Property Malaysia

April is coming to and end, have you guys submitted your taxes?

We’re wrapping up the reviews for this month, as usual the project reviews page has been updated.

217.Mutiara Seputeh Bungalows, Seputeh
218.Waterville, Lake Edge Puchong
219.Carlton @ Plaza Damas 3, Sri Hartamas
220.Selayang Springs, Selayang
221.Parkville, Lake Edge Puchong

Parkville is another phase that is currently available for sale in YTL’s much talked about Lake Edge development. We have recently reviewed another phase of this development here (Waterville). Since we’ve discussed quite a lot about Lake Edge in general in that post, we won’t repeat ourselves and you are encouraged to check out that post to read our take on the location, connectivity and overall view of the development.

Lake Edge Puchong: Waterville

Parkville consists only of 16 completed units - 8 semi-detached homes and 8 bungalows. They are arranged in two rows, alternating between the two types. There is a narrow strip of linear park between the two rows. This park is lined with trees and contains a spice garden, a reflexology trail and walking path, and a long strip of pond. Because the homes here in Lake Edge are fenceless (the Australian style of living) this park connects with your home seamlessly, giving it a community kind of feel.

The semi D unit is about 4,102sq.ft., built on a minimum of 50′ x 90′ plot size. This is a very big plot size and correspondingly the build-up is also pretty big for a semi-D. On the side and rear there is a 10′ clear setback of garden space. In between adjoining units there is about 8′ between the two houses (which means about 4′ on each side). The two houses are only conjoined by a narrow strip of RC flat roof and roofing, so its not really a semi D unit per se, in the sense that there is no party wall to speak of. Overall the layout design is luxurious and modern - the living, dining and kitchen are at the back of the house, commanding a premier view of the park and pond. A sun room (which is kind of like a second living and guest room take up the front of the house. There is also a large courtyard beside the living. The powder room and maids plus toilet round off the ground floor. Upstairs there are 4 rooms all with ensuite baths, no family room (presumably its now the sun room below). Following the same design concept, the master bedroom is at the back of the house. The view from this room should be excellent.

The bungalow units are of course much bigger, going up to 5,194sq.ft. and built on a 60′ x 93′ plot. The design is almost similar to the semi D, but this unit has a rectangular footprint. The other design details are pretty much the same, except much bigger space all round.

Facade of the units closely follows the style set by most of the other units, mostly white and earth brown. The park is of course the drawing point for these units, and is which lends the name to this phase. Parkville is frequently compared to the Waterville units because the price of the semi D is quite close to Waterville. So which is better? It all depends on which type you like, they both have their pros and cons.

With 16 units only, there is of course an air of exclusivity to it all. Certainly the linear park is a big plus point and will be the main reason why some people are plonking the hard cash for these units, but on the other hand Waterville has its own private pool (albeit a very small and less private one). This is of course, completed and you can move in immediately. The semi-D units cost from RM1.7million onwards, You can also check out the finish quality as it stands before you move in, so you know exactly what your’e buying into. Certainly Parkville here stands to be compared to other units in Lake Edge, obviously it can’t be compared to other projects outside of here - apples to apples.

Incidentally, Bandar Bukit Puchong 2 has a similar project also named Parkville, with almost similar features - units facing a linear park, living room at the back. Of course the price is much much different though.

Well, we gotta be honest, we haven’t been to Selayang in quite awhile, and even before that we haven’t really had the chance to explore Selayang all that much. Most people are most familiar with Selayang wholesale market and the landmark Makro hypermarket (now Tesco Extra) at the MRR2 intersection. And some people may also be familiar with the hot springs here. Its is near this hot spring that the latest condominium in Selayang is located.

To find this place, you don’t need to go deep into Selayang. It is off Jalan Ipoh, you need to take the interchange exit going towards FRIM. Once on the slip road you immediately have to turn off road on the left, into the carpark for the hot springs. Selayang Springs is actually located right beside the elevated interchange, on an existing green area that has been there for quite sometime. While being next to the highway and interchange makes it good from the viewpoint of accessibility and visibility, it does pose some problems for their access. First off we’re not sure its a good idea (if it is even possible) to have the entrance off a highway exit ramp. Secondly, the proposed road leading to the condo (once you turn off the slip road) is now shared with the carpark for the hot springs, and according to the sales people they are under negotiations with the local council to work this problem out. Either way, it doesn’t work in favour of the condo, there simply isn’t enough space to make two separate access roads, and if they share the entrance, it will not bode well for the condo. But that aside, the solution may be awhile coming as negotiations with the authorities on matters like these usually take a long time.

