Over the past 20 years, prices of resale HDB flats increased by 0.82% quarter-on-quarter on average, or an accumulated growth of almost 70%.

Aside from providing a roof over people’s heads, housing is also considered as one of the biggest assets for over 90% of Singaporean households.

In an article posted in Channel News Asia (CNA), Professor Sing Tien Foo, the Director at the Institute of Real Estate and Urban Studies (IREUS) and Head of the Department of Real Estate at the National University of Singapore and IREUS Deputy Director Dr Lee Nai Jia noted that Singapore housing has significantly appreciated over the last 20 years, on the back of steady job growths and sound macro-economic management over the decades.

Resold Housing and Development Board (HDB) flats, for instance, have created significant wealth for households over the past two decades.

This comes as prices of resale HDB flats grew at an average of 0.82% per quarter or an accumulated growth of nearly 70% during this period. Price indices for private landed and non-landed residential property also rose by 71.5% and 58%, respectively.

With this, HDB flats remains attractive as an investment for Singaporeans even as the government imposed restrictive rules for homes under the new prime location public housing (PLH) model.

These include a 6% subsidy clawback to mitigate the risk of excessive windfalls from the resale of the flat and a longer minimum occupation period (MOP) of 10 years. Owners of such flats are also barred from renting their entire homes at any point and could only sell to “a strict pool of eligible buyers”.

“With all these rules, do people still want to buy these HDB flats?” asked Sing and Lee.

“The answer is pretty resounding. The first batch of Build-To-Order (BTO) homes in Rochor has seen healthy demand, at 10.3 times over-subscription.”

They noted that the PLH model follows HDB’s spirit in keeping housing affordable and inclusive.

Given the high land costs at prime locations, many Singapore families “would not otherwise have a chance to live in those places if the building of HDB flats were left solely to the free market,” they said.

“More ordinary Singaporeans would also miss the chance of long-term economic gains of a home with an attractive location.”

Notably, prices of homes at more centrally located neighbourhoods within the Central Area, Whampoa, Queenstown and Bukit Merah have appreciated faster compared to farther-flung neighbourhoods like Pasir Ris, Yishun, Jurong or Hougang.

“Analysing resales of Pinnacle@Duxton homes, the only batch of BTO flats built in the Central Area since 2004, buyers who bought from HDB in 2004 (at $392,100 and $451,500 for four- and five-rooms) and resold in 2021 (at the average resale transacted prices of $851,868 and 1,001,289) saw their asset appreciate at 7.03% each year over the 17 years – a pace that outstripped the STI Index’s 2.4% for the same period.”

Looking for a property in Singapore? Visit PropertyGuru’s Listings, Project Reviews and Guides.

Cheryl Chiew, Digital Content Specialist at PropertyGuru, edited this story. To contact her about this story, email: cheryl@propertyguru.com.sg.

With the modern city’s dense population, it’s no longer a surprise to find many high-rise condominiums and serviced apartments which make popular residential properties for urbanites in Kuala Lumpur.

But, which property would be best-suited for you and your needs? Let PropertyGuru round up our pick for the topmost affordable properties in Kuala Lumpur, according to their special features, to help you decide.

Price

What is affordable to one person may not be to the other. That depends on what you are looking for out of your property, and how much of a premium you are willing to pay for it.

Ritz Communities offers an economically-strategic option starting at RM300, 000. At 800sqft, it’s size is manageable for the no-frills urban dweller who would seek a home as a place of dwelling.

A higher-end range of property can sometimes be considered more “affordable” or even value for money because of special facilities. For example, those who value privacy and security might find the ISOLA @ KLCC to be ideal because of the 5-tier security system it offers.

Location

Might it be near your office? Accessible to any amenities, facilities and transport services? Within the city area?

For some, a residential property like Sky Awani 3 Residence, Setapak might be perfect because of its close proximity to well-known shopping malls, education hubs, and renowned hospitals.

But, what makes for a strategic location differs from person to person.

Some people prefer to dwell in areas away from the hustle and bustle of the city, which offer a different serenity you cannot find in areas closer to the city. LBS Alam Perdana offers community halls, private and public gardens and a man-made lake within its residential compounds.

Amount of Furnishing in Home

A fully-furnished home is convenient since it’s already all set up for you whenever you’re ready to move in.

Serviced apartments like SkyLuxe On The Park @ Bukit Jalil provide practical layouts with built-up areas you can choose from. If you are the sort to get a headache from planning, this property might be the most ideal for you.

Moving into a fully-furnished condominium built recently, like The Manhattan, can also add to the new-home vibes as the property as the property will feel new on a whole.

On the other hand, homes not yet furnished like the Suasana Bangsar can also give you a good opportunity to arrange the home for a more personal style that’s homely for you.

Purpose of owning property

If you’re looking for property to own as a rental unit, then a dual-key residence would be perfect.

With Bennington Residences @ SkyArena Setapak, one can own a property to live in while renting it out. This allows the rental unit owner to manage the property more conveniently while enjoying the perks of the residence well within their own privacy.

Alternatively, if you’re looking to own property as an investment unit, then a property like Tribeca Bukit Bintang would be ideal. Primed as a luxurious downtown living set in Kuala Lumpur’s golden mile, the property holds great potential to be a symbol of affluence. The freehold land also stands at a gross development value of RM500 million, which holds a promising value for the property in future.

Your Lifestyle and Reason For Being in KL

If you’re looking to tag on an office-studio style space to your home, then a property like Meridin Sovos @ Midini will work well for you. You can plan your workspace while enjoying a connected luxury apartment living.

Others might also look for properties that offer special concepts, like the Desiran Bayu which replicates the charm and tradition of strong family values like communal living with the family, great for those getting property together as a family.

Alternatively, you might also be looking for a place in Kuala Lumpur that functions as a holiday home. The Verge32 @ Melawati is perched on a hilly terrain, giving you majestic vistas of Kemensah’s ridgeline. Surrounded by low-density, exclusive residential communities, this tranquil residential property is perfect for those who want a holiday experience out of their home.

Conclusion

Ultimately, your lifestyle is the most important factor for you to decide which property is affordable and special to you, as it determines which factor you will prioritize.

A person who’s busy and out-of-home most of the time might value convenience and place an emphasis on the importance of a more convenient location. Someone looking to lead a sedentary lifestyle will naturally look for a quieter place that provides peace and tranquility.

With PropertyGuru, it’s easy to find a property in Kuala Lumpur that will suit your needs. Instead, its hard not be spoilt for choice by the range of properties you will find there.

For the latest property news, trends, resources, and expert opinions, visit our Property News section. Home buyers, sellers or property renters looking for Malaysian Properties, may like to visit the New Launches or Project Reviews page.

In the recent weeks, there have been many reports surfacing with regards to the severity of situation of the property market. Sometimes, I feel that Malaysia lacks the transparency needed for people to understand the developments and movements in the market.

Is it important? Bank Negara has sent a very clear signal out.

“There is too many unsold unaffordable homes and vacant commercial space,” says the central bank.

Image sourced from Financial Tribune

Bank Negara has characterised Malaysia’s property market as one with an oversupply of non-affordable homes and idle commercial space.

The central bank’s recent quarterly bulletin indicated that Malaysia had an undersupply of affordable homes.

“This situation could worsen if the current supply-demand conditions persist. Within the country, Johor is poised to have the largest property market imbalances (highest number of unsold residential properties and potentially the largest excess supply of retail space),” it added.

If you have been asking how is this possible, and what has happened to create such a situation, then I would say that you have either just entered the market or been staying under a rock.

The fact remains, all indications in the past has shown that we have been in a property bull run for a while.

As early as 2013, Bank Negara has been signalling us of an overheated economy. Household debt versus GDP is a basic measurement of Malaysia’s credit situation.

While it is healthy to have a ratio of about 65%, Malaysia started to experience usually higher debt ratios within 80% since 2012. Last year, we stood at 88.4%, making us having the highest ratio in South East Asia, till this very day.

What does this mean? It means we are in a Credit Bubble.

Since 2012, we have been taking too many loans, 57% of which were property loans. It also means that today’s oversupply was created since 2012, which accumulated until today.

According to Bank Negara, the number of unsold residential properties is currently at a decade-high, primarily due to a mismatch between new housing launches and what households can afford to pay.

The central bank’s quarterly bulletin said there were 130,690 unsold residential properties as of the first quarter of this year.This is close to double the historical average of 72,239 units per year between 2004 and 2016.

Making matters worse was the fact that median household income was increasing at a slower rate than median house prices.

If you are hoping that other property sectors are to bring a ray of sunshine onto the topic, I guess I am going to disappoint you with more rain and thunderstorms.

Both the commercial as well as the retail sectors are signalling a substantial oversupply with vacancy rates skyrocketing.

Image sourced from The Star

Our commercial vacancy spaces are three times more than the regional average, holding at 18.1% as compare to the regional average of 6.6%. Please, let’s not talk about the further incoming supply of 38 million sq.ft. of office space.

Image sourced from Finance Twitter

The central bank is projecting a record vacancy rate of 32.8 percent by 2021 – surpassing that of the levels seen during the Asian Financial Crisis. In other words, if current supply-demand dynamics persist, 1 in 3 offices in the Klang Valley could be vacant in 2021.

There is also an oversupply of shopping complexes, with 140 new shopping complexes scheduled to be completed by 2021 across the Klang Valley, Penang and Johor.

The central bank also said that Penang has the highest retail space per capita in the country (10.5 sq ft per person), followed by the Klang Valley (8.2) and Johor (5.1) in 2016. In higher-income regional cities such as Hong Kong and Singapore, prime retail space per capita is only at 3.6 and 1.5 respectively.

Stripping down the facts and summarising the reports from Bank Negara, I would conclude that we are not doing too well. With a high volume of supply and vacancy rates across the board in all major states, I would say that we are extremely exposed and highly vulnerable towards a bust in the market, should the economy tilt towards the worst. It could also mean that our property sector could be the fault of an economic downturn.

Let’s pause for a moment, take a deep breath to take all this in, before we exhume a big SIGH…

So, what do we do?

I would be a good investor. Start to sharpen my knives, start to batten down the hatches and get ready for the stormy seas by being a much better investor than anyone else.

While anyone can claim themselves to be the best investors in a calm sea on a bright sunny day, not all will be ready to battle 10ft. waves pounding on your ship, with dark stormy clouds and constant rain. However, this is where the best of us shine, and this is where I thrive for the moments.

Image sourced from Pictorem

Though I may not claim to be the best investor in today’s market, I can safely tell you that I was born an investor during the last crisis and have been yearning for times like this when the foolish drowns and the wisest of us weather the storm and get the biggest catch of our lives.

The only advice I can give to those who are seeking solace is to have prepared yourself years ago; clean out your portfolio, skill yourself up and gain the necessary experience to take on the market to come.

If you want to know how you can learn to monetise the property market in the coming 2018 and beyond, I will be organizing a 2-Day Mastering Your Wealth – designed to teach how you can make your comeback in the property market next year onwards! 

Featured picture sourced from BTC China

This article is by Michael Tan, founder and managing director of FREEMEN Group of Companies.

For the latest property news, trends, resources and expert opinions, visit our Property News section. Home buyers, sellers or property renters looking for Malaysian Properties, may like to visit the New Launches or Project Reviews page.

Buying a subsale property may require heavier upfront costs and possibly higher renovation costs, but it definitely has its own advantages. Among some of them are getting better properties in better locations, and occasionally even paying a lower price for the property in spite of the upfront cost being higher.

Below are just a few examples of the advantages that can be enjoying from buying a subsale property.

A better location

All the new properties in the market boast great locations, but non of them beat getting a subsale property – because the new developments are usually built in satellite cities. Take Petaling Jaya for example, it is the satellite city of Kuala Lumpur, and Kota Damansara is the satellite city of Bandar Utama.

While the price of properties in Petaling Jaya may not be as high as the ones in Kuala Lumpur, it is definitely still possible to find properties in Bandar Utama that are cheaper than those in Kota Damansara. And we all know which one is more central.

So getting a better home at a lower price is actually possible with subsale properties.

Knowing your neighbourhood

Mixed developments are all the new rage, especially those that come complete with international schools, parks, shopping malls, and offices. But would you rather buy a vision, or something that you can see and touch?

Well, we don’t know about you, but most people prefer to be able to see the neighbourhood they will be living in rather then trusting a dream yet to be built. And this is the advantage that you enjoy when you buy a subsale property.

You will be able to check the performance of that school, see if the recreational areas are to your taste, and most importantly see if the neighbourhood is to your liking.

See what you get, get what you see

You know all those cases you hear about friends complaining, “That pillar wasn’t in the blueprint!”. If you buy a subsale home, you can rest assured that you won’t have this problem – because what you see is what you get. Whether the house is falling apart or whether it is newly renovated with a fresh coat of paint, you will be able to see it before you buy it.

Because of this, there are many people in the market who actually prefer to buy “build then sell” concept properties, where the developers only begin to sell the properties after they finish building them.

Unfortunately, not many developers can afford to do this. Only a select few of the top notch ones with very strong finances can carry it off, such as See Hoy Chan.

Check the damages

Quite often when you buy a new property, if it is from a disreputable developer, there is a chance that they may use less than adequate quality materials which will result in cracked paint and leaky ceilings before two years are up.

But with a subsale property, the house would have had enough time to season and for all the construction faults to make their appearance. If leaky ceilings are a problem you will be able to see the puffy paint, and if cracked walls are an issue you would be able to see them with your naked eye.

Know your neighbours

Imagine this: you’ve bought your dream home, you move in with joy and happiness – and then discover that your neighbour has a penchant for blasting their music in the dead of the night. Now wouldn’t that be a nightmare. You could call the management if you live in a strata titled property or call the cops if you live in a landed property, but the point is – you shouldn’t have to do that.

The advantage of buying a subsale property is that you will get to know your neighbours first before you make your purchase. You can see if your neighbours are to your liking, and if they’re not you can always move on to the next property.

Know what’s coming up next

And this may perhaps be one of the most important points. You know that perfect view of the city that you were promised? And that empty parcel of land just around the corner of that new development you just bought?

If you are unlucky, don’t be surprised if you find your view blocked by a new high rise in future. Or if you live in a landed property, don’t get too annoyed with the dust and pollution from the development of the new building on that previously empty parcel of land.

This is a common problem faced by many new development buyers. If you are lucky enough to be able to buy a subsale property, then you will be able to check the maturity of the neighbourhood and select one that has no more space for development – so you won’t be caught by surprise one day.

If you are on the hunt for some affordable subsale homes, check out all the subsale properties here!

Eyeing for something to invest on? What about properties that are under construction? Will you be able to strike gold with these sort of properties?

There are currently 90,491 of unsold units that include 64,077 units in various stages of construction while work on 11,622 units has not begun.

In fact, property booths are mushrooming rampantly around the country, selling these latest projects as developers are fighting tooth and nail to reduce the overhang supply of properties.

And of course, these projects look enticing, given the abundance of freebies and gracious throw-ins luring you to purchase units that are under construction.

But there are a couple of things that you need to think about before saying yes to the property and signing on the dotted lines:

Do your research

Always do your research on the project of interest.

Project Reviews is ideally the best place to seek for the latest plethora of projects that are under construction. If you have one in mind, type the name of the project and the review will pop out. These reviews are comprehensive, which include segments like Introduction, Project Details, Location, Analysis and Summary.

These segments will give you in-depth knowledge of the property with current psf., state of construction, available types as well as projects that are similar in built and within the same vicinity as the acquired project. All constructively written from an unbiased point of view.

You can easily understand the property better and perhaps able to evaluate it in dollars and cents clearly.

What? Paying interest for an intangible unit?

Here’s the catch of buying under construction property. You would still have to pay interest even if it is not completed yet. Buyers will be incurred interest expenses throughout the estimated years that the project is deemed to be completed; be it from one to three years.

Yes, you will be paying for something that is still intangible.

As for sub-sale or completed properties, you won’t be paying any additional interest as you will be serving the mortgage upon purchase. If the purchased property is intended to be an investment, you could immediately find for renters to start the money rolling.

Ready to compete for renters

Imagine when every single owner receiving the keys to the units at the same time? And imagine investor-like minded owners who would jump gun in getting tenants to rent their units. Some would immediately refurbish their units by providing new interior and furniture, which enable them to mark up the rental.

While others would instantly enlist their bare unit on the market at cheaper rates, trying to beat out other competitors. You might end up scrambling for opportunities to get renters and risking lowering the rental price even below the market rate to survive.

GRR Scheme? Sounds too good to be true…

Read the thin fine lines when it comes to Guaranteed Rental Return schemes (GRR).

GRR is considered as future rental income, guaranteed by the developer or management company to the property buyer for an agreed period after signing the sales and purchase agreement. It also means that it will generate rental income by owning the property; with or without tenant. A normal GRR package can run from 5 to 10 over years with 6% to 7% in returns.

But please make sure that you have a tenancy agreement or a leaseback agreement with the management company, to avoid unwanted outcome. There has been an increase number of cases involving owners suing developers over unfulfilled end of the bargain when it comes to the GRR scheme, ripping buyers from what they have signed up for.

You want more housing loans above the current loan of an under construction property?

It’s hard to determine the current loan’s eligibility. Policies and implementations can differ from one bank to another, which include age, monthly income and debt servicing ratio (DSR). Things can be unpredictable on most occasions.

But if you are starting to serve a mortgage for an under-construction property, it is most likely that you might not be able to get another loan. The bank might not see any immediate increment in your current income and would consider you as financially incapable to take on another loan.

Again, it would be a different scenario if you have purchased a completed unit. Since you are servicing your home loan, the principal mortgage value will decline from its first payment. If the property is up for rental, then this could be considered as additional income from the bank’s point of view. It gives you an extra edge in getting another home loan.

But really…

In the end of the day, you are the key and decisive decision maker. Weigh in what you will be getting from the developers that include rebates as well as interest incurred with your overall finances. See if you are able to get by the years paying for an under construction property while having other financial obligations. If you can pull it off, click here to start your property hunting!

For the latest property news, trends, resources and expert opinions, visit our Property News section. Home buyers, sellers or property renters looking for Malaysian Properties, may like to visit the New Launches or Project Reviews page.

As parents, our life is often built around and for our children. The greatest task of all is providing shelter above their heads. If you are considering to buy a property or a home to ‘grow’, here are six things to remember in search of that perfect family home.

Picture sourced from Today Online

Type of property to buy

What type of property are you looking for and how does it suit your family? If you have two or more kids, you would probably need more rooms and space to live in.

The time will come when your kids would want to have their own private space, away from their siblings. Sharing is no longer caring for kids at this stage of life.

A family of five or more could opt for landed homes with more than four rooms and perhaps three baths to accommodate everybody’s needs and personal space.

If you have a small family with one or two kids max, you might want to consider condominium units with three rooms at an average size of 1,200 sq ft. These units are spacious and extremely convenient.

Young couples could also opt for smaller units with two rooms at 1,000 sq ft. or below for a hassle-free lifestyle. Remember, you could always upgrade your home along the way especially when you have plans to expand the family.

Amenities are crucial to manage a family and run errands for them

Location is everything

For working parents, it is crucial to know if the area of interest can accommodate to your family’s lifestyle. Hence, location is primary in settling down the entourage for the long run. Research is key in making an informed decision.

Firstly, do not restrict yourself to one single location. If you fancy living in Wangsa Maju, get other similar locations like Wangsa Melawati or Setapak as a fall-back plan.

