Malaysia Money Matters

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there is a lot of details with one intriguing disclaimer: Sorry, the new property listing you're trying to view is no longer active.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...

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...

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...

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...

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 hu...

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...

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...