But putting that aside, let’s look at the condo. This is a massive condo project as it consist of 5 towers altogether with over 1100 units when completed. At the moment they have launched the first block of units to a pretty good take up rate. They are also gearing up to launch the second block (called ‘Cedar’) in a couple of weeks. For the first phase, the size of units range from 930 to 1,320sq.ft. mostly with 3 rooms and 2 baths. Because of the different alignment of the building, you can have a choice of KL view, Genting view or forest view from your unit. But because the area surrounding the condo is mostly landed development, you’ll have a pleasant view anywhere you look. There are 16 units per floor. For this first phase prices begin from RM185k for the sub 1000sq.ft units and RM250k onwards for the larger ones.

There are about 20 floors of units for each tower, making each tower having about 300 units in total. All parking is on elevated floors, except one sub-basement level. Actually this plot of land sits on a terrain that is undulating, so you might want to study the location of the tower you are purchasing into if you are concern with these issues.

Looking forward to the soon to be launched second phase, they are introducing even smaller studio apartments into the mix to broaden the appeal. From what we can observe there aree units in the 587 to 762sq.ft. range, which will appeal to the mobile yuppie crowd. But whether this will work in an area like Selayang will depend o the pricing and design. The larger units should be similar to the earlier phase.

For the later phases, not much details are available, certainly they will review the unit numbers and sizes to meet the expected demand of the buyers as and when they are launched. But certainly the pricing will be on the increasing scale, as with any other development.

The smaller units come with one parking bay, while the rest come with 2. We were told that most of the facilities will be completed together with the first two phases. There are two pools and the usual number of amenities for a project of this size. the entrance has a circular fountain area that looks impressive. There will also be a double storey clubhouse.

As we said earlier, Selayang Springs is a massive project. With so many units and unit types available, the appeal is varied and may be quite successful in their marketing, but lacks the low density appeal that others offer. And as we mention earlier, problems with the access in the future will be a factor.

This project is developed by the Masa Group. From what we can remember they were previously a contractor group and this represents their first foray into development.

This is a pretty interesting article about what kind of house USD$150,000 can buy you around the world. They mentioned lots of places (with pictures) like Buenos Aires, Chile, Moscow, South Africa, Australia and even Bali. But no mention of Malaysia unfortunately.

Well, USD$150k = about half a million ringgit, it can buy a pretty nice house in the suburbs or an decent apartment in the city, depending on the location.

(Source)

This is mentioned to be the last phase of land for Mayland here in Sri Hartamas, perhaps as a testament to the two decades plus of development they have been involved in in this goldmine of a district. It started out with the Puncak Prima condo, which is still a landmark right next to Plaza Damas, and followed by other condominiums (like Menara Hartamas) and the Hartamas Shopping Centre (strategically drawing the expatriate market here) and Plaza Damas built atop the shopping mall. In the interim years, too, they have actively development other areas like along Jalan Kuching, landed homes further up from here and also in Johor. Despite how people regard as a developer and builder, there’s no denying the demand for their products and the success of their Sri Hartamas ventures.

And so we come to this last phase of Plaza Damas. Location, very easy to find, its opposite the Hartamas Shopping Centre. As those of you familiar with the area will know, Plaza Damas Phase 1 and 2 is above the shopping mall, actually the 2nd floor of the mall opens out to the ground floor of Plaza Damas. Its a bit complicated, especially if its your first time there and you’re looking for an office, the best way i found is to park your car in the mall parking lot (its a dark place) and then go to the information counter at the mall entrance and ask for directions to the office block. Coming back to Phase 3 across the road from Hartamas Shopping Centre, this plot of land in the past has been used as a sales office and show unit for many of their earlier launches.

The land for this phase is a narrow strip, flanked by the main road on one side and multiple terraces of a high slope on the other. The development consists of 3 blocks of retail / service apartments, one high rise building to be developed in the future (either apartments or office block) and a small clubhouse. There are 3 to 5 levels of retail outlets, as the road slopes up, but there a 5 levels of apartments all throughout. There three blocks of units are Carlton, Chelsea and Cliveden (seriously, who came up with these names?!). At the moment, block A, that is Carlton is open for sale. This block has 185 units, in total there are 595 units.

