Property Malaysia

While Kinrara in the old area of Jalan Puchong (en route to Old Klang Road) is more well known for Sunway Kinrara and I&P’s Bandar Kinrara, there are a few smaller developments in the vicinity. One of them is Seksyen II, Taman Kinrara, two small phases of new homes in the established Taman Kinrara township.

There are about 70 new linkhomes being built by Binastra, who is known in the market as a mid-sized building contractor. To get to the site, head towards Old Klang Road from Bandar Puchong Jaya, then turn the first left after the Sunway Kinrara turning towards the Kesas highway. The landmark here is the old Bintang Supermarket and the large, older development areas of Taman Kinrara.

Binastra are building 69 units of homes here, in different plot sizes: 18’ x 55’ (16 units), 20’ x 70’ (140 units), 20’ x 80’ (12 units) and 22’ x 80’ (1 unit). Of the 4 types, only the 20’ x 70’ and the 20’ x 80’ types are still available, furthermore the latter has limited units left.

Since the available ones left are the 20’ x 70’ and the 20’ x 80’, we will look at these units.

The 20’ x70’ is a 2-storey terrace home, with a buildup of around 1,500sq.ft. The internal layout consists of 4 bedrooms and 3 baths, no frills attached. It set on a rectangular footprint, kitchen is quite small. But the car porch can easily accommodate 2 cars without much problems.

The 20’ x 80’ variety is actually a 2 ½ storey terrace home. There aren’t any surprises here either, there are 5 bedrooms and 4 baths, in about 2,500sq.ft. The topmost floor has a lounge / family room and a second master bedroom at the back of the house. The ground and first floor almost matches the earlier 20’ x 70’ unit, but with an addition of an entrance foyer.

The specifications are pretty threadbare, with mostly ceramic tiles in most areas. Prices start at RM278k for the 20’ x 70’ and RM385k for the 20’ x 80’ type. We think the price is a little on the high side, considering the location, the quality of the specs and the land being leasehold. But for residents in the area who wish to upgrade nearby, this may seem a viable investment.

The developer is throwing in free S&P agreement fees, auto gate, alarm system and loan documentation. They are also offering progressive interest up to RM3,000 for certain units only.

In terms of connectivity, this location is quite good, there’s the Kesas, LDP, NPE and Sg. Besi bypass all nearby. However this stretch of Jalan Puchong is also notorious for its heavy traffic. The surrounding area is very matured, potential buyers are encouraged to look at the vicinity to have a better understanding.

The big news in the papers yesterday was the complaint of the frequent landslides and mudslides in Ketumbar Heights, Taman Cheras Utama, Kuala Lumpur. There are 800 homes in this development, and according to them, the overflow of muddy water from Bukit Sungai Putih (which incidentally, is in Selangor). From the photos shown in the press, there are signs of erosion from the hill slopes.

There was a site visit and press conference held Datuk Ong Tee Keat, Member of Parliament for the Pandan constituency, and officials from Majlis Perbandaran Ampang Jaya (MPAJ), the local municipal council.

According to the papers, the residents said that the landslides have been occurring for 3 years now, and is affecting the foundation of the condominium. Datuk Ong said that City Hall (DBKL) will help in cleaning up the condo compound, including the 0.2m high mud stains.

The issue received front page treatment in the regional pullout of a few dailies.

On another note, the residents are also opposing a proposed development on hill. The forest reserve have been maintained for the last 10 years but has been sold to a developer.

You can read the full story here.

This is a continuation of the 3-part series of the latest home loan packages and interest rates offered by banks in Malaysia. The first two parts on this series can be found here:

Home Loans by Malaysian and Foreign Banks Part 1 : Local Banks
Home Loans by Malaysian and Foreign Banks Part 2 : Best selling Islamic Banks Loans

For a complete listing of banks and their info, check this page.

List of Malaysian Banks

This first part to this series focused on the packages offered by the 10 local anchor banks, the second concentrated on the 6 best-selling Islamic banking home loans. In this third and final part coming soon will be on some of the packages offered by foreign banks in Malaysia, which includes conventional home loans and Islamic loans.

This info was also highlighted in Monday’s Star Business section (27 March 2006). For a full listing of all banks (local and foreign) including info like their contact numbers and addresses, you can check out this page.