A property located within the reach of education is vital especially for families with young ones. Picture sourced from Malay Mail

Education resources is another element to look at. Do these areas have great schools? If you are settling down in an area like Wangsa Maju, rest assured that the area has great schools, both government and private learning institutions.

What about the connectivity? How long do you need to commute from the property to the school and right up to your workplace? Timing is crucial in getting things done daily. You wouldn’t want to spend most of your mornings stuck in jams from one location to another.

Take time to research for other transportation alternatives such as MRT or LRT that you can use besides personal vehicles.

Remember to take other external factors into consideration such as malls, mom and pops shops, launderettes, ‘mamaks’ as well as healthcare centers. It would be great to have some of these amenities within walking distance.

New property versus old property

Then there’s the constant debate of new versus older properties. Which would reign supreme? Firstly, let’s not discriminate properties based on its ‘age’.

Many observations have proven that older properties are more durable due to the quality of workmanship and materials used back in the days. The only thing that you need to splurge on is refurbishing these older properties with better pipping, wiring and paint. And that could cost you a bomb!

As for brand new properties, things are pretty much untouched and you will be the first tenant to live in it. Plus, the structures would still be in picture perfect shape. Just bear in mind that newer properties tend to face structural hiccups likes external cracks and hollow walls due to hasty work and cheaper materials used by some developers.

Inspections

It is always good to inspect the house before putting in any offers. For secondary properties, you do have the advantage of inspecting the house thoroughly before making any financial commitments or perhaps putting down a deposit for it.

You can inspect the property for any structural flaws. If you do have cash to splash, bring along your own architect, electrician and plumber to inspect the property for unwanted surprises.

As for properties that are under construction, such task is impossible as most developers would want you to pay up before getting the final product. A pretty risky situation to be in. To compensate it, you should do a background check on the developer instead. If they have any abandoned or doomed projects in the past, this is clearly a red flag for you to not purchase anything from them.

Money talks

We might get overly excited in the search for our family’s dream home. Who wouldn’t want the idyllic white picket fences home with lush green outdoor space for our children to play. But always remember to set your budget upfront.  

As parents, we have countless of responsibilities and bills to pay while still being able to provide for the family. Do not exceed your budget and try to go below the estimated figure. Those extra cash will come in handy later, be it carrying out some fixer uppers or getting new furniture for your new home.

Picture yourself living in it

Picture yourself living in that chosen property and answer these questions:

• Are the facilities and amenities in your chosen area adequate?
• Can you live with the given space and infrastructure of the chosen property?
• Can the property live up to your expectations especially in providing the necessities to your family     members?
• Is the property not a financial burden to you?

And of course;

• Are your kids excited to live in the new property?

If you have answered yes to all of the questions, then you have found your perfect family home!

All GIFs sourced from Giphy

For the latest property news, trends, resources and expert opinions, visit our Property News section. Home buyers, sellers or property renters looking for Malaysian Properties, may like to visit the New Launches or Project Reviews page.

With the flood of developments in the market, there are some things that every development is expected to have nowadays.

Here are some of the things that you can expect to get – and actually get them now.

Discounts

Top of the list without challenge. But then again, this is nothing new especially when it comes to Malaysians isn’t it? 😉

In the current slow market situation, developers are giving out discounts on various fees – whether they are discounts on the downpayment, legal fees or MOT fees. In lieu of the abolished Developer Interest Bearing Scheme (DIBS), buyers can also expect more creative cash backs in form of “moving in fees” and “loyalty bonuses”.

Whatever the cash back offered to you, ensure you have it down in writing with the Sales & Purchase (S&P) agreement before you sign anything!

Great amenities!

Most new developments nowadays are centred around business centres, are within a short distance of business hubs, or are located within a planned township. Then again, many new developments nowadays are a township by themselves revolving around the “work, live and play” concept.

So if your new home is not within a short drive of all the daily necessities – even if you are living in the suburbs – you may want to consider an alternative option.

A Great View

This is in today’s market a very big selling point – whether you care for a view or not. You will either get “beautiful views” of either “greenery”, “nature”, the “cityscape”, the “sea” or the “mountains”, all depending on where you are staying.

While many buyers care for their views, just as many buyers do not care what is outside their windows as long as it’s not a graveyard – although this is debatable in Penang.

More Facilities than You can Use

This is another major point of contention between different developers, the uniqueness of their facilities. Whether it is a saltwater swimming pool, the biggest facility acreage in Malaysia, a golfing course or a jogging track through a forest, it is a fact that these facilities are just meant to impress you. Because come on – how often will you use the facilities?

Great Accessibility

If there is no road, they will build one. If the highway is 30 minutes away, they will cut through the hills and halve the traveling time.

Or at least this is what most developers are promising.

So if you are debating buying a development, ensure you get one that has great accessibility.

If all the above points are of importance to you, then you will want to take note that this is what a good project is supposed to look like. If you find them interesting, make sure to drop them a message to ensure they have all the above qualities!

For the latest property news, trends, resources and expert opinions, visit our Property News section. Home buyers, sellers or property renters looking for Malaysian Properties, may like to visit the New Launches or Project Reviews page.

Auction is the new way to buy properties.

It is done competitively and unapologetically. It also shortens the long agonizing process of buying a home as it can be done in a day, given the fact that you are financially armed.

If you are interested to go down the lane of auction, there are a couple of things that you need to know and of course, to prepare. 

1. Research, research and research!

Get to know your market. It is crucial for you to figure out the basics of buying any property. Dig deep into the area and the various types of properties available. Identify what you are looking for or are keen on buying. Later, do a thorough price comparison among similar properties within the area.

2. The need to feel the experience

You wouldn’t want to suffer any culture shock when it comes to experiencing a day at the auction. Try to attend and experience as many auctions as possible. Listen and learn how other buyers or bidders do it in an auction. You can pick up a tip or two on how to bid effectively from these bidders. In fact, you will face the same bidders when the time comes and it’s good to have tactical advantage.

3. The price is right

Managing your finance is crucial. You wouldn’t want to overbid on a property, which realistically means you can’t purchase a Honda at a price of a Ferrari. In fact, the whole idea of buying an auctioned property is to get it as a ‘value buy’. Make sure you know how high you can go, given some breathing space for other expenses like legal fees, finance fees and stamp duties.

4. Prepare a file of documents

You are planning to get a property. Hence, documentations are crucial in order to make the purchase go as smoothly as possible. Do prepare:

• Your MyKad as you need it for registration purposes
• Bank Draft/Banker’s Cheque amounting 5% or 10% (whichever applicable) of the Reserve Price.
• Some extra cash wouldn’t hurt either. It comes in handy for any Additional Deposit to support if
  there is an increase in the Reserve Price.
• Bidder’s Registration Form must be filled thoroughly and specifically.

As auction day arrives…

The day has come to bid for your dream home! Suit up and play the part! You need to project confidence and flair. Get yourself into a swanky outfit, shoes, and style yourself good.

You need to make people feel your presence while attending the auction. Presence is crucial to build a repertoire. Even if you don’t have much cash as some, you still need your persona to scare off the rest of the bidders.

May the best bidder win!

Things can get pretty unpredictable during auction day. Just mentally prepare yourself for the good, the bad and the ugly. The auction often takes place on site of the soon to be auctioned property. Hence, if you have done your homework, you would by now know the location, ambiance and the environment of the property and its neighbourhood.

Make yourself visible. Once again, presence is crucial. Avoid standing hidden within the crowd or blending into the scene. You must ensure that the auctioneer is able to see you clearly during the bidding process.

There are a few things that you must remember during the bidding process. Bid clearly and avoid using unknown non-verbal or body language. You wouldn’t want the auctioneer and other bidders to misconstrue you.

Overheated bidding can take place. Try to take control of your emotions and avoid showing your dissatisfaction in public. Nobody wants to make transaction deals with an emotional wreck.

Remember your capital limits. You have set your price range – don’t ever outbid your budget. There isn’t any cooling off period when it comes to purchasing an auction property.

SOLD!

At the end of the day, you will face either one of two outcomes. You would either have won the bidding war and the property is yours, or you will be coming back empty handed.

If you won the bid, good for you! But now reality kicks in especially in preparing the remaining 90% payment of the property in 28 days.

If you ended up on the losing side, do not be disheartened. Take it as a learning process and a stepping stone to more biddings in the future. It is the experience that matters, and it will help you in the process of getting your dream home!

Images sourced from Business Insider Australia and Giphy.

For the latest property news, trends, resources and expert opinions, visit our Property News section. Home buyers, sellers or property renters looking for Malaysian Properties, may like to visit the New Launches or Project Reviews page.

Dressing up plays an extremely important role for real estate agents. Their first appearances are the most important, as they will be judged based on how well they dress and how they present themselves almost immediately by clients during the first meeting. And sadly, whether the client chooses to continue using the agent or not, will be based on the opinion the client forms during those first few moments.

Below are some of the things that a property agent should pay attention to before meeting with their client.

The Dressing

The clothing an agent wears is of utmost importance. Turning up in Bermuda shorts, a sleeveless top and flip flops is guaranteed to get yourself turned away immediately. However, dressing up in a 3-piece suit with tie and boots is not the best way to integrate yourself with the client either.

A real estate agent will need to dress according to the place of the meeting. If the meeting place is in the client’s house, a semi-casual look with polo-T, formal pants and a smart pair of shoes is fine. If meeting in a sales gallery, an office shirt with office pants and men’s boots will be better.

The trick to identifying what is appropriate to wear is to dress according to the meeting venue.

A Decent Fashion Sense

In as superficial as this may sound, having a good sense of dressing is important. This is because most clients will have more sense of respect for a well dressed person with a good dressing style. Pay attention to your shoes, ensure that they match your outfit. And try not to wear colours that are too flamboyant or flashy as they may come across as “not serious”; instead try to go for darker and more earnest colours to bring your personality across.

Personal Hygiene

This is another very telling aspect. Do you have body odour? If you do, don’t forget your anti-deodorant in the morning. And even if you don’t have an issue with body smells, everyone will occasionally start to get a bit fragrant if they have been sweating. So if you are going to meet a client, ensure that you don’t sweat before meeting them. Not only will you look dishevelled, you may also be carrying an unwanted fragrance.

The second point is bad breath. Anyone who has not been talking for a while will not have very nice breath. Meeting a client after lunch also increases the chance of meeting your client with bad breath. The trick to this is to carry a bottle of mint chewing gum around with you. Chew on one before meeting with your client, and make sure you spit it out before meeting them. This way, you will have nice breath when you talk to your clients. A breath spray will work just as well.

Finally, if you are a man, make sure you don’t miss your morning shave before meeting your clients. Unless facial hair looks good on you, you will look like a hobo – not a good look for a real estate agent.

Your Personal Ride

Finally, again in as superficial as it sounds, driving a decent car is important. It is no secret to why the more successful real estate agents drive flashy cars – their cars are a sign of their success. Even if you cannot afford a Mercedes or BMW, at least ensure that your car is clean and well cared for. It will be a telling sign on your personality.

Follow the above tips if you are not already doing them, and keep an eye out for the next guide on PropertyGuru.

 
Image sourced from Pinterest. Picture for illustration purposes only.

This article was edited by the editorial team of PropertyGuru. To contact them about this or other stories email editorialteam@propertyguru.com.my

For the latest property news, trends, resources and expert opinions, visit our Property News section. Home buyers, sellers or property renters looking for Malaysian Properties, may like to visit the New Launches or Project Reviews page.

Suasana bandar seringkali berhadapan dengan kesibukan kerja serta menghadapi pelbagai rintangan seperti kesesakan lalulintas, kepadatan pengguna-pengguna pengangkutan awam seperti MRT dan LRT, mahupun berebut-rebutan membeli makanan ketika ‘lunch break’.

Sudah semestinya, ramai di antara kita inginkan ketenangan kehidupan kita yang damai serta kurang gangguan kota metropolitan. Tidak salahnya kalau kita memilih tempat kediaman yang berjauhan dari bandar-bandar yang pesat.

Malah, ramai yang sanggup berulang-alik dari tempat kerja ke kawasan kediaman yang terletak di pinggiran kota yang sunyi dan tenang.

Jika anda inginkan gaya hidup yang lebih tenang dan rileks, inilah projek-projek yang sesuai dengan anda:

Onepark, iWajib, Kajang

OnePark, iWajib terletak di Taman Semenyih Idaman yang mempunyai latarbelakang yang matang serta mempunyai pelbagai kemudahan asas. Projek kediaman ini dikatakan ekslusif dan hanya mempunyai beberapa buah unit rumah bertanah sahaja.

Keluasan unit-unit di sini adalah di antara 2,168-2,850 kaki persegi. OnePark mempertengahkan konsep tenang serta kehidupan bebas daripada stress. Projek ini mempunyai tempat rekreasi yang dipanggil Greenarium yang dikelilingi trek jogging berserta dengan taman permainan bertema.

Selain daripada itu, OnePark turut dikenali sebagai sebuah kawasan yang tenang dan sunyi, bebas daripada gangguan kota metropolitan. Elemen kehijauan turut dijaga dengan teliti di mana sebahagian daripada tanaman kelapa sawit dikekalkan.

Selain daripada ketenangan, OnePark turut menjamin kawalan keselamatan yang ketat dengan sistem keselamatan enam tingkat berserta dengan penggunaan kamera berlitar, rondaan pegawai keselamatan dan keseluruhan kawasan kediaman OnePark OnePark dipagar.

Dengan pelbagai kawasan rekreasi yang boleh diakses, sudah semestinya anda mampu mengurangkan stress kerja dengan melakukan pelbagai aktiviti riadah yang dikelilingi dengan kehijauan alam.

The Marin, Pulau Pinang

Pulau Pinang turut memberikan alternatif yang menarik kepada mereka yang iingin mendapatkan ketenangan daripada kehidupan yang sibuk. Pulau yang menjadi kegemaran ramai ini sudah semestinya mempunyai daya penarik tersendiri.

Malah, pasaran hartanah di Pulau Pinang turut menjadi kegilaan ramai untuk dijadikan ‘rumah’ tetap terutamanya bagi mereka yang bukan bermastautin di sana.

The Marin terletak di perkarangan Batu Ferringhi. Tidak hairanlah jika harga projek ini dikatakan mahal kerana kedudukan startegiknya serta ianya merupakan projek kediaman yang hanya mempunyai unit-unit yang terhad.

Malah pemandangannya merangkumi deretan pantai-pantai berpasir putih serta teluk-teluk dan keluasan Laut Andaman yang pasti akan memukau penghuni-penghuni di The Marin.

Kemudahan-kemudahannya pula merangkumi gim berteknologi tinggi, kolam renang infiniti berukuran 40 meter, taman permainan kanak-kanak, gelanggan tenis serta sauna.

Bayangkan diri anda bangun dengan pandangan indah Batu Ferringhi? Pasti anda terus melupakan stress harian anda!

Aspen, Garden Residences Cyberjaya

Aspen merupakan antara projek ‘bebas stress’ yang terletak di Cyberjaya. Projek yang mempunyai 69 buah unit banglo bakal berdiri dengan megah di aras sebidang tanah berukuran 30 hektar. Malah, Aspen bakal memberikan lebih elemen kehijauan dengan hutan simpanan berukuran 50 hektar yang berhampiran dengannya.

Projek kediaman ini turut mempunyai sebuah taman tema bernama Central Park yang dibina khusus untuk penghuni-penghuni Aspen untuk beriadah serta menikmati pemandangan cantik serta menghirup udara segar.

Aspen turut mempunyai rumah kelab tersendiri yang terletak di Promenade untuk kegunaan penghuni-penghuni. Kelab ini mempunyai gim, kolam renang, dewan serbaguna dan sebagainya. Namun, rumah kelab ini akan mengenakan caj bayaran tahunan untuk penghuni-penghuni Aspen.

Selain daripada itu, penghuni-penghuni turut akan menikmati akses-akses umum seperti kafe, tempat makan ala al-fresco, kedai dobi bank dan sebagainya. Hidup bagaikan sempurna serta mudah di Aspen. Bebas Stress? Sudah pastinya.

The Parque Residences, Eco Sanctuary

The Parque yang terletak di Eco Sanctuary merupakan tempat kediaman yand direka seakan-akan ianya dibina di tengah-tengah hutan. Kehijauan merupakan elemen utama dalam memasarkan projek ini kepada mereka yang ingin kehidupan yang rileks serta aman damai.

The Parque mempunyai 1,088 unit-unit kondominium yang terletak di kalangan enam buah bangunan konkrit yang tersegam megah. The Parque yang terletak dalam lingkungan kawasan Eco Sanctuary turut mempunyai pelan induk berunsurkan Gaya Hidup Mampu Milik yang Mengutamakan Kesihatan.

Perbandaran Eco Sanctuary merupakan bandar yang bakal didirikan pada tanah berkeluasan 308 hektar. Ianya turut mempunyai 30% tanah untuk dikekalkan sebagai hutan simpanan serta 1,000 pokok-pokok yang telahpun ditanam bersama FRIM sebagai komitmen mereka terhadap alam sekitar.

Bayangkan betapa dingin dan sejuknya ketika menduduki The Parque serta impak yang bakal diberikan kepada penghuni-penghuninya kelak?

Bayu Damansara, Damansara Damai

Bayu Damansara terletak di Damansara Damai atas keluasan tanah sebanyak 5 hektar. Projek ini merangkumi 40 buah rumah berkembar tiga tingkat yang bakal dididirikan di kawasan keheningan Damansara Damai yang berbukit-bukau.

Daerah Damansara ini amat berbeza denagn kasawasan-kawasan Damansara yang lain yang senantiasa sibuk dengan kesesakkan lalulintas. Ianya tenang serta masih dipopulasi pokok-pokok serta ianya berhampiran dengan Kwasa Damansara.

Unit-unit di sini bersaiz di antara 4,511 sehingg 4,675 kaki persegi, lantas memberikan ruang yang luas terutamanya bagi mereka berkeluarga besar. Unit-unit di sini menggunakan pencahayaan semulajadi terutamanya dengan rekaan bumbung bergerak.

Bayu Damansara turut mempunyai kawalan keselamatan 24-jam serta berpagar, sebuah taman permainan dan tempat letak kereta berbumbung. Badan tenang, jiwa aman.

Untuk mengetahui berita hartanah terkini, kunjungi Property News. Ingin menyewa dan membeli rumah, layari Malaysian Properties. Manakala, jika anda ingin mencari rumah baru, klik pada New Launches dan Project Reviews.

Becoming a good Real Estate Agent in Malaysia is usually easier said than done, especially in the current competitive market. Hence a few extra tips to standing out from the rest wouldn’t go amiss. Below are a few ways to becoming a more successful Real Estate Agent in Malaysia.

Find an agent to partner with

Sometimes partnering with another agent is the best thing you can do as a Real Estate Agent. Because all too common in Malaysia is getting a client who wishes to purchase a house that is not being handled by you. Getting the agent in charge to partner with you is then a good idea, as both parties will benefit. The partnering agent will have a ready buyer from you, and you will get a cut of the profit.

Publicise yourself

When you are a property agent, sometimes you just need to be loud about it. You should consider building a webpage for yourself to promote your property sale successes and advertise your portfolio. This way, potential clients will be able to look you up – and via your portfolio, you will be able to gain their confidence.

Advertise yourself on online media

Getting a friend in the online media sector never hurts. If you have a good reputation and strong background, you may find yourself being occasionally called up to provide opinions about the property market, and perhaps even being called in to be interviewed on various subjects. In return for this, the property agent can then request for his name to be included in the interviews, along with his profile picture. This is good branding for the property agent.

