Property Malaysia

PROPERTY MALAYSIA would like to all our Hindu readers a Happy Deepavali.

And to our Muslim friends across the blogosphere and all over the country, “Selamat Hari Raya, Maaf Zahir Batin“.

For the benefit of our non-Malaysian readers, Deepavali (or Diwali) is the Hindu Festival of Lights celebrated on Nov 1 this year.

As for Hari Raya, that would be Eid ul-Fitr (spelling may vary) celebrated by Muslims in a big, big way here. This year its on Nov 3 and 4.

In a spirit of Malaysiana, has a good holiday everyone!

Property Malaysia will continue to post article throughout the week, so keep coming back for more interesting posts here.

On a separate note, we have updated our project reviews sections incorporating all the latest reviews up until today. Check it out.

Firstly, before you start reading about this condo, ask yourself these questions:

• Do you mind living on a project that is entirely built on an existing oxidation pond?
• Do you mind waiting 3-and-a-half years for the project to be completed?
• Do you mind staying in a very old housing area including some low cost flats and old houses? (if you’re already living in Pandan Indah, then this doesn’t apply to you)
• Do you mind living near one of the most congested interchanges on the Middle Ring Road II (MRR2)?

If you answered ‘yes’ to all of the above (now don’t we sound like one of those informercials! ), then you will be enjoying these facilities:

• Condo right in front of STAR LRT station.
• Full facilities condo integrated with two levels of shopping centre and and two levels of SOHU (what’s SOHU? We’ll get to that later…)
• One of the most exciting condo projects to appear in KL for some time.
• Situated next to redeveloped public park and amenities.

Pandan Indah isn’t really noted for new condos, it’s a well established old housing area just outside the city centre, facing the highlands. A local Architect bought a piece of land containing an existing oxidation pond near some old government flats and terraced houses and planned to build a massive, ambitious commercial development.

(Sorry, there is no location map available. To get there is very simple. Turn off at the Cempaka interchange of MRR2, just between Pandan and Ampang, and you will see it after 1 km)

To understand clearly, there will be 2 floors of shops at ground level, followed by 3 floors of parking for residents (shoppers park in the basement), then two floors of SOHU with condo facilities, then 24 floors of apartment units, then a sky lounge at the top.

What’s a SOHU? That’s a Small Office Home Unit, where is like a basic shop lot where you can work and stay in. There are also duplex units available. These SOHU units act as courtyard shops for the condo, as they generally service only the residents, and are situated around the pool and landscaped park area. They will be available for sale next month. Speaking of the pool, the residents can enjoy spa pools, broadband access, al fresco cafes, as part of the condo facilities.

The developer will also redevelop the adjacent public park, including a surau and a community hall. This park was originally built years ago for the existing housing scheme and low cost flats.

Then of course, there’s the STAR LRT across the road. That alone can sell plenty of units.

The units need about 42 months to complete because as part of the agreement with the authorities, the developer will first need to build a new sewerage treatment plant up the road, then start work on the old oxidation pond. Yeah, coming to that, some people may have some apprehension about that, but as far as the engineering aspect is concerned, there should be no problems of smell or ground seepage is concerned.

As for the unit layout, the developer has gone for the rectangular room concept. The smallest unit is at 739sq.ft (Type C), an unorthodox design with only two rooms, both with quite large. This leaves the living and dining to be quite spacious. Kitchen is open to the dining and living (fumes getting into your living room and furniture, bad) and no balcony (good).

The larger 835sq.ft version (Type C1) is the same but comes with a small utility room. Next comes type D (982sq.ft) which has another bedroom instead of the utility. This one has a balcony.

Beyond that, there are two more types, Type B (1,000sq.ft) and Type A (1,023sq.ft). We like Type A, the largest one, which is also the show unit. There is an open study area, which may be converted to a room. Type B(1,000sq.ft) is less practical, there is a long corridor at the entrance that goes past a bedroom and a bathroom. But this unit has a large living/dining.

