Some years back, I was in Singapore for an exclusive property show as the organiser. I noticed that many visitors to the show were vying for a seat in all the talks. In fact, there were so many of them we had to open the door and so many of them were standing outside just to listen. Some of us would cynically say that they are just having the ‘kiasu’ attitude. I do not disagree with this attitude which is famous in the world but truth is, for property investment, the attitude should be one of learn first, action later. Yes, we should be ‘kiasu’ (scared to lose) and even ‘kiasi’ (scared to die) because property would most probably be the largest purchase we would ever have in our lives. I was terrified when I had to buy a RM123,000 apartment over 12 years ago. It took me weeks to decide.
The right purchase may help us in our retirement planning and the wrong one just sap away all our savings for many years. This attitude has remained the same even in a slowing market of today, in Singapore. In the recent SPH Digital’s Property Seminar and Showcase 2016, over 500 people bought tickets for the talks and due to it being a sold-out, members of the public who failed to get a ticket could only visit the many developer booths there. This has shown that even during a slowdown, the interest for property remained strong. Perhaps those who eventually take action may be far fewer for now. Looking back at Malaysia, how many potential property investors would be willing to pay money to listen to seminars?
Many would even argue that these speakers are just representing the developers and thus are biased. There are some truths in this but we can definitely learn a lot more just by listening versus having cup of coffee in Starbucks and playing with the smartphone. I have never failed to learn something new. In terms of biased or not, when we know a little more than the majority, we can start to filter those out and just get the important points. We can learn more about a certain area, about the potential upcoming developments and even some investment tips. Happy visiting, grabbing a seat and listening.
written on 27 Jan 2016
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