A relative asked me yesterday if there are good properties to buy in Penang. I told her, for the bigger developers, you can view their projects online. Every new project is always preceded by a nicely designed website. For the ‘amazing’ small and ‘been there done that’ developers, she would know better because these developers typically love leaflets, buntings or billboards and even the black and white regional sections of newspapers. I asked her what’s her criteria. She said, bigger than her current home which is close to 1,300sf, must not be farther away than her current home and should have a good environment like her current home. I told her, in that case, ‘NONE’. Haha. Sorry, not a joke but I really told her that.
Then, I replied briefly. Since her current property has already risen around 250% from the price she paid for many years ago, she should consider buying a newer place, slightly further away. Even if it is farther away by 10 minutes, after 1 month of driving through it, she would not feel it anyway. 10 minutes meant her options expanded tremendously. Batu Maung or Gertak Sanggul and other less developed areas would now be possible. It is still possible to buy a slightly bigger or similar sized units or even landed properties. She would then be able to sell off her current place, get the positive difference and then invest in another one or two properties for rental etc. If not in Penang, then in KL. She neither disagreed or agreed but I think it may not be easy for her to accept it emotionally, at least not yet.
Many times, when we are looking at properties, we tend to use less of our ability to be objective and uses more of our emotions instead. For example, even before we start, we would already have in mind that ‘that place, everyone said so far away’, ‘that place, everyone said is less developed’, ‘that place not many Penangite wants’ etc. First one, ‘that place everyone said so far away. What is far to them may just be an additional 10 minutes. Note that 10 minutes is already equivalent to up to 10km away! Second one, ‘that place everyone said less developed’, of course it is less developed. The more developed ones are already so expensive, are you sure you are prepared for the huge premium? The next one, ‘that place not many Penangite wants’. For this reason, just bear in mind, majority of all the new engineers working in Penang are NOT Penangites! Think objectively….
Okay, I think I will let my relative think about what I told her. I think she may be thinking for a long time but it’s ok. She’s happy with her current home and there’s no rush to get a new one anyway.
written on 14 Aug 2014
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