Attend property seminars

Although this may sound counterintuitive, a property agent can actually make a lot of great contacts in property seminars. They will be able to connect to people who are already interested in buying a property, and if they are good at networking, they may even be able to connect to seasoned property investors. Property investors are good prospects, as they usually buy properties in bulk.

Don’t turn down any deal

Sometimes a deal may not sound appealing as it does not involve a fat cheque, or maybe sometimes it is just too much work. But don’t turn them down, take them all. Because some of these deals may actually lead to better and more lucrative business opportunities in the future if the client is happy with the services provided.

Keep in touch with all your clients

This is a point which cannot be emphasised on heavily enough. Keep in touch with all your clients, and make sure that the communications aren’t always business related – you don’t want them to feel like you are keeping them around only for a business opportunity. By keeping in touch constantly, you will be at the top of their minds any time they think of purchasing a property or referring a friend to a property agent.

Utilise your coach

Most property agencies will provide newcomers a senior for the first few months. The senior’s role is to show the newcomer the ropes, and to coach them through the learning curve. Make use of your senior, learn their skills from them. If there is anything you do not understand, ask your coach for the solution. If your coach cannot help you, talk to other seniors in the company for a different view of solving the issue.

Becoming a property agent may be tougher than expected, but it is a career that brings lucrative returns if properly pursued. Starting out right is always important, and the above are just some of the tips to getting started.

For the latest property news, trends, resources and expert opinions, visit our Property News section. Home buyers, sellers or property renters looking for Malaysian Properties, may like to visit the New Launches or Project Reviews page.

Oleh Radin Ghazali

Masih tertanya-tanya mengapa anda masih tidak berumah? Ataupun mengeluh bahawa memiliki kediaman sendiri bagaikan satu impian yang barangkali tdak akan menjadi nyata kerana harga hartanah kini terlampau mahal.

Realiti hartanah di Malaysia senantiasa berubah. Malah, harga kini dikatakan luar daripada kemampuan majoriti pembeli. Jika kita meletak senario seperti ini sebagai satu halangan, anda boleh malapkan sebarang kemungkinan untuk membeli rumah pertama anda.

Jangan khuatir kerana masih ada cara-cara yang boleh membantu anda mengatasi halangan untuk membeli. Antaranya adalah menukar gaya hidup harian kita yang mungkin menghadkan kemampuan kita tanpa disedari.

Antara gaya-gaya hidup yang anda boleh ubah termasuk:

Gambar diambil dari BBC UK

Berbelanja dengan mewah

‘Shopping’ memang menyeronokkan dan menggembirakan. Siapa yang tidak mahu memiliki jenama bag termahal dengan gaya terkini. Bag-bag mewah seperti Chanel dan Louis Vuitton merupakan penunjuk status sosial seseorang kepada masyarakat.

Bahkan, kini terdapat trend menunjuk-nunjuk pembelian terkini dan menghebah-hebahkan kemampuan untuk membeli secara mewah menerusi media sosial seperti Instagram.

Bagaimana nak membeli rumah jika kesemua wang ataupun pendapatan digunakan untuk ‘shopping’. Bayangkan jumlah wang yang dapat disimpan daripada pembelian boros dan mewah? Tahukah anda yang wang untuk membeli sebuah tas tangan Chanel boleh digunakan untuk wang pendahuluan sebuah rumah?

Gambar diambil dari PointHacks.com

Kad kredit

Penggunaan kad kredit melampau turut boleh membuatkan impian untuk membeli rumah menjadi nipis. Penggunaan kad kredit memang ada kepentingannya tersendiri. Ianya boleh digunakan ketika kita tidak mempunyai wang ataupun saat-saat ‘pokai’.

Malah, ada di antara kita menggunakan kad kredit untuk membayar PTPTN, insurans dan sebagainya. Jika anda boleh mengurangkan penggunaan kad kredit anda untuk hal-hal demikian, anda dapat memperoleh wang simpanan untuk membeli rumah anda.

Bayangkan, wang bayaran bulanan kad kredit anda boleh dijadikan wang bayaran ansuran rumah anda! Jangan terlalu bergantung kepada kad kredit anda untuk menampung perbelanjaan bulanan atau harian anda.

Gambar diambil dari PaulTan.com

Hutang kereta

Kereta model terkini? Bagi kaki motor, ianya menjadi satu kemestian untuk menjadi pemilik kereta terkini keluaran mana-mana pengeluar automotif terkenal seperti Volkswagen, BMW, Mercedes ataupun Audi. Jika golongan wanita mempunyai tas tangan untuk diperagakan, golongan lelaki pula mempunyai automobil untuk ditunjuk-tunjukkan.

Penukaran kereta setiap dua sehingga tiga tahun memakan jumlah wang yang banyak. Apa tidaknya, harga atau nilai kereta akan merosot terutamanya dalam pasaran kereta terpakai dan anda bakal kerugian ribuan ringgit.

Malah, anda harus menambah wang untuk bayaran pendahuluan kereta baru sementara menunggu kereta lama dijual. Proses akan menjadi sukar jika kereta terdahulunya masih mempunyai pinjaman bank tertunggak.

Alangkah bagusnya jika wang pendahuluan serta pinjaman bank kereta tersebut digunakan untuk membiayai rumah baru anda?

Gambar diambil dari Travel and Leisure

Melancong ke luar negara

Bak kata William Shakespeare, “The world is your oyster”, yang bermaksud ambillah peluang untuk melakukan sesuatu yang baru dan menarik dalam kehidupan anda. Ini sudah semestinya termasuk impian untuk mengelilingi dunia.

Ramai yang mahu melihat dan menjelajah ke serata pelusuk dunia. Siapa yang tidak mahu ke Amerika Syarikat untuk melihat bintang-bintang filem terkemuka? Ataupun ke England untuk menonton Liga Perdana Inggeris secara langsung di stadium-stadium terhebat di dunia?

Gah bunyinya tapi pada masa yang sama, wang yang diperlukan untuk mengelilingi dunia boleh mencecah berpuluh ribu ringgit. Bagi mereka yang masih belum memiliki rumah namun berhajat untuk menjelajahi dunia, barangkali anda perlu pertimbangkan semula keutamaan hidup anda.

Mempunyai tempat kediaman yang kekal bakal memanfaatkan anda untuk jangkamasa yang panjang, sampai ke anak cucu. Menjelajahi dunia pula memberi kepuasan sementara dan hanya meninggalkan kenangan-kenangan indah sahaja.

Gambar diambil dari Parenting.co.id

Kerap makan di luar

Epidemik makan di luar seringkali berlaku di kalangan orang bujang malah juga di kalangan mereka yang berkeluarga. Bayangkan kos perbelanjaan makan di luar boleh mencecah RM25 sekepala, apatah lagi jika ianya dilakukan berkeluarga. Adakalanya, makanan-makanan yang disediakan di luar tidak enak mahupun sedap. Malah kuantitinya pun berkurangan gara-gara GST. Memang tak puas hati makan, kan?

Ada yang juga berpendapat “Kalau masak nasi pun tak pandai, apatah lagi nak masak pelbagai lauk?” Anda tidak perlu berkemahiran seperti Chef Wan atau bergaya ala Gordon Ramsey untuk makan di rumah dengan lebih kerap.

Kini anda boleh belajar memasak menerusi penggunaan YouTube mahupun pelbagai aplikasi mudah alih. Mula dengan resipi mudah terlebih dahulu sebelum mencuba memasak masakan yang sukar. Makan masakan air tangan sendiri pasti membawa lebih kepuasan serta menjimatkan!

Bayangkan jika kesemua sebab-sebab yang dinyatakan dikurangkan atau dihentikan? Barangkali anda sudah bergelar sebagai pemilik rumah!

Untuk mengetahui berita hartanah terkini, kunjungi Property News. Ingin menyewa dan membeli rumah, layari Malaysian Properties. Manakala, jika anda ingin mencari rumah baru, klik pada New Launches dan Project Reviews.

Oleh Radin Ghazali

Membeli rumah, terutamanya untuk generasi kini amatlah sukar dan senantiasa memberi cabaran kepada golongan pembeli. Pinjamam, keadaan semasa, keperluan ekonomi dan status seringkali memberi impak kepada keputusan pembelian kita.

Sebelum mengambil sebarang keputusan yang bakal ditanggungi selama 30 tahun atau lebih, pembeli haruslah bijak dalam memilih jenis kediaman yang sesuai dengan keperluan peribadi, bilangan penghuni dan sudah semestinya, peruntukkan wang masing-masing! Berikut adalah jenis-jenis kediaman popular serta kesesuaian mereka untuk para pembeli:

Banglo

Antara jenis kediaman paling mewah, banglo merupkan kediaman yang besar serta luas dan mempunyai pelbagai ciri-ciri mewah untuk penghuninya. Rata-rata jenis kediaman mewah seperti ini mempunyai lebih daripada lapan bilik di mana setiap bilik mempunyai bilik air tersendiri, keluasan yang besar terutamanya di ruang tamu dan ruang makan. Manakala, bahagian dapurnya dibahagikan kepada dua- dapur basah serta kering. Rata-rata rumah banglo mempunyai kolam renang peribadi.

Jika anda tidak mempunyai sebarang masalah kewangan, bahkan anda dikategorikan sebagai golongan berada, jenis kediaman seperti ini amatlah sesuai terutamanya jika anda mempunyai anggota keluarga serta pembantu-pembantu rumah yang ramai!

Kondominium Mampu Milik

Bagi mereka yang bekerja dan mempunyai tahap kewangan yang sederhana, kondominium mampu milik dapat memenuhi keperluan anda. Mampu milik dalam konteks ini merujuk kepada kondominium-kondominium yang berharga di antara RM450,000 sehingga RM650,000. Terdapat banyak kondominium seperti ini di pasaran, baru mahupun yang sudah dijual beli.

Jika anda tidak berkahwin, anda boleh mengutamakan unit yang berbilik satu mahupun unit studio agar ianya mudah dijaga. Untuk keluarga bersaiz kecil, pilihlah unit yang mempunyai dua sehingga tiga buah bilik. Kondominium seperti ini turut mempunyai unit yang mempunyai bilik lebih daripada empat buah bilik.

Walaupun harga boleh dikatakan agak mahal berbanding dengan jenis kediaman mampu millik yang lain, pembeli boleh menikmati kemudahan-kemudahan yang tersedia ada seperti gim, taman permainan, gelanggang bola keranjang mahupun gelanggang badminton. Malah, ada sesetengan kediaman seperti ini mempunyai dewan serba guna yang sesuai dijadikan lokasi untuk majlis keramaian sperti perkahwinan serta rumah terbuka perayaan.

Kondominium Mewah

Bagi mereka yang mempunyai peruntukkan yang besar dan ingin menduduki tempat kediaman bertingkat tinggi, kondominium mewah mungkin boleh dijadikan pilihan yang menarik. Kebanyakkan kondominium mewah kini berharga lebih daripada RM1 juta.

Kebanyakkan unit-unit kondominium mewah sudahpun dilengkapi dengan perabot-perabot dan peralatan atau perkakas elektronik. Pembeli tidak perlu risau dan boleh berpindah dengan serta merta.

Malah kondominium mewah turut memberikan kemewahan daripada segi kemudahan seperti kolam renang infiniti, gim berteknologi terkini serta taman bertema ‘pocket garden’. Keselamatan sudah pasti terjamin dengan penggunaan pengawal-pengawal keselematan yang ramai serta penggunaan CCTV di setiap penjuru, di setiap tingkat.

Rumah Teres Bertingkat atau Berangkai

Bagi mereka yang sudahpun berkeluarga, sudah semestinya kediaman bertanah menjadi pilihan utama. Keluasan jenis kediaman seperti ini pada amnya besar serta mempunyai bilik-bilik yang memadai untuk menampung ahli-ahli keluarga yang ada.

Malah, ramai menggemari jenis rumah teres atau berangkai kerana adanya kawasan lapang di sekitar kediaman tersebut untuk kegunaan keluarga seperti tempat bermain, menyidai pakaian dan dijadikan ruang untuk pakir kereta.

Harus diingatkan bahawa kebanyakkan rumah teres bertingkat atau berangkai yang mampu milik kini terletak di pinggiran kota. Bagi rumah-rumah yang berada di pusat bandaraya kini dianggarkan mencecah jutaan ringgit terutamanya di kawasan seperti Taman Tun Dr Ismail, Bangsar mahupun Damansara.

Pangsapuri Mewah Dengan Perkhidmatan

Jika urusan kerja mahupun perniagaan anda membuatkan anda jarang berada di rumah, pangsapuri seperti ini boleh dijadikan pilihan dengan syarat anda mempunyai peruntukkan yang banyak. Ramai golongan muda yang berkarier menggemari kediaman seperti ini kerana ianya mempunyai servis harian seperti membersih dan menggemas rumah.

Ada sesetengah pangsapuri mewah disertakan dengan perkhidmatan bertaraf hotel lima bintang di mana penghuni-penghuni turut diberikan perkhidmatan bell-boy, perkhidmatan kereta limosin, kawasan lobi serta urusan dobi. Servis makanan turut disediakan terutamanya jika jenis kediaman ini digabungkan dengan rangkaian hotel terkemuka. Ingat, bayaran penyelenggaraan di pangsapuri mewah seperti ini tinggi.

Ingat, pastikan pilihan anda tepat dan bersesuaian dengan kehendak masing-masing. Jangan terlanjur membeli jenis kediaman yang luar daripada peruntukkan anda. Jangan jadikan rumah sebagai bebanan hutang anda!

Untuk megetahui senarai hartanah-hartanah kediaman terkini, layarilah New Property Launches dan Project Reviews di laman sesawang PropertyGuru.

Sehingga kini, terdapat berbagai-bagai jenis hartanah kediaman di Malaysia, di mana jenis-jenis hartanah yang menjadi kebiasaan adalah banglo, rumah berkembar, teres, pangsapuri, kondominium dan lain-lain lagi.

Hartanah kediaman ini telah wujud sejak berdekad lalu dan dilindungi oleh Akta Pemajuan Perumahan (HDA), yang bertujuan melindungi kepentingan pembeli hartanah. Ini termasuklah memberikan bantuan apabila terjadinya pertikaian antara pemaju dan pembeli; melindungi kepentingan pembeli apabila pemajuan perumahan terbengkalai; dan menetapkan peraturan dan undang-undang berhubung bilakah pemaju boleh mula mengenakan bayaran kepada pembeli.

Bagaimanapun, dalam tahun-tahun kebelakangan ini, banyak jenis hartanah baru telah muncul, yang hanya menyebabkan kekeliruan di kalangan pembeli rumah. Antara jenis hartanah yang baru diperkenalkan di pasaran dan begitu mengelirukan ini termasuklah Loft, SoHo, SoVo, SoFo dan banyak lagi.

Apa yang lebih mengelirukan ialah hak milik tanah tersebut! Sebelum ini, hartanah kediaman disertakan dengan hak milik kediaman dan dilindungi oleh Akta Pemajuan Perumahan (HDA). Tetapi, sesetengah daripada jenis-jenis hartanah yang baru diperkenalkan di pasaran ini mempunyai hak milik komersial tanpa perlindungan HDA.

Oleh itu, marilah kita perhatikan jenis hartanah kediaman dan komersial yang terdapat di pasaran Malaysia kini.

1. Rumah agam / Banglo / Banglo Zero Lot / Kluster / Vila

Hartanah bertanah ini merupakan lambang kemewahan di Malaysia. Kebanyakan hartanah ini adalah hampir sama, cuma dibezakan oleh beberapa perbezaan kecil.

• Rumah agam merujuk kepada kediaman yang lebih besar daripada banglo yang mempunyai tanah yang besar.
• Banglo adalah serupa dengan rumah agam, tetapi lebih kecil dari segi keluasan binaan dan tanah. Rumah ini dikelilingi oleh taman.
• Banglo zero lot menyerupai banglo, tetapi mempunyai tanah yang sangat kecil. Rumah jenis ini selalunya terletak di penjuru bagi tujuan penggunaan tanah yang sepenuhnya.
• Kediaman kluster mempunyai saiz binaan yang besar, tetapi dibina dalam bentuk kluster atau berkelompok.
• Vila pula adalah sama dengan kediaman kluster, tetapi diberi nama yang lebih menarik. Tiada panduan yang ditetapkan mengenai bagaimana vila seharusnya dibangunkan.

Kediaman jenis ini mempunyai hak milik kediaman dan dilindungi oleh HDA.

2. Rumah berkembar / Rumah sesebuah

Ini adalah kediaman bertanah dengan hak milik kediaman, yang mempunyai ciri-ciri yang serupa.

• Rumah berkembar berkongsi dinding di tengah dengan kediaman yang bersebelahan, di mana susun aturnya adalah sama dengan rumah tersebut.
• Rumah sesebuah berdiri sendiri dan tidak bersambung dengan rumah yang bersebelahan dengannya. Kediaman sebegini dilindungi oleh HDA.

3. Rumah Teres / Berangkai / Berangkai luas (Superlink)

Rumah teres, berangkai, dan berangkai luas secara amnya adalah sama, dengan hanya satu perbezaan yang kecil.

• Kediaman teres adalah yang paling kecil di kalangan kediaman jenis ini, lazimnya dengan keluasan 22 kaki x 75 kaki.
• Rumah berangkai adalah lebih besar daripada rumah teres
• Rumah berangkai luas adalah yang terbesar dalam jenis ini, dengan keluasan sehingga 34 kaki x 80 kaki

Logik di sebalik perbezaan nama ini adalah untuk membezakan rumah-rumah ini berdasarkan saiz mereka, supaya mudah untuk meyakinkan pelanggan untuk membeli hartanah dengan harga yang lebih tinggi. Hartanah jenis ini menawarkan hak milik kediaman dan dilindungi oleh HDA.

4. Rumah bandar (Townhouse)

Rumah bandar atau townhouse secara amnya adalah dua rumah dalam satu, di mana dua unit dibina di atas satu sama lain atau bersambung secara bersebelahan. Secara keseluruhannya, dari luar ia kelihatan seperti sebuah rumah. Kediaman jenis ini, sebagaimana yang lainnya, mempunyai hak milik kediaman dan dilindungi oleh HDA.

5. Rumah pangsa / Pangsapuri

Ini adalah jenis pembangunan bertingkat tinggi yang asas yang telah wujud di Malaysia sejak bertahun-tahun lamanya. Kedua-dua jenis kediaman ini menawarkan unit peringkat bawahan dengan harga yang berpatutan.

• Rumah pangsa adalah kediaman lima tingkat tanpa lif yang tidak berpagar dan tidak berpengawal, dengan tempat letak kereta di luar dan tanpa kemudahan lain.
• Sebaliknya, pangsapuri pula adalah kediaman berpagar dan berpengawal yang ketinggiannya lebih daripada lima tingkat. Ia dilengkapi lif dan bersambung dengan tempat letak kereta luar. Ia mempunyai kemudahan asas seperti taman permainan dan landskap.

Kedua-dua jenis kediaman ini mempunyai hak milik kediaman (strata) dan dilindungi oleh HDA.

6. Kondominium / Pangsapuri Servis / Kediaman Servis / Suite Servis

Hartanah jenis ini adalah bangunan bertingkat tinggi peringkat atasan di Malaysia, di mana kondominium adalah antara hartanah yang sering menjadi pilihan. Pangsapuri Servis, Kediaman Servis, dan Suite Servis adalah serupa dengan kondominium, dengan beberapa perbezaan yang kecil.

