My Property Investment Progress after 6 Months or MCO

 I wrote this article after watching a documentary about "The True Story of Bangkok's Ghost Tower" at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WE5L6yf3nro or click the title. At the same time, I am worried with what is happening to the global economy when there are banks bankrupt in USA (Silvergate Bank, Silicon Valley Bank, and Signature Bank, which collapsed in March 2023) and Switzerland (Credit Suisse Group AG). Deutsche Bank and other more than 180 banks are in line for possible bankruptcy.

There are troubling signs in these bankrupt banks:

1. depositors money are not secured. it is limited to certain level depending on countries such as USD250,000 in US. Most depositors money are lost if exceed this insured level.

2. bond holders lost their money - this is the risk of investment. But isn't it funny the main shareholders who are in the board of directors managed to took out their money before the collapsed. How convenient!

3. the rule of laws are broken in USA and Switzerland. Some analyst call Switzerland has become a "banana republic"!

4. It is dangerous to put all of your money in a single bank. It is better to split your money into several banks or investment funds without exceeding the insured values. For Malaysia, the maximum amount being insured is RM250,000 per account holder per bank. (read here https://www.pidm.gov.my/en/how-we-protect-you/deposit-insurance-system/deposit-insurance-system-faqs).

 

Now back to my property investment. Since 1997, I have successfully accumulate a substantial amount of property investment in several market segments: investment, house, shop, premium house and land. The first investment above was done without any much knowledge including how to get a bank loan. It was painful for the first 4 years. It was during ASEAN financial crisis. The interest skyrocket to 13%! I had to pay RM800 while the rent was only RM400. This went on for 4 years. Fortunately, I managed to pay all the loan in 2013. My wife wanted to sell the house in 2016 for RM170,000. I didn't. We almost got a buyer. Fortunately, I had to cancel the selling of the house due to disturbances from the potential buyers. I believed they also didn't know the buying procedure. A few months before MCO in October 2020, a buyer already agreed and signed the agreement to buy the house for RM250,000. But, he had to cancel due to MCO and job condition were very bad. At the end of last year 2022, I managed to find a new buyer of the house for RM260,000. Selling a low medium cost house is really a long process. We the seller and the buyer must be very patient! 

Now a buyer is interested with my shop lot for about RM800,000. This shop lot was bought in 2009 with fixed interest. From the rental, I got almost RM1,200 monthly profit. The rental rate is about to be increased at the end of the year. Due to these three factors I had a strong feeling not to sell unless the offer is really good.

My main concern is what if after selling and all the cash are in the bank: the economy crash like in USA and Switzerland, or scammer (the calls are getting frequent. I just cursed them or ignored them!). What is the best strategy to keep the cash money and grow the money.

Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) OPR has increased 3 times since early last year. Read here after BNM increased the OPR two times last year. My total monthly payment for all investments (4 loans) has increased for more than RM700 which is not bad actually. One of my colleagues have to pay additional RM700 just for one house loan!

Inflation is good for a wise property investor. Despite all the monthly increment, the total rental fees has increased by RM150 (excluding my shop lot at the end of this year). I even managed to help one of my in-laws to increase the rental fee by RM400!

Contact me if you want to learn proper property investment including looking for the right investment, formulate your strategy, looking for tenants, income tax, and the management. Paying for my service is a lot cheaper than losing million of RM!

So, you should plan your investment, loan and repayment wisely.

 

Kejar Ilmu Pelaburan dan Cuci Mata - Window Shopping for Your Investment

Rezeki tidak akan datang menggolek.

Usaha wajib ada.

Tetapi kalau berusaha tanpa ilmu, rezeki di depan mata pun tak nampak.

Saya pernah menerima tawaran membeli restoran berserta kedai, sekitar 2005 berharga RM450,000. Kawasan taman universiti teknologi malaysia. Corner lot. Sudah beroperasi beberapa tahun. Saya selalu juga makan tengahari atau petang di restoran tersebut. Owner perlu berpindah ke Kuala Lumpur mengikut suami.

Pada masa tersebut, berdasarkan pendapatan sedia ada, saya tidak mampu membeli kedai dan perniagaan tersebut. Tetapi kini setelah membeli beberapa buah kedai dan rumah untuk pelaburan, barulah saya sedar rezeki menggolek di depan mata. Saya tidak mempunyai ilmu mencukupi pada masa tersebut untuk merancang pembelian.

