Primary Vs Secondary Housing Market

Anything developed or introduced by human-being in this world has its own pro and contra in applying it. Similarly goes for buying houses; what are available in market for us to venture? YES!! Either new project by developers or sub-sale in secondary market would be the choices to choose when buying a house.

What would be the benefits and/or risks buying new house from developers? How about secondary market? Is there any benefits buying houses from secondary market? How we as a buyer can benefit from these two options? WHAT??!! Benefits from both market? YES! How about risks? Only for new projects? NO. Both have their own risks and obviously can be reduced or mitigate so that we are safe when do the transactions.

Generally for new projects there will be potentially two (2) risks where the completion of the project could be big doubt and the supply – demand curve is not really matured. These two (2) could be the nightmares for the purchaser and they are really hoping these will not happen. However, all the risks can be mitigate by applying some check on the developer background and survey on the supply – demand curve.

What would be the benefits for the new project or primary market? There are so many promotions are being offered by developers to attract more purchasers. There are discount or rebate being promoted where there is no requirement on down-payment and there is a case even getting cashback once the project is completed. Furthermore, there’ll will be waive for the legal fees with discount for maintenance fees (for apartment and condominium) for at least a year.

Secondary market or sub-sale houses are mainly very subjective because on how good the lawyer we hired to do the transaction. If the appointed lawyer is well-known on the transaction then we are safer side or else some nightmares will come soon. We will discuss further on this secondary in upcoming article on “Secondary Market”.

Employee Provident Fund (EPF) – Part 3

We have discussed about the impact on the profit rate charged by banks is normally lower for higher loan amount and vice versa. Before we further, let us see what are available withdrawal types for housing loan so that nothing is missed out in our discussion here.

•          Withdrawal to reduce or settle outstanding housing loan
•          Withdrawal for buying house
•          Withdrawal for monthly installment on housing loan
•          Withdrawal for flexible housing loan

Again as highlighted earlier, withdrawal to reduce or settle outstanding housing loan will be the best option based on criteria for less hassles and for better profit rate on our financing products. Withdrawal for buying house is very common for the first time purchaser because of the down-payment issue if can get something attractive deal from the developer or owner.

The next one is on monthly installment on housing loan where our monthly installment will be paid via our money from account two (2) in EPF based on total amount available when submitting our application. Let me illustrate from monetary value, say we have RM 12,000 in our account two (2) and our installment is RM 800, then EPF will pay on standing instruction by depositing into our saving/current account so that can be paid to our housing loan account. This is how it takes place on withdrawal for monthly installment.

Last but not least on withdrawal for flexible housing loan where this is almost similar to previous to pay on monthly basis and it has very tedious procedures and not all banks offering through this scheme. Since there is not much benefit from this withdrawal, no further discussion I want to highlight here.

In conclusion, I may say that the best option could be withdrawal to reduce or settle outstanding loan based on all the justifications we have seen earlier. You may judge accordingly and choose whichever the best suit with your need.

Capital

This is the main issue for new house purchaser to get their first house. They always claim how to buy if the down-payment itself can cost almost RM 100,000 and hundreds of excuses will be thrown to whoever advising them to buy the first house.
 

So, are we agreed with all these new purchasers? If yes, then I have to further give reasoning to eliminate similar excuses related to high down-payment. Why am  saying so? It's simple because whichever stopping factor can listed out so that can be resolved one-by-one. Firstly, why the purchaser need this amount of money as the down-payment? What could be the price of the property or house he's/she's going to buy? How to develop the capital for down-payment? Is he/she eligible for the loan with the selected property?
 

Let us discuss on the amount which is RM 100,000 and he/she needs this amount? Any idea? Yes! At least 10% from the selling price has to be paid as down-payment if no rebate or discount is given by developer or the owner. Why not the purchaser looking for some units which giving some discount especially rebate for the down-payment by allowing us to pay only booking which varies between RM 1,000 - RM 10,000. Furthermore, why this purchaser(s) are looking for property something his/her dream house? Would it be good to purchase whichever can give us back some money to create positive cash-flow, wouldn't be?

