How about Desa Petaling for your home? Still affordable.

I was at Desa Petaling to sign some documents at my lawyer’s place on Monday evening. I arrived at his office at 540pm and left around 6pm. It’s a weekday, thus jam is expected. I wanted to just drop by any mall for a nice dinner. As per Waze, it would take me an hour to reach my home in Damansara Damai. Well, I think I better drop by somewhere for dinner first. I chose a mall I m familiar with, Paradigm Mall.  I took the road towards Bandar Sunway / Subang / Bangsar and surprisingly, I arrived in Paradigm Mall in 22 minutes! This was at a time when the jam is supposed to be engulfing the whole klang Valley! Haha. So, guys if you are staying in Desa Petaling and during a weekday at a peak period, Paradigm Mall can be a good choice.
Some high-rise choices in Desa Petaling for below RM400,000 and with a minimum size of 1,000sf? Well, a check in iproperty.com.my revealed the following choices. Note that I have NOT visited any of these units. From the price levels, it is clear that Desa Petaling is also not under the top choice category like all the ‘Kiara’ or the ‘City’. Haha. However, I always believe that we should buy a home we can afford and save up to upgrade in future. This has been the same strategy I employed long time ago and I think this is applicable for a long time to come because of the demographics of Malaysia. It is impossible to save enough for a better home in future without having a home today which can help up hedge against the continuous house price appreciation. Oh yeah, on a day without jam, Desa Petaling is only 12km / 15 minutes away from the KL city centre. Not many areas can claim to be as near as this. Even my current home is 21km / 25 minutes away.
Additional points from a friend, Asali who’s more familiar with Desa Petaling. There is one shortcut which can reach the Terminal Bersepadu Selatan (TBS) LRT station in less than 5 minutes. Besides that, one can also drive to the future Kuchai Lama MRT Line 2 station too. If you search online, you can also find one boutique development selling for less than RM500 per sq ft that comes with free legal fee, 3 car parks, fixtures, 6 air-conds and more. Only buy if you find it fitting to your needs. Oh yeah, Asali said that during the jam periods, you can also try driving to Mid-Valley too. I checked, it’s just 10km / 12 minutes away. Perhaps add a bit for the usual jams.
Since high-rise condominium is still affordable, surely the landed ones are also okay? I checked both iproperty.com.my and property guru.com.my and the results are ‘negative.’ There are none below RM700,000.  Well for those which are higher priced, I would prefer to buy further away and bigger units too. Think Sungai Buloh or Kajang. With regards to MRTs, I could not find any station in both MRT Line 1 and Line 2 which would be passing through Desa Petaling which is one reason why the prices has not appreciated like those nearby or around the new MRT stations. I personally think this boils down to individual choice. If you think Desa Petaling meets all your requirements, this is considered very affordable, even when compared to the many affordable new developments upcoming. If MRT is a must, then Desa Petaling is not for you. Happy deciding.
written on 29 Aug 2015 with additional points from Asali.
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