For more info and further explanation on these home loan packages and prevailing rates, you are advised to check with the individual banks.

In the following tables, ‘C’ denotes Completed properties while ‘U/C’ stands for properties under construction. BLR stands for ‘Base Lending Rate’ while Y1 is for Year 1 and so on. IFR stands for ‘Islamic Financial Rate’. Check with relevant bank for prevailing rates.

This is hot off the presses, the official launch was just last weekend (22nd and 23rd April), and if you’re one of the registrants with the developer, you would have gotten an invitation to view this terrace home with an option to purchase it at a great discount.

This phase of the huge Bandar Bukit Puchong 2 is located just next to the earlier launched Nilam Puri apartments, which has a pretty good take-up rate for the first launch. You can read our review here:

Nilam Puri Apartments, Bandar Bukit Puchong 2

In the abovementioned article, you can read our views and comments on the location, quality, accessibility and overall take on the relatively new Bandar Bukit Puchong 2 development.

In a nutshell, Bandar Bukit Puchong 2 (BBP2) is located next to the older BBP which is located in the Puchong district, and therefore under the jurisdiction of MPSJ. BBP2 is sited in Sepang, and therefore falls under the purview of Majlis Perbandaran Sepang. Aside from that, there isn’t much to separate the two adjoining phases, as they share the same accesses from LDP, the same facilities, and in some cases the same look and feel of the linkhomes.

Nilam Terraces is a 20’ x 65’ – 87’ two and a half storey linkhouse with a build-up of 2,266sq.ft. There are only 105 units available, all laid out in 4 rows of units, with its own landscaped park. To get there, just go to the very southern end of the LDP, there’s a dedicated interchange right before (about 500m away) the last toll gate going towards Putrajaya / Cyberjaya. Turn right on the interchange and you see the archway entering BBP2. Nilam Terraces is on the right just after the archway.

With this phase, the developers have opted to provide a small plot and building footprint, and an additional half floor (thereby getting two and a half storeys) to boost up the sellable space. With the high cost of land and similarly rising price of saleable space per square foot, most developers are treading this path, like the recent launches in Sering Ukay, Bukit Mewah and Kensington Park. With such ample space, we have 2 master suites, 3 other bedrooms and 4 baths. Some of the features we like – space for 2 cars to parallel park in the porch, full height tiling for toilets, quality timber strips for the upper floors. Beats parquet and homogeneous tiles any day. They actually give a choice of either timber strips or ceramic tiles.

Now for the stuff we didn’t fancy. There is a slight drop between the wet and dry kitchen, about less than an inch. Not high enough to be seen, but high enough to trip you when you walk across. Apparently, this problem featured in the earliest phases, but they still persisted with it. Anyway, due to the short lot of 65’, the kitchen is uncharacteristically small, thereby ‘forcing’ most buyers to immediately renovate the yard and kitchen right up to the lot boundary (trust us, it WILL happen). Another small thing, the topmost floor, which is just one single master bedroom, has this L-shaped area, which they have earmarked as ‘study’, but we didn’t like the idea of it. It’s that way mainly because of the way the staircase is laid out, we can think of a few better ways to do it.

Other than that, there isn’t much to fault about the internal layout. There is also a small garden, which we’re thinking most people will just cement it off to make more parking space.

Prices start at RM348k onwards, which is higher than some of the earlier phases. But as some of our friends say, its freehold. But on the other hand, it’s still quite far… (well, not as far as those developments near Equine Park, but…)

Other related postings on Property Malaysia:

Home Ownership Bazaar By Bandar Bukit Puchong 2

This was one of the earliest phases in Bandar Nusaputra launched more than a year ago, together with Bali (Phase 1) and Rhu (Phase 2). The later phases are Kayangan (Phase 4) and Teratai (Phase 5). The review of the latter two phases which at the moment are still available can be found here:

Bandar Nusaputra 4: Kayangan
Bandar Nusaputra 5: Teratai

For a satellite image of the area, check out our post here:
Google Earth on Malaysia Property

The reason why we’re reviewing phase 3 after so long is because recently there has some interest generated in Bandar Nusaputra, and coincidentally, they will be releasing the last rows of the Begawan linkhouses.