Most of the units are studio apartments, 500sq.ft. or 595sq.ft. with a long narrow linear design. You enter your unit, kitchen is beside you, there’s a living room, and then you enter the bedroom, and then a balcony. Simple as that. For those who want a little more, the corner units give a variety, up to 940sq.ft. with an extra bedroom making it a 2-bedroom suite. But by and large, most of the units are the earlier mentioned single room suites. They are offering the units fully furnished. So its no secret which niche market they are targeting, with the retail lots and unit types.

Which made us wonder, why opt of service apartments? Wouldn’t a full office and retail block be a better return of investment for them? After all, they could still reserve the last highrise block as a condominium if they wish to? Maybe some of you who had invested in the office units in the earlier phases of Plaza Damas may shed some light on what necessitated this change of strategy. Having said that, they are offering a guaranteed return rate of investment for those interested, it is pegged at 6% for two years. That is rather paltry to say the least, but at least they provided a safety net if lets say the economy suffers a further meltdown come 2012. But we’re thinking most investors would rather do it themselves for better returns.

The average pricing is from about RM413k to Rm512k for typical units, bigger units cost up to RM960k. You have a choice of the green slope view, or main road view. Both aren’t very much more appealing than the other, given the low rise nature of the blocks, but you probably would not opt for the unit facing another block. At a rate of RM825psf upwards, we’re not talking about small pennies here, this is comparable to Mont’Kiara and reflects the value Mayland places on this prime location. But comparably, it’s more favorable to being deep in MK with its high density of condos on both sides of the road. Here, its just off the main road, and near to the exit to KL. But then again, its onlystudio apartments available. So a large segment of the market will not be looking twice here.

Maintenance fee is 35sen psf. No free parking bays allocated to units.

At the small clubhouse, there is a function room, a small lap pool, gym, and um, that’s basically it. But the cascading water feature should look nice.

Pricey, but good freehold location. And pricey. No parking!

Let me see, when did we first visit Lake Edge? It had to be in 2000, when they were still carrying earthworks filling up the 12 acre area - that was long before they launched anything an the name Lake Edge hadn’t been coined yet. Then when the first phase was launched we went again, those days the concept of development hadn’t really been shown fully yet. But the show house was done up, and of course the talking point back then was the Australian style living - glass windows everywhere, super contemporary design and fenceless homes.

Fast forward to 2009, we re-visited the place recently, and the difference is telling. Most of the phases have been completed and residents have moved in, the lake that give the place its name is there for all too see. And the open and modern concept of homes is also the first impression you get when you enter the place. That, and the very impressive security.

Surrounding the area, things have spruced up a bit. Gone are a few of the old factories and warehouses, and they have closed up the access road that leads connects to Lakeside Residence by Glomac, thereby reducing the traffic along the access to Lake Edge. They’ve also hoarded up the other side of the road nicely, obscuring the works going on there to rehabilitate the pond.

As for the entrance and exit into Lake Edge, there isn’t much to change, you still have to go through the shoplots beside Tesco (the landmark is the large furniture centre here along LDP). The slip road entering LDP is still narrow and can sometimes cause a long line of waiting cars. In the interim years traffic along LDP at peak hours has increased tremendously, not only along here all the way up to the Sunway toll (especially in the mornings) but in the other direction in the evenings. What more now that the new shoplots and IOI Mall extension is completed. What more when the massive Setia Walk is completed.

But then again, this is the price Puchong folks have to pay for progress and development in their backyard. But Lake Edge is a little different from all the scores of projects that have sprung up in this locality in the last four to five years. Of course the price of YTL’s project makes it stand out (waaaa-aaaay out) but let’s not forget, not many other projects in the city even at this price has the audacity to execute their masterplan this way. In short, you’re paying not only for the prime location in downtown Puchong (is that a contradiction by itself?) but mainly you are paying for the living environment that they have come up with. To see it, you just have to come to Lake Edge to experience what they mean.

But coming to Waterville, there are a couple of phases to this latest unit available, those who have bought the earlier phase are targeted to move in some time later this year. And they are opening up more units, located closer to the clubhouse and represent some of the last few remaining phases in Lake Edge for sale. They have been promoting this phase quite heavily ever since the show unit was completed in November of last year. The name Waterville (if you haven’t figured it out), doesn’t denote its proximity to the lake although some units are quite close to it, but rather it refers to a small lap pool in your own compound. Actually we weren’t really so wowed by the lap pool, for the price range i believe SP Setia offers a lot better in that sense, but of course its a nice touch if you can indulge some cash for landscaping to make it look awesome.