• Kondominium menawarkan kemudahan penuh, kawalan keselamatan yang ketat dan tempat letak kereta dalam bangunan atau di tingkat bawah tanah. Antara kriteria yang perlu dipenuhi sebelum sesuatu pembangunan boleh dianggap sebagai kondominium adalah ia mesti dibangunkan di tapak seluas 4,000 meter persegi atau lebih.
• Pangsapuri Servis, Kediaman Servis, dan Suite Servis didatangkan dengan kemudahan pengemasan, servis bilik, perkhidmatan bellboy dan lain-lain lagi seperti hotel.

Kondominium lazimnya mempunyai hak milik kediaman dan dilindungi oleh HDA. Sementara itu, yang selebihnya mempunyai sama ada hak milik kediaman atau komersial; walaupun lazimnya mereka mempunyai hak milik komersial. Sekiranya hartanah tersebut mempunyai hak milik komersial, ia tidak akan dilindungi oleh HDA.

7. Emper / Loft / Dupleks

Hartanah jenis ini melambangkan kemewahan dalam bangunan bertingkat tinggi, di mana ia lebih menyerupai rumah berkembar atau rumah dua tingkat di langit.

• Emper merujuk kepada unit teratas di bangunan kediaman bertingkat tinggi, dan selalunya ia merangkumi seluruh tingkat – atau sekurang-kurangnya separuh tingkat. Walaupun dalam pembangunan sebelum ini emper dibina setingkat, trend sudah berubah dan kini kebanyakan Emper adalah kediaman dua tingkat. Lazimnya hanya terdapat satu Emper sahaja dalam satu blok bangunan bertingkat tinggi, yang menjadikannya unit yang paling mahal.
• Loft dan Dupleks adalah jenis hartanah yang serupa dengan nama yang berlainan. Kedua-duanya merupakan unit dua tingkat dalam sebuah bangunan kediaman bertingkat tinggi.

Semua hartanah ini mempunyai sama ada hak milik komersial atau kediaman, bergantung kepada hak milik tanah.

8. SoHo / SoFo / SoVo / Vos

Ini adalah jenis hartanah yang baru diperkenalkan di pasaran. Kesemuanya diperkenalkan di pasaran semasa pemaju dikekang oleh Akta Pemajuan Perumahan (HDA) yang membenarkan hanya 70 unit kediaman dibina pada tanah seluas 1 ekar. Tetapi dengan hak milik komersial, pemaju dapat membangunkan 100 unit pada tapak yang mempunyai keluasan yang sama iaitu 1 ekar. Oleh itu, pembangunan sedemikian diwujudkan kerana keuntungan tambahan yang boleh didapati.

• Unit Pejabat Kecil Pejabat Rumah (SoHo) boleh digunakan sebagai pejabat atau kediaman.
• Unit Pejabat Kecil Pejabat Fleksibel (SoFo) dibina untuk digunakan sebagai pejabat. Ia dinamakan sebagai pejabat fleksibel kerana beberapa unit terpilih mempunyai takat pecah di dinding untuk membolehkan pembesaran ruang.
• Pejabat Kecil Pejabat Versatil (SoVo) dan Suite Pejabat Versatil (Vos) tiada bezanya selain daripada namanya. Hartanah jenis ini hanya digunakan untuk tujuan komersial.

Unit SoHo mempunyai hak milik kediaman dan dilindungi oleh HDA, manakala yang selebihnya adalah di bawah hak milik komersial tanpa perlindungan HDA.

9. Rumah Kedai

Rumah kedai adalah kediaman yang terletak di atas kedai. Walaupun kedai mempunyai hak milik komersial, terdapat kemungkinan bahawa rumah-rumah di bahagian atas dapat memperolehi hak milik kediaman. Bagaimanapun, ini bergantung sepenuhnya kepada pemaju, sama ada mereka berjaya memohon untuk mendapatkan hak milik kediaman bagi rumah di atas kedai tersebut. Jika pemaju tidak berjaya menukar Hak Milik Tanah kepada hak milik kediaman bagi kediaman tersebut, ia tidak akan menikmati perlindungan daripada HDA.

10. Lot Perniagaan / Lot Kedai

Unit perniagaan dan kedai agak serupa tetapi mempunyai perbezaan yang nyata.

• Unit perniagaan terletak di pusat membeli-belah
• Lot kedai pula terletak di kawasan komersial

Kedua-dua jenis hartanah ini mempunyai hak milik komersial dan tidak dilindungi oleh HDA.

11. Pembangunan Bersepadu atau Bercampur

Pembangunan bersepadu atau bercampur terdiri daripada berbagai-bagai komponen seperti kediaman, komersial, hiburan dan lain-lain. Sesetengah pembangunan turut merangkumi antara lainnya, pusat membeli-belah, pejabat dan taman tema.

Komponen kediaman ini mempunyai sama ada hak milik komersial atau kediaman, bergantung kepada sama ada pemaju dapat memohon hak milik kediaman bagi komponen kediaman tersebut.

Sekiranya permohonan tersebut tidak berjaya, komponen kediaman ini akan mempunyai hak milik komersial dan tidak akan dilindungi oleh HDA.

Originally published as Differentiating Property Types in Malaysia. To contact PropertyGuru about this or other stories email diane@propertyguru.com.my

For more information on new homes, check out PropertyGuru’s New Property Launches and Project Reviews.

迄今为止，在马来西亚有不同种类的住宅房地产单位，而较为普遍的则有独立式、半独立式、排屋、公寓、共管公寓等。

这些住宅房地产已经存在超过10年，并且受到了房屋发展商法令的保护。这项法令的主要目的是要保护房地产买家的权益。这当中也包括了于发展商和买家之间的争论提供协助；当发展项目被遗弃之时保护买家的权益；以及定下条款以让发展商能够向买家们收费。

然而，近这几年，许多新种类也快速涌现，并造成了买家们的困扰。在这些新出炉的房地产类型中也包括了公寓套房、小型家居式办公单位、小型办公单位、小型灵活性办公单位等等。

而更让你困扰的是，伴随着它的土地业权。以前，住宅房地产单位有着以住宅为名的土地业权，并有着房屋发展商法令的保护。但是，现在市场上新的房地产种类却有着商业的土地业权，并且也没有受到房屋发展商法令的保护。

因此，让我们来看看马来西亚市场现在所拥有的住宅和商业房地产吧！

1. 宅邸／独立式／零地段洋房／群集单位／别墅

这些有地房产单位是马来西亚豪华的缩影。这些房地产单位大多数都是一样的，但却又有着少数的不同之处。

• 宅邸指的是大于独立式的居留权，并有着大片的土地
• 独立式几乎相同于宅邸，但是从平方尺和土地的角度来说，却比较小。这些房地产单位都附有公园。
• 零地段洋房几乎等同于独立式，但却有着较小的土地。通常，这些住宅单位都位于角落，以能够充分利用该土地。
• 群集单位有着宽敞的建筑覆盖面，但是却是群集而建的。
• 别墅与群集单位有着共同之处，只是有着较花俏的名称。而它却没有一个特定的指引该如何建立或发展。

这些住宅单位都有着以住宅为名的土地业权，同时也于房屋发展商法令的保护之下。

2. 半连式／半独立式

这些有地房产都附有住宅的土地业权，并且有着些许的共同点。

• 一间半连式住宅单位与隔壁的单位共享同一幅墙壁，而其格局就犹如镜子反射般相同。
• 半独立式单位则独自占有一个空间，且没有与隔壁的单位毗连。这类型的房屋都在房屋发展商法令的保护之下。

3. 排屋／连接排屋／豪华排屋

大致上，排屋、连接排屋和豪华排屋都是一样的，而它们之间只有一个不同之处。

• 在这之中，排屋有着最小的建筑覆盖面，普遍为22呎 X 75呎
• 连接排屋大过排屋
• 豪华排屋则是三者中最大的，而其覆盖面可达34呎 X 80呎

这背后的原理是为了要根据它们的大小而区分不同类型的房地产单位，因而能够更容易以更高的价格来说服买家。这些种类的房地产单位有着住宅土地业权，同时也受到了房屋发展商法令的保护。

4. 联排住宅

基本上，一间联排住宅有两个单位，而这两个单位将会在彼此的上下方，亦或隔壁。然而，总的来说，从外观看，它就像一间单位似的。就如其他的住宅房地产，这种住宅单位也拥有住宅土地业权，且受到了房屋发展商法令的保护。

5. 廉价公寓／公寓

这些是马来西亚基本的高楼发展项目，且已经存在了一段时间。这两种住宅发展项目都提供了负担得起且低端的单位。

• 廉价公寓是一项没有围篱、没有保安人员看守且没有电梯的五层楼公寓。除了户外停车场，它也没有提供任何额外的生活设施。
• 在此之际，一栋公寓附有了围篱和保安设施，并且也超过五层楼高。它备有了电梯，同时也附有一个户外停车场。它们也有着基本的生活设施，如游乐园和园林装饰。

6. 这两种类型都有着住宅土地业权，同时也于房屋发展商法令的保护之下。

共管公寓／服务式公寓／服务式居所／服务式套房

这些都是马来西亚较为高端的高楼，而在这当中，共管公寓是被高度优选的。服务式公寓、服务式居所和服务式套房都和共管公寓几乎相同，但却也有着少许的不同之处。

• 共管公寓提供了一系列的生活设施、严谨的保安设施以及室内或地下停车场。在还未开始其发展项目前，其中一项需要被满足的条件就是，共管公寓必须要坐落在4,000平方米或更大的土地上。
• 服务式公寓、服务式居所和服务式套房则附有管家服务、客房服务、侍者服务等等，就犹如生活在酒店般。

共管公寓通常都拥有住宅性质的土地业权，并且于房屋发展商法令的保护之下。期间，其他的则有可能为住宅或商业性质的土地业权；尽管它们都一致拥有商业的土地业权。若该发展项目拥有一个商业性质的土地业权，那么该房地产则不会受到房屋发展商法令的保护。

7. 顶层公寓／阁楼／复式

这种房地产单位诠释了高楼住宅的奢华。这是因为，它就等同于空中的半独立式单位或双层单位。

• 一间顶楼公寓指的是一栋住宅高楼的最顶层单位，并且通常会占用整个楼层 – 亦或至少半个楼层。尽管在以往的发展项目中，顶层公寓都是单层的，但是现在这个潮流已经被改变了，因而大多数的顶层公寓都是双层的。在一栋住宅高楼里通常就只有一间顶层公寓单位，进而成为最昂贵的住宅单位。
• 阁楼和复式几乎都为相同的种类，但却有着不同的名称。在一栋住宅高楼里，这些单位通常都是双层的。

取决于其土地业权，这些单位会有住宅或商业性质的土地业权。

8. 小型家居式办公单位／小型办公单位／小型灵活性办公单位／多用途套房办公单位

这些都是市场中新型的房地产种类。当房屋发展商法令设下新的条规 – 只能建筑70个单位于一英亩的土地中，发展商就被缚住了，因而就推出了这些新的房地产种类。然而，若拥有以商业为名义的土地业权，发展商则可以在一英亩土地中建筑100间单位。因此，基于这额外的盈利，这类似的发展项目便出现了。

• 小型家居式办公单位可以用作办公室或居家单位。
• 小型办公单位将被用作办公室。它们能够创造一个灵活的办公室，因为在当中某些单位的墙壁上都有断点，以能够使空间更为宽敞。
• 除了名字，小型灵活性办公单位和多用途套房办公单位是没有差别的。它们只可用作商业用途而已。

小型家居式办公单位拥有住宅土地业权，且于房屋发展商法令的保护之下。然而，其他的类型则为商业土地业权，也没有受到房屋发展商法令的任何保护。

9. 店屋

店屋是座落在商店之上的住宅单位。尽管这些商店都拥有商业性质的土地业权，但是这些住宅单位还是有可能拥有以住宅为名义的土地业权。然而，这将会完全取决于发展商是否能够为这些住宅单位取得住宅的土地业权。若发展商没有办法将土地业权改至住宅性质，那么这些房屋将无法享有房屋发展商法令的保护。

10. 零售单位／商店

零售单位和商店都有相似之处，但在这之中还是有些许的差别。

• 零售单位座落在购物广场中。
• 商店位于一个商业区域中。

这两种类型的房地产都为商业性质的土地业权，也没有于房屋发展商法令的保护之下。

11. 综合／混合发展项目

综合或混合发展项目包含了许多部分，如住宅、商业、娱乐等等。有一些发展项目甚至也纳入了购物商场、办公室和主题乐园。

取决于该发展商能否为这当中的住宅元素取得住宅性质的土地业权，这当中的住宅元素将会拥有商业，亦或住宅性质的土地业权。

若该申请失败，那么这些住宅单位将会有着商业性质的土地业权，同时也不会得到房屋发展商法令的保护。

Originally published as Differentiating Property Types in Malaysia and translated by Lee Wan Ling. To contact Diane about this or other stories email diane@propertyguru.com.my

For more information on new homes, check out PropertyGuru’s New Property Launches and Project Reviews.

You’re single and looking for a home with no more than RM 1,500 as mortgage repayments? Read this:

We tend to nag about the prices of properties of late. The price will never be right in accordance to our whims and fancies. If you have an average income of RM 3,500 to RM 4,500 and still whining about how erratic the market is, here are some tips in making that ‘big move’ possible.

Lifestyle Changes – It’s Not Impossible

Your jet-setting lifestyle has to go in paving way for a home

The first thing that any experienced homeowner would say, “Change your lifestyle” whenever affordability comes into question. Young adults are now occupied in maintaining appearances as well as jetting off for holidays in ensuring a respectable social status. But for keen home owners, expanses for such lifestyle need to be on the chopping block and to be deterred immediately.

In fact,  2/3 of a young adult’s salary is spent on food, leisure, entertainment and repaying debts. An estimated 23,366 youths aged below 34 from 95,799 people were declared bankrupt from 2012 to August 2016. Bad debts like car loans, personal loans and credit cards are said to be the root causes to premature bankruptcies.

There are numerous unnecessary expenditures that can be avoided, which include:

• Malaysians notoriously spent RM 6.8 bio within 2016 to 2017 on smartphones. Meanwhile, technology enthusiasts would easily splurge up to RM 3,000 or even more for Apple’s latest gadget every quarter. Imagine saving all those money for a home? 
• And if you are now splashing RM 800 – RM 1,000 for room rental in a posh high-rise development, well you aren’t that far off from paying an actual monthly mortgage for your own home.
• If you could put aside RM 20 daily for that all-round Europe trip in December, you are definitely capable to come up with RM 20,000 for down payment of a condo unit and even for a small scaled landed property.
• And imagine how much you can save from those monthly gym fees by owning an affordable condominium unit that comes with fitness facilities?

These unnecessary expanses are the root causes of why young adults are living paycheque to paycheque and can’t afford to purchase a home. Imagine eliminating all of them?

Dreamers Versus Realists

Dreaming is not necessarily bad for home seekers. But if it clouds one’s better and realistic judgement, then dreamers should immediately stop dreaming and start being realists. We all do dream of a house with white picket fences, lavished with great aesthetic vision and contemporary décor to the delight of many. What you want in most cases aren’t necessarily what you need in real life.

Getting a home based on one’s income needs fact checking above everything else. Monthly mortgages should at least be 35% of your pretax income. Hence, those with average salary of RM 3,500 to RM 4,500 could opt for homes from and below RM 400,000 in order to pay at least RM 1,500 for monthly repayments.

If you need to fork out deposit payments, do opt for your EPF Account 2. Deposits would normally cost you 10% from the home purchase price. Hence, RM 40,000 to RM 45,000 would be the ideal amount to have in your Account 2. Other than that, you also need to put aside extra stash of cash for stamp duty, lawyer’s fees and even renovation. 

On a brighter note, property overhang is now a major problem facing by the market and the ball can be in the buyer’s court. Developers are now throwing in ‘never seen before’ packages, which include down payment as low as RM 5,000 or even ‘buy now and pay later’ schemes to lure buyers to buy. If you are cash strapped or have insufficient fund, do look out for these offers.

The Art of Give and Take

LRT line extension gives more options for home buyers with no personal transportation (Image Source: RAPID KL)

Being a home buyer on a tight budget, one must learn the art of give and take. In this scenario, you would do the giving more than the taking.

If you are seeking for bigger space, you would have to stay farther from the town or city center. Hence, longer commute will be the biggest sacrifice that you need to do especially if you are working in the city center itself.

If you don’t possess any form of vehicle, then developments within the proximity of public transportation would be the place to go. Do avoid properties within the city center as the price would spike vastly. For an instance, if you are working within KLCC, you would most likely take the LRT to work. Find areas with the same rail connection but located farther from the central area. Try consider Gombak, Putra Heights, Puchong, Taman Melati or even Ara Damansara. Train commute might be longer but look at the bright side, you won’t be paying premium price for a home.

Show Me the Money!

GrabCar is another way of earning the extra cash (Image Source: FMT)

Perhaps additional income just might do the trick in easing the financial woes. Uber and GrabCar are gaining popularity among young adults in terms of earning the extra cash. One could earn right up to RM1,200 monthly on a part time basis. Meanwhile, online businesses such F&B based businesses (baking and food delivery) as well as fashion retail are doable, sustainable as well as flexible.

On the other hand, you must not neglect your personal debts despite having these additional incomes. Personal debts must be at bare minimum. Its total should be within the range of RM 500-RM 600, max.

Hence, limiting credit cards expenditures and hopefully eliminating ongoing rental payments could help in making this possible. Most importantly, take time to clear off your debts, at least a year before applying for a home loan. You still need to have a credible credit score to avoid loan rejection.

Ideal Homes for Singletons with a of Budget RM 1,500 for Monthly Repayments

Homes for space lovers:

Sutera @ Warisan Puteri 2, Seremban

It is easily accessible from Seremban via Jalan Sikamat and Jalan Jelebu and from Kuala Lumpur via Ampangan exit of LEKAS. Price starts from RM392,400 with monthly payment of an estimated RM1,203. The units here consist of Terraced Houses and SuperLinks. 

3Residences Kajang

Prices range from RM338,000 to RM530,000. The apartment sizes range from 856 sq ft to 1,251 sq ft with an average 2-3 bedrooms and bathrooms. The town itself is connected to a number of major highways such as SILK Highway, North-South Expressway, LDP and Cheras-Kajang Highway. There is even a new Kajang MRT Station (Sungai-Buloh- Kajang line) being built near the existing KTM.

Homes for train commuters:

Maisson Ara Damansara

Price starts from RM 360,000  with an estimated RM 1,311 monthly repayments for units ranging from 500 sq ft to 650 sq ft. The area is located within the reach of Ara Damansara LRT Station of the Kelana Jaya Line.

Epic Suites Puchong

Price starts at RM 345,000 for units within the range of 624 sq ft to 699 sq.ft. The development is located around Puchong Prima LRT Station of  Sri Petaling Line.

For more information on new top and affordable homes, check out PropertyGuru’s New Property Launches and Project Reviews.

While the biggest concern for many a property agent is passing their exams and getting their licenses, the real test actually comes after.

Save up for Rainy Days

The first thing a property agent should do is have a nest egg. The reason for this is because even if they get a sale immediately, the fastest they will be able to get their first payout is in at least six months after the sale is concluded. Because of this, a property agent just starting out should have a savings of at least 6 months expenses to support themselves.

To become a property agent without proper financial planning in the beginning is the cause of many property agents quitting within their first few months.

Get a Mentor

Even if you pass your tests well, it does not mean that you will be able to perform well as studying and performing are two different issues. Follow them along on their business deals, be generous and be willing to share your commission with them if you need their expertise.

The expertise that you will need may not just include how to talk to your clients, it may also include more technical issues such as explaining the instalment process, getting contacts in the banks to give your buyer better rates and getting a good lawyer.

