Hi Crystal,
Thank you for the infor. I have called and messaged the agent CK Chee & Cherrie but they didnt reply me.
I have also checked with my agent. She said $1.6K is under priced and assured me the house I rent is a good deal.
Thank you
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Living in JB 2 (Johore)
- Thread starter wuqi256
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Hi Crystal,
Thank you for the infor. I have called and messaged the agent CK Chee & Cherrie but they didnt reply me.
I have also checked with my agent. She said $1.6K is under priced and assured me the house I rent is a good deal.
Thank you
Hi Arowana88,
Thank you for the reply.
I have consulted the agent whom i approached. She told me different houses different and assured me the one i rented is 22x70 which is a good deal for 1.9K. Initially, she was marketing at 2.1K and she sounds sincere. Since I have paid the deposit, for the moment, I have to tell myself its worth it and move on.
Any forumers staying in Sertia Tropika? Do most of you buy the houses here? Cos we wanted to test and rent a house first to see if we can adapt to the JB living style and if all the time travelling to & fro is worth in order to cut the cost of living in SGP?
Thank you
I think the rental price of a terrace unit can depend on how big it is, the location, age and project among others. As we know the price of a terrace in JB can probably go from about RM200k to more than RM600k. So we can naturally expect rental to have a big variance. You pay for what you get. Offer of rm700 for a new terrace that cost Rm500k? I will ask him to go fly kite too;-)
Completely correct. I am extremely positive on Iskandar. The biggest things I would like to see more results on are
1) Getting more high paying jobs in Johor - you need office towers full of high paying jobs to allow people to afford luxury condos and bungalows. Otherwise it will be some locals and lots of Singaporeans and others as the only people that can afford the massive quantity of luxury housing. I think at this time the top priority should be trying to get some office towers filled with high paying jobs. Efforts to increase higher education and health care jobs are good. And oil refinery, shipping and manufacturing plants are great. The create lots of great jobs. It just seems high paying jobs is still a key need. Investment in real estate is pacing ahead of high paying jobs. This greatly increases risks of bubbles.
2) Transportation, especially mass transit in JB and transit between Singapore and JB. If you wait for transit issues to be critical you are in serious trouble. Transportation issues should be addressed years before the bad impacts of failing to plan ahead are felt.
The amount of high value hotels being built is extremely good news. Hotels provide lots of tax dollars (charged to those using the rooms) which is great for governments as they don't have to tax citizens as much with that cash flowing in. Making sure those hotels are successful and have high occupancy is key. Making sure things like LegoLand and the other tourist ideas are given every chance to succeed is very important. Attracting big conventions is also important.
The JB airport is really pretty tiny and not busy. That has to change to fill up all those hotel rooms I would think (even with Singapore so close - especially if the delays in getting between Singapore and JB are not significantly reduced). The government has too encourage more flights however it can - including subsidies (for a limited time). This has to be timed right to not waste large amounts of money, but the time seems to be right about now I think. Get more direct flights...
I put the approximately period of Iskandar boom to be around this year 2012. Many manufacturing facilities investments committed in 2010-2011 should come on-stream within the next few years. If Iskandar can continue to attract big mfg MNCs in 2012-2013, then the growth prospect will be very likely to be good and a commercial center can flourish in Iskandar by 2015-2016.
Of course la, no need to think also know the terrace should be 100k plus only !
U want to wear cheap clothes $2 also have, u want branded $1000plus also have... It's u pay peanuts then u get peanuts, u want cheap maybe the place not so safe that's why so cheap! It's a no brainer conclusion here. I pay rm3k for a unit here while processing my papers! Cos my 1st priority is safety, I dun mind the money. Just want a safe place with peace of mind...
When you say typically 5-6% do you mean that a landlord would get in rent on a 500,000 unit 500,000*.05 = 25,000 a year or 2,083 a month? They still have expenses on top of that right? Paying the realtor, paying real estate taxes?, paying condo fees (if a condo), paying interest (if a mortgage exists)... Or do you mean their investment actually nets 5-6%. In the above example if they put down 20% their investment is really only 100,000 (not 500,000) - but they also have interest payments to make easy month so they don't get to put the 2,083 into their checking account each month. Also how do you factor in vacancy rate? A vacancy rate of 0%, versus say 80% rented is huge for a landlord. Often if you can be cash flow positive on day 1 that is great. But even then, if you have a vacancy for even a month that can make you cash flow negative for the whole year.
I am pretty confident in saying most money made in real estate is made on capital appreciation. So investors that are taking out a cash dividend into their bank account each year (and getting to enjoy appreciation) are doing very well. Of course if you buy in a bubble and sale prices actually collapse you suffer a great deal (as cash flow from rentals is rarely going to make you huge amounts of money).
That said owning the right real estate for the long term can provide extremely nice cash flows years down the road. I imagine many in Singapore are making a fortune this way.
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Bro Curiouscat
A very good and relevant post.
By 5-6%, I am refering to strictly to the derived rental revenue and translating into around RM 2,083 to RM 2,500 for the monthly rental.
I agree that it may be employed on a stricter measure by taking out others on top of your suggestion:
1. Furniture investments
2. Renovation
Your second scenario is more of yield on invested amount. That's why, some are attracted to the immediate cashflow received from certain properties despite the financing costs. In that way, any non-productive day/month would count towards a negative cash flow situation for the business or individiual. This is a popular approach adopted by the Australians/New Zealanders who are always on the lookout for cashflow more than the appreciation. And they are finely rewarded with a high single digit yield or even more some times.
Property investment is always about timing.
In China, the dudes who bought in mid 2000s, are sitting on 4X+ returns. That's why even in the current climate with prices down more than 40%, they are fine. Pity those who bought after 2010.
