Nothing Is Impossible
For most of us, buying a property in our early 20s is akin to riding a flying unicorn with rainbow stripes. It’s incredible, it’s unbelievable and it is pretty much impossible. Not for Gerard Chong- he managed to do it at just a tender age of 23. Call him blatantly crazy or incredibly fortunate, you just can’t help, but to feel envious of him.
I’m Just An Average Joe
The truth is, Gerard Chong is no different than most of us; a typical Average Joe. He has a good paper qualification, a safe job as a lawyer and a rather ordinary family. You know; those kind of boring stuffs that are probably not worth mentioning.
But what made him truly special is that he possesses a unique trait that most people don’t- an enterprising mindset. For him, he doesn’t view his profession as a job. Instead, he considers it as a platform that would enable him to kick-start his entrepreneurial journey. Indeed, that is true as he wasted no time putting his plans into motion by purchasing his first property during the first year of his work.
“To be honest, I was quite lucky to have a good paying job and some personal savings. Without those, I don’t think I was able to purchase a property by myself so quickly. In fact, the property prices in Klang Valley were rising quite rapidly back then. Thus, I needed to make a tough decision to either grab a unit fast or risk being left out of the property market in the future,” Gerard quips.
And the correct decision is what he did, as the value of his property had seen an appreciation of more than 20% since then.
My First Property- Trefoil
Gerard’s first property is a Small Office Flexible Office (SoFo) by SP Setia known as “Trefoil”. It has a build-up area of roughly 780 square feet and came semi-furnished.
“Trefoil offers me a chic and stylish unit with the flexibility to rent or stay. However, it was the convenience factor and good location that had ultimately led me into purchasing the unit. At that time, I was looking for a place that is near to my parent’s house and close to a shopping mall. So, Trefoil was the only property around that fits the bill. And when I have discovered that SP Setia was the developer of the project, the rest was history,” he reveals.
Taking A Plunge Into Real Estate
Looking back, Gerard recalls that his savings were not working as hard as they could for him. At one point, after seeing the miserable returns from his money kept in saving and fixed deposit accounts, he finally had enough and threw down the towel. He was sick of being too prudent and safe. So, he decided to venture into stock market investing in the search for a higher return- which he did, until he stumbled across a few articles written by some famous property gurus. Their stories, on how they built their property empire from scratch, along with his intention to diversify his portfolio, had motivated him to take the plunge to invest in his first property.
“Making money and investing in the stock market have always been my passion. However, the thought of placing all my capital in a single basket has frightened me. Thus, after reading some articles about property investing, I’ve decided to diversify some of my capital into real estate so that I can achieve a more balanced result,” he explains.
Buying A Property Is Ain’t That Easy
It was not all smooth sailing for Gerard when his bought his first property. He says that getting a bank loan was the hardest part in the entire buying process as he did not have a strong credit record. Besides, his parents were not very supportive of him in buying a SoFo unit. Feeling down, he wanted to call it a quit before his luck took a huge turn around- he managed to get the bank loan approved and convinced his parents about the merits of buying Trefoil. Today, he was glad that he made the property purchase when it was much cheaper back then.
My Advice Is- Buy When You’re Single!
Gerard views that purchasing a home as a single person is the ideal scenario.
“In my opinion, it is much better for me to buy a property as a lone person than a married one. I would have full control of my property and can manage it as I please. Furthermore, I won’t have the same commitments as a married person with a family to take care of. The downside, however, is that I won’t have anyone to share the loan burden with,” he opines.
He also believes that that one should start building a strong credit record (good credit card history, no late payments, and defaults) as early as possible to obtain a better chance of securing a bank loan later on. Being financially responsible before taking on such a huge commitment is also very important because statistics have shown that the young professionals, especially those between ages of 20-35 years old, have the highest bankruptcy rates in Malaysia.
Do What is Right For You
At the end of the day, Gerard states that you have to do what feels right for you. This is because what works for him may not necessarily work for you.
“There comes a time where everyone should own at least one property in their life. While I have no intention of owning just one throughout my life, there are many different investments out there that may work better for you,” he suggests.
