and so on. In the long run, this downgrade is probably a good thing. It is a wake up call that we have to DO SOMETHING concrete to move our economy to the next step! Off the top of my head, with but a stroke of a pen, the government should: Impose GST - not just to broaden the tax base but to create more oversight into businesses; lets face it, there's way too much cooking of the books. How can business tax be almost equal to personal income tax? (Govt tax revenue sources by petroleum: business: personal is roughly 33:35:32) Shut down / tightly control the money changers and remittance houses - they are the key channel for fund leaving the country under the radar. Banks have to monitor and report to Bank Negara on fund flows but these organisations don't have to. Why? And it's already proven that funds from corruption by politicians have left the country this way. So

Renovations

How time flies - almost a month since my last post. I'm in the midst of working with my designer on the renovation plans of my new house. Going to do some restructuring as the current layout is not very optimal. Some background - bought a double storey terrace corner lot, the layout is a pretty standard terrace house design. Unfortunately, the previous owner had done some extensions that are not pretty - it looks like it was done without much thought or planning into it. So we're have to break down quite a number of walls to create an open plan space downstairs - dry kitchen, dining, entrance foyer, formal sitting and casual lounge area all into a seamless design while keeping the costs down!! Upstairs, the master bathroom was "remodelled" (if you can call it that) into a heinous L-shaped ... thing! So that is going to need some major work and we're knocking down one room wall to turn it into a central open family lounge area between the rooms. Going bac

Jonker Street closure

As it happens, I was in Melaka over the weekend - 'twas a most pleasant trip despite the hazy conditions. Not to mention a wee bout of stomach upset... my own fault, think I shouldn't have eaten the rice ball that fell on the table. :P yeah, extreme cheapskate, me. Don't want to waste food! Anyway, it's in the news that the new Chief Minister of Melaka wants to stop the weekend night market at Jonker St. where the road (and by lanes) are closed to traffic on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. He says it's a trial for 1 month to help alleviate traffic... Of course, both sides of the political divide have gone to town on this - DAP saying that this is typical UMNO petty style to punish the Chinese while pro-BN blogs are crowing "serve you right" or to that effect - it was a lot ruder, of course, I've toned it down 'cos I'm classy that way, you see? hehe Ok, so my take on the Jonker Walk market is that it's pretty ok.. nothing great, really

622 Blackout Rally: boom or bust?

While a few thousand people showed up, it was far below the expectations of 20,000 to 30,000 attendees. However, was it very surprising? I would say No, Not at all. Here's why: Rally fatigue : there's only so much emotion one can expend - I think most of the earlier attendees have more or less "moved on" and need to get on with their normal lives. It's very tiring to maintain the level of anger at the BN government. Partisan takeover : For those who attended Bersih, the main intention was to demand for electoral reform and to let the ruling party that the unbalanced odds in their favour is simply not fair. BUT that does not translate into automatic support to PR either. The current rallies are PR-related. I see myself as more pro-Malaysia than anything else, hence I wouldn't attend. Life takes over : Well, sooner or later, responsibilities at work and family take over. Holidays that were postponed now can be taken. Life goes on. But to the pro-BN&

"Apa Lagi Cina Mau?", Cina ini mau:

You gotta laugh, isn't it? If it was all so tragic to begin with, that is... Needless to say, the fallout of the 13th General Election continues in many permutations - ironically, many pro-BNers are very bitter about "winning" while PR has been rather politically astute in quickly catching on the mood to continue drumming up support through rallies and such - which I think is a waste of time but you know, it's all just political drama.... I was quite taken aback by the very acrimonious racial rants by those aligned to the BN government, so much so that I had to unfriend an old schoolmate (was never close to him anyway) when he was spouting a lot, really a lot, of very offensive anti-Chinese things on his Facebook. I'd rather not have to see that, thank you - I have very close Malay friends and I am not what he paints all Chinese to be in his postings. But no point in confronting, why exacerbate matters? Dia nak bodoh macam tu, biarlah - maybe he needs to get i

Viewing properties: 20 Trees (condo)