Likewise, in Nusajaya, those who bought in the last 18 months are profiting from the spike, just like those Singaporeans who went in straight after the IR project was announced.
Seeing this makes me sad. Bros and myself rented out some units cheaply. One of them quite poor thing as its his first time renting out so he was extremely nice but blur as well. He rented out one unit to someone and they complained from day 1 it was expensive even though it was still cheaper then other units on rental(His at 2600 RM fully furnished, auto gate, water pump, all beds, all rooms aircon with lights, solar film, etc).
Then his wife came and told my friend off one day as she said her relatives find it expensive as she can still get 800 RM units from Bukit Indah and accused my friend of overcharging them etc. I felt bad as a middleman though i linked them up pro bono.
Sometimes cannot be help as people still don't understand the difference sometimes.
Get well soon, buddy!
Totally agree, good and astute observations.
Now my relatives are buying their 2nd unit in Iskandar, probably not going to say where they are buying for privacy issues but yes they are buying now.
Just as a reference for timeline, the first time i brought them in, the same type of terrace was going in for 350k and limit on houses for foreigners was still 250k. I first started to reach out to all my relatives and friends who i really cared about back then when it was still 250k for new houses and 350k for subsale.
Glad at least one relative bought a corner terrace for 450k not so back then but now if they sell it, they could recoup all their costs and don't have to pay much to get another terrace in another development.
Most must have thought i was crazy though but good bros really took the leap of faith back then. Now i looked back and breathe a sign of relief, at least have not brought them to "Holland", its still not promised land but its getting there. Recently a same sized property just got auctioned off at 1.6m for a place i recommended them which they bought earlier so was very surprised when the banker handling our transaction suddenly decided to get in as well. This person said to me, "i knew something was up when the lawyers were asking why all those shoplots outside that were packed with drug addicts, left vacant for years and abandoned were all being snapped up in 3s and 5s at one go." Next thing i knew, lawyers were sending in their own loan documents.
Probably need a vacation or two from everything.
Thank you sir. No regrets in my life, though my time may be short but i have lived a full life. Just constant worry about my family as every other day, something will crop up that needs my help one way or the other.
A very learned neighbour recently said to me(also always helping those with 11B):
A responsible person will have a harried life, a very responsible person will have a very short one.
Sometimes society rewards good behaviour with bad punishment instead, society rewards those
who accomplishes the impossible with yet more work.
I need to do what some caucasian neighbours are doing, sleep very early, get up in the morning, go for walks, jobs and have morning tea and breakfast together in the patio/front porch/back garden.
Never got to do this as what work i have to defer in the morning/afternoon, i still have to finish in the evening/night. I may be with them in person but always working or thinking of the next task to do or helping others.
I have a bro who is worse off, head of a group and he works even harder throughout the night. Another one works tirelessly without sleep and food, even sacrificing his food and breaks.
Wife just pointed out how come we have moved here but never got to do this. I felt sad and bad towards her. I will be devoting more time to the family and probably will take it slower the coming two years especially when i have little ambition in life. I know my behaviour is counter to everything we learned and were taught back in Singapore but really, i came out here not to compare but for semi-retirement.
I know for a fact, more things don't find you happiness, happiness was always right with you but you never turned back to look.
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Bro Wuqi,
Glad that your 'recommendations' have turned out to be right after all...Take care and get well soon.
Below is what could have happenned if it turned out to be the other way round....
A very strong negative ending statement...
http://www.cnbc.com/id/48204468
Cheap Malaysian Property Riddled With Risks, as Singapore Investors Find Out
Published: Monday, 16 Jul 2012 | 11:09 PM ET Text Size By: Bianca Mascarenhas
CNBC Asia-Pacific Twitter
Singaporean Deepak Gurnani has spent the past couple of years trying to recover an investment gone wrong in Malaysia. The 51-year-old businessman spent $66,000 on a property in the popular beach destination Port Dickson, Malaysia in 1993. It functioned as a fuss-free home away from home until two years ago, when the developer defaulted on the payment of the property’s maintenance fees.
...
Kuala Lumpur (KL), Penang and Iskandar, which is part of the southern state of Johor, rank among the top hot locations for investment in Malaysia for foreign investors.
...
“Malaysia is one place where I will never put money again,” he said
Hi Melody, it is worth it but only if you feel happy about it. You can ask if they can put in more so that you can continue and landlord and you are both happy. Perception is very important in life. Back just few years back, 450k for a terrace was considered super expensive, now the same people who doubted my relatives are themselves coming out here. One of those who were asked, way back remarked recently to us that 870k for the terrace is considered cheap when he balked at the same type of unit (priced back then at 450k) just a few years back.
Perception colours what we see without our ever realising it.
The defaulting by the developer is very weird, from 1993 and until they only default in 2010?
Agree, i am very lucky that things went out well. Hence recently people who said they want to convince their relatives/friends, i am starting to ask them not to unless they are very very certain. You will also need to see first whether these people can handle the truth if the time comes. Hence only
buy the units you are staying in and then investment only as a second. The responsibility is too much sometimes.
Bro, truly agree. For the fear of being accused of being with ill intention or poor foresight, I would only 'recommend' those who can really afford the 'investment' and can stomach the risk involved.
As you said, it was on a 'pro bono' basis...so, why carry the unnecessary burden / responsibilities, furthermore, if the deals gone bad, they may even ruin the previous close / good relationship...
But if they really made tonnes of money out of it...rarely will they remember who recommended them initially...sigh~~~
PAP should be the one to take the high way if they continue their poor performance as seen in the last few years. It is sad to see so many foreigners cheering and supporting PAP's policies, obviously these policies serve their interests well! Nevermind they are at the expense of the locals.
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