Kini kedai tersebut berharga sekitar RM2 juta!

Hari ini walaupun sibuk, saya berjaya membuat lawatan tapak ke sebuah rumah terpakai,

20X70', sederhana rendah, 3 bilik tidur, 1 bilik air, pegangan kekal, Bandar Baru Uda, Jalan Padi, RM315,000.

20 meter dari rumah ada taman permainan kanak-kanak. Jadi, tiada masalah parking. 

Kedudukan rumah amat strategik kerana Bandar Baru Uda berada di tengah-tengah kawasan samada ke pusat bandar JB, Nusajaya atau ke utara seperti Skudai dan Senai. Di bandar baru Uda juga ada pelbagai shopping complex terutama Angsana. Rata-rata penduduk sudah lebih 25 tahun berada di kawasan tersebut - lokasi matang.

Anggaran sewa rumah tersebut sekitar RM1,000 hingga RM1,200.

Masalah utama, rumah tersebut berada lebih rendah kira-kira 1m dari permukaan jalanraya. Apabila hujan pasti air hujan dari jalanraya akan memasuki laman rumah. Semakin lebat hujan, semakin buruk kemasukan air ke laman rumah. 

Ke dua, walaupun lebar rumah boleh memasukkan dua buah kereta, sudut dari permukaan jalanraya ke laman rumah amat curam dan jarak yang pendek menyebabkan kecuramannya tidak boleh dibaiki.

Rumah tersebut juga memerlukan pelaburan yang besar untuk dibaik-pulih terutama untuk membolehkan dua buah kereta diletakkan di dalam laman rumah.

Keputusan: tidak sesuai untuk pelaburan.

Security and Accessibility for a Home

I wasn't planning to buy my current house. My original intention to visit this housing development was to find out about shop lots at this location. I wanted to compare the shop lots with the shop lots at my previous housing development. The prices were similar but here, the available shop lots were at the end of the housing development which made them not attractive. While the better located shop lots facing the main road were already sold out. The shop lots at my previous housing development is located at the main road. In addition, the shop lots at my previous housing development are located in a more matured surrounding.

In my first visit to this housing development, the main roads were only consists of single lane in each direction. I was shocked to learn the strategic shop lots had already sold out. But, the sales girl told me that the developer is doing pre-launch last phase of the housing development. She invited me for a tour. When I asked what is so special about the housing development, she informed me besides the security guards, the housing development has swimming pools and gymnasium. Since my wife was tagging a long, we decided to take a look even though it was not our original intention.

The last phase of the housing development consists of cluster and semi-D houses. The club house has sufficient space considering there are only about 550 houses. The swimming pool is large enough for many people to use at the same time. There is also a small swimming pool for children under 10 years old. Now, an access door is installed so that only the paid home owners can use the facilities and also ensure added security.

The fence is secured with tall and strong fences. Barb wires are also installed at the top of the fences. The housing area look fully secured. Some housing development were proposed on full fences but they were still under development. As a result, there are some security risks. After living here for more than five years, the committee decided to add CCTV at each main roads especially at each junction.

My wife main concern was the main roads were only single lane in each direction. But, we realized that the developer will be forced by the municipal to develop two lane roads in each direction which is confirmed by the sales girl. Since the traffic was not heavy in the vicinity, the road planning should be sufficient. Based on the distance, the housing area is only about fifteen minutes to my working office.

One year after I lived in the new housing area, there was rumor a new highway exit will be developed. This should be a bonus to us. Accessibility is always one of the main concern among the neighbors. It took another two years before we finally can use the new exit highway. This is better than some housing developments where the promise for a new exit highway was not fulfilled. The existence of a new exit highway cut travel time, gas cost and human energy in many directions significantly. The new exit highway also helps to reduce or assist traffic flow in the surrounding areas.

Living in this new home really taught me many important factors when purchasing a new house. Security and accessibility are crucial.

The bad news was the moment the new exit highway can be used, the municipal almost double the exit tax (cukai pintu) of my house!! This also means the value of my house is double from the purchase price.

Based on the selling price, it was impossible for me to buy the house and a shop lot at the same time. Fortunately, I did an extensive calculation to find possibilities to buy both properties at the same time, the danger and mitigation plan. All of these were done in a spreadsheet with many tabs.