 

Employee Provident Fund (EPF) – Part 2

Let us focus on withdrawal of EPF savings to pay-off housing loan where I have highlighted earlier in previous article. How to choose among all four (4) types to be the best option? Let us discuss further on we can manipulate so that we can benefit. Not to forget, all these are legitimate and halal to be executed and it depends on how and what we choose on the withdrawal type.

Very common for new buyer to withdraw for the new and/or first house to avoid any down payment with own cash. However, have we ever noticed aware something not good by using or cash? Again this is based on case by case where if it’s required or mandatory to pay down-payment of 10% then no choice besides to pay the amount. If we’re buying with some rebate by the developer or by the owner, there might be some scenarios where we’re not really required to pay the down-payment besides some charges and fees for lawyers. So what would be the scenario where the purchaser normally still withdrawing the EPF account 2 amount to pay as down-payment? Let us discuss further about this scenario to have better clarity.

As discussed earlier, new purchasers for the first house don’t have any experience in purchasing a house, hence, end-up with some technical issues which will make the decision made is not beneficial for them. Our mentality to reduce as much as possible for housing loan must be removed from our mindset. Some may say that our house to be stayed must be loan-free property because it takes money from our pocket. YES! I agree with you but let us manipulate first so that we can manipulate for our benefit. There are some winning points I would like to share for our benefit mainly on documentation required, financing profit rate, and loan amount. There might be some area I missed out you may leave the comment for further discussion.

The most significant benefit is mainly on the financing profit rate where as everybody aware the concept for housing loan, “higher the loan amount, lower the profit rate” and this is very common in most of the banks. This is not something I’m sharing just by reading but based on personal experience where profit rate for loan below RM 100,000 is BFR – 1.6 and above RM 100,000 is BFR – 2.2 (this is before new mechanism on profit rate is introduced). Just to share in term of monthly instalment, my monthly instalment for housing loan of RM 108,000 is same as my housing loan of RM 91,000 which is approximately RM 500. Let us read and digest first before we go further discussing other types.

Employee Provident Fund (EPF) – Part 1

Everybody knows that EPF is a way savings during retirement by forcing us to park our contribution and employer’s contribution there and prohibited from withdrawing it until meet certain requirements. So what exactly to be discussed here? Typical question isn’t it? Give an applause to yourselves buddy! Why? Because you want to know more about this article.

I’m sure that most of us know about types of withdrawal from EPF account one (1) and account two (2). However, type of withdrawal is not same and it is based on purpose of withdrawal. Basically withdrawal of account one (1) is something reversible whereby withdrawal account two (2) is something irreversible. So? More exciting? Great!

Generally there are approximately eleven (11) types of withdrawal where we are entitled to withdraw and each type has its unique criteria. Out of 11 types, I’ll discuss mainly on five (5) only. If you are interested on all 11 types, kindly leave comments and I’ll email you separately for the types available. Here is more on our strategy to optimize for our financial goal. The withdrawals we’re going to discuss is mainly cover on housing loan and education loan. Withdrawal for housing loan itself has four (4) types can be elaborated further. So, how to prioritize between housing loan and education loan? Which one to be chosen first? My personal suggestion is that it would differ case by case. I would explain in detail for both scenarios for our benefits.

Why did I say it’s subjective for prioritizing between housing loan and education loan? As we all aware there’ll be some discount given for education loan (PTPTN) during some dedicated time and we must be aware about the promotion period. From my personal experience, there was promotion period with 20% discount if able to settle the whole amount of loan and it is very limited time only. Hence, it’s for recommended for me to settle it earlier because it is huge discount compared to any ROI of any investment portfolio can give us back the return.

Similarly, there are some strategies on housing loan as well which I will cover in upcoming article so that you’ll have some idea to digest first prior reading article on EPF – Part 2.

