Why did I fear property investment, then?

Seriously, why do people fear property investment? From my close friend who’s a top management in a US electronics multinational to friends who are senior managers and colleagues whom I know earn more than enough to buy at least one investment property, all of them have just one property; their home. I have no idea about their real reasons for not buying but I used to fear the following before I bought my 2nd property some time back.
Affordability. Paying for one home is tough. Paying for a second one can be nerve wrecking. When I was considering my second property, both my wife and I decided that it was too dangerous as we may not be able to save anything as soon as we started to pay for the second one. Even downpayment was barely enough. We took over 3 weeks to decide. Well, lesson learnt was that if it’s really not working out, there’s the option to let go one, which would still be a profit anyway.
Lots of negative ideas. When prices are rising, bubble is coming. When prices are not moving, crisis may be happening and everyone fear losing their job thus no one buys anything new. My colleagues kept asking, why need a second property? Rental market in Penang is so bad. Even my parents were hesitant to lend me their usual ‘go for it’ support. Their eldest son is going to do something which they have never done before. Would the second property land their eldest son in trouble?
Insufficient knowledge / info. Come on, those were the days when information about the whole market were not as available as today. Now, type the project name, you get the history, the prices, the rental rates, the bad comments and the plus points. Back then, all these were many times fewer. Property gurus? There were also not that many then. Only a few have started. Names such as Milan Doshi and Azizi Ali were mentioned most of the time. Today, there are so many property gurus giving talks all over Malaysia and even overseas to pull people to buy Malaysian properties.
Fear of unknown. Yes, on an overall basis, whatever I feared previously was just because of the fear of many unknowns. Today, if I were to buy again, I have access to many more stuffs that would enable me to make a more informed decision. Oh yeah, if you STILL do not know what you are buying today, all the best to you. That’s not investing, it’s called ‘gambling or hoping or even speculating.’ Find out more, read more, SAVE A LOT and buy that second property when you can. Not 100% of these 2nd property would be profitable but chances are this second property may just be the ticket to a more comfortable retirement in future. Happy thinking and deciding.
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<Featured Image is courtesy of Stock Photos from William Potter >
written on 3 June 2015
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