Overall, good choice of units to meet a wide spectrum of buyers. Units are either facing KLCC, or facing the highlands. Price is still affordable, starting at RM160psf, its commercial title of course. And leasehold.

There is another adjacent plot of land which is marked for future development. At the moment there is another surau and some sports facilities there.

Sales were overwhelming, according to this report in the Edge. Actually, there are still some choice units available at the time we viewed it. There aren’t many other condos available in this area, after all it is such matured housing area. Interesting and innovative product, worth looking at if you’re planning to stay in Pandan Indah.

UPDATE DEC ‘06: You can find recent site progress photos of both the Meritz and K Residence HERE.

If you drive along Jalan Ampang recently, you would have noticed this black, new (but not really new) shopping centre right across from Suria KLCC. It’s called Avenue K, and it’s located right above the KLCC LRT station (there is an underground walkway across the road to KLCC). The 8-storey shopping centre (including one floor of exhibition area) has been opened for a few months now, however the place is eerily empty, devoid of tenants, except the smaller basement 1 and basement 2, where the LRT station is (The shopping centre construction was stalled a few years in the late 90’s due to the Asian financial crisis).

We have no idea why the place is not attracting the tenants, since the location is good with the best amenities the city can offer. But the developers have big plans for this place, they are planning two condominiums to be built above the shopping centre. One of it is a service apartment, which they plan to launch in the near future. The other is a high-end condo launched some time back, called K Residence.

Most KLCC condos have one determining market factor – KLCC view or no KLCC view. The only condos assured of a permanent view of the twin towers are the ones developed by KLCC themselves, like the Binjai and more coming (like the Four Seasons).

The only other condo that can boast of this permanent view is K Residence, unless one fine day someone builds another condo right smack at the centre of Jalan Ampang. Nothing is impossible these days. However, as the competitor salesperson mentioned, it’s too close to the twin towers to really see anything. Its like standing 2 inches away from Da Vinci’s Last Supper but you can’t see the whole picture (ok, bad analogy…)

At 50 storeys, and 180 units available, there are many, many type of unit available for sale, with 8 basic layouts (11 if you count the minor variations).We won’t go into details here, as it would be best to see the layout for yourself to select the best one. Some are duplexes and triplexes, some are super-large penthouses, most are single floor units. The largest is about 10,000sq.ft. The smallest unit is a 2-bedroom 1,213sq.ft units that have an excellent direct view of KLCC. It’s actually quite cosy, but relatively to the other units, it looks cramped (but of course it isn’t). Because of the oval-ish shape of the building, some units are nicely shaped, others are strangely ‘L’ shaped. Bad. Bigger units have up to 5 rooms.

Another interesting feature is that there is a terrace all around the perimeter of the unit (where it’s the edge of the building) that acts as a continuous balcony. This is not reflected in the show unit, where they built the glass wall all the way to the edge. We also encountered a few other things in the show unit but not shown in the specifications, its best to check it yourself.

At the time we viewed the place, most of the units facing KLCC have been taken up. This place also boasts of being designed by the renowned Ms. Ann-Li Koh and Mr. Yasumichi Morita, although we have never heard of them. But that’s probably because we’re not Architects.

As part of the whole package of ‘KL’s largest living room’ package, they are offering personal concierge service and 24-hour valet parking, satellite TV, broadband internet access, and other full condo facilities like childcare centre gym, laundry services, swimming pool, landscaped are. Not to mention the 8-storey shopping centre. And that big one across the road. And that all-important LRT station just below. That would the most valuable one. The podium floor, which is the roof of the shopping centre, acts as the common facilities for the condo.

The price basically reflects the excellent facilities. It starts at RM750psf to RM1000psf, depending on the view.

Anyway, with a shopping centre below the K Residence, and the convenience of a LRT station, and fantastic amenities make a good argument to buy this place, above the tough competition all around this place. The Meritz is just a stone’s throw away.