Kepentingan Takaful

Pertama sekali saya bukan seorang penjual pakej takaful tetapi mempunyai takaful bagi menyiapkan diri untuk kecemasan khususnya dalam membiayai kos perubatan. Saya juga mempunyai prinsip saya sendiri dalam memilih produk-produk takaful yang mana ejen-ejen mungkin tidak setuju. Apa-apa pun buatlah keputusan setelah analisa dibuat berdasarkan sumber-sumber ilmiah yang bermanfaat. Bagaimanakah untuk mendapatkan sumber-sumber ilmiah tersebut? YA! Anda tepat! Teruskan baca artikel ini bagi mendapatkan sedikit sebanyak garis panduan untuk maklumat yang lebih terperinci.

Siapakah yang paling arif mengenai takaful di sini? Bagi saya bukan semua individu arif semua bidang dan ianya mengikut kepakaran khusus seseorang individu tersebut. Dalam kes ini sudah semestinya, ejen takaful adalah pihak lebih arif mengenai produk mereka kerana mereka dilatih mengenai produk-produk yang akan dipasarkan kepada pengguna atau klien mereka. Selain itu, risalah-risalah produk juga akan memberikan maklumat yang kita inginkan tetapi mungkin agak samar-samar kerana perkataan yang digunakan mungkin agak mengelirukan kita. Di manakah kita boleh dapatkan risalah-risalah tersebut? Layarilah laman-laman syarikat yang menawarkan takaful untuk mendapatkannya di samping maklumat tambahan dalam laman tersebut. Namun begitu, seperti yang dibincangkan di atas, sesetengah perkataan dan ayat mungkin mengelirukan kita seterusnya memerlukan penjelasan yang terperinci. Siapakah individu yang kita boleh hubungi untuk mendapatkan maklumat tersebut?

Setelah membuat sedikit sebanyak analisa terhadap produk-produk takaful, bolehlah hubungi ejen-ejen takaful yang kita kenal atau melalui talian yang dipaparkan dalam laman sesawang untuk mendapatkan penerangan. Saya sarankan agar tidak mudah terpengaruh dengan janji-janji manis yang melebih kerana bukan semuanya di dunia ini datang dengan mudah. Oleh yang demikian, kita boleh menilai seseorang ejen dalam menerangkan produk-produk yang ditawarkan oleh syarikat takaful mereka. Ada yang menyatakan bahawa produk merekalah yang terbaik berbanding yang lain dan mulainya mengutuk syarikat-syarikat takaful yang lain. Sekiranya anda dihampiri oleh individu-individu seperti ini maka saya sarankan supaya mengelak daripada sambungkan perbincangan atau penjelasan yang anda inginkan. Untuk pengetahuan sama ada anda sedar atau tidak, terdapat ratusan atau mungkin ribuan ejen-ejen yang ingin tawarkan khidmat mereka. Dalam menilai seseorang ejen sama ada bersesuaian dengan anda, jarak perlu memainkan peranan yang penting kerana dalam urusan tadbir sekiranya berlaku sebarang tuntutan.

Kesimpulannya, kita perlu tahu apakah keperluan kita bukan tawaran yang diceritakan oleh ejen-ejen dan sentiasa berbalik kepada keperluan kita. Bagaimanakah untuk mengetahui keperluan kita? Luangkan masa untuk membaca dan menganalisa produk-produk yang ditawarkan dalam pasaran. Jangan sesekali membeli produk-produk takaful semata-mata kerana orang lain membeli kerana keperluan masing-masing adalah unik. Akhir kata, berkawanlah seramai yang mungkin dengan ejen-ejen takaful kerana maklumat yang dimiliki oleh mereka adalah sangat berharga dan ianya boleh membezakan berlian di dalam tambunan kaca.

Beli Rumah

Membeli rumah bukanlah seperti membeli barangan runcit di kedai atau di pasar malam sekiranya ianya dilakukan tanpa ilmu pengetahuan yang betul. Maksudnya? Mesti ramai akan bertanya adakah membeli rumah semudah membeli barangan runcit di kedai atau pasar malam. Apakah respon kita semua sekiranya saya nyatakan ianya lebih mudah berbanding membeli barangan runcit di kedai atau pasar malam? Hihi!! Gelak la sikit bagi menceriakan hari anda. Hah! Kan nampak lebih bertenaga apabila senyum atau gelak.