The basic plot of the unit is on a 40′ x 85′ space, although its hard to envision the space when there are no fences or markers to denote where your land end and where the road reserve (or your neighbour’s plot) starts. But I’m there’ll be some purchasers refering to the plan in their S&P when they get their keys and see their house. Waterville is a two and a half storey unit with a build-up of at least 4,117sq.ft. But the thing with Lake Edge homes is the design concept that sells it, you don’t really see big spaces every where, you just somehow wonder where the 4,117sq.ft. goes to.

As you enter the unit you are greeted by the dining and kitchen (a concept that Bandar Bukit Puchong 2 tried to execute for their Parkville homes, not to mention Putrajaya) and the living room is at the back with a view of the surrounding garden and aforementioned lap pool.

On the first floor are 3 bedrooms, each with their own ensuite bath (and outdoor shower, we might add) and balcony. There is actually no family room here. On the top floor, is the master bedroom, and the other half of the floor is taken up by the open roof terrace.

Most of the walls are covered with full length glass windows, necessitating lots of curtains and blinds if you’re not a fan of natural light or value your privacy. There are isn’t much walls as you can tell from the facade, and if you want to make the most of the design of your unit, there is substantial landscaping to be done, not to mention cabinets and countertop to emulate what they have done in the show unit.

Like we said, you need to see it to appreciate Lake Edge in its fullness of execution, and simply because there isn’t any other development here in Puchong. So we come to the pricing. It starts from RM1.6m onwards up to about RM2m for the corner units. Being so different, there isn’t a yardstick to compare it to, but what you’re paying for as we mentioned earlier, is the location and concept. On the downside you don’t have much space for a two and a half storey unit compared to a conventionally designed layout, but conventional isn’t what they were aiming for. We basically like this design better than the earlier double storey phase, and now you are purchasing into a maturing development where the landscaping is already completed. This project sits of leasehold land.

YTL are a major conglomerate in Malaysia in diversified interests. For review of another project by their property arm, you can check out The Saffron in their Sentul East development.

Mutiara Seputeh isn’t a new development, we first went to see this development at their launch a couple of years ago, at the launch of their very first phase. For those unfamiliar with this development, this project on Bukit Seputeh covers an area of 15 acres with a total of 93 units altogether, comprising of 80 units of three storey semi-detached homes and a very limited number of (13 only) 3 storey bungalows.

The main selling point of Mutiara Seputeh is its location - right near the city, where you’d not think there’d be any land left for a substantial landed property development. And of course its elevated location, and its limited number of units giving it an private enclave that is low density (only 6 units per acre) that most people crave for these days.

Most of the semi-detached units have been snapped up, and owners are awaiting the handover sometime by the mid of this year. Now the developers are pushing the last of the bungalow units in sort of a re-launch, which is actually the third and last phase of the project. The 13 numbers of bungalows are arranged neatly in a curve enclosing the semi-D units, and have an advantage of being the last and most prestigious to be let go.

Another distinguishing feature of the project, especially for the earlier phase of semi-Ds was the number of different layout types that offered the purchasers variety. There were 2 different design types. For the bungalows, there are 5 different types here.

As for the layout design of the bungalows, there isn’t much to comment here. At three floors, and a build up of more than 7000sq.ft. you pretty much can do no wrong. There are large spaces for every room, from the luxurious masterbedroom to living to the kitchen. Each unit has their own private lap pool, and another key feature that catches your attention is the high ceiling design that makes the first impression as you enter.

As for the facade, they’ve veered away from too contemporary a design, we have traditional large roofs and a slight tropical infused facade design to blend with the landscaping. We like it a lot.

The developers are pressing for a high concept development that emphasizes a ‘theme of modern contemporary with water features and lush greeneries’ in addition to it being an exclusive guarded community. Of course with the image of luxury priced semi-Ds and bungalows, the developer can easily find the money to splurge on excesses like this, but from what we can envision it to be, it looks pretty impressive. The theme of good feng shui is also heavily emphasized in their marketing material, so its no secret which market niche they are targeting.

There is a small clubhouse and a playground and much greenery, but other than that there isn’t other facilities in this site. But with the large build up and large garden area for all the units, there is not much point in allocating too much space for recreation within the development. The development boasts top notch security features, besides the guardhouse at the entrance, there is perimeter fencing with security system (like what SP Setia had for the MK project), CCTV for internal roads, and internal security system in the house which includes “Emergency/Panic” button for all floors. In short, the works.