We like this type of apartments to review. You want to know why? There is basically only one type of unit available (with some slight variations). Easy to write about. But you know what we’re not excited about? The location of this place. For starters, it’s near Serdang Raya and Seri Kembangan town, heartland of the KL Chinese community. We like the food there, but most people I know avoid it like the plague, for their own reasons. Furthermore, the exact site is surrounded by factory lots, and older 2-storey terrace homes.

There’s a proposed 300m link road to the Sg. Besi-Puchong expressway (near Technology Park Malaysia), but it would be awkward if this condo is completed but that short link road isn’t. Besides, if you’re going to KL, you need to go a long, long way to make a U turn on that road.

But if you’ve no problems with the area, the place is downright affordable. It’s really a bare bones place, nothing fancy to keep the cost and price down. Obviously they are targeting the young urban, mobile crowd, and maybe young families. There are 2 identical towers, circling the common facilities in the middle. The facilities are just the basics, like guarded security, swimming pool, kindergarten, and… and… ok, there’s not much else. (What were you expecting here, a 5-star water theme park? But we suppose it must be a good thing they don’t have an open air karaoke seafood place that features only Hakka songs…)

The units from 915sq.ft to 1,110sq.ft have the same layout. Sensible design, 3 bedroom, There’s a balcony, should have done without it to make living bigger. But some people like balconies, we don’t. Living and dining is quite spacious, kitchen is open to dining. That we don’t like either. Kitchen fumes will go into the living room and your furniture. Yard is adequate. If you read our earlier review for SuriaMas, it’s big enough to cater for the students/bachelors and their once a week laundry.

There is a larger 1,589sq.ft unit available that comes in 4 bedrooms. But the layout’s kinda awkward with the living in the center, and rooms on both side. But some people will fancy it, we’re pretty sure.

Developer is a new player, currently doing the Puchong Villa Mas project. They are offering reasonably-priced upgrade packages for the buyers’ convenience. More developers should do this, especially lower end projects.

Location may detract from the place, but it’s near Bukit Jalil, KL, KTM commuter LRT station, and good existing network. And Seri Kembangan has glorious Hakka food. But surrounding factory lots are quite unappealing. And Serdang / Seri Kembangan is infamous for its traffic jams. Nice surrounding mountains near Technology Park Malaysia (at least until they clear it for another condo project…)

Update : For some recent photos of the site progress, click here.

If you just move into a just-completed condominium or apartment, chances are, you would not have obtained your strata title.

What’s a strata title anyway? Its a title given to the owners of multi-storey buildings, after the developer has sub-divided the master title.

But in Malaysia, the problem is that the developer is always late in issuing these titles to all the buyers. What are the reasons?

• The master title has not been subdivided yet;
• The block title has not been issued to enable submission of applications for strata titles or floor titles;
• It cannot be done until the other phases and blocks are issued with CFs;
• The master title is encumbered;
• There are numerous caveats on the land title; and
• The building has been issued with temporary CF only.

This issue has plagued housebuyers for more than 30 years. According to a report by the New Straits Times,

In our annual tabulation of complaints received last year, involving a total of 212 housing projects and more than 37,810 purchasers, the problem of strata titles accounted for 29 per cent of the complaints, a one per cent increase from 2003.

Under Section 8 of the Strata Titles Act, developers must apply for strata titles within six months of receiving the Certificate of Fitness for Occupation (CF) or face a fine of not less than RM10,000 butt not more than RM100,000.

They are also subject to a further fine of not less than RM100 and not more than RM1,000 for each day that the offence continues to be committed.

For further info, you can check the whole article taken from the website for the Homebuyers Association.

We found this interesting post on buying insurance on your home under loan with the bank.

Banking On Houseowner’s Ignorance

Very interesting read, especially if you’re living in a condo and are being pestered to buy additional fire insurance by the building management corporation.

