Carnival of Affordable House Ownership

Yesterday, I finally managed to find some time to visit Karnival Perumahan Mampu Milik & Hartanah Bumiputera (Carnival of Affordable House Ownership & Bumiputera Property) which was held from 29 Nov. to 1 Dec. 2013 at PERSADA Johor Bahru, Johor. The event was officiated by the current Menteri Besar, Datuk Seri Hj. Mohamed Khaled Nordin on Friday.

(courtesy from Datuk Seri's facebook)

The event was held due to the success of the development of IRDA which resulted in property skyrocket in Johor Bahru, Johor, Malaysia. Many people especially middle to lower income group complaint that they cannot afford to buy a house due to the price keep increasing every year. However, those who have attended my seminar should realize that property price is not the main concern. It is their lack of knowledge and skills in property investment which make their life difficult. Many people are willing to waste their money for entertainment such as buying expensive handphone, subscribing with ASTRO or broadband which may have little or no financial benefit to them. But, they are not willing to spend some money to attend short courses or mentor program to learn about personal financial planning. One of the many short courses they must attend is property investment.

There are many opportunities for all of us provided if you know how to take advantage of them. That is why I taught in my affordable property investment seminar, knowledge is first while capital is fifth. There were many interesting developments with good future potential growth. Can you identify them? If you can, you can incorporate your future purchase planning in order to maximize your return.

The exhibition is not about low cost house. It is about affordable houses. After visiting the exhibition yesterday, I saw there are two types of affordable house being shown: apartment and landed. Most of the affordable apartments are in attractive locations. However, with selling price more than RM200,000 plus pricey maintenance fee, I doubt many buyers from lower income group would quickly grab it. Although I watched all of them, my focus was on landed affordable houses since my investment focus is on landed house and commercial units. There was only one developer who show their commercial development. I hope in the future, all participated developers would also show their affordable commercial units.

There were only three developers who offer attractive landed affordable house:

1. Mutiara Rini at Taman Mutiara Rini, RM220,000, Semi-D, 30' X 50'

           - picture not taken

           - detail in my next reviews

2. UEM Sunrise at Taman Nusa Bayu, RM175,000, Cluster, 28' X 60'

3. SP Setia at Setia Eco Garden, RM140,000, Terrace 18' X 60'

Wealth Within

You can see their respective location using Google Map. I didn't take Mutiara Rini affordable house pictures because I have seen them before, If you like, you can go to their showroom at Taman Mutiara Rini to see the models.

Besides the affordable houses, developers also showed their priced development. Although SP Setia Bhd had won many property developer awards, in this exhibition I prefer to award UM Land Bhd as the best booth based on the information and the way the information was displayed to the audience.

Bandar Seri Alam overall current development plan was clearly shown. For an investor, information is the main key in order to make a decision to invest. Without accurate information, capital can easily lost in an investment. As a City of Knowledge, all confirmed learning institutions were clearly shown. Each learning institution was shown their potential maximum students size although I believe they can still be expanded in the future. To my surprise, the number of institutions are now greater than the last time I followed their progress (two years ago). I should review my investment in the area from SELL (get the profit now) to HOLD (can appreciate a lot further). The latest information also indicate that the rental income can easily be increased next year!

However, the commercial development in the area was not properly shown. Beside the shop lots, I cannot see any information on other commercial activities especially shopping complex. Bandar Seri Alam has TESCO and Pasaraya Today. This information is crucial if a long term investment is to be considered. The existence of IPD should be stressed to show that the area is a safe place to live in.

I believe exhibition like this should be an eye opener and an education platform for those who want to learn about property investment. So, if developers can show a better picture of their projects, those who attend the exhibition can learn something from them although they may not necessarily buy any property. I only spent RM15 for food and RM5 for a car parking in order to learn about the event. I arrived at PERSADA around 3 pm and was hopeful to finish visiting all the booths by 5 pm. To my surprise, the event was extended to 9 pm! I left by 8 pm. It was a good investment.

Another booth that I was attracted to was IRDA booth. There were so many information to be read that I don't have time to digest all of them. Thus, I took a lot of pictures, hoping to read in the future. The staffs were wonderful and very informative. Unlike some of the developers' staffs who cannot answer many of my basic questions (which means why should I buy from them or recommend to my seminar participants), two of IRDA staffs I met can answer all my basic questions. In fact, I managed to get some crucial information without getting the direct answers. I was already too tired and have limited time to ask hard questions. The overall picture of the IRDA development was clearly shown. However, as an investor, I still need some more details in order to improve my property investment plans and assisting other people to improve their property investment plans.

I hope in the future, IRDA can publish the number of potential new jobs can be created in each flagship economy activities. It is highly appreciated, if IRDA can also identify high income economy activities so that general audience can learn a lot especially in planning their future. If people know where they can get high income, they can plan ahead to work in the city and contribute back to the state.

Overall, the exhibition was a success although there are many improvement can still be done. Just because the event title has the AFFORDABLE keyword, it does not mean audience does not want to learn as much information which can affect their well being in the state.

TAHNIAH!