Membeli Hartanah Semasa Usia Muda

 I have to post this since I saw many inquiries in my facebook links.

My response:

Kalau bodoh, kena bertanya dengan sopan supaya boleh menjadi lebih pandai. Kalau sudah awal mengkeji, menghina kepada orang lebih tahu, sampai ke tua le kau tak beli rumah. Ada pun sebijik. Lebih sedih kerja jadi hamba duit. Kita mahu duit jadi hamba kita. Pengiraan ditunjukkan ada kebenarannya tapi kena guna akal. Bukan gunakan hati busuk. 

Pertama, kena kerja kuat semasa muda supaya boleh bersenang lenang selepas umur 50 tahun. Ada cara untuk dapat pendapatan rm3,000 sebulan semasa berumur 22 tahun kalau berusaha, bukan berangan sahaja. Lagi kuat kita berusaha, lagi tinggi pendapatan yang sepatutnya diperolehi. Jika kita kuat berusaha tapi pendapatan tetap sama, anda memilik perlaksanaan yang kurang elok. Sila lihat jawapan saya kepada satu pertanyaan di bawah.

Kedua, kena belajar teknik buat loan bukan berharap kepada ejen atau salesman pemaju. Penjimatan kos sangat penting. Di dalam keadaan ekonomi semakin mencabar terutama recession, permohonan pinjaman semakin sukar diperolehi. Tetapi jika kita tahu apa yang pihak bank lihat ketika menilai permohonan pinjaman, kita lebih bersedia untuk memperbaiki pengurusan kewangan sebelum membuat pinjaman.

Ketiga, kena belajar memahami pasaran sewa, bukan hentam ikut suka. Pasaran sewa penuh cabaran. Setiap masalah mesti ada peluang. Pelbagai persediaan perlu dilakukan sebelum boleh menerima penyewa terutama perjanjian sewa. Ini perkara utama yang diabaikan oleh pemilik rumah dan akan mengundang masalah pada masa hadapan.

Ke 4, kena belajar mengenal-pasti lokasi rumah yang strategik, bukan percaya semua yang salesman cakap. Ramai orang apabila membeli rumah, mereka memikirkan apa yang mereka suka bukan memikirkan apa yang bakal penyewa suka. Di antara dua cara pemikiran ini, memang sukar untuk mempunyai ciri-ciri yang bertindih. Hanya mereka berpengalaman akan nampak dengan jelas. Jika tiada pengalaman, masuk kursus la.

Ke 5, perlu belajar kawal nafsu, bukan sesuka hati berbelanja. Pastikan hidup di bawah paras kemampuan anda untuk mengawal perbelanjaan. Tentukan sasaran jangka pendek dan jangka panjang untuk menabung pelaburan dan hiburan. Rancang perbelanjaan untuk membeli barang keperluan dan bukannya membeli apabila perlu. Pembelian tanpa perancangan menyebabkan kita membeli sedikit-sedikit seperti di 7-11 menyebabkan perbelanjaan lebih tinggi.

I saw a good question from one reader:

Asyiqin Abdullah bagus soalan macam ni. Baru boleh belajar. Ada banyak kerja gaji tinggi kalau rajin berusaha contoh oil and gas. Lepas spm dan kursus kemahiran 2 tahun boleh dapat gaji rm3,500 sebulan. Kerja di Singapura gaji diploma Berumur 22 tahun boleh dapat sing$2,000x3.4 = RM6,800. Buat dua kerja berlainan, satu full time, satu part time contoh programming pun boleh dapat rm3,500. Kerja full time, part time jual burger pun boleh. Macam2 lagi boleh buat sementara masih muda. Gunakan akal, dan bukan tenaga semata2.

Boleh hubungi saya untuk personal coaching. Bukan percuma. Kalau nak free, sila cari sendiri ilmu.

Teach your children the value of money

Children easily wasted inheritance. You can find a lot of sad stories all over the world especially in rich countries or even in Malaysia . It is like winning a lottery which is also can easily be wasted. Search over internet the examples such as in here and here. Don't believe it? Come to my short course and I will show the sad reality.

Parents work hard for wealth, yet children easily scoundrel all the wealth in a few years. Some wealth does not even survive to reach the 3rd generation. Children easily damage or lost the belonging bought by parents since the belonging does not paid by their own money: hp, smartphone, computer, car, watch, etc.