There is also a link to the General Insurance Association of Malaysia (PIAM)

Pusat Bandar Putra Permai is the latest parcel of land in the Puchong – Seri Kembangan area to be developed by the Equine Group. The first development for them in this area was their flagship Equine Park, with their beautifully architectured, public amenities and Alice Smith International School. Equine Park now is fully developed, with the exception of some bungalow and semi-D lots at one end. Then came Putra Permai, with their more affordable homes. This has a reasonably vibrant commercial area (with a drive-in McDonalds) and the Equine Home Gallery.

And then we have Permai Park, which is actually divided into two distinct portions by the Puchong-Seri Kembangan road. This road has, in recent years become an important artery of transport, spurred on by numerous development along this road, like the aforementioned three projects by the Equine Group, the more affordable Lestari Puchong (by Talam), Kota Perdana, Pinggiran Putra, and Taman Universiti Indah, to name a few. Further in there’s the almost completed Desaminium Park (read our review here).

On the southern side of the main road, there’s a larger commercial area, and the massive Bazaar Rakyat and the commercial centre Permai Square, not to mention the Pusat Borong Selangor (Selangor Wholesale Market). The residential area is almost fully developed, save for some bungalow units. On the northern divide bordering Puchong, there is a smaller commercial area, and more houses.

It is here they have launched Sovereign(and the connection would be…?), a phase of Semi-D units. In the mess of competing developers in this area, the Equine Group has risen above its competitors as the best developer in the whole area near the landmark Pasar Borong Selangor, although when compared to the likes of Talam’s Lestari Puchong, it doesn’t take much to do better.

Accessibility is a minor issue here. It is near Puchong town center and the southern landmarks like Putrajaya, Cyberjaya and Kajang, but going to KL might be a problem. You can either go to the congested Seri Kembangan old town or use the Besraya near UPM. But to overcome this, the developer is building a bus depot / transportation centre, however you need to go a distance to make a ‘U’ turn just to cross the main road.

For this double-storey phase, the developer is provided gated and guarded features, perimeter fencing with 24-hour close circuit surveillance system via Internet. The quality of the finishing is also upmarket, with clay bricks (sad how this basic building material has become a ‘luxury’. For more info, read our write-up here).

The semi-D unit is set on a 40’ x 80’ lot, and the built-up is 3034sq.ft, with 4+1 rooms. There not much to complain about the internal layout here. The added feature is a courtyard in the entrance foyer (outside the house) and can be seen through a glass window from the living and the master bedroom above. Nice touch. The dry kitchen is quite narrow (or should we say, oddly shaped), and the wet kitchen is small.

Upstairs, there a large family room. Bedroom 2 & 3 share a bath, and bedroom three is a bit unconventional in shape (read ‘odd’) with some wasted space. The master bedroom has a large balcony which they call a ‘deck’, with a planter box. This should appeal to those who love to sit there in the evening watching sunsets. The attached bath for the master is quite small.

A little bit about the pricing. We feel that starting at RM488k, its rather reasonable considering that Permai Park, Equine Park and Putra Permai are almost fully developed with some good facilities and amenities. However, the whole area’s image isn’t exactly fantastic especially in the perception of investors, probably because of some nearby projects with less than stellar finish quality, and the proximity to Serdang and Seri Kembangan new village. Many people we know try to avoid that area due to numerous reasons.

Across all of Equine’s projects here, the quality is slightly chequered, but we feel Sovereign, being a slightly upmarket gated and guarded phase would have an above average quality of finish.

But as a whole, we kind of like the design and pricing, not too excited about the location and price appreciation.

Some of you may be wondering when is Property Malaysia going to venture beyond the Klang Valley. Well, wonder no more. We’re reviewing our first property outside the city and suburbs, and it’s a real different one.

