I want to get married at 30. A bit of strategizing is good, too.

A young colleague was having lunch with me today in Penang. He announced that he wanted to get married when he is 30. He is 26 today. He said prior to getting married, he will buy a home sweet home first. When I asked where, he said somewhere near the working place of him and his future wife. What a good and clear answer? Well, he does not have a girlfriend yet. In other words, he wants to buy a place only when he is getting married because only by then that he would know where his wife works.
First of all, it’s great to get to get our partner’s ideas before we get a place. However, when it comes to ‘best time to buy,’ it’s always best to start by understanding what’s available first. Once we understand about what’s available, chances are we may find a place which we like and may just be priced lower today than last year. In Penang, there are already a number of such places. Just ask your favourite agents to understand where. However, do not expect those areas to be facing the sea and right next to a mall for example. Those places are well still stuck at almost similar prices and may not be moving much unless Malaysia spins into a crisis.
Secondly, it’s even more important to buy if we could already afford one. Assuming we already have RM50,000 as downpayment for a RM500,000 property. If we have bought and on a yearly basis, the property rises by just 2%, that’s RM10,000 extra. Yeah, it’s a gross number and we need to minus interest and whatever but assuming we saved this RM50,000 into fixed deposit, it will give us RM2,000 per year. 🙂  By the way, if we do not have a home, we need to rent. The owner gets richer and we stay the same. I would not say we are getting poorer. Note though that this is true as long as we did not buy the wrong property.
Thirdly, the chance of this young friend in attracting his girlfriend or future wife or even the future wife’s father-in-law is definitely higher if he already have a property to his name, I mean paying for one. Haha. Well, true for at least one father, ME. The reason is simple, getting a home requires discipline. One of the most important trait to have. Yeah, debts are bad, that’s why buying a house takes away the money we would have spent on other stuffs that we do not really need. Getting that first home would also make us realise that it’s not really that hard once we are used to ‘lesser’ pay every month.
My young friend, after a few more questions finally answered that he would like to buy in Tanjung Tokong! When asked where, he said he will start looking soon. Well, I think he wants to get a girlfriend first before buying that property. I think this is normal and I did not pressure him further. As they say, the generation nowadays do not want to own properties and cars… Last but not least, FIXED DEPOSIT should start today and not when one has a girlfriend. Happy thinking.
written on 6 Sept 2017
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