Children should be taught to work for what they want to own or use.

Never give anything for free unless it is necessary for life and education. These are parents obligation. Parents can force the children to work for the luxury they want or parents can teach the children by sponsoring part of the total cost.

To give anything without the children come out the money is spoon feed. It is a bad habit being reinforce with good rewards which is very bad. The bad habits will be accumulated until their adults. I have seen people who are depending on their parents wealth to build or buy their own house, buy a car and much more.

This is one of the reasons wealthy family inheritance easily gone by the 3rd generation.

To get this beautiful house while my salary was still low, I had to pay loans to three different parties: bank loan, my father and my older sister. Due to their insistence to loan the money, I finally bought the house in the year 2000. For two years, I have to pay monthly to three different parties.

It took another five years before I can afford to install the extended roof.

Originally, the house has four rooms. However, the master bedroom at the ground floor was demolished to expand the guest or guest room. The house still have a master bedroom at the top floor.

It is a 22' X 70', one and a half storey house. For RM144,300 in the year 2000, my friends said it was expensive. After 3 years, people who work in surrounding area were the ones who foolish not buying a house in the area.

 

First priority for parents is to teach children to understand the value of money.

How much time, energy or efforts should be equivalent to the object to be desired. 

They should learn about raw material, level of different parties involvement, and appreciate the things they got.

Second, children should understand the meaning of hardworking rather than hoping for subsidy. Time and effort being spent to get something are sometimes more valuable than the things being obtained.

Thinking and creativity to achieve specific objective or target rather than immediate to get something.

Third, by understanding the values above children should appreciate other people's effort, energy and time to get something. This will make them understand the value of tenants, property agents or introducers. Without this understanding, it is hard to persuade other people to contribute to your goals.

Fourth, there is always alternative to money. Barter with what you have with what you want. In any economy collapse, bartering technique is very important such as happened in many countries such as USSR, Greece or even currently in USA. You should learn the Ferengi way in the Star Trek. Rules of acquisition!

HAPPY INVESTING!

Seminar Asas Pelaburan Hartanah Mampu di UTM, JB

Pelajari asas-asas:
1. Kesedaran Keperluan Pelaburan Hartanah
   - Harga hartanah semakin meningkat
   - Sambil lewa takkan dapat hartanah idaman
   - Mengharap bulan jatuh ke riba umpama beli loteri
   - Usia meningkat menyebabkan kos pembelian meningkat
   - Sukar menyimpan tunai

2. Taktik Pelaburan Hartanah
   - Malu bertanya sesat jalan
   - Banyak wang dihabiskan untuk hiburan, kenapa tidak untuk belajar menjadi kaya
   - Kesan polisi-polisi kerajaan terutama RPGT
   - Taktik-taktik merbahaya untuk dihindari
   - Taktik-taktik yang tidak disedari boleh dipelajari dan ditiru
   - Memanfaatkan teknologi smartphone

3. Pelbagai Strategi Pelaburan Hartanah
   - Lokasi, lokasi dan lokasi
   - Mengenali pelbagai jenis hartanah
   - Mencari pelaburan hartanah yang sesuai
   - Strategi pantas, sederhana, jangka panjang
   - Strategi sabar, gelojoh, tegas, terdesak

4. Falsafah Pelaburan Hartanah
   - Iqra' membantu kejayaan
   - Berakit-rakit ke hulu,...
   - Gaya-hidup (Lifestyle)
   - Menjadi Vulcan: pemisahan perasaan dan pemikiran logik
   - Perjudian terancang berbanding terikut-ikut
   - Membeli kerana peranannya berbanding membeli kerana gaya mahupun keperluan

Hubungi Whatsup: 011-3127 7601, atau
email: sales.bijakrantau@gmail.com
Untuk masa terhad, yuran kursus ini RM200 seorang.

Belajar, lakukannya dan menjadi jutawan!!


BERITA TERKINI 27/11/2019
SEMINAR DITANGGUHKAN KE SUATU TARIKH AKAN DATANG
HARAP MAKLUM.

