Buying a property over RM550K, relaxed and easy

When I bought my first property just before I got married, my wife and I calculated and recalculated and one final calculation before we decided to go ahead and buy our first apartment, jointly. When I bought my second property which is a condo, my wife and I calculated and decided not to buy and only changed our minds after both our parents said we should upgrade. Even then, at RM237,000 it seems like a huge amount.Why would people even pay such money for a property for which the land was shared by 500 plus other units?
Few years back, I got to know of a new launching called The Latitude by Ivory in Penang. It was even more expensive than The Peak Residences and just right next to it. I told my colleagues about it. They said, ‘sure or not’. I said, I hope so because if not sure, then we will all sink together because the two projects are side by side. They said, yeah, let’s go buy it. Two of them each got one unit each. FYI, the price then was around RM550K. This was way above what I would have ever thought.
Actually there are a few reasons why they bought it. First reason was acceptance. It was already an accepted fact that RM380psf is indeed an affordable price in Tanjung Tokong. Acceptance can come once the prices continue to rise continuously and the prices stayed despite the financial crisis. Second reason was maybe because risk was quite calculated. Both of them owned properties which has appreciated from the prices they paid earlier and thus, worst scenario meant they sell their current place and move to The Lattitude which was only ‘very far’ away from their current place. Third reason was due to the mortgage payment which was still acceptable and the downpayment needed which was just 10%. Yes, if something were to happen, they may not afford any other things except these two properties but I think both of them bought with their eyes wide open.
Oh yeah, why did I say buying a property, relaxed and easy? Well amongst the two of them, one took just 20 minutes from the time she stepped in till she paid the deposit and another took 40 minutes. Have you ever decided to buy something over half a million Ringgit in less than one hour? Buying a property, relaxed and easy.
Note:  I do not have any units in The Latitude. The project I bought which was beside them was The Peak Residences which was much cheaper, just slightly over RM300K.
written on 22 dec 2013
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