For our comments and views on the overall aspects of the Bandar Nusaputra development, the quality of the works, design concept, accessibility, you are advised to read the above few review postings first for a better understanding of this massive project.

In a nutshell, Bandar Nusaputra is a sprawling 833-acre mixed development situated in Sepang between the existing Amanputra and Putra Perdana developments. The current main access is from Puchong Utama via the LDP. The main draw of Bandar Nusaputra is the landscaped parks and lakes littered throughout the entire development, plus it has plans to build a comprehensive set of amenities like apartments, colleges and business centres to complement the existing homes.

Begawan, being one of the earlier phases, tends to stick to conventional design and layout. It is a 20’ x 70’ linkhouse with a little more than 2,000sq.ft in build-up.

From the front: there is a short driveway, where you can fit only one car. Internally, the layout is somewhat similar to the later Kayangan (Phase 5). The living and dining is combined in a long, narrow (not to mention rectagularish) space. Kitchen, utility and toilet is extended right to end, with zero setback with the backlane in the rear. Hmmm. This would not be possible with MPSJ or MPPJ.

All in all there are 3+1 bedrooms, upstairs there is a master (with attached toilet) and two other back rooms. These two rooms share an unattached toilet just outside their room doors. The upper floor has a high ceiling, and this looks pretty awkward in the toilets.

In terms of finishing, the specs are little low in some areas, like the homogeneous tiles and staircase, and the adjustable louver windows for the rooms (I thought developers stopped using these for this type of homes already).

Prices start at RM259k onwards, available units now should cost more. For this price, we think it’s a little steep, considering its leasehold, the location, and quality of finishing we’re getting. The developer is continually promoting the remainder units for all the existing phases, with frequent publicity events.

Here’s some news that Talam housebuyers may find intriguing. On April 21, chairman Tan Sri Chan Ah Chye announced that the company will cease to be a high-volume housing developer due to oversupply and rather concentrate on fewer but quality homes. This was revealed as part of Talam’s plans to reduce the massive RM1.2billion debts accumulated in the past few years since running into financial difficulties.

Talam recently signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with an unnamed financer (which is one of the company’s major lender) to enable them to complete its existing houding projects in Klang Valley, involving as many as 12,00 units. Most of these units are said to be half-completed and are planned to be copleted by this year end.

In a report in the Edge, the following were also announced:

• With the backing of the financier, Talam plans to reduce their debts of RM1.2 billion by about 70%. 70% of that sum comes to about RM840million.

• Chan said construction costs of the units in the Klang Valley were estimated at RM700 million to RM800 million. Among the locations of the projects were Puchong, Kinrara, Bukit Jalil and Ulu Kelang.

• He added the units were “billable at RM1 billion”. The RM200 million to RM300 million in “surplus” from the sale would be used to partly settle its borrowings. However, whether the massive LAD hit on these projects were taken into account for these figures remain unclear.

• Under the corporate financial restructuring proposal, Talam would appoint a reputable principal contractor, IJM Corporation Bhd, to provide a guarantee to complete the projects according to schedule and of high quality.

• principal contractor would be covered from the progress building and money from the escrow account with the balance to be utilised to redeem the commitments to the financier. Any shortfall would be covered by Talam under the terms that are palatable and acceptable to all parties.

• Chan also explained that Talam and its subsidiaries, which were in the past were volume players in the property sector, building an average 10,000 units of affordable home annually from 1999 to 2003. Since its inception in 1986, it had completed more than 100,000 units in the Klang Valley.

• He also noted that during the heydays, the Talam group generated about RM20 million to RM25 million of billings every week with 60% of the collection allocation for construction costs, 30% to settle bank loans and 10% operation overheads and dividend payment.

Property Malaysia says: Well, we supposed that this would do for some good news, as opposed to years of silence from the much maligned Talam and its corporate leader. For some of the feedback from the buyers, you can check out this posting and the comments.

Other postings you may want to read:
Talam: Tan Sri Chan Ah Chye
Bright Future for IJM Properties
Talam’s Many Problems

Some of you may remember SuriaMas condominium in Bandar Sunway reviewed here in Property Malaysia some months back.

Now the developer, Skill Holdings Sdn Bhd has launched the third and final block in the project, called the Sun Villa 3. This tower has 180 units of four-room apartments measuring between 1,245 and 1,300 sq ft and priced from RM211,700.