Build your Little Black Book

Speaking of getting the right contacts, any new property agent should also begin by building their list of contacts. Among the contacts that they should get is a couple mortgage loan officers from every bank who is willing to provide better rates for a promise of exclusive business from the agent, lawyers who are responsive and good at explaining to the clients and valuation officers.

Aside from contacts who are able to provide more technical assistance, every property agent should also have a number of property investors in their little black book who would be interested in all the good deals in the market. The other contacts to have is a list of buyers and sellers.

Familiarise yourself with Online Platforms

The rule of thumb is to always stay updated with the best online platforms to publish your property listings on. Unlike the real estate scene of the past, technology is the future to selling properties. Do not just put your listings up online, do build a brand presence for yourself as well. Utilise all the social media platforms to help you with your sales and networking.

Most new real estate agents come to a rude awakening once they finish their exams and enter the market. They are unprepared for a few months of no income, and many leave the real estate business before they reach their full potential. Prepare yourself well before entering the business, and you could be the next successful property agent in the market.

Pelaburan hartanah bukanlah satu perkara yang mudah, kerana ia melibatkan proses yang lama dan panjang yang memakan masa dan memerah tenaga anda. Apakah langkah yang seterusnya setelah anda berjaya membeli rumah anda?

Sekiranya anda bertujuan untuk membuat pelaburan jangka panjang, maka motif utama anda adalah untuk mendapatkan hasil sewaan yang lumayan. Namun begitu, sebagaimana pembelian hartanah, penyelenggaraan hartanah juga bukanlah sesuatu yang mudah.

Sebaik sahaja anda mendapat kunci rumah, anda harus merancang langkah anda yang seterusnya. Buatlah perancangan awal sekiranya boleh!

Langkah 1: Tentukan penyewa sasaran anda

Sebaik sahaja anda membeli hartanah, anda harus menentukan kumpulan penyewa pilihan anda. Bagaimanapun, keputusan anda mestilah berhubung kait dengan lokasi hartanah anda. Sekiranya ada universiti atau kolej yang berhampiran, penyewa sasaran anda mungkin pelajar atau tenaga pengajar. Atau jika terdapat hospital, pusat membeli-belah dan kemudahan lain yang berdekatan, penyewa sasaran boleh jadi individu dewasa yang bekerja.

Bagaimanapun, supaya lebih spesifik lagi, rencana ini akan menumpukan kepada hartanah yang disewakan kepada pelajar.

Terdapat cerita-cerita yang agak teruk di pasaran yang melibatkan penyewaan kepada pelajar, dan cerita-cerita ini umumnya membuatkan tuan rumah berfikir dua kali untuk menyewakan unit mereka kepada pelajar. Jadi, untuk membantu anda membuat keputusan, mari kita lihat pro dan kontra menyewakan unit anda kepada pelajar:

Pro:

Sokongan yang berterusan: Para pelajar hari ini mendapat sokongan yang berterusan daripada ibu bapa mereka. Jadi, sekiranya mereka tidak dapat menjelaskan sewa mereka, ibu bapa mereka akan membantu.

Perkongsian dengan rakan: Menyewakan unit anda kepada pelajar adalah berbeza dengan menyewakannya kepada keluarga, di mana anda boleh menyewakan unit tersebut kepada beberapa pelajar pada masa yang sama. Kebanyakan pelajar lebih suka cara begini kerana ia dapat mengurangkan perbelanjaan mereka, dan membolehkan mereka mendapatkan kadar sewa yang lebih rendah bagi setiap pelajar.

Pembahagian bilik: Sebagaimana yang dinyatakan sebelum ini, pelajar tiada masalah untuk berkongsi rumah dengan pelajar lain. Oleh itu, tuan rumah boleh membuat bilik tambahan untuk disewakan dengan meletakkan sekatan dalam bilik di unit tersebut. Bilik tambahan akan memberikan pendapatan tambahan untuk anda!

Pengambilan pelajar baru: Setiap tahun, apabila pelajar telah tamat tempoh sewaannya dan berpindah keluar, pelajar baru akan datang untuk menggantikan tempat mereka. Kerana itu, permintaan bagi hartanah untuk disewa akan sentiasa ada.

Kontra:

Tempoh sewaan: Penyewaan pelajar selalunya melibatkan tempoh yang lebih pendek – untuk beberapa semester atau beberapa tahun sehingga kursus mereka selesai. Oleh itu, tuan rumah terpaksa melalui proses mencari penyewa baru berkali-kali.

Sifat yang tidak matang: Pelajar kadangkala susah untuk ditangani dan dibawa berbincang. Oleh itu, masukkan segalanya dalam kontrak sebelum anda menyewakan unit anda supaya anda dapat mengurangkan perkara-perkara yang merisaukan.

Kerosakan pada unit: Ada kalanya pelajar agak cuai, dan mereka mungkin merosakkan perabot dan unit anda. Bagaimanapun, inilah gunanya deposit yang telah anda ambil, untuk menampung perbelanjaan seumpama ini.

Langkah 2: Menyediakan unit

Oleh kerana anda telah membuat keputusan untuk menyewakan unit anda kepada pelajar, seharusnya ada kolej atau universiti yang berdekatan. Jadi, langkah seterusnya adalah untuk memperlengkapkan unit tersebut.

Apabila menyewakan hartanah kepada pelajar, anda perlu menyediakan unit yang lengkap dengan perabot, atau paling tidak, separa lengkap, kerana kemungkinan besar penyewa anda hanya akan berada di situ dalam tempoh masa yang singkat dan inginkan kos perpindahan yang rendah.

Bagaimanapun, cuba elakkan kelengkapan yang tidak perlu; yang asas sudah mencukupi. Juga tumpukan kepada perabot dengan rekaan yang mengikut trend terkini dan bukannya perabot bina dalam yang mahal, kerana pelajar selalunya lebih mementingkan gaya daripada kualiti.

Cubalah sediakan alatan elektrik asas seperti ketuhar mikro, cerek, induction cooker dan yang seumpamanya, untuk kegunaan harian.

Untuk mengetahui dengan lebih lanjut mengenai cara untuk memperlengkapkan hartanah anda untuk disewakan kepada pelajar, bacalah 10 Tip untuk Memperlengkapkan Hartanah Anda Untuk Disewakan kepada Pelajar.

Langkah 3: Menentukan kadar sewa

Setelah anda memperlengkapkan unit anda sewajarnya, cuba tentukan kadar sewa dan bilangan pelajar yang akan tinggal di unit anda. Seperti yang dinyatakan sebelum ini, anda boleh membuat bilik tambahan untuk menempatkan lebih ramai pelajar.

Buat tinjauan dan semak kadar sewa yang dikenakan oleh orang lain. Cuba beri kadar yang rendah sedikit, atau lebih kurang sama dengan yang lain. Tetapi, jangan kenakan kadar yang terlalu tinggi kerana pelajar akan mempunyai banyak pilihan dari segi kadar sewa.

Langkah 4: Sewakan!

Selepas anda melengkapkan unit anda dengan perabot dan menentukan kadar sewa, iklankan unit anda di portal hartanah yang terkemuka seperti PropertyGuru. Pastikan gambar yang dihantar adalah yang berkualiti dan mempunyai resolusi yang tinggi, dan unit dalam gambar mestilah kelihatan terang dan bersih dengan perabot yang elok.

Bila anda menerima tawaran daripada pelajar, rundingkan sebaiknya dan masukkan semua perincian dalam perjanjian penyewaan. Di samping itu, adalah lebih mudah untuk mengendalikan atau mengutip sewa daripada salah seorang penyewa, daripada berhubung dengan semua penyewa.

Bagaimanapun, jika anda merasakan bahawa ia terlalu leceh, anda boleh mengambil ejen hartanah untuk membantu menyewakan unit anda dan mengendalikannya selepas itu. Caj yang dikenakan untuk perkhidmatan sedemikian berbeza mengikut agensi.

Sekiranya anda adalah bakal tuan rumah atau dalam proses ke arah itu, ikuti langkah-langkah yang diberikan di atas untuk melengkapkan dan menyewakan unit anda. Dan sekiranya anda adalah seorang pelajar yang sedang mencari rumah untuk disewa, anda boleh baca 5 Taktik untuk Merundingkan Kadar Sewa yang lebih Rendah.

Originally published as 4-Step Guide for Student Lease Properties. To contact PropertyGuru about this or other stories email diane@propertyguru.com.my

For more information on new homes, check out PropertyGuru’s New Property Launches and Project Reviews.

房地产投资并不是一项简单的任务，因为在这长远的过程中，它非常耗时耗力。然而，当你成功地购买了房屋后会发生什么事呢？如果你是想要长期的投资，那么你主要的动机就是想要获得很好的租金回报。不管怎样，相同于购买一间房地产单位，维持一间房地产也不是一件容易的事。就在你得到了单位钥匙后，你就必须开始计划往后的每一个步骤。如果可以，那么就尽早计划为妙！

第一步：决定你的目标租户

就在你购买了你的房地产单位后的那一刻，你就必须要决定你所偏好的租户群。但是，你的决定和你房地产单位的坐落地点也有所关联。如果在同区域内设有大学或学院，那么你的目标租户可以为学生或教育工作者。亦或，若于临近拥有医院、购物商场或其他生活设施，你的目标租户可以为在职成人。

然而，为了让事情更明确，这篇文章将会着重在学生租赁的房地产。在房地产市场内有着许多骇人的故事，而这当中当然也包括了出租给学生。基本上，这些故事都会让业主在出租给学生之前三思而行。因此，在还未下定决心之前，让我们一起来看看出租给学生的利与弊：

好处：

• 不间断的支援：现在的学生都可以从父母那一方得到不间断的帮助。因此，就这样来看，若他们无法负担他们的租赁，他们的父母也会出面协助他们。
• 在同行间共用：出租给学生有别于出租给一个家庭，因为你可以在同一时间内出租给数个学生。大多数的学生都会如此而行，因为这样可以帮助他们减少他们的开支，因而缴交较少的租金。
• 分隔一间额外的房间：就上一点所提及的，学生对于和其他学生共用同一间单位并没有任何意见。因此，业主可以在单位中分隔多一间房间，并用作出租。一间额外的房间，就代表额外的收入！
• 新生入学：当一位学生的租赁已期满，并且搬出了单位，而后也将会有一年一度的新生入学。因此，租赁的市场永远都存在。

坏处：

• 出租期间：学生的租赁通常都只维持一个较短的时间 – 数个学期或数年直到他完成学业为止。因此，业主需要经常经历寻找新租户的过程。
• 不成熟的特性：有时候，学生可以很难搞，且很难沟通。因此，将一切条规纳入租赁合约中，你将可以不必担心太多。
• 单位的损坏：有些时候，学生可能会非常粗心大意，进而有可能破坏你的家具或单位。尽管如此，你所收取的订金为的就是能够支付这些支出。

第二步：将单位准备好

既然你已经决定将单位出租给学生了，那么在临近于这单位也应该设有大学或学院。于是，下一步就是为单位配置家具了。

当我们说到学生租赁的房地产单位，出租一间附有完整家居的单位是必要的，亦或，至少也得是附有一些必要的家具。这是因为你的租户有可能将会居住在这里一段较短的时间，而他们也会期望拥有较低的迁入费。

但是，尽量避免不必要的家具：基本的就足以而行。另外，与其花费在较昂贵的固定家具，你可以着重在设计时髦的家具，因为大多数的学生都比较着重在外观，而不是质量。

同时，尽可能地提供一些基本的电器产品，如微波炉、电水壶、电磁炉等类似的家具，以能够让他们每天使用。

想要知道更多方法来配置你的学生租赁房地产单位，阅读配置你的学生租赁房地产单位的10个小贴士。

第三步：决定你的出租金额

当你已经根据你的需求而配置完毕，那么你可以开始决定你的出租金额以及学生居住的数量。就如上述所提及，你可以分隔额外一间房间来容下更多的学生。

到同区域内作出调查，并看看其他人的出租金额为多少。尽可能地设下一个较低的价格，亦或大致相同的价格。但是，千万不要定价过高，因为在选择出租这方面，学生将会有很多的选择。

第四点：出租吧！

一旦你已经配置完毕，且也定下你的出租金额，那么你可以在一个著名的房地产平台上，如 PropertyGuru宣传你的单位。确保你的照片都是高品质且高清的，而照片中的单位应该是明亮干净，再配上合适体面的家具。

当你从有潜力的学生中收到了回复后，好好地商量，并于租赁协议中立下一切条规。再者，与其和每个人协议，不如和其中一位租客商讨并收取租金是再好不过了。

然而，若你觉得这一切都太费功夫了，你也可以聘请一位房地产中介来帮你出租你的单位，并维持它。如此服务的费用将会依据各个中介而有所不同。

若你是一位有潜力的业主，亦或正想要成为一位有潜力的业主，那么跟从以上的步骤来配置并成功地出租你的单位。而如果你是一位正在寻找出租单位的学生，你可以阅读商讨更低价格的5大招数。

Originally published as 4-Step Guide for Student Lease Properties and translated by Lee Wan Ling. To contact Diane about this or other stories email diane@propertyguru.com.my

For more information on new homes, check out PropertyGuru’s New Property Launches and Project Reviews.

The biggest hurdle faced by most homebuyers is the inability to obtain a housing loan, leaving many in despair.

Official numbers and statements stating the high rejection rates have been alarming and have been attributed both to the ignorance and inability of buyers to meet the financing institutions criteria.

However, there also have been various accounts from banks or developers citing different statistics on loan approvals and rejection rates, putting many in confusion and uncertainty.

In fact, not many are aware that in the first quarter of 2017, banks had approved RM22.3 million worth of housing financing to 90,137 borrowers across the nation.

These figures by Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM)’s quarterly bulletin entitled “Debunking the Myth: Property Measures Have Led to Higher Loan Rejected Rates” revealed that more than half as stated were borrowers of affordable housing units priced below RM500,000.

The author, Lim Le Sze, mentioned that the housing approval rate remained high at 74.2 percent in comparison with the average of 74.1 percent during 2012-2016 period.

On how such a percentage is calculated, Lim clarified that the approval rate is the ratio of the number of housing loan applications approved by all banks in Malaysia to the number of housing loan applications received by the banks during the same period.

Meanwhile, in 2016, the Association of Banks in Malaysia’s official statement which is in line with BNM’s statistics quantified the approval rate for housing loans in 2016 was high at 73.8 percent.

BNM further disclosed that in that same year, 72 percent of housing loan borrowers consisted of first-time homebuyers of homes priced below RM500,000.

These statistics display successful purchases of affordable housing in the country especially among first-time homeowners, providing glimpses of hope for all those who have been left behind in the property bandwagon.

The approval rate takes into account housing loans approved by banks and accepted by the borrowers as well as housing loans approved by banks but subsequently cancelled by the borrowers.

Banks also generally do not include applications with incomplete documents when calculating the approval or rejection rate,” the statement read.

This sentiment was in line with PropertyGuru Malaysia Property Affordability Sentiment Index H2 2016 where 74 percent of respondents have successfully taken a bank financing without facing any difficulties or hurdles.

First-time homebuyers facing rejection?

Statements by The Real Estate and Housing Developers’ Association (Rehda) stated that the rejection rate for housing loans was high at 60 percent.

Rehda patron and past president Datuk Ng Seing Liong said this could be because banks filtered the housing loan seekers before even receiving applications.

“The standard is so high and it is difficult for potential home buyers to get financing,” he told a local daily.

On the other hand, Malayan Banking Bhd executive vice-president and head of consumer finance Abdul Razak Mohd Nordin said in a local daily “that when the customer comes to us, we do the pre-screening. If their track record is not good, we reject their application.”

“For these customers, we don’t take it as a rejection because it isn’t counted in our books, but when we go back to the developers they look at it as a rejection,” he said.

Abdul Razak said most potential first-time home buyers with a rejected loan can blame their lifestyles.

There was also the issue of CCRISS (Central Credit Reference Information System) record, he said.

“For those who are older you must make sure that your record is good. Even the recent issues of the PTPTN (National Higher Education Fund Corp) falls under CCRISS so from a banker’s perspective, what we advise potential home buyers is to settle their PTPTN loans first and then come back to us,” he said.

BNM justified that generally, housing loan applications were rejected if the borrower was highly leveraged with a weak credit history and had insufficient documentation to support the ability to repay the loan obligation.

As with other loans, one of the key factors that banks will consider is the capability of the applicant to repay the loan, said ABM, adding that applicants that meet the bank’s criteria will not be rejected.

What can a borrower do to secure a loan?

ABM said that with the wide range of home loan products available in the market, it is crucial for customers to identify the loan features which are important to them when shopping for a loan.

“Homebuyers must also be aware of the factors that banks take into account in evaluating a housing loan application, which may include the location of the property, the applicant’s credit rating, conduct of existing loan accounts and capability to service the debt.”

For first time homebuyers, there are financing options such as the government schemes including “Skim Rumah Pertamaku” (SRP), which can aid in their property purchase, ABM said.

“They may also want to consider applying for projects under ‘Perbadanan PR1MA Malaysia’ which offer the opportunity for middle-income households to own a home in key urban centres. There are also rent-to-own schemes available under PR1MA.”

“You must have a good credit record. If you have that, then banks will favour you. You must also have the ability to prove your debt service ratio is good.

“To increase that, especially for those who are single, they should file as a joint application whether it’s with their father, fiancée or whomever, for a better chance,” Abdul Razak said.

Some straight-forward tips in securing a home loan

A) Know how much you are eligible to borrow by checking with the bank based on your existing income and expenses or other loan repayment commitments.

B) Follow the general rule of thumb where the monthly home installments and other debt commitments such as hire purchase financing does not exceed 40 percent of the gross income.

C) Organise documentation and update them regularly as you may never know the need for it.

D) Have a good credit record by ensuring all payments are up to date on existing credit conveniences and liabilities.

E) Be transparent in disclosing all information especially with your financial position at that point of time.

For more information on new homes, check out PropertyGuru’s New Property Launches and Project Reviews.

The property market in Malaysia is competitive amidst the slow market, and the property buyer knowing this fact does not help as it makes some of them more difficult. Requests for below bank valuation price tags and more freebies are common among some of the more typical demands, and handling these types of clients can be difficult.

Below are some of the common situations faced by sales agents, and some of the ways on how to handle them.

The Bargain Hunter

Many property buyers put their night market bargaining skills to the test here, when looking for a property to purchase. They will scour the market for the best bargains, set up appointments to view all of them, select the one that most appeals to them and drive a hard bargain for the property.

Among the gimmicks they will attempt is to try contacting the property owner directly, or ask the agent for a better discount by offering to pay an additional “commission” for getting the buyer a better price.

How to deal with this client

For the properties that were viewed and deemed unworthy, the agent would have wasted their time here. But the final agent with the keys to the desired property may be able to get the sale if they stand firm.

They will need to educate the buyer on the property value in the area, and the prices that were previously paid for purchases in the neighbourhood. Places where these info can be gotten are at the National Property Information Centre (NAPIC). If an agreement is met, make sure to get it down in writing as soon as possible to ensure that the buyer sticks to it.

The Dominant Talker

Sometimes you will get clients who are determined to keep talking, from the salient points to the unnecessary. They will tell you what type of property they want, how many rooms, how big the kitchen must be – all the to the type of sink they want in the kitchen, the age of the kitchen cabinet and the colour of the toilet tiles.

How to deal with this client

These types of clients are not necessarily bad, they just have many concerns that they wish to get off their chest. There are often much underlying meaning beneath their words. Listen to them, let them finish talking – they will eventually end somewhere.