A Sign of a Troubling Time for certain businesses

Yesterday, I brought my family for monthly kitchen resupply. As usual, we went to Jusco Taman Universiti. At first, I was excited to finally find Faiza Basmati rice. We use this rice for our daily meals. The price is affordable to my family. But, it is difficult to find the rice in a small retail shop (even it is difficult to find the rice in a two lot retail shops)

Then, I also found the new rice from Faiza (not really that new). Moghul Basmathi rice. The first time we tasted the rice was about two weeks ago. I attended my friend's daughter wedding and received a small portion of Moghul Basmathi rice as a token back home. The price?

Wow! It is a lot more expensive than the normal Faiza Kashmir Basmathi which can be bought at RM30 to RM32 for 5kg. Since I already bought 5kg of Faiza Kashmir Basmathi a few days ago, I should postpone buying a new pack of rice. May be I should try using Faiza Moghul Basmathi rice in the future.

However, I was curious with Jusco Taman Universiti. Is the business getting bad for them? There were some changes to the way the Jusco hypermarket operates since it was taken over by a local company from AEON Japan. It is harder to get regular brands. Surprisingly, I found rows of freezers being used to stock a lot of frozen foods are under maintenance.

I don't buy it they are under maintenance at the same time! These are normally where  I bought sausage, burger meat, pau, raw french fries etc. Now, more than 50% are empty due to under maintenance.

These are where I usually bought other type of frozen foods such as yong tau foo ingredients, etc. The basic business formula is to ensure there are many places to stock your supply. It is ridiculous to let the freezers left empty even for maintenance. And this is not the first time I saw this. It has been normal seeing empty freezers in Jusco Taman University for the last six months.

But at least they are still surviving compared to Giant at U-Mall which has been closed months ago! I believe, Jusco Taman Universiti is going to close down. The new owner of Jusco chain has made big blunder by changing many proven regulation by the previous owner. My family have to look for a new place to do monthly resupply.

Excellent Double Storey Shop Lot at Taman Mutiara Rini, Skudai for Rent or for Sell

I am planning to sell or rent this shop lot at Jalan Utama 43, Taman Mutiara Rini, Skudai, Johor.

Monthly rent: RM2,500 negotiable

Selling Price: RM8XX,XXX
Carpark: plenty
Age of Property: 10 Year(s)
Property Type: Shop lot 
Rental Deposit: 7500 negotiable
Size: 1650 sq.ft.
Area: Skudai 

Description:
31, Jalan Utama 43,
Mutiara Business Center,
Taman Mutiara Rini,
81300 Skudai,
Johor Bahru, Johor

1. Extra long dimension: 22' X 75' ground floor
2. Tiled floor
3. Two created and renovated rooms as in pictures
4. Next to corner lot restaurant

Close to:

1. Affin Bank, 40m

2. Police station, 40m

3. Restaurant (next door and surroundings)

4. Car workshops

5. Mutiara Rini Hutan Bandar, 1000m

6. MyDin Mall Mutiara Rini, 1000m

7. Tesco Extra Mall Mutiara Rini, 1000m

And also:
1. 10 minutes to Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, UTM
2. Next to Taman Universiti
3. 20 minutes to Nusajaya, SiLC and Gelang Patah
4. 20 minutes to Johor Bahru central
5. 5 minutes to Taman Tun Aminah

Others:
1. Well maintain building
2. Current tenant's contract already expired
3. Flourishing area with new phase being completed and occupied
4. Facilities: Cooking Allowed

Rent price negotiable
For more details, call owner at:
1. Dr. Zul 019-7311350

Excellent Two Storey House at Bandar Seri Alam for Sale

I bought this house in 1997 after two weeks I got married. It is quite emotional to sell this house. My wife and I have sacrifice a lot to maintain and fully paid the house in 2012. The funny thing is we never slept in the house!

Last year, the house was repainted, fully cleaned especially both toilets, and repaired any damage. The poach was also improved by building the walls on both sides, a new gate and cement the whole poach. I built an L-shape table top in the kitchen so that it is easy to cook in the house. While the renovation was done, a few people already asked to rent the house on the same day! This year, I have to replace the piping from the main road to the main tank since the old pipes already burst in several places. So, whoever buy the house does not need to worry about the condition of the house. It is also one of the reasons why I can easily get a tenant at a high price!