This condo development has been in my sights like forever, ever since it was launched. Love the location and the concept - at the time of the launch, it was going for about RM600,000+ (about RM660K if memory serves me correctly). Unfortunately, couldn't afford it then. A number of years passed and with some cash now, I revisited the place and it is still good. Sub-sale price of about RM880,000 - some sellers were pushing at close to a million but the agent told me that he felt that was rather overpriced. Basics of the unit:  - about 2,000 sq ft  - 3 bedrooms + 1 utility/maids room  - master bedroom comes with walk-in wardrobe  - shared bathroom between the 2 standard bedrooms is huge  - rectangular layout that is markedly different from the standard condo and maximises space  - long balcony and glass panel door along (est)  60% of the length of the condo to capitalise on the view of the mountains beyond  - dry kitchen and wet kitchen  - dual entrance (lift and back do

GE13: My thoughts

I want to approach this in a fair and unemotional (as much as possible) manner: On BN - I think it is time you had a short spell on the Opposition Bench. Maybe 5 years, max 10 years. You need a shake-up to get rid of the opportunists, leeches and sycophants hanging around you. The only way to do that is to cut off the money supply. Fix yourselves, show your true passion for serving the people and I am sure you can get back your position to govern within the next couple of elections. On PR - I think it is time to give you a chance in government, it is a leap of faith I must say as there are many, MANY reservations I have about you - PAS likely to try imposing moral policing and other no-value-add type of policies, PKR not being able to keep it together with internal factions and their UMNO-culture baggage and DAP, oh DAP... if it is true about the Christian evangelists being in the top leadership then it is going to be like South Korea's Lee Myeongbak's admnistration of a mi

Retail Gold Rush

Gold price dropped significantly - people in Asia flocking back to goldsmith shops to buy up chains, rings and wafers for keeps. Never have I seen so many people crowding the gold shops at the malls, even on week nights! I'm quite taken with this white gold bracelet that I saw in Tomei last weekend, about 16g of 18K going for about RM6,000 - hmmm... paying a lot for the workmanship; better off just getting the wafer for investment, right? :) Think I might compromise and get the wafer AND a smaller piece to wear...huuu.. but that bracelet was soooo nice, looks almost exactly like the steel bracelet that Donghae wore in the early years of Super Junior - yes, I'm a K-pop fan, bite me :-p p.s. Silver has dropped too, worth stocking up on bullion because silver is always in short supply.

Extreme Cheapskates

OMG... stumbled across another TLC 'gem': "Extreme Cheapskates"! LOL I know, I know, it's IS extreme after all but really, it's crazy, where do they find these people?? At first, I thought that you could get some innovative tips on saving money but seriously, I AM NOT going dumpster diving to get furniture and thrown-out food that one lady referred to as "gold" (for her compost heap, I hope.. oh please, let it mean for her compost heap!). After a couple of episodes, all I can say is: Stop. Don't. Please. Just stop. Stop. It. Seriously? You can't get rich being cheap, honey. Money is energy, it must flow. It's like the Force, it moves around us and through us. If you project an aura of cheapskate-ness; then the money energy that you attract is going to just a little bit only - because what you're telling the Universe is "this is all I need and can handle". Penny-pinching will only lead to you accumulating pennie

Malaysia's 13th General Election

So after a long 5 years of intense politicking that we have never seen the like of - Parliament has finally been dissolved to make way for the Elections. The date is not finalised, many are speculating but it looks most likely to be at the end of April. Some rumours have been circulating that it may be held on 13 May to "scare people" (re: the May 13 tragedy of 1969). The outcome is very hard to predict - it is down to the wire. Personally, I am not too convinced on either side, although am more inclined towards change but I'm wary of certain elements within the opposition. Weighing the pros and cons, I think eventually it can only boil down to what are the choices available for my constituency ie who are the candidates contesting for the MP and state seats - after all, that's all one can choose. May have to split it - one side for Federal, another for State. Keep them on their toes. Can't have concentration of power all on one side - we've had that

Buying Property

Many years ago, I wrote a rant about the Bumi discount that property developers give to bumi customers. Non-bumis, of course, pay full price. Not only that, you know that the developers would have passed the cost of the discount to YOU, the non-bumi buyer. And if you didn't know that, consider yourself schooled, yo. Anyway, that was then. After all the angst and what have you of the unfairness of the whole thing, what woke me up was the constant (I do mean CONSTANT) whining you see on commentaries and forum boards about how oh so unfair it is etc etc (as well as whining about how new launches are always soooo expensive and not where they want to live etc - that's a whole other post).. and I was like, what the F? So you know what? Screw the system. I am not going to even participate in this whole "relying on developers for properties while being screwed to fund the discount". I went and bought from the secondary market. Yes, it needs more cash up front. Yes,