According developers, the design is of the six units of garden terrace with an extra 364-sq-ft of garden area like in the previous Sun Villa 1 and 2 blocks, are very popular with a long waiting list of buyers.

The Edge reported recently:

Each of the three blocks overlooks a 1.8-acre garden park which has amenities like a multi-purpose hall, gymnasium, swimming pool, tennis court and badminton court.
Skillcet executive director Jason Ong said the Sun Villa 3 had a view of the Holiday Villa and the Sheraton Subang Hotel as well as the Subang Jaya recreational park.
‘’It’s so beautiful that one can relax by just looking at the view. As for shoppers, this project is just down the road to the Sunway Pyramid shopping centre and Sunway Lagoon Resort.

You can read the full report a href=”http://star-space.com/stories/story.asp?artfolder=news&file=archives/news/2006/04/17/sl170406″>here. I you want to check out our review of the first phase, you can check it out here.

A buyer of Villa Pavilion (reviewed here) is keen to share her photos of the site, taken recently.

This particular buyer (not me!) is keen to contact other buyers of Villa Pavilion to form a network, so if you’re interested, leave a comment here with your e-mail address (it won’t be published and can only be seen by the administrator).

Also, if you want to share any photos of a particular project, whether of the show unit or actual site progress, you can mail them to me here.

This is a continuation of the 3-part series of the latest home loan packages and interest rates offered by banks in Malaysia. This first part to this series (you can read it here) focused on the packages offered by the 10 local anchor banks, this part will focus on 6 types of Islamic housing loans available from these local banks. The third and final part coming soon will be on some of the packages offered by foreign banks in Malaysia.

The complete series:
Home Loans by Malaysian and Foreign Banks Part 1 : Local Banks
Home Loans by Malaysian and Foreign Banks Part 2 : Best selling Islamic Banks Loans
Home Loans by Malaysian and Foreign Banks Part 3

This info was also highlighted in Monday’s Star Business section (27 March 2006). For a full listing of all banks (local and foreign) including info like their contact numbers and addresses, you can check out this page.

For more info and further explanation on these home loan packages and prevailing rates, you are advised to check with the individual banks.

In the following tables, ‘C’ denotes Completed properties while ‘U/C’ stands for properties under construction. BLR stands for ‘Base Lending Rate’ while Y1 is for Year 1 and so on. IFR stands for ‘Islamic Financial Rate’. Check with relevant bank for prevailing rates.

More from Property Malaysia:
Part 1 : Home Loans by Malaysian and Foreign Banks
List of Malaysian Banks

I was mildly surprised to read this article in today’s Star Metro (17 April 2006, page M2) entitled ‘Stalled apartment project gets new lease of life’. The article was focusing on abandoned project Rhythm Avenue apartment project in USJ19. Residents who frequently pass the main road leading to Shah Alam and Putra Heights would know this project, as with those who have heard stories of this place.

I used to follow the proceedings of this project keenly via this local community forum, unfortunately the archives for that website was wiped out due to some problems. Anyway, the project has been a massive heartache for the 1000 or so buyers, who have invested in the 277 retail and 1,039 apartment units. Over 100 meetings have been held over the past 6 years, involving assemblymen, bankers, project receivers, lawyers, local council officers, etc.

The latest news is that the project will be revived by Ambank, who have appointed Mahasalam Group of Companies as the turnkey contractor for the project. According to the article, desperate housebuyers have even lodged police reports, wrote to the then Prime Minister Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad for help as well as complain to Bank Negara, Board of Architects (PAM) and the Bar Council for ‘suspected foul play over architectural, engineering and construction approvals granted to the project. They even considered suing the original developer for a refund of the money invested.’

This is a rare success story among many other abandoned projects, at least the families who have invested money in this project and have paying the bank all these years can look forward to the revival of the project. Maybe one day, the same can happen to these cases…

Further reading:
RM100 million (95% progress payment) collected, but project stops…
Hwa Beng’s moves now being watched
Attempts fail to disrupt buyers’ meeting
From the website of CASSA (Consumer Association of Subang and Shah Alam)
Rhythm Avenue buyer threatened with bankruptcy suit
Collection of articles from assemblyman’s website (Plenty of archived documents, in chronological order)