Quit Rent due 31 May every year

A quick reminder on your quit rent payment which is due to the land offices in Selangor and Wilayah Persekutuan, if you own land properties.  The deadline for payment is 31 May 2012, after which there is a penalty charge of RM6.
Online payment is easy and quick for PTGWP.  Just follow this link: https://www.ptgwp.gov.my/cukai_online/
and the instructions and the transaction is easily done by keying in your account number. There is a discount of RM2 if you pay online through this website.

Buying and Transporting

I am lucky enough to get the keys to the apartment early because I have a very easy-going vendor.  Of course it is also based on mutual trust as I was starting to repair some electrical stuff and also put in some furniture in the apartment, so that if we are lucky, we would be able to rent out early.

So on some days, you might see J and I, running around the streets in this to pick up furniture stuff from sellers.  This is a borrowed car, and this picture answers the question: "Can an Ikea Klippan sofa fit into a Proton Arena?"

Answer: "Yes!"

But better pray that it doesn't rain....

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

Robert Kiyosaki at National Achievers Congress 2012, Malaysia

Robert Kiyosaki, famous author of Rich Dad, Poor Dad, is coming to Klang Valley on 29-31 May 2012.  This event is the National Achievers' Congress, which Sara, Rohaniah Noor, and myself are planning to go.
But I was flabbergasted when I found out that the "early bird" price is RM297 per person.   Earlier, Rohaniah reported that the promotion through Groupon was only RM197 per person, but the Groupon offer is already over.

Having not received a regular email from the organizer (which I am on the mailing list), I was quite irritated.  How come they did not inform regular customers first?  So I wrote them an email to complain, especially when the staff who answered the phone was curt and not helpful.

Finally I got a reply today.  If I can get at least 10 people to join, we can still attend at RM197 each.  So we are calling on those of you out there who want to join us at this special price, and we register together.  However, this is only valid till end March, so please hurry if you want to join us; leave a comment below and I will contact you.

You can check out their promo price here at RM297.

This is Kiyosaki live in KL, in person.  A chance not to be missed and at RM197, a good deal for 3 days of mind-changing, positive energy seminar!

When Verbal Agreement is Not Good Enough

I was told this story by a real estate negotiator (REN), C.  They were in a co-broking deal.  One prospective buyer wanted to buy an office, and said that after the SPA, he wanted to move in and rent from the owner as a tenant.  The owner's REN said, that is of course not a problem; in fact, the owner would even let him use the office for no rent since he was the buyer and it was only for a few months. Based on this, the buyer was very happy, he didn't even negotiate the price very much, and then booked the unit with his deposit.

Then when the SPA was about to be signed, the owner refused to have the buyer move in with the so-called "no rental" before the completion of the deal. The buyer was disappointed, the owner was adamant with his decision, so much so that if the buyer refuse to sign the SPA, the owner can then forfeit his 2% deposit.  The buyer then confronted C (the co-broking REN, not the one who promised the free rental deal). C then spoke to the owner's REN and asked about this breach of promise. The owner's REN said, "Well, nothing can be done, there is nothing written on the agreement as conditions to the sale".  C was furious, and told him: "Look here, although it was not written, you said it, the buyer heard it and I was there. How can you do this?  Try to persuade the owner."

At the end, the owner still refused to allow early entry into the office, the buyer had no choice but to wait out the completion of the sale (because he didn't want to lose his deposit).
C, from then on, was very careful who he co-broke with, and tried to look after his client's interest rather than go through with any difficult deal.  While there are 2 types of RENs, the ones who don't care about anybody other than themselves, and the ones like C, who would really look their client's interest.
The lesson for all of us here is, whatever is promised, get it down in writing.