We’re going back to jungle living, in the NusaDusun Orchard Resort, in Kuala Linggi in Melaka. For the benefit of non-Malaysians, Melaka is a state about 90-minute drive south of KL. This site is nearer north, and still quite a distance from the historical city of Melaka (Malacca).

The project is part of the 1445-acre Natural Heritage Orchard & Country Resort, and is just right next to the Melaka State Tourism Belt.

The developers are maintaining the whole ‘back to nature’ and rural living concept, and basically they are selling it as a neat resort package, much akin to buying bungalow lots in a country club. Here the price of land starts at RM2.90, and plots vary in size, averaging at about 1.5acres each.

What are going to do with the land? Why, build your own rustic bungalow, of course! If you don’t want the hassle, you can even choose from 10 pre-set village bungalow designs by the developer and comes with their own contractor. Of course, to preserve the rural look and feel, there are building setbacks and requirements for you to comply with.

And guess what? They’re giving you 42 fruit trees to be planted on your lot! This is, after all, an orchard. Besides that, you can enjoy free 36 months maintenance fee (worth RM200 per month) and use of club, hotel & chalets and resort facilities, managed by the Summit Hotel Group. There is even a horse ranch at the club for the benefit of the lot owners.

So if you’re one of those longing for a place of your own in the forest, where you can enjoy the quietness and tranquility, be one with nature, live among the creatures of the wild, bathe in the river, just like the olden days of yore (somebody stop us…!). Some companies will probably make it their company retreat bungalow or just a weekend house for the family. And it’s really quite affordable, at the price of a link house in the KL suburbs.

Subang Jaya and Bandar Sunway are seeing a few new condos being launched and built in these few months. This huge suburb has always been a good hunting ground for apartments, as seen by the older developments all across this huge satellite township. Demand in the rental market gets stronger every year, judging from the institutes of higher learning that are ever expanding in the area, like Monash, Inti College, Metropolitan College, Sunway College, and dozens of other smaller ones.

Colleges mean students looking for cheap rooms near their classes. It also means they are more likely to stay on in the area to work after graduation. In spite of the fact that the traffic congestion problems of Subang Jaya are well-known and ever increasing, even with the completion of the New Pantai Expressway.

Like we said, in recent months we’ve seen the launch of USJ 1 Avenue, Tiaraville, Jana Towers, One Subang and now there’s Suriamas. Its located right beside the Federal Highway, but access is from within Bandar Sunway. The exit is only through NPE near the Sunway Lagoon. Traffic here is jam-packed in the mornings. Unless you ride a bike.

There are 3 block overlooking the common facilities, each block is 16-storey high. No penthouses. Two free carparks are given, subject to some conditions, so it’s best to check with the developer. As you would expect from an apartment targeted at the younger crowd, there is a swimming pool, gym facilities, indoor tennis court and sauna and other condo facilities (again, check with them for the latest info).

The going price starts at RM186k, which works out to be about RM160psf. Maintenance fee is 15sen psf. This is quite competitively priced for this neighbourhood, which is in line with their whole concept of college students and perhaps young families.

There are only 3 types of units available. Type A is 1,245sq.ft. and comes with 4 bedrooms. The master bedroom has an attached bath, while the other 3 rooms share a detached bath. The third room is quite small, but the 4th is rather miniscule. We would say it’s more of a study/store, but we’re sure some bohemian college student is more than willing to rent that room. Kitchen and yard is quite big to cater for students and their once-a-week laundry, but the kitchen is open to the living/dining, but these people seldom cook so its really a big issue. There is a balcony, but you can’t go out onto it. Strange. We hope we’re not paying for that space.

Type B is exactly the same as the Type A, except the unit is 500mm wider, making it 1,300sq.ft.

Type B1 is a slight variation of B, except that instead of the balcony, there is a large accessible 267-364sq.ft terrace. Cue Saturday barbeque parties / steamboat get-togethers college students are so fond of. Even if the management disallows cooking on the terrace (we don’t know, we have to ask them).