The house land size is 16' X 65'. There are 3 rooms and 2 bathrooms. The asking price for year 2018 is RM265,000 and it is negotiable. Currently, the house is rented. The monthly rent is RM1,000. So, at RM265,000, it is a good investment if you plan to rent it out. If the current tenant quit renting the house, it can be rent out for RM1,000 to RM1,200 depending on your business plan. If you want to make it a homestay, you can get even more.

Bandar Seri Alam is a very busy place nowadays especially after UiTM and UniKL already started their operation. When fully operated, UiTM and UniKL are going to have 15,000 and 5,000 student in 2014! In 2018, there are more than 6,000 students in UiTM Bandar Seri Alam. This is excluding the workers and other learning institutions in the town. Bandar Seri Alam is also known as Bandar Ilmu (Knowledge City) since there are many learning institutions in the town.

If you visit the house, I can explain the business model I have used for this house, what are other potential business you can do, and how to make sure you can get a good tenant. You have to choose the right strategy for yourself depending on your personality. Originally, the top floor was not tiled. But, I already tiled the top floor about 5 years ago. All the furniture available in the house can be yours as shown in the pictures. There is also a refrigerator in a good condition.

I am not desperate to sell this house especially when I managed to increase the rental for both of my shops recently. In the future, I will explain more in detail how I managed to increase my shops rental by 50%. The traffic flow between Skudai to Pasir Gudang is not getting better for the next two years. So, it is better for me to sell the house and concentrate my investment in the Western part of IRDA. It was a tough decision especially I was thinking to maintain holding the house to stand by if my eldest son will further study in Bandar Seri Alam. My wife's cousin just started his first year study in UiTM Bandar Seri Alam. Guest where he is staying? He have to rent an apartment with 3 rooms for RM1,300! And to cut the cost, he have to share the apartment with another 9 students! It is not only about cost, even if you have money, there is no vacant house to rent in Bandar Seri Alam. If you put an advertisement today, you can get a tenant by today if you are not a picky owner!

HAPPY INVESTING!

Not Everybody suitable to be a Property Investor but Everybody should buy a House

Whenever I met a trust fund agent, I am always being invited to join them, and buy their product. But, I never trust a trust fund! The main problem is not the fund is not good. But, does trust fund investment is suitable, and the best for me? None of the agents can explain or convince me. They always claim trust fund has higher liquidity compared to property investment. They claim their profit is always high. Sometime a trust fund profit can reach up to 30% profit return.

The more accurate question is does the investment is the best based on my personality, and financial background. Sales people tend to promote the beauty of their products without really understand the customer's needs. I hate these kind of people. When you work, and you have to find the solution to your organization's problems, you will also hate these kind of people, where they are offering to solve other problems which don't exist in your organization!

Whereas, as property investors, we always encourage people to buy a house. If they can see the opportunity, they should also join us to become another property investor. I don't get any money when I encourage people to buy a house. I don't get any money when I encourage people to become a property investor. But, I definitely will ask for money if people want to learn my secret such as how do I buy a shop lot even though I have only RM5,000 in my saving, or how can I buy a house even though my saving is not sufficient to pay the downpayment, or how can I buy a house even though my income is barely enough to pay the rent, and many more.

There are many trade secrets in property investment. Even though there are many property investment short courses being offered by many cifu's (how do you know they have sufficient knowledge, and experience? How do you verify their claim?), they are actually only the basics. In fact, they don't answer many of my critical questions such as mention above. In fact, a lot of property investment groups are using dangerous strategy because no one strategy can fit for everybody!

Even in schools, universities, or working places, people don't take any aptitude test. You are lucky if you have taken one at the work place, and being given the tasks based on your aptitude test. But the most important thing is Not Everybody suitable to be a Property Investor, but Everybody should buy a House.

Diversify or Slowly Die

It is normal to hear in business, you should expand or die, or you should diversify or slowly die.

I diversify my gardening by planting new trees such as belimbing besi, limau bali, harum manis, nangka and cempedak. This is to ensure the survival of small trees (renek) such as herbs, vegetable, and flower trees. My daughter found that there are many lady bugs on the tree outside my house's wall. It is a good sign because lady bug does not only helps the pendebungaan but it also eat harmful bugs. So indirectly, lady bugs help to ensure the survival of my herbs, flowers and vegetables.

