Property Malaysia

We were told it was going to be the tallest condominium in Puchong. Not much competition for that award in Puchong really, there’s no particular shortage of developable land here. But Zen Residence, launched recently, is a pretty ambitious but competitively priced entry into the condo market.

Where in Puchong? Puchong is really large, and when you mention it to someone not staying here, they’ll most probably think of IOI’s Bandar Puteri or SP Setia’s Setia Walk project, or some recognizable landmark like IOI Mall or Tesco. Well, Zen Residence is located next to Puchong Hartamas, which is located somewhere behind the aforemention Bandar Puteri, on the old Batu 14 road (which has now been upgraded) serving as a shortcut to Puchong Utama / Bandar Bukit Puchong. There aren’t any other condo projects here at the moment, except for the completed Koi Tropika. Most of the surrounding areas are existing village. If you have problems locating the site, just look for the three prominent factories in this area - Pelikan, Tractors Malaysia and DHL and you see it on the opposite side of the road.

But for those who know this area, you’ll also probably associate it with another important aspect - the upgraded dual carriageway that will serve as Zen Residence’s main access road. The road curves dangerously from the LDP, and is notoriously for being an accident stretch. And during peak hours, the traffic is pretty nasty here, not helped by the many closely spaced traffic lights and the many people trying to get out onto the LDP.

But anyway, back to Zen Residence. First off we’d like to say we’re pretty impressed by the marketing done by these folks - pretty classy and appealing to the modern buyer, when they can easily have gone the opposite direction used by most other development within this price range. There are two towers that are almost symmetrical, separated by garden space and a ‘floating’ 2-storey clubhouse. It doesn’t defy gravity, its just that its on an elevated floor. Much of the space available is used for landscaped gardens and facilities, partly due to the fact that the odd shape of the land doesn’t permit for more space for tower blocks. They’re marketing this condo as one that has a lot of facilities, with highlights such as a Zen-inspired pool, squash courst, glass gymnasium, and lower wading pool, etc. As they’ve chosen this Zen theme, some of the facilities have a Japanese inspired elements, which is well implemented for a small development like this one.

The first tower, Tower A, is now open for sale. There are only 8 units per floor, and they’ve touted it as every unit being a corner unit, meaning that each unit shares a common wall with only one other unit. While the unit types start from Type A all the way down to Type G, there are basically two layouts to choose from, the difference between the unit types is mainly the orientation and the slight variance on the size. The size range is from 1,178sq.ft. up to the largest of 1,493sq.ft. and the units have 3 or 3+1 rooms. All units come with a lanai, a concept which we prefer over the more common balcony. Well, if you have the space, might as well make it into a lanai which forms an extension of your living room rather than a balcony which would not be used as much.

The range of size start quite large, meaning they are targeting more to families and young couples, not so much emphasizing on the bachelor pad niche. This also show in that they’ve provided a walk-in closet for the masterbedroom, and a large bath too. Other than the standard packaged stuff like security and discounts, they are offering 2 parking bays per unit and first year free service and maintenance charge. They are also offering an upgrade package that is quite attractive, all to entice families and investors to put their investments here. Some of the parking bays are located on ground level, but most of it is in a multi-storey parking structure that is connected to each of the tower.

So which units are the desirable ones? Frankly, there isn’t much to see surrounding this place, so the best bet are the ones looking down onto the pool.

Price wise, although the brochure notes that the cheapest price is RM100k, we are told that the lowest priced unit actually starts from RM280k onwards. This is about RM235psf onwards. Some purchasers may have qualms above this pricing for an area that is quite away from any main commercial area (the nearest would probably be Bandar Puteri 5) and less developed area, but the developed is selling the concept of a slightly higher market condo. Do we like it? Yeah, as we said, it looked impressive, but the pricing may inhibit some quarters who are looking for their first home.

The developer is serious about selling their product - they’ve hired a marketing consultant. Their website does not mention any previous projects.

The National House Buyers Association is organising a Conference on House Buyers Rights when purchasing new property from Developers and what can be done to protect the rights of house buyers.

As you know, there are still many bad developers out there, from Abandoned Projects, Late Delivery, shoddy workmanship, etc, the list goes on. This conference is not about developer bashing, but to create awarness on the rights of new House Buyers.