The quality of the finishes is just average, you can’t really expect KLCC condo standard at these prices.

The developer is mainly involved in construction and manufacturing, and has some property development in the outskirts of the city.

In all, we think it’s cheap, but getting in and out of this place may be slightly inconvenient due to the traffic. But we suppose Subang Jaya folks are pretty much used to it. Amenities are aplenty, schools, shops, shopping centre, medical centres. Good place for investors to rent out, we’re not sure many established families are keen to move in here.

We were coming out of Desa ParkCity (after viewing the LeVenue II, review coming shortly) when naturally, we just HAD to turn into this neighbouring project.

Well, the story is like this. Perdana ParkCity owns the whole Desa ParkCity development, but 2 parcels of land were sold to Sunway, thus we have Sunway SPK Damansara. As it is, Sunway (actually it’s their subsidiary SunCity) got the two best plots of land in the site, nearest to the LDP and on a relatively flat piece of land.

This area of Damansara, which is flanked by Sri Damansara on one side, and Bandar Manjalara on the other, is quite good as it gets in terms of location. Firstly, it’s just off the LDP, albeit you need to pay toll to go to Bandar Utama, PJ and Kota Damansara. But just beyond the toll, you have access to the Sprint Highway and the Penchala Link.

Over this end, there’s the NKVE via Sg. Buloh, (OK, admittedly, the road leading there could be quite congested) and KL via Kepong. Then there’s the township of Sri Damansara and Bandar Manjalara with their established commercial areas and amenities like schools. Bandar Manjalara and Kepong may seem a bit haphazard and Chinatown-ish to some affluent homebuyers, but judging the quicksilver sales from this two new projects, that does not seem to be an issue.

The site is a rectangular shape with one access, there’s a gated and guarded concept. However, there is also supposedly to be another access to the neighbouring Desa ParkCity, but that isn’t shown in the layout plan in the brochure. It would work more for this development’s benefit, there is nothing but houses here. Just rows and rows of almost similar houses. But there are generous doses of playgrounds and parks. Every row of house has one, actually. For the record, there are 16 rows of houses, split in two phases. The last two rows are going to be launched this weekend, plus a handful remaining from the earlier launches.

At the moment, there is one type of unit design available for sale, and it comes in two different façades. The corner units are also same in internal layout except with a different roof design. 2-storey units for bumiputera buyers (from the previous phase) are also available.

The typical unit is quite likeably designed, with the extra half floor giving it more build-up and an added dimension. The porch is naturally large, easily can park 2 large cars. However, there is only a miniscule lawn, kind of leading folks to just tile it up for a little bit more parking space.

In all there are 5+1 rooms, bedroom 3 & 4 share a bath. The guest room downstairs (bedroom 5) is quite small, only a tad larger than the maid’s room. The dry and wet kitchens are clearly separated, but a little small in comparison to the whole house. The selling point of this phase is the 2 master bedrooms. The main master bedroom is on the top (third) floor, taking up the entire floor, save the attached bath and walk-in wardrobe. The smaller master bedroom is on the second floor, which is really a regular sized master.

One feature of this unit is that both master bedrooms have minimal windows, and there aren’t windows at the façade side of the house. First time we’ve seen this. But really, with so much space, you won’t really notice these small things.

The developer is packaging a lot of freebies to spruce up the deal, like Solar hot water panel, auto gate, motion detector light, 6 air-con units, etc.

The pricing is a little stiff, but like we said, location may justify the developer’s rationale. But one other thing, though. The developer is touting the ‘KL address’ of this place. Why, you ask? Of course, we asked the same thing. Apparently it’s more prestigious, but fetches a better re-sale price, since they follow the logic that KL land is scarce. Maybe that’s true, we can’t be sure, but it’s really just across the road from PJ (read: Selangor). Oh, well, anything to justify a higher premium on the price…