Bottom line - of course its nice. In a three to four million bucks kind of way. But its freehold, its next to mid Valley, very very exclusive.

Hunza are an experience development with many projects in the Klang Valley and in Penang. You can see a list of ongoing and completed projects in their website listed below.

Here’s something we don’t see or hear about about everyday, but its everywhere around us.

We’re talking about rubbish, or more specifically waste management in commercial areas. Malaysians generate a lot of trash, from households to businesses to construction sites to industrial waste from factories. But today we’re talking about waste disposal from commercial areas. Local councils have tried many different ways to deal with this problem of where tenants should dispose of their rubbish before it is collected by the trucks.

Many years ago, the trend was to have a refuse chamber somewhere in each development - a small room where people throw their trashbags and the trucks will come to collect a few times a week. But this has its obvious problems - delay in collection will result in overflowing rubbish. Then some people will just leave their rubbish near the bins and not in the bins. And no matter how efficient the collection is, the chamber will definitely smell in the Malaysian weather, thereby affecting nearby business. Developers have a hard time finding place for these refuse chambers in their masterplan - nobody wants it near but you can’t live without it.

One particular development that comes to mind that suffers from this system is Saujana Putra in Puchong, the 2 refuse chambers are located at the entrances to the commercial area and the stench is almost unbearable.

Later some local councils opted for the refuse chambers to be at each individual unit, usually at the back so that its easier for the garbage truck to collect. Most older areas of KL practice this. This works well on paper, but in implementation, a few problems arises. One, discriminate parking blocks the backlanes. So the trucks can’t collect. Secondly, this would mean that for the higher floors, the tenants will have to come down and put their rubbish at the refuse chamber - quite a distance if you happen to be the middle unit of a long block. Thirdly in the long run, backlanes become very dirty infested with rats and overflowing rubbish. But its the first reason - trucks unable to enter the backlanes, that is the biggest problem.

So recently, some councils (like MPSJ and MBPJ) has required developers to have the rubbish bins in front of the unit (like in Bandar Puteri). This solves the problem of garbage trucks unable to get to the bins. But businesses are not in favour of this solution - who wants rubbish in front of your shop, especially of your eatery? But it works on different levels too, business are therefore responsible for making sure that rubbish are properly disposed off in the bin.

At the end of the day, any system implemented will have its pros and cons, although some more than others. The bottomline is that Malaysians should learn to reduce their garbage more, and must dispose of it responsibly.

This particular article in Star Metro a few days ago about Paramount View condominium. (You can read the original review for Paramount View Condo here post in May 2007).

Original the access road to the condo was supposed to be at Jalan SS1/25, but after protests from the residents, the location was moved to Jalan SS1/26. This has now been faced by more protests,

Dispute over roads to condominium

According to the article,

Datuk Dr Wong Sai Hou, adviser of the Unified Coalition of Residents (Ucor) Petaling Jaya, said that it was unbelievable that the Petaling Jaya City Council (MBPJ) could approve a 12.2m two-lane road to be constructed across the TNB reserve land, ploughing through a nursery, parallel to an Indah Water (IWK) plant and joining up with Jalan SS1/26 that is only 7.3m wide.

“Should the new link from the condo to Jalan SS1/26 be allowed, then the queue time backwards to Jalan SS1/36, SS1/25 and SS/18 would be tremendous. The traffic at Sea Park will similarly be affected,” the former Kampung Tunku assemblyman and ex-MBPJ councillor said.

“The drains along Jalan SS1/26 are not uniformly aligned and some portions of the road is narrowed by the drain curbs. The run-off time for rainwater must be calculated as the volume of traffic using Jalan SS1/26, Jalan 21/35 and Jalan 21/27 will be greatly increased and flash flood may become and issue,” Wong said.

He said the original plan of connecting the missing link be­­tween the 12.2m wide Jalan SS1/39 and Jalan 21/1 should be revived.

We noticed we haved wrapped up our recent reviews for a long time, so here are the latest 5 reviews that we did in the past few weeks. As usual the projects review page has been updated.

212.Kiara 9, Mont’Kiara
213.The Zest, Bandar Kinrara
214.Matahari, Laman Rimbunan (Phase 3), Jalan Kepong
215.First Residence, Kepong Baru
216.Pangsapuri Alam Prima, Section 22 Shah Alam