Okay, mari kita dengan lebih terperinci bagaimanakah ianya dikatakan membeli rumah bukan semudah membeli barangan runcit malah lebih mudah daripada membeli barangan runcit. Mengapakah saya menyatakan sedemikian? Ianya mudah kerana hampir 99.9% transaksi pembelian rumah dilakukan oleh peguam yang anda lantik dan kita sebagai pembeli amat mengerti dengan strategi yang terlibat dalam membeli rumah. Saya ingin tekankan di sini bahawa transaksi sahaja yang dilakukan oleh peguam bukan penilaian terhadap sesebuah hartanah yang kita telah kenal pasti. Penilaian terhadap hartanah atau rumah itulah yang memerlukan strategi dan ilmu dalam merealisasikan impian untuk memiliki rumah.

Dilemma dalam memiliki rumah mempunya dua (2) tahap yang berbeza yakni pembeli rumah yang pertama dan pembeli rumah yang ketiga dan ke atas. Kenapakah sedemikan senarionya? Jika soalan ini terdetik di pemikiran anda, maka, ianya menunjukkan anda hampir faham apa yang ingin saya sampaikan. Jika tidak terdetik dengan soalan tersebut, tidak mengapa kerana anda akan fahami sekejap lagi dengan membaca huraian seterusnya.

Mengapakah sebagai pembeli rumah pertama, kita mempunyai sejuta dan satu kesangsian yang membelenggu kita dalam merealisasikan impian untuk memiliki rumah pertama. Kesangsian pertama yang paling popular adalah “bagaimanakah untuk membeli?”, “di manakah untuk dapatkan duit bagi pembelian rumah tersebut?”, “di manakah lokasi yang sesuai untuk aku nak beli rumah?”, “aku nak beli rumah banglo tak mampu, semi-D pun tak mampu, rumah teres pun tak mampu, kondominium pun tak mampu, apartment mungkin mampu, tapi…… aku graduan jurusan kejuruteraan, takkanlah aku nak duduk rumah apartment atau flat macam rumah ini?”, dan banyak lagi kesangsian yang membantutkan impian anda untuk membeli rumah pertama. Ianya menjadi semakin parah apabila tiada kenalan kita yang sanggup menasihati kita dalam membeli rumah pertama kita. Menjadi parah dan kritikal apabila ada yang sanggup menasihati tetapi tidak mengambil tindakkan untuk mendapatkan rumah pertama kita. Kes kedua adalah berdasarkan pengalaman saya sendiri di mana saya selalu sarankan kepada beliau untuk membeli rumah pertama yang mana bayaran bulanan hampir sama dengan bayaran sewa yang didiaminya sekarang. Namun, hasilnya masih tidak mengambil tindakkan untuk memiliki rumah pertama tersebut.

Dilemma kedua adalah bagi yang ingin membeli rumah ketiga dan lebih lagi apabila tawaran pihak bank kepada mereka agak terbantuk kerana margin pinjaman sudah pun dikurangkan sebanyak tambahan 20% yakni hanya dibenarkan untuk pembiayaan sebanyak 70% daripada harga jualan atau harga pasaran (yang mana yang lebih rendah). Dilemma tetapi akan menjadi dilemma sekiranya tiada sebarang tindakkan diambil untuk mengurangkan dan seterusnya menghilangkan terus dilemma tersebut bagi membolehkan kita maju ke hadapan dengan lebih yakin dan bersemangat. Saya kongsikan sedikit sebanyak sebagai permulaan untuk titik permulaan dalam merealisasikan untuk memiliki rumah pertama atau yang ketiga dan selebihnya akan dikongsi dalam artikel-artikel yang akan datang. Sila tinggalkan komen jika mempunyai sebarang kesangsian dalam merealisasikan impian anda untuk memiliki rumah pertama atau rumah ketiga dan lebih lagi.