Double Insurance

Property owners out there, beware of double insuring your home with fire insurance.  This often happens in the case of owning apartments or condominiums.  Usually the apartment management would purchase a master insurance that is shared by all units in the building, and owners are billed through a once-yearly payment.  Then the end-financier (bank) would also require that a fire insurance (or even more comprehensive houseowner's insurance) be purchased and this is done automatically by the bank.  The premium of the insurance is then added into the owner's loan account, thus increasing the principal outstanding sum.
There is no need for double insurance in any case, insurance companies would not compensate you twice should a fire occur at your premises.  What you need to do, as I did in my case, is to inform the bank's insurance that my property is already insured by the management board of my apartment.  The insurance company then demanded that I forward to them a copy of the insurance certificate (usually this is only given to you after you have paid all the maintenance, quit rent and insurance charges by the management office).  I did that, and they cancelled the double insurance and I got the premium refunded.

Shang Villa, Kelana Jaya - A Review

In my quest to find a reasonable residential property with good potential for capital appreciation, I researched many, many properties, and finally came upon Kelana Jaya.  This area was suggested to me by the seasoned property investor sinleong.

Sinleong recommended Kelana Jaya around SS7 area due to the fact that Paradigm mall is being built there, which will bring up the Live and Play factors. In addition, Kelana Jaya itself is home to many offices and also close to PJ where people work, live and play.   When I went to survey the area, I also found out that potentially the new KJ LRT extension will have a station somewhere near Kelana Centre Point (researched by Horlic).  

Also, I looked for freehold properties since Kelana Jaya is a predominantly leasehold area and my search turned up Shang Villa, Kelana Parkview and Kelana Sentral.

Further research took me to Shang Villa for a closer look.  A note about the freehold status here, this condo was previously leasehold, and got a conversion to freehold status as confirmed by the developer and the land search.  I was attracted to Shang Villa as it is located within walking distance (700m) to the Kelana Centre Point which is the presumed new LRT station location.

The guardhouse entrance has a card entry system for pedestrians.  The green grounds inside are wide and spacious.  The clubhouse is a short walking distance from the two Blocks A & B.  The clubhouse contains a decent-length swimming pool, a restaurant, a mini market, a hair salon, a squash court and a sauna. The clubhouse looked well-maintained.  I checked out the clubhouse toilet and it was clean. The fact that the mini market, hair salon and restaurant are in business attest to the decent occupancy rate at Shang Villa. 

Guardhouse post

Wide open space with green grounds inside

Walking distance to Manipal University

More greenery

Clubhouse facilities which include a decent size swimming pool

...and a squash court

The thriving mini market

So in my opinion, this is a good location due to:

1. Kelana Jaya is a good area where people work, live and play, although I am not sure about the number of young families staying in this area though.  It seems to me the occupants are working people.

2. Paradigm mall and potential LRT station factor

3. Freehold

4. Rental rate now going for RM1600-2000 (based on asking prices in websites)

Other factors to research:

1. Occupancy mix  (was told that MAS staff and badminton players always rent to stay here, not sure about others)

2. When is the repainting going to start and finish - that will bring up the image of the property which I think had not been repainted since its completion in 1997/98.

3. Actual occupancy rate - 1 agent told me it's 80-90%, but then we must do our own research.

Hope any owners/ tenants in Shang Villa can answer some of these questions.

Updated in June 2013:

Ok, disappointingly, the LRT station is built across the road from Kelana Business Centre.  Hopefully there will be a pedestrian access or shuttle buses to serve the residential area.

Image from: http://www.starproperty.my/index.php/articles/investment/starpropertys-map-of-lrt-extension-stations/

Property N Co Lelong Seminar

Property N Co successfully shared another 1-day seminar, this time focusing just on auctions and the know-hows.  A good day concluded with lots of learning and sharing.  Good times are best shared with friends and like-minded people, as Rohaniah Noor says, "aliens" who are out-of-this-world who are mad about property investments.

Anie at the intro

Lawyers who are specialists in Auctions

The Participants