A lot of people have been buzzing about this development, amidst the widespread coverage in the media by their A&P (including a few eye-rolling advertising on the radio recently). While hype and word of mouth is usually good for a development, most people are talking because of the interesting investment vehicle this place offers, a little similar to what this other project in Seri Kembangan is doing (the name escapes us momentarily) in association with LUCT.
The lowdown on Cova Villa is this – you buy the apartment, and rent it out back to the developer who will find you students from the nearby SEGi College, which is also owned by the same group of people, the tenure of the leaseback is 3 years, with the option to renew it for an additional 3 years. The developers are promoting the Guaranteed Return Rate (GRR)of 8% for your investment, plus lots of freebies like furnishing thrown.
We won’t go into the full details of this deal, it’s best for you to speak to the salespeople directly to get the correct info. It won’t hurt to read some of the comments in our previous post here (and some of the property related forums out there) on the general public perception on this project. For us, it’s very simple. Read the fine print, every word of it, like when the GRR commences (4th month) and are you actually getting 8% (it works out to be less, actually) and if you are satisfied, and are interested, then go for it.
There are are some shoplots to be launched soon between the main road and the apartments, called Cova Square. They will probably serve the nearby housing projects, beside the primary market of the students from the Cova development. The will be another block of apartments almost similar to Cova Villa going to be launched soon, called Cova Suites. This will be a more conventional apartment for families to buy and stay, as opposed to an investment purchase.
The rest of the 11 acres of the development (salesperson said it cost the developer RM20million) is made up of a man-made lake with some recreational facilities. On one side of the project is the Seri Selangor Golf & Country Resort, the other side would be the Damansara Indah homes. Opposite the main road are the aforementioned SEGI college, Tropicana Medical Centre (under construction) and Sri KDU School (traffic and indiscriminate parking during school drop-off and pick-up times are horrendous). The lake gives a good view to the apartment, and should guarantee that there will be no further development in the vicinity for some time. But then again there are no guarantees in property development.
There are 3 blocks to Cova Villa, 17 to 21 floors, 8 units per floor, about 108 units per block. There are 4 units types available, from 1,059 to 1,236sq.ft. They are all 3-roomers, and since they are all tailor-made for the student renter clientele, don’t expect great shakes in the design. The MC plans to fit 6 students into a unit. Duplex units re also available, but very few per block.
The facilities in this place are pretty threadbare, partly due to the clientele of student renters. Another reason is that the developers reckon with the Cova Square commercial lots, they don’t have to expend too much floor space for commercial use. Plus, cost of maintenance of facilities used heavily by students is usually far higher for a condominium, so it’s probably a good idea for the management corporation for them to keep it simple and down to a minimum.
As we said earlier, this place is an investment vehicle for those who see foresee good returns for their money. For others, they would probably be better off looking somewhere else. But in addition to that, we have a few comments on Cova Villa. They only provide 1 parking space per unit. They allow you to buy additional bays subject to availability, at a premium. But they only have enough to give one extra parking space for every apartment. So after you pay through your nose for the extra parking space (which most investors won’t be doing), you only get 2 parking bays per unit. And they are getting 6 students per unit, 300 over units. So you do the math. College kids nowadays drive their own cars, even if the college is across the road. So where is everyone going to park their cars? See the roadside outside there? Can you say ‘double parking’?
Another thing, after three years, the place be offered for you stay or to extend the lease. Long time ago, an experience investor once said that he’d rather not rent out to students. Your house will be worse for wear after you get it back. Same goes for this place, especially when ALL the units are rented by 6 red-blooded students WITHOUT landlords to watch over them. The developers will make good the defects to the unit (and furniture, I think) before handing back to you, but we have our reservations. Developers have enough problems rectifying the defects during DLP, what’s to say they’ll do better with a 3-year old building? Besides, not many families we know would be comfortable to moving into (and sharing facilities with) a condo where your neighbours are predominantly college students.
Another grouse. The show unit doesn’t reflect what you’re getting. Not even close. Ask the salespeople the important questions.
This is the developer’s second project after 1 Subang, which incidentally also offers a form of GRR to buyers. The company is also owned by the same people behind Meda Group, developers of such projects like Semantan Avenue.
Bottomline - read the fine print, if it’s to your liking, then by all means go ahead.
| Project Name |
Cova Villa |
| Location |
Kota Damansara, Petaling Jaya |
| Description |
Investment condominium development |
| Land type |
Leasehold |
| Land Encumbrances |
Nil |
| Price |
RM281,800 to RM704,800 |
| Unit size |
1,059 to 1,236sq.ft
(duplex units also available) |
| No of units |
346 (for this phase) |
| Launch Date |
now available |
| Expected Completion |
June 2009 |
| Developer |
Pharma Exel Sdn. Bhd.
(subsidiary of Andaman Group) |
| Contact |
03 – 6157 3366 |
| Website |
cova.com.my |
