Brudders and Sisters,
Need advice.
Anyone of you here familiar with/invested in JB? I'm looking for investment condo/landed with the following attributes:
1) GOOD reputation developer
2) Easy to rent out - both long term or airbnb
3) accessible to amenities / Transport link or the new RTS etc.
4) Within 15 minutes drive from either woodlands or tuas side immigration.
Thank you very much brudders and sisters for sharing.
There are many many ads now on Facebook for properties, my 2 cents is always to buy for own stay and not for investment. There was once a HSBC associate of mine who was brought to invest by a neighbour. Subsequently he bought 24 units and when things went south, he committed suicide by jumping into the Singapore river. I was too late to help him as i gave him some advice and i just met him once. Very nice chap but he invested too much too soon.
Hence just buy for own stay, JB + Malaysia, Batam, Cambodia, Thailand, Vietnam all have their pitfalls and challenges. As always, policies may change anytime so do beware.
My 2 cents:
1. Buy landed whenever possible. Do not buy condos unless you really need it for the location. For me, i bought at Horizon Hills as well as others so you can look for Gamuda/UEM as some of the possible considerations. I have both landed and condos.
2. Location beats everywhere, even if its convenient like on top of a mall, if after a 3-6 hour jam to go into JB, you still need to jam another 2-3 hours, its going to be very tiring unless you plan to lease out the place. Even then the tenant will face something similar to you if they are working in SG and staying in JB. Thats why many places are out unless you really like the place.
3. Tell no one, you don't need agents to buy and you will definitely be dissuaded by family members who are well intentioned but may not know whats right for you.
People will always dissuade you with CLOB or other policies.
4. Use your own lawyer, always use your own lawyer and not the developer nor the agent recommended one. There are good firms like KH Loo out there. (Look for Issac - 072350805) - I know him as a friend but i don't need nor get any referral fees.
5. Avoid Medini even though you can get it slightly cheaper and don't need state approval, banks will not finance the secondary market and hence potential buyers
should you wish to resell will need to pay in cash for the property. If you must buy a condo nearby, buy in the Puteri Harbour area which is freehold and nearby.
6. Avoid Desaru if you can as most of the properties there are leasehold and while there are many potential projects and even nice hotels, its still very laid back and not very busy except holiday season.
7. Avoid leasehold property unless you are very certain that you have no plans to ever sell it as it will make it harder finance as most local banks generally avoid it, even the foreign banks has low risk appetite.
8. If investing, try to split husband and wife name for the properties so you can get more loans at a higher rate. If new to investing and even if you can buy in full cash, don't do it. Just get a loan and establish your credit rating locally. They have similar systems to our Credit Bureau too (done by some of the same guys in fact)
9. Never get involved with Bumi property, remember that Bumi-released properties revert back to Bumi status if after the release, they were purchased by someone with Bumi background. Never get involved with low cost, medium cost properties, these are not for us.
10. If you must place large funds with developer, only place with lawyers you trust and in a client account that the law firm that is appointed to handle financial transactions. For any kind of tax after a property sale, remember to get into writing any payment that is made to the government such as RGPT payments.
11. Having bank loan takes some risks away from your due diligence homework, as in banks will not want something to go awry with their monies, so if your financing is good but multiple banks refuses to loan for this project, its a straight red flag.
12. If you cannot get a loan for a property you are very convinced about due to personal financial background, then you can ask loan agents, their services are free, they charge a commission to the banks and they can do things for you, sometimes miracles.
13. MM2H are good to have if you do intend to use the properties in JB but they are not a show stopper if you only intend to use to lease out. They don't make things cheaper, just that in certain states, they allow you to buy slightly lower properties that other foreigners are not allowed to. Some higher versions of the MM2H allows conversion to permanent residence but its prohibitively expensive.