Protection Not Guaranteed

The National House Buyers Association (HBA), an apolitical, housebuyers protection organisation is organizing a House Buyers Conference with the theme “Protection Not Guaranteed” for house buyers to confer and share their home acquiring experience.

The conference is organized by the National House Buyers Association and will be held at Putra World Trade Center (PWTC), Kuala Lumpur on Saturday, 6th December, 2008 at 2.30pm. Participation fee is only RM15 per person. For more information, please call 012 3345676 or 012-2524287 or check out the HBA website at www.hba.org.my

Or if you want us to mail you the form, leave a comment here and we’ll get it to you pronto.

(hat tip to preacher for the heads up)

Reader Aaron has sent in a large set of photos of site progress for Sutera Damansara, including some pics of the show unit. You can read the original review of the Sutera Damansara Phase 1 here.

Hi guys, its poll time, and we’re trying out another poll system, since the last one went totally kaput on us…

Anyway, we basically need to know something about the demographics of our readers, it’ll help us a lot in deciding on the direction of this blog in the coming months. Please vote once, and tell all your friends about it! All you have to do is vote in the box below.

Thanks in advance to everyone

(poll has closed, thanks for your participation!)

Its a slow month here at Property Malaysia, so lets revisit something from a few months ago. The Edge Malaysia Top Property Developers Awards 2008 was announced in the Sept 1 issue, and they also listed the top 30 in the country.

Top ten, well, not much surprise there. But overall in the top 30, there were one or two newcomers, but small time developers have a long, long way to go if they want to stand a chance to break into the list.

1. SP Setia Bhd
2. IGB Corp Bhd
3. Sunway City Bhd
4. Island & Peninsular Sdn Bhd
5. IOI Properties Bhd
6. Bandar Raya Devt Bhd
7. Bandar Utama City Corp Sdn Bhd
8. Sunrise Bhd
9. E&O Property Devt Bhd
10. Boustead Properties Bhd
11. Mah Sing Group Bhd
12. YTL Land & Devt Bhd
13. Eastern & Oriental Bhd
14. Dijaya Corporation Bhd
15. Paramount Corp Bhd
16. Glomac Bhd
17. Malton Bhd
18. Selangor Properties Bhd
19. YNH Properties Bhd
20. Plenitude Bhd
21. Naza TTDI Sdn Bhd
22. PJ Development Holdings Bhd
23. Naim Cendera Holdings Bhd
24. United Malayan Land Bhd
25. Selangor Dredging Bhd
26. WCT Land Sdn Bhd
27. Bolton Bhd
28. Metro Kajang Holdings Bhd
29. GuocoLand (M) Bhd
30. Mulpha Land Bhd

If you want to check out review of projects some of the above developers reviewed here, check out our reviews page.

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Some of you who frequently travel along Jalan Ampang recently would have notice this latest condo project making its presence felt.

The location is just off Jalan Ampang, behind Corus Hotel and very near KLCC. Some 3 years ago this area was the hotspot for launching condos, almost every old bungalow lot or empty parking lot was turned into gleaming condos. The mad rush for skyscrapers has definitely tapered off in the past year, but that doesn’t mean it has stopped entirely. But developers who are only now launching their products at the sunset of this boom have smartly opted a different approach - build smaller condos with exclusivity and target a different niche. Some may argue that no such niche exists, or that’s too inconsequentially small to begin with, and that they all just target the local investors cashing in on the still lucrative expat rental market. Be that as it may, Panorama seem to have done well enough to justify the developer’s reasoning.

Panorama is actually two blocks of condo units facing a pool, and its a pretty small site. Most of what is left is used for landscaping, and from the looks of it, they managed to keep a pretty good balance of units and greenery giving it a very low density garden feel. Tower A, nearer to the entrance, has three wings, that’s one unit per wing, giving you 3 units per floor. Block B has four wings, two of which have 2 units making it 6 units per floor. The extra two units are much smaller compared to the others available.

Due to the limitations of the site, they only have one floor of basement parking. The rest of the parking is located on 5 storeys of podium parking above the ground floor. On the sixth floor, they have an environmental / pool deck, where most of the common facilities are located. Above that are the units, going up to the 31st floor. Some units go one floor higher up than others.