Once they have finished pouring their concerns out onto you, address their concerns one by one so that they know you understand their concerns, and that you care. The clients’ concerns are often baseless, but obviously mean much to them; so do not take them lightly. Take care of their feelings, and you will most probably be highly recommended by these clients to others even if the deal does not go through.

Disrespectful Buyers

And every so often you will get a client who thinks that they can mistreat their peers just because they are the ones holding the cash. They will bring their entire family to view the property, spouse, parents, wailing brood of children and more. Their children may run over the entire property with their shoes on and test the beds by jumping on them, while the adults look down their noses at the property.

How to deal with this client

While it may often be tempting to put these people in their place, it will not be good for your reputation; and may destroy a potential sale. Nevertheless, if the family goes out of hand, stopping them from damaging the property may prove more crucial.

In these cases, the only way is a direct approach. Do not reprimand any misdemeanours from the children directly, instead firmly tell the adults that they will have to be responsible for any damage inflicted on the property.

The Mind Changer

Every so often, property agents will come across clients who will try to put everything into verbal agreements only and refuse to put anything down in writing. Examples of these include buyers agreeing to purchase the property at a certain price and then later telling the agent that they are actually looking for a lower price tag.

How to deal with this client

The moment a client agrees with a price, tell them that you need to put it down in writing to protect their best interests. A way to do this is to tell them that the price may increase according to market price, so it would be in their best interest to lock down the agreed selling price first.

Difficult clients are always a given in the property market, especially within the challenging property agent scene. Share with us below some of the more difficult situations that you yourself may have faced before, and how you dealt with it.

Diane Foo Eu Lynn, Senior Content Specialist at PropertyGuru, edited this story. To contact her about this or other stories email diane@propertyguru.com.my

For more information on new homes, check out PropertyGuru’s New Property Launches and Project Reviews.

While some feel the journey in becoming a certified agent might be the toughest, the bitter truth is that obtaining the licence was the easiest. The challenges come seeping in slowly when your career begins as an agent.

This is because the real estate is a people business and being able to communicate effectively and possessing people skills is a very fundamental part of your career.

As a professional agent, dealing with clients will eventually become a daily affair. Hence, you will come across the variety of characters and behaviours–some delightful while some spiteful.

When days are bad and faced with a client from hell, the first rule of the thumb would be not to allow a client’s bad behaviour bring out the worst in you.

There will be an unavoidable circumstance at some point, therefore keep in mind these tips to manage and handle the transaction like a professional that you are.

Listen

Most often, problematic clients have unreasonable desires while some don’t know what they want or how to articulate it.

Therefore, when dealing with difficult and demanding clients, it is important to remain calm, cool and collected during this stressful time.

The simplest, powerful and effective tool you should possess is the ability to listen because most often, words can mislead and cause unnecessary conflicts.

By practising this from the beginning, listening carefully to the needs and wants can, in turn, nurture a healthier relationship and understanding between you and your client.

Always remember that buying or selling a house can be an emotional process, whether it’s due to financial struggles, relationship fall-outs or a death in the family.

Hence, lending an ear shows that their concerns and reservations are being well-thought-out.

Pre-filter

It is a norm to conduct pre-client interviews with potential sellers or buyers to ensure a smooth process on how to conduct your job effectively.

Aside from determining general chemistry, the pre-screening meeting will encapsulate your client’s behaviour traits.

Picking out small details such as if they are on time, presentable or being courteous are often great predictors of how a client will behave once you’re working together.

Also, it is important to recognise if their needs and wants are in line with yours, thus pre-screening will provide the opportunity to understand them better and identify alarming personality traits that could cause downsides along the way.

This is so that both parties go into the agreement without any misconceptions or misunderstandings, which can be avoidable from the very beginning.

Enlighten

There will be instances when dealing with clients who believe they are real estate experts or those who solely focus on making a profitable sale from their property.

This usually happens when clients demand too much because they do not understand the industry and its terminology.

As professional agents, you need to continuously keep abreast with industry updates and people skills to address concerns brought up by clients and inform them confidently. Having said that, it is important to be proactive rather than reactive.

When dealing with a difficult and stubborn client, don’t be defensive or patronising. Instead, maintain a friendly and direct manner.

Therefore, educate and keep clients informed with the depths of your knowledge and they will be more inclined to take your decision on board since that is the reason they hired you at first.

Find solutions

It is also in your profession to come up with creative solutions when dealing with challenging situations and clients.

There will come a time when clients demand precedes your expertise. This is when you should be able to show them your quick-thinking, problem-solving and versatility skills to ease their woes.

Store details and contacts of contractors and handyman and partake in all the hand-holding and attentive listening your client may require.

It is imperative to view matters from your client’s perspective and envision what measures you would take at any given point during the transaction process.

This could lead to finding the right solution tailored to your client’s needs, leaving them with no reason to proceed with their demands.

Stand your ground

Finally, when all efforts don’t seem to work well during the transaction, one last attempt would be to remind clients that you are the professional in the real estate industry.

Explain to them in a calm and collective manner, with a firm tone behind your methods, decisions and reasoning.

It is also crucial to mention that you have the skills and experience backed up by a track record of proven success, hence the reason they hired you in the first place.

Nevertheless, if there is no longer any respect and trust in this agent-client relationship, it would be wise to recommend such difficult clients to another agent.

To learn more on how to be a great property agent, go to The Real Rockstar.

The property business has always been a lucrative market. But with the property market flooded with agents, it becomes even more critical to avoid making mistakes – especially when the stakes are the sale of a property. So what are the mistakes you should avoid?

Lack of Communication

Very often, the only communication that an agent has with his or her client is to do with the sale of the property. In other words, unless it benefits them, the agent does not communicate with their client.

Unknown to them, this can affect their sales. This is because buyers like to get updates about their property purchase – which if they get a lack of updates, they may decide to cancel the transaction and look for another agent to handle the transaction for them.

Updating clients can however become a very time consuming business. So a suggestion is to set aside a day of the week, to update all your clients. For example, Wednesdays can be “update clients day” where you send them the updates of how the sale of the property is going, and what you have done for them in the entire week.

Know When to Say NO

A property agent’s life depends on the sales they make. Therefore, it can sometimes be very hard to say “no” to an overbearing client’s demands. However, a property agent should always look at the opportunity cost wasted when dealing with these types of clients, versus the amount of money he may be getting.

For example if the client insists that the property agent takes a smaller cut of commission, and the property agent knows that this transaction will not be worth his while, the agent should just let the deal go.

Not Saying Thank You

Saying “thank you” is an important aspect for property agents. For example, if a sale was recommended by a friend, the property agent should always remember to say “thank you” – and maybe even take the friend out for a meal if the deal goes through.

Appreciation is already a rare commodity, and showing a friend your sincerest appreciation will not go wrong.

Learn Something New Everyday

The world is moving towards technology, and even the method of selling properties have changed. While in the past property agents had to rely on newspapers’ advertisements, they can now advertise on online platforms, and even on Facebook. The cost of advertising has also dropped by much, while enabling property agents to focus on their target market better.

As such, property agents should always stay on top of the market and if possible always be the first on board new technology. This will get you the first wave of customers from the new form of social media.

Taking Time Off

And most importantly, this is a mistake that many property agents make – not taking time off. No matter whether you’ve made a sale or not, you should always know when to take time off before you burn out. And even more so should a property agent take time off when he is not making any sales, to replenish their energy.

A time off period does not need to be spent travelling to Europe or New Zealand, it can be as close as travelling to Port Dickson or Penang for a few days to a week to forget about work.

To learn more on how to be a great property agent, go to The Real Rockstar.

With the property market being an ever-booming business, it is no wonder that the market is flooded with property agents. But what can a property agent do to earn some extra cash when the property market slows down? Here are some of the ways.

Become a Property Manager

With an ever-booming property market comes more property investors. And it is not surprising that many of them have multiple properties but zero desire to do the dirty work themselves.

What an entrepreneuring property agent can do is to search for these investors and become their property manager. This means that you will need to find the tenants for them, and cater to the tenants’ needs for as long as you are the property manager.

You will earn a cut of the rental monthly and the returns can be fairly decent, but it may all eventually get tiring if the property requires high maintenance.

Become a Developer Agent

Many property agents have found a quick buck becoming an agent for developers. This is because there are always buyers whether the market is healthy or slow. The first few developer agents usually earn a very decent amount of money, especially since they do not have to give a cut of their commission to their agency.

This method works, but you will need connections to the developer to become their agent in the first place – and many agents do not take this as a long term job as they usually leave after the majority of the development has been sold out.

Property Consultant

And eventually when you have been an agent for long enough, you will have the contacts and network to find the best Below Market Value (BMV) properties in the market. At this point, you can make property investors your main buyers market by hunting out the best deals for them.

The crème de la crème of these types of agents do not just charge a hefty commission upon sales of the property, but they also charge “consultation fees” just for meeting up with them.

Bulk Sell as a Guru

And lastly, people are always hungry for education that can earn them money. The market is now flooded with not only property gurus, but also stock market gurus, digital marketing gurus and so forth.

Many entrepreneuring property agents have gone out to present themselves as property gurus in the market, providing free classes. They provide value in form of property knowledge to those with no knowledge of the property market, and then when the agent comes across a great deal, he will promote it to his ‘students’.

As the guru would already have formed a strong bond of trust with his/her ‘students’, it will be infinitely easier to promote the project to them. Many of these agents have managed to bulk sell new developments this way.

Creativity is the New Game

The business world, especially the property line, is no longer a stale environment. And in order to be at the top of the game you need to be creative.

To learn how to be a property agent that makes more money while working less, meet up with the expert.

Buying a home is a major commitment with many important factors vying for one’s attention, including monetary, affordability, accessibility, connectivity, facilities and size.

Individual

Individual preferences vary greatly as observed in PropertyGuru’s Affordability Sentiment Index conducted at the end of last year in Malaysia.

The report, also conducted in countries where PropertyGuru has a foothold, namely Singapore, Thailand and Indonesia revealed many contributing influences, all of a varied nature, due to the region’s differences in economic growth, political beliefs and demographics.

Closer to home, the findings revealed that despite the Malaysian property market predicting another lacklustre year, 58% of Malaysian respondents were aiming to buy a house within the first six months of this year. That translates to 6 out of 10 Malaysians wanting to own a property in 2017.
So what exactly are the top influencing factors in determining a purchase amongst the four countries?

Location

The mantra “Location, Location, Location” still holds true in the real estate scene as the most crucial factor when buying a property.

Malaysians, Indonesians and Thai property seekers all attributed this as their top influence, leaving only the Singaporeans to not share in the same sentiment.

In a local context this meant, after considering differences in a buyer’s profile and preferences, Klang Valley scored as the most preferred area, followed by the outskirts of Selangor, Penang and Johor.

Supporting this further, PropertyGuru identified Petaling Jaya, Puchong, Shah Alam, Kajang, George Town and Iskandar Puteri as the most searched areas.

Looking at these preferences, these locales boast established neighbourhoods with a diverse demographic, served by a good transport infrastructure, as well as being equipped with ample amenities.

Security & Safety of Location/Area

Having peace of mind in one’s home is also always a priority and the survey illustrated this keenly. Safety emerged as the most important factor for those looking for a new home in Singapore, followed by Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand.

The rise of crime and theft across the territories have been disturbing, thus security features prominently as a necessity when looking to purchase a domicile.

Both Malaysian real estate lawyer Chris Tan and senior real estate negotiator at Property Hub, Roy Teo was quoted in The Malay Mail as saying “that gated communities are in growing in demand lately because communities today just want to keep the ‘riff raft’ out”.

Size of Property/Unit & Pricing

Given the plethora of sizes available in the real estate landscape, it is no surprise that only Malaysian respondents considered the size of property/unit as their third most important factor when buying a property.

The unspoken understanding that the bigger the space, the more expensive it will be, has provided urban millennials, very few alternatives to park their money into that are decently sized.

To make the best of this situation, a new slew of residential offerings in Malaysia, consisting of shoebox units, are gaining popularity.

Though less significant in other regions, pricing in Thailand and Indonesia was voted a more influential and important factor instead.

Infrastructure, Available Amenities & Proximity

The third factor in importance was a good transportation infrastructure, accessibility and recreational facilities such as F&B, retail and entertainment.

It should be pointed out that Singaporean respondents gave a larger importance to having conveniences in close proximity and additionally, favoured closeness to workplaces as their second and third factor respectively.

With Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand being relatively larger countries, where residents are accustomed to travelling, living slightly further out in matured neighbourhoods with good connectivity was deemed manageable.

A Malaysian real estate negotiator said homeowners were willing to accept if their workplaces were located away from the city centre provided connectivity and infrastructure was easily accessible and available.

Reputation of Developer

Singapore and Malaysia respondents showed more concern with engaging with a reputable developer compared to Thailand and Indonesia.

Homeowners in these countries have more access to information as well as laws protecting them from issues that may arise from an unscrupulous developer.

It is vital one takes the time to choose a reputable and trustworthy developer in order to possess a property that is crafted to the highest quality and standards.

Everyone deserves to find their dream home. Narrowing down critical factors and doing the necessary research will make this dream a reality.

For more information on new homes, check out PropertyGuru’s New Property Launches and Project Reviews.

Home loans work the same way as any other loan does. The lender (the bank, as is often the case) charges an amount of interest and the borrower pays the money back plus interest in installments. However, the criteria that lenders look at before approving your loan can be a little different. Here are the four main things lenders think about to decide whether to approve your home loan.

Credit

As with most other loans, one of the first things to look at is your credit history. Your credit history of course tells the lenders how good of a paymaster you are. It’s in the lender’s best interest to understand fully whether or not you can pay them back, and taking a look at your credit score helps. The better your credit score is, the more likely your loan will get approved.

Capital

This refers to the assets or funds you have to cover the payments associated with the home loan. In addition to the 10% down payment, you also have to pay several additional fees like legal fees, processing fees, and various stamp duties. The lender will take a look at your funds and assets to determine that you can cover these expenses with little trouble. The more you have in assets, the easier it is to ensure that you can pay them back the cash you owe. In fact, if you can pay more than the typical 10% down payment, you’re even more likely to get your loan approved.

Capacity

This is how able you are to repay the loan based on income, employment history, savings, and monthly liabilities. How much you have the day you apply for the loan and how well you’ve been paying back your loans in the past isn’t an indicator of how you’ll be paying in the future. To account for this, lenders will take a look at your earnings and expenses to project how compatible your monthly cash flow will be with their monthly expectations once the loan is added to your expenses.

Collateral

The one major additional factor concerning house loans is the value and condition of the property based on their appraisal. Lenders have to think about what might happen should you fail to fulfill your loan obligations. In the case of a home loan, when a property looks to be in good condition or expected to rise in value, the lender is more likely to approve your loan. Because even if you renege, the bank can auction off the property or loan it out to other would-be borrowers to make up for their loss.

There you have it. The four important factors affecting the bank or lender’s decision when considering whether or not to approve your home loan. Keep these in mind and make sure your details are favourable, and you’ll be approved for your home loan in no time. Before getting approved however, you have to apply for one. Thankfully, RinggitPlus have a comparison tool that compares all the best home loans in Malaysia so you can find one that suits your needs just right.

Have anything to contribute to this article? Do share your thoughts in the comments section down below!

After a long wait, your new house is finally ready. This is a memorable and momentous occasion, having watched the house being built over time from scratch. The developer is set to deliver the keys to you today. But do you know what to do next?

Here is the quick guide on the process of receiving the keys to your new house from the developer.

1. Delivery of Vacant Possession

Delivery of Vacant Possession is when the property is ready to be handed to you. This will usually happen between 24 months to 36 months from when you made the initial down payment for the property, and signed the Sales and Purchase Agreement.

By this time, construction work has ended and the building is complete and ready to be lived in. The only works remaining are usually some landscaping to the rest of the estate.

When the property is about 70% completed, you will receive a letter from the developer to set a date when you can take Delivery of Vacant Possession. When the property is finally completed, you will need to turn up at their sales office to formally collect the property.

On the same day you collect the property, you will also receive a copy of the Certificate of Completion and Compliance (CCC).

2. Certificate of Completion and Compliance

Formerly known as the Certificate of Fitness (CF), the CCC is a document released by the local authority council that declares a particular property is completed and safe to be occupied. Also known as Borang F, Perakian Siap dan Pematuhan, this document is endorsed by a Registered member of the Malaysian Board of Architects.

Legally speaking, the CCC is a requirement stated in the Sales and Purchase Agreement. So, when you take possession of the property, make sure that your house has already been granted a CCC. An example of the CCC is shown below:

Example of Malaysian Certification of Completion and Compliance, endorsed by a Registered Architect. Also known as Borang F, Perakian Siap dan Pematuhan

3. Sign a form when you receive the key

When you meet the Developer to take delivery of vacant possession, you will need to sign several documents to mark your acceptance of keys to your new property. Once you sign the documents and write down the date, the Defect Liability Period for your property begins.

Part of this set of documents will include a simple list of the lighting fixtures, appliances, electrical sockets and other built-ins (example below):

Property Handover Form

4. Defect Liability Period

The Defect Liability Period can also be thought of as the “warranty” period. Homeowners will be given 18 to 24 months to check and report any defects, poor workmanship or irregularities from Sales and Purchase Agreement.

However, it’s best to do a thorough check as soon as possible. The practical reason being that the house is empty and it’s easier to fix anything before you move in.

The developer will usually provide a Defect Complaint Form that lists the common areas in the house. Use it to mark out any problems you find, such as loose electrical sockets, misaligned flooring, etc. Even if you think it’s a tiny little problem, mark it out for the developer to take a look. If you ignore it, you will have to bear the cost to fix it later on.

Defect Inspection Form after property handover

5. Get the contact for the management office

The shared common areas and well-being of the condominium estate or gated community will be managed by an new entity commonly known as management office. Usually, the management will be selected by the developer, before the residential committee is set up. Get in touch with them for assistance on the monthly maintenance fees, sinking fund collection as well as the rules and regulation of the property.

Generally speaking, when you sign the property handover form for a condominium, it will also include an invoice for the first 3 months of property maintenance.

6. Apply for utilities

Some developers plan ahead and ask you to apply for various utilities even while the property is being built. Others may only ask you to do it after.

In any case, it’s best to get these done as soon as possible. Typical utilities applications include:

• Electricity supply: TNB New Account Application
• Water supply: SYABAS Water Supply Application (Kuala Lumpur, Putrajaya & Selangor)
• Gas supply (if piped in): Gas Malaysia Natural Gas Supply Application
• Internet: TM UNIFI New Account Application

You’re not really “moved in” until this light turns on. Wireless router photo by nrkbeta on Flickr

7. Space planning

Now that you have sorted out the major items with the Developer and the Management, it is time to get the interior sorted out.

It’s best if you can decide all the renovation or improvements that you wish to do before you move in. It’ll be much easier for the contractors and interior designers to do their work when the house is still empty.

However, you need to remember to leave a deposit cheque with the management office before you carry out any deliveries or renovation work.

To read the full article, visit RecomN.com

Buying a property is probably the biggest decision anyone will ever make in their lives, aside from choosing their life partner. It requires strong financial standing, and to a certain extent, knowledge of the property market.

However, many are faced with indecision when it comes to purchasing their first property. If you are one of those, find out here if you are ready to buy a property. Otherwise, if you are unshakeably sure of your decision, read on to find out what is the first step you should take.

