Tuesday, February 16, 2010

For Sale: Mutiara Villa 1br/1bath 580sf bright renovated unit with view of KLCC

SOLD 8/5/2010





One bedroom unit in Mutiara Villa, located in the heart of Bukit Bintang for sale. It is within walking distance to Jalan Alor, directly faces the row of Tengkat Tong Shin restaurants and has a 7-eleven and a Carrefour Express within its vicinity. The neighbourhood has been transformed with a mix of brand new luxurious boutique hotels and back-packers inn. A favourite place for expatriates and locals alike as the well-patronized Changkat Bukit Bintang pubs and restaurants are within a 100m radius. Unlike the P Ramlee area, Changkat Bukit Bintang is not noisy. However, the weekend nights traffic jams can be annoying although one should be extremely happy to live within a stones' throw of everything - the monorail station, Lot 10 and Pavillion are only a 15 minutes walk away.



Condo facilities include a swimming pool, jacuzzi, barbecue pit and 24x7 security which has recently been upgraded with key card access to the lifts and common areas, car park gantry and CCTV systems.



The unit has recently been renovated. It consists of a bedroom, bathroom, living room and kitchen. The floor is entirely laminated wood with oak finish. The ceiling is plastered with stylish square downlights, the bedroom has built-in cabinets and a mix and match of teak antique-finish and modern furnishing. The bathroom was completely retiled, fitted with rain water shower and centralized 25 liter tank water-heating.




Unit is currently tenanted, monthly rental is RM1800. Contract has recently been renewed for 2 years ending December 2012.




This is the 1st ever property I bought and now I want to sell it. The reason I am selling it is because I bought it with a partial withdrawal of my EPF savings. In my old age, my EPF has accumulated and I wish to make further withdrawals to invest in other properties. However, I am not able to withdraw any more of my EPF savings for another property unless I sell this current one.

In fact, I have put this unit up for sale since November last year. But the motivation to sell it is lacking because I have a very good tenant and it is being rented out for a good price. It is also difficult to arrange viewing as I do not like to disturb my tenant too much.


I managed to organize a viewing in late January. My asking price was RM300k. After the viewing, a potential buyer offered me RM280k which I turned down. Later, he called me to offer me RM300k and I thought I had a sale. However, he refused to pay a booking fee. Instead, he requested for my documents so he can start applying for a loan. He would only place the deposit if his loan is approved. I find this practice bizzare but it's not uncommon... usually people who are not serious would do this and desperate sellers would accept it.


But I'm no desperate seller. I think I am offering a good deal, as this property is rare for the location. It is extremely easy to find a tenant. In fact, for the past 10 years that I have had it, it has never been vacant. The beauty of it is, I have never needed to engage a real estate agent to rent this unit as it is in such high demand. Meanwhile, as long as I am still trying to sell it, I am collecting rent and very happily, I have been adviced that RM300k is under-priced. I should really be asking for RM320k. Since it is a small unit, the maintenace fees is really low at only 24 sen psf i.e. RM139.20. So, the returns are maximized at 6.2%. As there is no more land in this area, this freehold unit's value can only go up.


It is also important to note that the strata title has been issued and the condo is under the management of the owners' committee. As a result, the conditions of the common areas and facilities have improved tremendously, most noticeably the security.


If anyone is keen on this unit, please get in touch - sinleongng@yahoo.com. But please be serious as it would be terribly inconvenient for the tenant.

19 comments:

Anonymous said...

"Changkat Bukit Bintang is not noisy"? Have you stayed overnight in Menara Bukit Ceylon or Seri Raja Chulan lately? Even those apartments in Mutiara facing Changkat direction would be affected.

sinleong said...

well..i live in seri bukit ceylon. i have never had noise coming from changkat bukit bintang. at the same time, my mutiara villa unit also directly faces changkat bukit bintang. the noise i am talking about is open music which goes boom boom boom until 4am in the morning like jalan P ramlee. none of the changkat bukit bintang pubs have license for open music.

KVINLIM said...

i'm in real interest of bukit ceylon, knowing the area from your blog. but rental of 1.8k seems to be a little low for a 300k furnished property. is the unit fully furnished? or bare unit? what's included?

sinleong said...

the unit will be sold lock stock and barrel, together with the tenancy. the price is RM320k. The premium is for the location and it is very hard to get this unit type to come by in the market. RM1800 rent is not bad. you can also consider a RM600k 3 bedroom unit in Menara Bukit Ceylon which you can rent out for RM3500. But first you need to throw in at least RM50k to renovate and upgrade the furnsihing. The maintenance fee for the 3 bedroom is RM400 per month. So your returns less than 6% and it is also very hard to rent.