On the units, they have a single bedroom unit (at 592 and 603sq.ft.), a two bedroom unit (coming in at a large 1,152 and 1,249sq.ft) and the largest variety is the three roomer, sized at 1,798 and 1,819sq.ft. The range of unit sizes is quite narrow, but we’re pretty surprised they have kept the starting size at studio apartment level - sub 600sq.ft. Its the kind of size that is suitable for singles or expat couple without much use for space. The largest unit is not that big, coming in at 1,819sq.ft. which is still below the 2,000sq.ft. threshold.

Small development size doesn’t allow for much facilities, so they kept to the basics. But the pool looks impressive, though, as with the earlier mentioned landscaping.

Prices start from a cool million up to almost 3 million.

The developer is a JV company between General Corp Bhd. and UOL Group Ltd. Both are based in Singapore but have experience here in Malaysia.

So what did we think? Like we mention, the strong points are the low density feature and landscaping. Site is pretty small and close to the neighbouring lots though. If you have a low unit you wouldn’t have much of a view. Very expensive though.

Four reviews in October, the reviews page have been updated as scheduled.

The reviews for October were as follows:

205.1Sentul, Jalan Sentul
206.9 Madge, Jalan Madge
207.Serena, Bandar Puteri Puchong
208.Seri Hening Residence, Jalan Ampang

Don’t forget to send in photos any projects under construction, thanks! Have a good week ahead.

Reader Zamzuri has sent in some pics of Palmyra (superlink) of Twin Palms in Sungai Long, taken from the SILK highway (from Sg Long toll plaza).

You can read the original review of this phase here:
Twin Palms, Sungai Long: Areca and Palmyra

This would be a first for us here in Property Malaysia. We’re reviewing a project that’s not for sale. But they’re still homes and you can still get to stay in them. Nope, we’re not talking about hotels, but a refreshing concept development by the Great Eastern.

Most of you would know this project in the almost three years of construction. Its located on embassy row, just behind the Great Eastern Mall at the Ampang / Jelatek junction. We were actually waiting for this project to launch nearing completion, was surprised it didn’t happen even a few months after the practical completion, but it was only some time later that we knew why.

Anyway, in a nutshell, Seri Hening is a beautifully built and landscaped project, and it is available on a rental basis only from the developer. There are 113 units, over a 6 lowrise blocks. The units come in either 2+1 bedroom or 3 bedroom (most of them are 3+1 bedroom). If you’re looking for a much larger place, they also have limited number of penthouse units at 5,701 and 6,320sq.ft. The typical units have 3+1 rooms, while only unit type each with 2+1 and 4+1 each.

All units come furnished, and without the restriction of purchaser requirements, they have done an excellent job with the finishing works and ID. Something akin to a boutique hotel or showhouse, but with all the added practicalities. For facilities, its done quite complete here with swimming pools, playground, tennis court and a gymnasium with aerobics room, sauna, jogging track with exercise stations, lounge and cafe. Basically you don’t need a country club membership, unless its for the golf. For shopping they’re obviously going to point you to the Great Eastern Mall next door, and if that’s not big enough there’s always Suria KLCC a little further down the road.

Won’t a lot to guess that they’re targeting the lucrative expat market working at or near the Embassy Row. Although this is a for rental only apartment that is pretty peculiar for a developer, it isn’t exactly a new thing nor really out of the ordinary considering the number of service apartments available for lease around the city. What they’ve basically done is removed the usual layer of buyer / investor, and took upon themselves to finance the project and manage it. Which is easy for them because of the financial clout of the company behind the developer.

Anyway, very chic and well planned project. Check with the developer for the details of the lease. From what we gather, the rental pretty reasonable, considering that this is a spanking new condo. The trick is, as with any kind of condo for sale and rental, the maintenance part of it. Most investors will tell you that tenants for luxury units will almost always go for new units less than 2 years old. If they can keep up the maintenance by maximizing the returns in the first 2 years, they should nail it.

To be frank, the Malaysian economy along with the regional economy has changed a lot in the last 2 years since the inception of this project til now, so perhaps they may find it a little more difficult, especially considering the saturation of available condos around KLCC. But of course maybe they might consider that there isn’t an owner party here trying to cover his cost of investment.

There’s been some concern among purchasers of Saujana Residency lately, regarding the final height of the completed tower. Reader John has sent in his photos showing the height comparison of the building under construction and the Empire SOHO across the road. John says that it should not be a concern and has shown the extrapolation of the additional 6 floors in his photos.

For the latest in the ongoing discussion and read the original review, check it out here:

Saujana Residency