Understand Your Current Financial Standing and What You Can Afford

With the increasing cost of living in Malaysia, the first step a property buyer should take is to understand their own finances. Within the year 2016 itself, petrol prices increased 3 times, and within the first quarter of 2017, petrol prices took another significant hike.

In lieu of the price hike and weaker Ringgit, consumer goods have been increasing in price noticeably. Hence without strong financial standing, property buyers without a comfortable margin of savings after paying their monthly mortgage loan will find themselves struggling.

So before you decide to buy a property, the most important thing to do is to find out what you can afford. To do this, you will need to find out your nett income. Visit this website, enter your salary and bonus (if applicable) and they will auto calculate your nett income for you.

Once you get your nett income, minus all your deductibles such as car and education loans, meal expenses and so forth, and then minus another 10% from your total nett income for savings and see how much you are left with – and that will be approximately how much you can afford to pay for your new home.

So for example if your nett income is RM3,000 per month, first deduct 10% which will be RM300 as your savings, and then minus off all your other deductibles. Otherwise, you can download PropertyGuru’s simplified pre-created expense calculator here: http://bit.ly/2kaPVyu

The Next Step

Once you find out how much you can afford to pay monthly, you can now look for a home realistic to your budget. First, visit the PropertyGuru Mortgage Calculator here.

Depending on how much is the total amount you can afford to pay monthly for your mortgage instalment, enter a rough amount into the “Loan Amount”. Do note that the maximum Loan Amount from the banks are only 90%, so if you aim to buy an RM500,000 property the loan amount should be RM450,000.

Next, use the slider to change it to the estimated interest rate which is usually between a range of 4.55% and 4.85%, depending on how low your bank is willing to go. The last step is to use the slider for Loan Term to adjust the number of years you wish to pay the loan for.

The dynamic graph on the right will now indicate your estimated monthly repayment. If it is too high, lower your Loan Amount until the monthly amount fits your budget.

Now that you have your estimated property budget, you will be able to gauge what type of home you can afford, and contrary to popular believe, there is a home for every income range.

Next up in the Property Buyers’ Guides will be how to clean up your Financial Records – the most important factor in you obtaining your mortgage loan.

Diane Foo Eu Lynn, Senior Content Specialist at PropertyGuru, wrote this story. To contact her about this or other stories email diane@propertyguru.com.my

To browse through the latest Klang Valley developments, go to our New Property Launch page or the PropertyGuru Project Reviews page.

AirBnb’s website has a tool to help homeowners gauge their expected weekly income and according to this, the country’s chart-toppers are those in Langkawi who can make RM2,801 (S$939.2) a week, followed by those around Malacca’s Jonker Walk (RM2,495 a week), according to AsiaOne news report.

Close behind are Penang home-shares in Tanjung Tokong (RM2,494) and Pulau Tikus (RM2,449). In Bukit Bintang in Kuala Lumpur, they can expect to earn RM1,676 weekly, while those near Taman Pelangi in Johor Bharu can expect RM2,287 a week. This alone has shown why it is time for you to join in the booming business and earn extra income from your property.

But asides from AirBnb, there are several other online platforms that work wonder, for those who wish to list their properties or extra rooms as short term rental or homestay rooms for travellers in the market. Here are some of them:

1. BOOKING.COM

Priceline Group (Nasdaq: PCLN) who owns and operates Booking.com™, is the world leader in booking accommodations online. Each day, over 1,000,000 room nights are reserved on Booking.com. The Booking.com website and apps attract visitors from both the leisure and business sectors worldwide.

With free registration to list your property and 24/7 multilingual assistance from the company, you can easily list your property and score high chance of getting guests to increase your revenue. To start your listing in Booking.com, click here now!

2. HOSTEL HUNTING.COM

Hostel Hunting is the online marketplace for student accommodation, a start-up headed by Loke Weng Leong, Keek Wen Khai (better known as Khai), Joey Lim and Marcus Low. It is currently the fastest and easiest way to find and book a student room.

Providing thousands of verified rooms from hostel owners/operators and educational institution, this website is particularly useful for those who stay nearby universities or colleges, and seeking students as tenant for their extra rooms as well.

According to The Star report, Hostel Hunting is not involved in the tenancy agreement between the tenants and landlords. It is important that both parties post genuine information on their properties and profiles and they also have to reach a mutual agreement for a room to be booked.

3. RENTALS BY TRIPADVISOR

Powered by TripAdvisor.Inc, an American travel website company providing reviews of travel-related content, TripAdvisor’s Rentals will allows you to gain exposure to over 350 million TripAdvisor travellers a month for higher possibility of getting your property booked.

Owners pay a booking commission of 3% (excl. value added tax). The booking commission is retained from the rental cost you’ve set up on your account. The steps are as easy as listing your property on other websites and you will receive payments from the company 24 hours after the guests start their holiday.

4. VRBO FROM HOMEAWAY

VRBO can offer you exposure to more than 44 million travellers per month through its international network which includes 25 sites around the world, including three of the top vacation rental sites in the United States, as well as France, Brazil, Australia, Germany, England, Canada, Mexico, Spain, Italy, and more.

Interestingly, it doesn’t have to be a house up for listing in VRBO. According to its website, acceptable rental properties include houses, condos, and villas, as well as barns, boats, bungalows, cabins, castles, chalets, chateaus, cottages, estates, mansions, yachts, and yurts, and other structures travellers may want to rent for their whole vacation.

5. iBILIK

Possibly the local property listing website with largest market share in Malaysia, iBilik.my also offers short term rental listing to the public now.

By listing your place and get approval within two working days, the team in iBilik.my will handle the promotion, online booking, and payment collection of your property, while you just sit back and wait for guests to place bookings for your unit. The steps on how to list your property for short term rental can be found here.

6. HOMESTAY.COM

Homestay.com is an accommodation marketplace designed to connect guests to local hosts in over 150 countries and Malaysia is definitely one of them. One of its unique features is that the website has its own video chatting tool which allows guest and host to communicate even before the booking.

By creating account in its website and complete your profile with as much as information as possible, you will be able to start hosting these travellers from all around the world and make extra income as well as new friends too.

Homestay business is expected to be overtaking hotel business in the near future and if you are smart enough to benefit from this trend, you should be looking at ways to redecorate the extra rooms of yours and boost your income from listing it for travellers. However, it is utterly vital that you check out the terms and conditions upon signing up for this business to avoid any unwanted inconvenience that could jeopardise your properties and finance.

This story was originally published on Property Insight.

The property market is an ongoing boom business whether the economy is flat or on an uptrend, and good property agents are always in demand. With the market being as flooded as it is with property agents, how do you differentiate yourself? Below are the top 5 traits that every property agent should have.

Treat your Clients as Human Beings

Your clients are real people with real needs and real feelings, so don’t treat them as just a money making mechanism. This is the biggest mistake many property agents make, which creates a negative vibe between the agent and the client.

Get to know your client, understand what turns them on and what ticks them off, and you will have a better chance of getting that sale.

Sell them their Dreams

According to Zig Ziglar, “Customers buy for their reasons, not yours”. Even more so with this, a property agent needs to get to know their client first before even attempting to sell them anything.

Without getting to know your client first, a very possible scenario would be even though you are giving them a great deal in form of a below market value terrace house that is within their budget, they might reject it just because they are actually looking for a condominium for the facilities and security it offers. But without first understanding their needs, you will not even know why your client rejected your great deal in the first place.

Time Management

One of the best traits any agent from any sales line should have is great time management, as clients are always prone to being late for appointments, asking to push up the meeting time at the eleventh hour, or simply forgetting to turn up for their appointments.

As a sales agent, you will need to handle this aspect of time management well. Do not arrange your appointments too close together, otherwise you will run yourself rugged trying to keep up with all the appointments – especially if all your clients are late that day.

Rejection Handling

As a salesperson from any line, the first thing your senior will always teach you is “objection handling”. In objection handling, you attempt to reason with your client on why what you recommended is a great buy. But not many seniors teach their juniors “rejection handling”.

Getting rejected again and again on a daily basis is very demotivating, hence understanding your own feelings and knowing how to get over it is extremely important if you wish to stay in the sales line.

Celebrate your successes, and celebrate your failures even more, as every failure brings you closer to that big sale.

Be Proactive

Many times, your client will be a first time home buyer or perhaps even property investor who does now know what property buying entails. As a good agent, you should be proactive in finding out what your client does not know, and helping them out. This will endear you to them, and the next time they or their friends need an agent to help them out in looking for a property, they will look for you.

Another aspect of proactivity in a property agent is learning about the area which they are selling properties at. At the very least know where is the closest mini market, shopping mall, primary and secondary schools and how far are the various suburbs.

When you are able to inform your client of all these details, they will see you as a well informed property agent, which will in turn build their confidence in you.

Image sourced from Getty Images

Learn how to be a great agent here!

If you are reading this, you are probably thinking of buying your first home. But before you take on what would probably be your life’s biggest investment, evaluate the reasons why you are buying a property. Is it because:

– You think buying a property is a way to show that you are grown up?
– Someone told you that once you buy a property you’ll start working for it?
– Uncle Someone told you that you are wasting money on rental?
– Everyone around you is buying one?
– Somebody told you that it’s a buyers market and you will regret 10 years down the line if you do not buy a property now?

If any of the above is the reason why you are considering buying a property, you need to stop, take a breather and think again. A person should only be buying their first property when they are:

– Extremely certain that the sole reason they are buying a property is because they want to and not because somebody else told them that they should
– Are financially ready to own a home
– Settling down
– Need a place to live for at least 5 years

The second point above is especially important, especially with the increasing number of bankruptcy cases. Reported recently, the number of bankrupts below age 35 more than doubled in 2015 as compared to 2005, and the number of bankrupts below age 25 more than tripled since 2005.

The largest contributing factors to these bankruptcy cases come from excessive car and property loans, and the inability to service them. So before you even think of buying your first property, you need to first be sure of your financial security.

Here are some questions for you to ask yourself before buying your first property:

– Are you behind on your credit card payments frequently or maybe monthly?
– Do you often need to borrow money from parents or friends to pay off your debts?
– Do you live from hand-to-mouth every month with just enough to pay off your current debts with no savings?
– If you lost your job, will you be able to service your mortgage loan for at least 6 months with no income?
– If you do have savings, will you still have a healthy sum after you buy your first property and pay off the various costs required?
– Will you still be able to save at least 10% of your income monthly once you buy a property?

If you have answered yes to any of the questions above excepting number 4, 5 and 6, then it may be a good idea for you to not buy a property right now.

Take some time to digest this and re-evaluate if now is the best time for you to buy a property before moving on to our next guide.

Next up in the Property Buyers’ Guides will be to learn how much you can afford to pay for your new property.

Diane Foo Eu Lynn, Senior Content Specialist at PropertyGuru, edited this story. To contact her about this or other stories email diane@propertyguru.com.my

For a quick look at PropertyGuru’s new projects, visit our New Property Launches or Project Reviews page.

Co-broking is a common practice among property agents, although not an officially acknowledged one. It is a practice whereby property agents, quite often just passing acquaintances, become “partners” in selling a property. There are a number of reasons for doing this, and here are some of the advantages and disadvantages to be found in doing so.

Selling properties you don’t have a right to

This is a common problem among property agents, especially when the agent has potential clients who wish to buy a new development which the agent does not have a link to. In this case, the property agent will either seek out an acquaintance who might have rights to sell the property, or visit the other showroom, become ‘friends’ with another property agent who has the rights to sell the development, and strike a deal with them.

Considering that the commission for new developments are higher, this is usually a win-win situation. In an ideal situation, once the sale has been made, the developer agent will split the commission with the introducer.

Unfortunately, it is a very common scenario for the developer agent to play the introducer agent out – and there will be nothing that the introducer agent can do.

Selling another person’s property

This is another scenario similar to the one above. A common situation is that when selling a subsale property, your prospect is not interested in your unit but expresses an interest for viewing more units within the same area.

What an agent can do here is to survey the neighbourhood, look for all the other units for sale in the area and contact their respective agents. Once contacted, the agent can attempt to discuss co-broking with the other agent.

Once again, there have been many cases of agents being playing out – so if taking this step, please beware; as there will be nothing you can do if the other agent refuses to give you your share of commission.

Commission disputes

Another issue that many agents face are disputes in the shared commission. In the event that a co-broke property has been sold, there have often been disputes of how much one agent owes the other.

Usually the introducer agent will want at least half of the commission, as after all, fair is fair. However, it is very common for the agent who made the sale to pay less than the agreed upon amount, on account of his having to do most of the work.

In this case, there is nothing the other agent can do either, as there are no official documents to back the dispute up. And in this scenario, all the agent can do is accept what the other agent agrees to pay them.

Cases of co-broking partnerships gone wrong are plentiful, leaving behind much hurt feelings and a bad taste in the mouth. The worst of the cases have sometimes even involved the customers, leaving them in an extremely uncomfortable position.

Nevertheless, despite the many cases of co-broking gone wrong out there, there are just as many that went exactly as they were supposed to. Many agents have even built friendly long term working relationships through co-broking with other agents.

So for those who are looking to explore the partnerships of co-broking, get to know your potential partner well before partnering with them to avoid the unpleasant situations above, and treat them well. Trust is after all too precious a commodity to lose, and having someone help you out with selling your property and getting half the commission is better than nothing at all.

Images sourced from Getty

Diane Foo Eu Lynn, Senior Content Specialist at PropertyGuru, edited this story. To contact her about this or other stories email diane@propertyguru.com.my

By Anders Ong

A property investor is not truly a property investor if he invests without calculating the numbers. Thus I will be sharing eight basic property investment calculations which can aid you in making confident property investments.

1. Per Square Foot Price (PSF)

This is the most basic calculation that most people should be aware of! Here’s how you calculate:

2. Gross Potential Income /  Rental Yield

This is the second most common calculation known by most property buyers. If you’re keen to learn the calculation of a rental yield or how much one can rent it out, here’s how you should answer!

3. Estimated Leverage Ability

This formula calculates the total amount from your income which can be used for loan purposes.

4. Debt Service Ratio (DSR)

This formula calculates your current debt. A bank usually determines your loan approval after calculating your DSR, which differs among the banks.

5. Return On Investment (ROI) / Capital Investment

This refers to the returns of invested capital. It is also what most real estate flipping investors look into since this is their main goal.

6. Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR)

This is the annual growth rate of the investment property purchased at an earlier time.

7. Return On Equity /  Cash-On-Cash Return (COCR)

This concept is almost the same as the ROI formula, but you can use it to gauge your rental property. The real profit is here for keeper investors.

8. Gross Rent Multiplier (GRM)

This is one of the tools to decide the rent prices when purchasing a property in a nearby area.

This article was contributed by Anders Ong.

People gain assets and properties throughout their lives and leave them all behind as they pass on. This has always been the trend for ages.

A lot of people are familiar with inter vivos (legal term referring to a transfer or gift made during one’s lifetime) transaction – including buying and selling or transferring an asset as a gift to someone during their lifetime – but many do not realise the process that’s involved when transferring a property belonging to a deceased person.

The testator (a person who has made a Will or left a legacy – deceased) can appoint a person of his choice, including any of his named beneficiaries, to administer his estate, i.e. be his executor.

The process, known as testamentary transfer, is different from the usual property transaction. The smoothness of this type of transactions would usually depend on the availability of a Will left by the deceased. With a Will, a person can name his beneficiaries for certain properties in his estate.

Without a Will, the estate will be distributed according to Section 6 of Distribution Act 1958, to his next-of-kin, instead of a preferred beneficiary. The distribution effect may refer to table 1:

Transaction of immovable properties (land, houses) from an estate requires a two-step process, regardless of the existence of a Will.

First, the property will be vested on the executor/administrator by way of transmission. Once the beneficiary to the particular property is ascertained, the executor/administrator will transfer the property to the respective beneficiary. The difference lies in the required document.

If there is a valid Will for the said transfer, the executor does not require an Order for Sale for the transfer but if there is no Will, then the administrator will have to obtain an Order for Sale from the court to ascertain the beneficiaries involved in the transfer.

An Order of Sale is also needed to determine a purchaser when beneficiaries renounce their rights on a particular property and express intention to sell it to a third-party.

A big concern involved in this types of transaction is the stamp duty and the Real Property Gain Tax (RPGT) that are to be paid upon transaction. Stamp duty cost RM10 if the transfer is made to a named beneficiary, regardless of whether the estate is testate (with Will) or intestate (without Will).

This is however, not the case if the property is to be transferred to a third-party. A full stamp duty ad valorem will be imposed on the purchasers, in this matter.

The RPGT was introduced via the Real Property Gain Tax Act 1976. It was suspended temporarily in 2008-2009, and reintroduced in 2010. It only applies when the property of the deceased is transferred to the purchaser instead of the intended beneficiary. Otherwise, the transaction is exempted from RPGT.

When RPGT is exempted, the beneficiary to the property is required to file an RPGT Form with the Inland Revenue Department. In a transaction that involves a third-party purchaser, the time and date of death of the deceased must be acquired in order to compute the RPGT.

Such transactions would consider the estate being sold directly to the purchaser, hence, the date of death of the deceased will be recorded as the property’s disposal date. If the beneficiary/executor sells the property within 5 years, the following RPGT rate shall apply.

The abovementioned information might help to clear some doubts but it is advisable for family members or nominated beneficiaries to engage a lawyer when faced with transaction or transfer issues to enable seamless administration of the estate and prevent any infringement of law.

This story was originally published on Property Insight.

Moving house almost always leaves you with a mountain of stuff you’re not quite sure what to do with. They might look intimidating at first, but a little planning and patience can help you figure out a way to organise and declutter your belongings. Take this opportunity to start fresh, as you move out of your old home into a new one.

To keep your decluttering process organised and stress-free, it’s best to separate your stuff into three categories: Keep, Sell/Donate, and Throw Away.

Decide what you want to keep

Take a good long look at your belongings and think about what you want to bring with you to your new home. Your limited edition memorabilia and sentimental gifts might be no-brainers, but what about your furniture, appliances, and pirated VCD collection? Do you still need all of them? Will they fit into your new home?

If you’re moving to a furnished or semi-furnished place, you might want to reconsider bringing your larger household appliances with you. Be honest with yourself so that you don’t bring with you what you no longer want or need. Take a tape measure to your new home and figure out if there is space for all your stuff. See if your old furniture fits the style of your new home, or if you want to get new ones.

Once you’ve determined what you want to keep, you can move your stuff to your new home by renting a lorry at thelorry.com.

If you’re not yet able to move into your new home, you will have to figure out a temporary storage solution. Ask friends and family if they have some room to spare, or look up self storage units in your area to rent for a short time.

Sell or donate what you no longer need

After you’ve decided what you want to keep with you, it’s time to figure out what to do with the rest of your stuff. Start by making a list of items that are still in good condition. Take pictures and check if you still have the instruction manuals and warranty information for your electronics and appliances.

You can sell your items online by listing them on online marketplaces and on social media groups for preloved items. Putting up accurate descriptions and detailed photos will help make things more convenient and less confusing for you and the buyer. If you don’t want to do it online, you can also hold a garage sale. Get the word out via friends and family, social media, and a good old-fashioned signboard in front of your home. On the day of your garage sale, put everything for sale in one place and check that you have priced and labeled everything clearly.

If you don’t really need the money, you might want to consider donating your stuff. Check with your local charities, shelters, churches, and community outreach programs to see if there is anything they need that you can help them with. Instead of just throwing away perfectly functional items, give them to people who can put them to good use.