In property investment, it is safer to have properties in more than a single type of property. My first two investment were only houses. Then, I bought a shop lot. I felt it is a lot safer for investment. Now, I am sure it a safer investment. In previous economy slow down, there were many houses without tenant, or rent at lower price. But an empty shop lot was quickly rent out as fast as two weeks. Then, I managed to get a land. Afterwards, I bought a house and a shop lot at the same time. All my houses are in different market segment.

But, I faced a major problem. I am not getting any younger. With the new house, I have to do major renovation before I moved in. The renovation used a lot of money, time and effort. This also means I have less income compared to if I rent out the new house. I also do not need to spend much money if I just rent out the new house. But, I have no choice. Then, I got cheated by the contractor who did the initial renovation. I already paid 95% of the agreed cost. But the incomplete work was more than 30%. I had to find additional fund to complete the house. This only made me more determine to complete the renovation at all cost. So, I became the project manager, the acquisition manager, planning manager, manpower manager and quality control manager. I also managed to train my eldest son to be the assistant executive to fill my gaps.

Now, I have to consolidate my investment. I must trim any wastage. I have to find additional, and new sources of income to supplement my financial shortcoming. It looks like my current income sources are insufficient for expensive entertainment, and unexpected eventualities.

Up Keeping and Planting Trees with Family

Let us review the condition of the garden on 14 Dec. 2017:

After only I week I cut the grass, they already growing very quickly. In some area such as below, they have grown for more than 10 cm.

The back of the garden, the grass grow slower than at the front.

The monthong durian tree is getting healthier. There are more leaves growing from the branches after I put some organic fertilizer last week. The soil surround the durian tree has not enough nutrient. So, I have to put the fertilizer more often.

Fortunately, the duri hitam durian is really healthy. I have put some fertilizer last week to ensure continuous healthy grow.

Now, it is time to plant new trees or vegetables.


Planting sweet potato (keledek Jepun): First, I have to make the soil bed. The original soil was removed for more than 15 cm and fill in with fertilized soil. Normally, we don't use seed to plant sweet potato trees. Instead, the sweet potato trees are cut into several pieces for about 15 cm long each. But, if you don't have any sweet potato tree, you can take two or three sweet potato tubers, cut into two pieces and plant them. Using sweet potato trees are cheaper, and you get more sweet potato trees bearing fruits quicker.

Tapioca:
Meanwhile, my 3rd children or 2nd son already digged a huge hole which is sufficient to put a lot of fertilized soil to plant tapioca. On the left picture, after planting the tapioca, I add four segment of sweet potato surround the soil. It takes three months for the sweet potato to bear fruit while the tapioca tree needs more than nine months to bear fruit. So, I am doing a small experiment whether this can be done. This is important since fertilized soil is expensive. Sharing the same bed soil can save the cost, time and space.

The already grown tapioca tree on the right is filled with the fertilized soil to ensure its healthy grow.

Extra Tapioca for the young leaves (usually cook like vegetables):

My son and wife like to eat the shoots of the tapioca tree. This is done by cooking them as per normal vegetables. Therefore, the extra tapioca sticks were planted in cramp and not deep soil. As long as the tapioca trees can grown from the stick, they are good enough. They were planted next to the sweet potato trees.

Early this year, I planted a Berangan tree. After a few weeks, the tree gave offspring to a little Berangan tree. However, three months ago, the mother tree was pin down by a sugar cane tree. I have to cut the mother tree to ensure new leaves will grow. As a result, the new leaves grow at a lower height and block the sun to the new banana tree. Hence, the new banana tree cannot grow up. Hence, it must be moved to a new location. So, last Saturday, I have the opportunity to move the new Berangan tree to a new location as on the left. While at the original location, I have to fill in with the fertilized soil to ensure the mother tree is healthy.

Mahkota Dewa:
Meanwhile, my daughter planted mahkota dewa tree. It is a herb tree which is good for men and women.

Misai kucing:

I cut a Misai Kucing tree branch into five segments and planted them at a new location as on the left. The extra segment of Misai Kucing tree, I planted under a banana tree.

Moving papaya trees to a new location

 Existing papaya tree after move next to the wall. The papaya tree looks healthy by looking at the color of the leaves. This is due to sufficient fertilized soil being put at the tree trunk.

There are a few other things I did with my children but they were minor tasks. All of these took us more than two hours. It was fun and a good stress relief.