Malaysia GE13: a wishlist

As we get closer to the date (who knows when it will ever materialise .... talk about dragging it out), a new article on Malaysia Today links to a so-called campaign by Anas Zubedy  called "No Free Rides" calls for Malaysians to write a letter to their MPs articulating what you would want and then based on their responses, vote for the one who agrees to your wishes (!). Now, I'm rather conflicted about this guy - am not quite sure if he is naive, idealistic, has a hidden agenda, just doing this for attention (for his business) or all of the above. He always comes across, to me anyway, as a mix of smarmy and sincere. Not a good combination, believe me. Anyway, what he's calling for is not wrong - in an ideal world, that really should be how we decide on which politician to vote for.. but practically? Hmm.. Nonetheless, 'tis a good exercise to think through what each of us finds important. Ultimately, what we want is the best for our country, right? So to

KLCC REIT

I wants it, precious! Wonder what is the price? So far, have had good experience with the returns from Pavillion REIT, just kicking myself for not buying into it earlier LOL yeah... nothing much to blog about, except that I'm in the process of completing the lengthy process of buying a house. Yeah, got one finally - a landed property in a decent neighbourhood. My long term investment as it were :)

5 Kinds of Wealth

This is more like a "note to self" kind of posting.. it's from something someone said on Oprah, can't remember who (he did seem a bit supercilious) but what I remember was that he said in order to be considered truly 'wealthy' and thus happy in one's life - one should have a BALANCE of these 5 kinds of 'wealth': Material Intellectual Physical Emotional Spiritual So lets break it down: Material wealth - the most obvious one, of course, money & possessions etc. I would include a steady or assured income because there's nothing more stressful (to me) about not knowing whether you're going to get any income. Of course, some entrepreneurs may thrive on such an adrenaline rush, but not me, thank you. Intellectual wealth - I believe it means more than just education or qualifications. It should also include the thirst for knowledge and having the ACCESS to knowledge that makes one truly wealthy. Not surprising that even in

Burning bibles: Perkasa's new low

So once again, Malaysia's Pauline Hanson / Fred Phelps Ibrahim Ali, whom I refer to as the bastion of brown supremacy has, in his latest speech, called for the burning of Malay-language bibles that happen to use the word "Allah" for God. Frankly, all I have to say is that I dare him to do it. Why don't you take the first torch and burn one instead of 'calling on Muslims' to do so, Mister? You are a Coward and Instigator.  This kind of people are the real treasonous types who are going to bring this country crashing down on us, by instigating the .. well.. not too bright, emo, layan perasaan, ting-tong, lots of time on their hands but not enough braincells to figure out what to do-types to cause havoc . Shame, shame, shame on you. Bet he's all talk anyway. Try and burn one and see la. Bet you don't dare, Ibrahim Ali.

The Rally: Perhimpunan Kebangkitan Rakyat

I didn't go this time around. I did go for Bersih and got teargassed (thanks, at least I got back some of my tax dollars back). The pro-UMNO blogs are, of course, belittling this latest public protest - not surprised, if I were in their shoes, I'd probably do the same. Nonetheless, the crowd looked substantial enough and after the speeches, it ended peacefully. I'm expecting the mainstream media to downplay this again and emphasise that it was a "small" turnout, implying that support for the opposition has waned. Also they are pointing out that there are lesser Chinese out this time.. Well, in the face of the recent news about PAS's heavy handed ways in Kelantan, one may think so. However, surprisingly, the head economist of Bank Islam went on record at a conference in Singapore a few days ago saying that he expects BN to lose (well, he said PR would win but potato potatoe, you know) by a small margin. So does a relatively small turnout mean lesser s

The Buddhist way of life for householders (laypeople)

This is from the book written by the late Reverend Dr K Sri Dhammananda "What Buddhists Believe"; the following was extracted from the book "What the Buddha Taught" by the Venerable Dr W Rahula. I'm writing this out more as a reminder for myself - somehow it's akin to copying out scripture, in physically replicating the words, it is like a meditation and to imbue these words into yourself... [Besides, it was in point form compressed into paragraphs, am just breaking it up so that it's easier for me to read hehe - lists are easier to see! :)] A man named Dighajanu approached the Buddha and asked him, "Venerable Sir, we are ordinary laymen, leading a family life with wife and children. Would the Blessed One teach us some doctrines which will be conducive to our happiness in this world and after?" The Buddha told him that there are four things which are conducive to a human's happiness in this world: A) He should be: Skilled Eff