Malaysia Money Matters

Upcoming launch of a project at the border of KL and Selangor! LOL The earthworks have been ongoing for a while and the show house can be seen to be nearly completed, that's why the siding now has the name of the project along with the number to call for registration. The information available is that the developer is Kerjaya Prospek Group - they have completed a few projects so far: 222 Residency, 288 Residency, The Shore and Veridian Cheras Idaman. Based on the location of this new project, I think there are more pros than cons - so, tl:dr version is I think it's good. Let's break it down: Location - the corner of Jalan 6/27A and Jalan 1/56, it is currently in a very quiet and green part of Setiawangsa. Here are the maps: As you can see from the Earth version of the map, the trapezoid is the earthworks for Setiawangsa Residency. Fengshui-wise, the position is good: It has a mountain behind (Bukit Dinding) signifying strong support and the Klang River is...

Yet another "stumbled upon" development last weekend after going to the morning market & breakfast. Went in to have a look and spent quite a lot of time there because it seemed like quite an interesting project. Executive summary (tl:dr version upfront) - I reckon it is a Good Deal . BUY for own stay, it will be a nice place to live. Buy to flip also can. Rental may be so-so, this place looks like it will be an owner-occupied type of condo. So here are the reasons why I quite like it: Price wise - not bad, works out to be about RM600 per square foot Option of a dual key unit AND if you want, you can convert it to a single with more combined square footage Huge sports centre as part of the deal for the land - the developer has to build it for DBKL, so there is that whole "healthy lifestyle" thing going for it Facilities are extensive - sales lady kept going on and on about it, I was like, yeah yeah - we've lived in fairly high end condos before ba...

Saw a banner at the traffic junction on Desarina Bayu in Sri Rampai. It is a pretty high-end development for 3-storey terrace houses starting from about RM1.6 million up to RM2.5 million. The interesting / good thing is that it is a Build-then-Sell project; hence absolutely no risk of the project being abandoned. Only 70 units, so it must be a fairly small area. Location wise is where it starts to get a bit unstuck. It is adjacent to the Sri Rampai Business Park - which is quite a decent place, still new and has some decent Chinese eateries and a large car park area although that doesn't help if you are going to the shops on the other end of the centre. The problem is, unfortunately, Sri Rampai as a whole. It is a rather densely populated garden that has a working class population. Next to it is Kampung Rejang, an even more populated area that is distinctly down at heel... during the election, a friend of mine who was volunteering there was shocked. OK, admittedly, he i...

If you are cash rich, then your interest income from fixed deposits will go up. If you are paying off loans, actually you won't feel much because your repayment amount stays the same but the interest portion is now slightly higher. So what you should do, if you have some money in your EPF account 2, is to use that to pay down some of the principle of the loan to ensure your tenure is not extended unduly long. From the human psychology perspective, the rate hike will make house buyers nervous for a while so sales will go down a bit. Eventually though, they will get over it. This means that property prices will stabilise for a while then begin to pick up again because there will be housing pressure from a growing adult population. I believe now is a good time to look for distressed sellers and pick up a good bargain. Some people were very aggressive in buying properties during the boom, with "no money down" using inflated sales agreements - well, think that is goi...

Friend of mine who is a real estate agent sent me this - seems interesting.. Project Name : 28 Boulevard Location : Pandan Perdana Land area : 5.23 acres Tenure : Leasehold Components : Four 45 storey towers with Studios,1,2,3 and 4 bedroom units Size (Sq ft): 450, 710, 904. Pricing : from RM600 psf to RM650 psf Features:  ~Lakeside living ~Affordable pricing ~200,000 Sq ft of facilities ~Sky garden terraces ~Lakefront retail and alfresco dining ~Brought to you by the same people who  developed Marc Residence KLCC by Best Boulevard Sdn Bhd My take: High density - don't like. Leasehold - don't like Lower middle class area - well, usually the food choices are more and better :) Relatively affordable as it starts from under 300k - but for such a tiny unit. Reckon it's a buy call if you have the cash to put down a large chunk and rent it out. I wouldn't buy it for staying nor do I expect the value to appreciate much - oh it will...

So Avenue K is being refurbished... again. I actually quite like the place but somehow, I think it suffers from *something* but I don't know what. Location is good, right next to KLCC and connected to the LRT but it just cannot seem to make it big. I reckon it has something to do with the management - I used to have season parking there and if the car park management is any indication of the total mall management.. well.. hmm! Not a good experience. One of my fantasies is to take over that place, turn it into a Services & Senses Mall.. yeah baby, it's all about sight, smell, sound, taste and feel. Meaning, focus on F&B, services like spa, massage, beauty and so on. Don't bother fighting for retail because that's what Suria KLCC is all about, you can't win. Anyway, looks like they are positioning themselves as a fashion retail space. *shakes head* Pavilion has just opened its Fashion Avenue - don't think Avenue K can compete. Anyway, walking along J...