Throw away your trash responsibly

Even after you’ve sorted through everything you want to keep and give away, you will still have plenty of stuff left to dispose. Sure, you can just dump everything outside for the garbage truck, but there are more responsible ways for you to deal with your trash. Start by contacting your local garbage and recycling center to work out how best to get your trash to them.

If you have a lot of trash, you might want to rent a dumpster to make storing and transporting them much easier. Separate your recyclables and set aside broken appliances, outdated electronics, and worn-out clothing, as these typically have their own collection centers. Be responsible with your stuff, even when you’re just throwing them away.

In the end, we should be responsible for the things we own, to be kind to garbage dumps. After all, material things don’t make a home. People do.

Image sourced from afrovan

Diane Foo Eu Lynn, Senior Content Specialist at PropertyGuru, edited this story. To contact her about this or other stories email diane@propertyguru.com.my

As the going gets tough, people tend to get creative with their problem-solving skills. So when property investors have trouble obtaining loans in the current economic climate, the solution is to leverage on other people’s money to build wealth, portfolio and income streams.

This is often done in the form of a joint venture (JV) or sharing agreement, a method that has steadily gained traction over the years as loan approval rates reduced drastically. Through such ventures, one appears to have stronger credit mobility.

The ingredients for a successful JV in property investment include proper screening, designated responsibilities and check and balance analysis prior to signing a deal together. However, when the deal doesn’t work out, it often ends in a nightmare of broken relationships, bankruptcy and foreclosures on homes and businesses.

Joint Venture – What? When? Who?

The ideal JV allows two or more people to benefit from each others’ strengths and balance out their weaknesses during a property purchase. Often used as a tool to build one’s property portfolio, this venture allows profit sharing among the partners involved.

According to property investor Patrick Poh, those considering JV agreements should ensure that everyone involved has the same goal and vision in their approach to a particular property. A JV does not solve personal indifference – like credit weaknesses – therefore everyone’s approach has to be in sync.

The most common place to find JV partners is through a property investment network, seminars, courses or when investors have the same property guru.

There are two types of JVs;

A loose JV does not require one to form a company or register a business entity (LLP). It requires a partner to act as a trustee (registered owner) and to purchase the property under adjoining partnerships.

A Real Property Company (RPC) is a venture that forms a proper licensed entity, which is incorporated under the Company Act. The parties involved can form a shareholders’ agreement to hold shares on properties they jointly own. These shares can be traded instead of sold when one person decides to exit, without going through a strenuous legal battle.

Understand financial and banking responsibilities

As JVs are essentially a group of people coming together as a means to generate funds, there are numerous things to consider so things do not get sticky between you and the banks. Banks are reluctant to approve loans for properties bought via loose joint ventures because an application that involves third parties is seen as highly dubious.

Sitaraman Mani, Managing Director of CIC Banque Privée, urges individuals to thoroughly scrutinise their rights within the agreement to ensure that individual rights are not compromised when in disagreement. This is pivotal to ensure your credit score does not get affected as a result of problems faced by third parties.

Legal Matters

Mike Lee, a senior legal associate, points out that, another way to form a JV is to have a trustee deed, which is legally binding unless it breaches existing public policies. The latter will result in you being held in contempt of law. For example,

• A JV between bumi and non-bumi who purchases a bumi lot
• A JV with foreigners
• A JV with residents who hold PR in another country

Lee advises those who are party to JVs to put everything in writing and to get a good lawyer to vet the documents and agreements thoroughly. Since this is a form of profit and liability sharing, all percentages regarding the matter should be clearly spelt out in black and white. As this falls under contract law, any breach of the agreement is entitled to legal remedy.

Property investor Hazel Leong echoes his thoughts and asks everyone to get his or her paperwork right from the beginning and to have an exit strategy.

Exit Provision

According to Lee, in instances where one party breaches their obligation or agreement, the partner may seek several recourses which includes:

• Selling the shares of the defaulter to a third party
• Selling the property to a third party
• Servicing the remainder of the loan if it is within your means and be the sole owner of the property

The locking period set by banks has to be taken into account in the event of a default by a partner. A lock out period stops the seller from negotiating with any other party. Hence, during this period, the partners involved have to fully service their loan.

A breacher or defaulter would be subjected to a civil suit based on the terms and conditions placed on the contract. As a JV is a profit agreement, the court will take into account the provision of profit lost during the period of contract has been breach.

Without a proper framework and binding documents, any contractual breach will result in an arduous he-say-she-say battle in court. The beneficiaries and results of the decision will take years to settle.

This story was originally published on  Property Insight.

As many of us are aware, purchasing a house is a long and expensive process which requires a vast amount of knowledge. Even though there are many sources available to guide you through the process of acquiring a home, yet many fail to educate you on what to do after acquiring your new home.

Upon receiving the keys to your unit, checking for defects is a vital process which is commonly overlooked by many. This is mainly caused by the lack of awareness, as only few know that the defects will be rectified by the developer itself upon filing a ‘Defect Rectification Form’.

Step 1: Prepare the Necessities

The first thing we should do upon receiving the keys is to check the house for defects. Some developers will provide you with a standard Defect Rectification Form. Meanwhile, others will require you to list down the defects and pass it to them. However, the contractor will tend to overlook and miss some of the defects while rectifying the issues.

Hence, instead of just listing down the defects on a piece of paper, also mark the spots which will make the contractor’s job much more easier.

Firstly, prepare a few items that will come in handy such as a pen, paper, marker pen, masking tape, measuring tape, spirit level, torch light, stool and digital camera.

Step 2: Identify the Defects

Once all the necessary tools are prepared, focus thoroughly on these five areas:

1. Walls and Ceiling

All the walls and the ceilings should be screened for defects such as:

• Cracks, wavy and uneven surfaces
• Holes and chips
• Missing plaster
• Fungus and water marks
• Lumps, bubbles, flaky paint and protruding objects (nails, stray pipes, loose wiring and iron rods sticking out)

2. Tiles and Floor

Damages on the tiles and floors are easy to be spotted. One should look out for:

• Missing, cracked, chipped and slanting tiles
• Gaps in the wall skirting

3. Doors and Windows

Damages on the doors and windows are easy to spot as well. Check for:

• Poor workmanship (missing screws, damage, rust and dirt)
• Gaps between the door and window frames
• Can be opened easily and unobstructed
• Water damage (if windows are not installed properly)

4. Miscellaneous Fixtures

The developer will provide an inventory list of the fixtures and accessories list that comes with your home. Among the fixtures and accessories includes the number of electrical points, taps, sink, shower heads and so on.

Ensure everything is in order and nothing is missing.

5. Leaking Pipes

Check with the developers on where the pipes in your units are as to prevent accidently puncturing the pipes. Check for:

• Exposed pipes
• Water stains

Ensure all the defects are listed out on the defect rectification form or on a piece of paper. Besides that, also mark the defect areas with a masking tape and write the type of defects that needs rectification. This is to make sure that the contractor doesn’t miss out any spots.

Article written based on Home Defect Rectification Checklist After Vacant Possession by Aaronpang

By Mangalesri Chandrasekaran

Being a Real Estate Agent requires a few skill sets, which also includes mastering a certain neighbourhood thoroughly. Even though one does not select a specialized area immediately after becoming an agent, yet it has to be done later on. So here’s a simple guide for an agent who’s yet to decide on the neighbourhood.

1. Picking the Right Neighbourhood

Picking a neighbourhood is a complicated process as there are certain factors that should be considered before the selection. However, the selection sometimes can be influenced by personal reasons, business reasons or both.

In terms of personal reasons, an agent can select a place they grew up in which they’re very familiar with. Meanwhile, for business reasons, an agent can select the place they’ve sold more properties or have high listings, a place which is considered to have great prospects and high potentials.

Thus, among the factors that should be considered before the selection are:

• Price range
• Style or type of home
• Number of homes in the neighbourhood
• Property turnover
• Home / price stability
• Homeowners association
• Area (schools, highway access, amenities etc)
• You live there
• Future growth
• Personal preference

2. In and Out

Before you announce that you’re specialized in an area, ensure you have good knowledge of anything and everything that has to do with the place.

Hit the streets and get familiarized with the area. Visit the area multiple times as you can’t learn much things in a single visit.

Get a good understanding of the general noise level, street activities, access, entrances and the community. Also check out the amenities within the vicinity such as schools, restaurants, recreation, shopping, hospitals and so on. Learn the interesting and unappealing facts about the neighbourhood.

Overall, try to learn each and every single thing that’s related to the area, whether it’s good or bad.

3. Casual Conversation with the Dwellers

During your visit, ensure you talk to the residents about their take on the area. You’ll be surprised by the information you get via such conversations. For an example, you can get to know the where and when the traffic congestion is high, spots that can get flooded during heavy rain, the condition of the amenities, the closeness of the communities and so on.

4. Mingle Around

Try to get yourself involved with the community programs and ensure you’re well recognised by the residents. This will come in handy when you bring customers for home visits. When the residents around the area recognize you well, the buyers will feel more secured working with you.

5. Know the Figures

Always make sure you’re up-to-date on the latest transactions in that area. Check out the type of houses, the current value, how much was it sold for and so on. This will help you to determine the demand for that particular area and how much the houses are going up in value. You can also advise your clients accordingly on how much they should set the price when it comes to selling the house.

As simple as it sounds, becoming an area specialist actually requires hard work, which consumes ample of time. Stick to the above-mentioned points when deciding on your neighbourhood, as well as when mastering the neighbourhood further.

Mangalesri Chandrasekaran, Editor at PropertyGuru, edited this story. To contact her about this or other stories email mangales@propertyguru.com.my

David has received his key for his newly-completed condominium and found a potential tenant, Ah Cai, who was interested to rent the unit as soon as possible. In order to save time and money, David and Ah Cai signed a tenancy agreement downloaded by the former from http://www.never.trust.lawyers.com.

Five months later, David received several calls from the condominium’s management requesting him to settle the outstanding water charges that amounted to RM888. David visited his tenant to remind Ah Cai to pay the utility bills. To his shock, he discovered that his unit was being used as a childcare centre and the walls were filled with the children’s ‘artistic’ scribbles.

After vomiting two pails of blood, David confronted Ah Cai, “How can you use my unit as a childcare centre?!?” Ah Cai responded with an innocent look, “What’s wrong with that? There is nothing in the agreement which states that I am not allowed to use your property to run a childcare business.”

David yelled, “I don’t care! I want you to pay all the outstanding utility charges, restore the unit to its original condition and get out of my unit as soon as possible!” He then slammed the door and left. He returned home and immediately checked the tenancy agreement, hoping to find some clause to support his demand.

He was shocked when he realised that the agreement had nothing on how Ah Cai could use the unit. David was even more depressed when he found that, according to the agreement, the landlord (meaning David himself) is responsible for paying all utility charges and maintaining the good condition of the unit.

So what can we do to avoid becoming a victim like David when we are renting out our units? Here are some important clauses which your tenancy agreement should include:

1. Specify the purpose/use of the property

If you are renting out a residential property, make sure you state clearly in the tenancy agreement that the property can only be used for residential purposes.

You should also insert a clause to restrict your tenant from sub-letting the property without your written approval, so that you can filter and manage the people who may be staying in your unit.

2. Who pays the bills

It is common practice for the tenant to pay the utility charges (i.e. water, electricity, sewerage charges) while the landlord will bear the management fees.

To avoid any confusion/dispute, it is prudent for you to state clearly that your tenant should promptly pay the utility charges within a certain period (usually 14 days) upon receiving the relevant bills.

3. Maintenance of the property

The tenant is usually responsible for maintaining the fixtures and fittings of the property (subject to fair wear and tear), while the landlord will maintain the structure (i.e. walls, drains, roof) of the property in reasonable and tenantable condition.

You should list down the furniture, household appliances and all other items which you have provided in the property and ask the tenant to confirm the good condition of these items.

Make it clear in the tenancy agreement that the tenant is responsible for maintaining the good condition of these items (subject to fair wear and tear).

4. Restore and return the property

You should ensure that it is written in the agreement the tenant shall restore the property to its original good and tenantable condition and return the keys of the property to you upon the expiry/early termination of the agreement.

5. Empower yourself with self-help remedy

You can state in the agreement that if your tenant fails to perform his obligations within a reasonable period, you are entitled to carry out his obligations at his cost and expense.

As such, you shall be entitled to fix the damages, restore the unit, pay the outstanding bills and deduct the same from security/utility deposits.

Last but not least, you should take photos and record the original condition of your property and furniture before handing over your unit to the tenant. In the event of a dispute, you may use these photos as proof and justification in your favour.

Be smart, don’t be like David. Stop downloading sample agreements from http://www.never.trust.lawyers.com

Chiam Jef Fri is a practicing lawyer at Messrs Han & Partners who is passionate in the areas of corporate and commercial, strata management and tenancy matters. He welcomes you to send your comments to chiamjeffri@gmail.com and follow him at https://jeffrichiam.wordpress.com

By Gary Chua

What is Mortgage? In the financial world, it is a secured loan where the collateral being used is real-estate property. Of all the facilities that you have taken up with your banks, your Mortgage is one very unique product where the property value appreciates over time, while your loan depreciates over time.

With this in mind, this positive value asset can then be used to generate additional cash flow for you. Best of all, it’s nearly a free cash flow for you. More on why it is nearly free will be explained shortly.

There are many common reasons why homeowners or investors refinance their properties.

• The opportunity to obtain a lower interest rate (This is where the mortgage was taken some time ago when it was more expensive back then)
• The chance to shorten your mortgage loan tenure
• The opportunity to tap on the property latest market value in order to finance a new purchase
• Debt consolidation
• The desire to convert to a different mortgage product type (Fixed Mortgage term loan, Flexi-mortgage loans or semi-Flexi mortgage loan)

Refinance for Lower Interest Rates / Effective Lending Rates (ELR)

This is pretty straightforward. If a competitor bank offers you a 1% or 2% reduction in interest rates, you will definitely be saved from paying more interest. This also translates into a lower monthly instalment.

If you are renting this property out, you may be able to improve your rental cash flow position from a potentially negative to positive cash flow since the instalment is lower now. See illustrations below.

Shortened Mortgage Tenure

You may shorten your mortgage loan tenure when you refinance your house. This would allow you to have savings on total interest that you need to pay to the bank. See illustration below.

However, should BR or BLR drops in the future, you can opt to refinance to a shorter tenure by maintaining nearly the same monthly instalments. This means that you pay the same as you have always been but you are still able to pay off your mortgage loan in a shorter period of time.

Cash Out to Finance a New Purchase or Other Needs

Refinancing to cash out with the purpose of making a new property purchase is something which needs thorough thinking. Though it sounds exciting cashing out from your property that has appreciated by 50%, do note that the cash out should be spent on assets, which will generate further income or appreciation.

The cash out from refinancing is often used on home improvement / renovation, which can tremendously improve on the property and lead to better market value on the property.

There are homeowners who refinance with the purpose of child education, wedding funds, overseas trips, purchasing expensive goods such as furniture, fixtures, cars and so on.

In view that most of the banks in Malaysia do offer Flexi-mortgage if you decide to refinance your property with additional cash out and have no idea on what to do with the funds yet, leave it in your mortgage Flexi account in order to save some interest.  As such, you will have standby cash on hand without the need to pay additional interest on this cash until you utilise it.

Debt Consolidation

A mortgage loan is the cheapest financing option in town as compared to overdraft, auto-loan/hire purchase, credit cards and personal loan. Refer to table below for the financing rate comparison.

With regards to debt consolidation, refinancing would help if you have chalked up debts where their interest rates are relatively higher than that of a mortgage loan.

For example, a credit card charges an effective rate of 15% to 18% and up to as high as 20% for a personal loan. Compared to the mortgage interest rate of <5%, credit card and personal loan interest rates is approximately 3 to 4 times more expensive.

A savvy consumer (like yourself since you are reading this article now) will use the refinancing money to pay off the credit card or personal loan outstanding balance to enjoy potentially 3 times or up to 4 times interest savings.

Changing to a Different Mortgage Type

If you are having a variable rate loan (pegged against Base Rate (BR) or Base Lending Rate (BLR)) but anticipate that there will be major interest rate hikes (for instance higher OPR rate adjustment), it would be great to refinance your mortgage into a fixed rate loans now. This way, your monthly instalment amount does not increase even if BR/BLR increases.

Conversely, converting from a fixed-rate loan to a variable rate loan can also be a sound financial strategy, particularly in a falling interest rate environment.

If rates continue to fall, the periodic rate adjustments on BR or BLR will result in decreasing ELR and lower monthly mortgage payments, eliminating the need to refinance every time the rates drop.

What is the Cost Involved?

Before you take action in your home refinancing, there are a few items you will need to take note of:

a) Moving Cost

This refers to money you would need to spend on in taking up a new loan. Items such as valuation fees, legal fees, disbursement and stamp duty are payable when you refinance. If you are refinancing to save on interest, take note of this amount and compare it against the savings in interest you would obtain through refinancing. Fee structure is as illustrated:

b) Mortgage Lock-in Period

When you are ready to pay off your existing loan early (before the tenure expires), check if your existing loan has a lock-in period and if you are still bounded by it. Banks normally charge a penalty of 2% to 5% (on your original loan amount) if you fully pay off your mortgage within the first two to five years.

This “two to five years” period, where you will incur a penalty for early settlement, is essentially the “lock-in period” of your mortgage.

So How Does One Refinance? What are the Processes Involved?

The process is quite similar, just like applying for a new mortgage loan. The steps to refinance your mortgage loan are as follow (assuming you have identified your objectives of refinancing):

1. Firstly check your current mortgage, whether it is still within the lock-in period.

2. Contact a few banks to find out the deals that they are offering. The things that need to be taken into consideration will be the ELR, the moving cost, whether it is zero moving cost or partial moving cost is absorbed, and check if there is a lock-in period. Evaluate all these deals and which of them are important and align to your objectives set earlier. For example, if your intention is to cash out where funds may not be used now but later, getting a flexi loan but being required to sacrifice to a longer lock-in period would be ideal. Only submit to the bank which meets your objectives.

3. Always negotiate for a better ELR if you are not in a hurry to cash out. Then compare all your banks’ offer before deciding which bank to proceed with.

4. Finally, sign up and enjoy its benefits!

Common Misconception on Cashing Out from a Refinancing Loan

The debt service ratio of the additional cash out portion of your newly refinanced loan application will be calculated based on a 10 years repayment period. The portion used to pay off your existing mortgage will still be based on normal mortgage tenure, that is up to 35 years.

But the above is merely the calculation affordability or debt service ratio. It has no impact to your actual refinanced mortgaged tenure. This is illustrated below:

Customer A has an existing mortgage of RM250,000 outstanding balances and refinances the said property with the market value of RM600,000 mortgage application.

Then, the cash out amount, although your bank officer informs you that they would compute your repayment capacity based on a 10-year tenure, has no impact on your actual mortgage tenure – and most importantly on your monthly mortgage repayment. This is done to ensure that you have strong repayment capacity.

What is the alternative besides refinancing?

The top-up loan will be the alternative. It is an additional loan on top of the current mortgage outstanding amount and it is based on the appreciated market value of the property. Some banks may open a new account for the additional top-up (i.e. 2 accounts to be serviced) while some banks may just top it up on the same account, which means to continue with the same account.

The top-up loan can only be done with the same bank from your original loan and most of the time, the bank will follow all the terms and conditions of the existing mortgage features.

For those who are keen to know more, Gary runs a workshop to educate people on latest winning formulas to stay ahead of this trying time! We always welcome feedbacks and valuable opinion on this article, please feel free to drop us an email at general@smartfinancingco.com or connect via social media at Facebook.com/Garychualw.

This story was published for SMART Financing