Malaysia Money Matters

I'm more of a mountain person actually - prefer the cool, damp environment. So here are the choices ... window shopping more like ... 1. A small apartment in Fraser's Hill or maybe nearer Genting - the cost is fairly low, small, easy to look after and most importantly: nice cool weather away from the heat of KL Cons - damp, mould, leasehold, can be creepy and too much yin energy at times. 2. A large piece of land near Port Dickson - cheap on a per square foot basis, land is better than an apartment, can build my architectural dream home (at extra cost!), possibly more valuable as time goes by because it is a bungalow lot after all. Cons - hot, sunny, don't know how breezy it is. Land area will become too difficult to handle as I get older. Ah well... it's not a problem, really.. as I said, just musing about it. Not in a big rush to buy something. For practical purposes, the land seems like a better deal and the apartment is a nice-to-have thing because that ...

Hmm.. wondering if it might be worth buying into this area as a retirement home. It is still relatively cheap compared to KL, freehold and near Port Dickson. Eyeing the bungalow lots because they are priced at 25 psf so there is definitely upside to the price but of course, it probably won't grow as fast as the past few years. There is the cost of building your own house but I think it will still be cheaper and more satisfying than buying a ready built one - especially if I plan to do this after retirement, then I will have plenty of time to supervise it. Will check it out soon :)

Oh dear.. just realised I haven't blogged much.. been busy, I recently changed jobs! (More money! yay! More responsibility! Huuu!) Anyway, it's all good. Note to self, there is some development work happening in the quiet corner of Wangsa Maju, at the north east part of Bukit Dinding... only some signage but no project name yet. Will keep an eye out for it. Meanwhile - am thinking of getting a new car... am keen on the Mercedes C200 Avantgarde or maybe the CLA. But the roof is a bit low or perhaps I'm a bit tall, both models don't have seem to have much headroom. Hmm.. ah well, lets see.. the C200 is sold out anyway! Next happy-problem is where to go at the end of the year, finally settled all the house moving, job moving etc that NOW I can go on a care-free, low-cost holiday hahaha or staycation ;p Most probably Bangkok la... just relax, eat, shop and chill out...

I wrote about Nadayu 62 earlier. Lately, the banners and billboards for Nadayu 63 have come up. 296 service apartment units (small-ish), ranging from 500+ sf up to 1,100 sf at around 800+ per square foot. There are also 42 retail units starting from RM3.2 million each - so basically, there's going to be a mini mall within Nadayu, so they won't even need to venture the 2km distance to the upcoming Melawati Mall. Completion date estimated in 2017 and leasehold. Very interesting - it looks like Nadayu is trying to create a self- contained village by having enough critical mass of younger people who can afford the smaller units to ensure that the mall is self-sustaining to benefit the low dense bungalow dwellers. So do we like this? Well, the location is lovely - very quiet, an annex or appendix of Melawati. The con is that it is a leasehold and maintenance is likely to be pricey - because you're paying for the exclusivity (although, I don't think 296 units in a...

I know, this is a cheat post - just post something and it becomes number 100 already! hahaahha

SURE OR NOT? Wah, I got this sms, and I quote: "New-Launch@beside Paradigm Mall Kelana Jaya  - 33.2% disc  - Cash back RM160k  - 90% loan  - P/Furnish  - LDP & NKVE  - shuttle bus to LRT  - 2year CF " This makes me wonder - is the RM160K the 33.2% discount or are they 2 separate things altogether? The whole thing sounds too good to be true and even if it were true, then it begs the question - if you could give away such a Hefty discount of 33.2% (not knowing what the actual price is, mind you) then surely you must have really overpriced it in the first place. Then the RM160k, if you can afford to give it back then why ask for it in the first place? Anyway, all this is fine, whatever, marketing gimmicks and what have you - if it makes the sale, fine. But seriously, it just means that you're taking the buyers for a ride, isn't it?

Just a bit of fun.. :) If you live in ___ then you are ____ : Bukit Tunku (Kenny Hills) and Bukit Persekutuan (Federal Hill) = Seriously wealthy, old money, royalty, very low key. Bukit Damansara (Damansara Heights) = just one step below the above, either first generation civil servant families from pre- and post-Independance, politicians and ahem, business cronies. Also, business families who made it big from the 60's and 70's. Wealthy but a wee bit flashier than the Kenny Hills crowd. Still classier than .... Bangsar = Newer money, families of corporate figures and professionals who did well from the 80's onwards. An aspirational neighbourhood, it also attracts ambitious non-KL-born folks here to make it big. The party neighbourhood of the 90's, still remembered fondly for its bars, restaurants and late-night stalls after clubbing. A younger but more low-key  affluent clone of Bangsar is TTDI (Taman Tun Dr Ismail) ; TTDI folks are rather nicer and more easy-...