Helmy said...

Hi Sinleong,

Sad to hear you're completely exiting Mutiara Villa. If I am not mistaken, this will be the last unit that you will sell from the 3 or 4 Mutiara Villa units that you once owned, isn't it? Any particular reason you're completely exiting Mutiara Villa that I should know of? You think I should exit too? So, I won't be seeing you at the annual Mutiara Villa owners' meeting then? :)

Anyway, your unit sounds fantastic. You must have spent lots of time (and money) to renovate & furnish it like that. Mine is very bare. I aspire to make mine like yours one day :)

sinleong said...

If your unit in MV is old, you should take the opportunity to renovate it and change the furnishing. You can get better rent for it, from RM3k up to RM3.5k for your 2 bedroom unit. how much are you getting now?

As for me, reason why i have to sell this unit is my EPF savings will be tied up because EPF says I can only do a 2nd withdrawal for the same property I got the 1st withdrawal for. if i want to withdraw for a 2nd property, i have to sell the 1st one.

KVINLIM said...

thanks for the reply. dont mistaken my intention, i'm just a poor chap interested with the subject and wanted to learn more. just for the purpose of discussion, i remember last time i visited the bukit jalil apartment that's selling at 160k and the rental rate is approximately 700 in bare unit. It seems like it's commanding a better rate than the ceylon. is that right? then what makes the ceylon a good investment? capital appreciation because of KL land? look forward to advice. thanks!

sinleong said...

most parts of bukit jalil is leasehold. Moreover, 160k apartment rented for RM700 is bad investment. RM700 less maintenance fees probably RM600 x 12months = RM7200. Divide by the total investment assuming no need to renovate or buy/replace furniture is 4.5%. Better put your money in fix D and get 3% at least you dont need to crack your head looking for tenants.
Some units in bukit ceylon, not all, are really easy to rent out. Tenants find you, not the other way around. So, in a way you save on agent fees and have less vacant time. I just checked, asking price for Menara Bukit Ceylon now is RM680k. Probably nego down to RM650k is possible. But rent is not any more than RM4000. SO, less maintenace fees only 6.6% returns assuming no renovation/furnishing cost. So, my unit at RM320k is a steal.

Anonymous said...

hi sin leong,

just wondering if this unit is still available and also have u done any review on atrium in sri damansara?

tks,
jacky

sinleong said...

yes, still available and many serious enquiries which i will attend to once i am back from overseas

sinleong said...

This unit has been sold today 8th of May 2010. I think the sale price is fair to both buyer and myself and it is above RM300k. Thank you to those who wrote in or called and those of you who came for the viewing.

Anonymous said...

Hi!

I have a unit at MV too but have not had much luck in getting tenants. Any advice will be appreciated.

I would prefer to have short lease tenants . Any idea how to find them or how they can find me??

Thanks
Lin

sinleong said...

which unit is yours? facing where?
it might be worthwhile renovating your unit. make it look more modern. but some units such as type E and type B in block A are harder to rent because of the bad layout.

Anonymous said...

My balcony faces the pool of the next apartment block (I dont know what direction you call that)

My unit is in Block B.

Rgds
Lin

Anonymous said...

Hello Sin Leong,
I have been reading with great interest your various blogs on condominium properties in the Bukit Ceylon area.

After some initial research, we have concluded that Mutiara Villa might potentially be suitable for our requirements. I was wondering if you still have any contacts at Mutiara Villa or may know of any owners who might be looking at selling their property. We are looking at a 2 bed/2 bath unit although the 1bed /1 bath units seem rather spacious & we wouldn't mind settling for a smaller unit. Also, would appreciate any advice you may have on what sort of price levels we may be looking at.

We have also viewed some units at 38 Bidara, but the lack of parking may pose an issue. A unit we have looked at on the 16th floor facing Istana Hotel (732 sq ft) is asking for $550K - do you think it is over priced? We think it seems so without knowing too much about the area.

I would appreciate any advice and insight you could provide in this venture.

Thanks,
yyy

Anonymous said...

Hello yyy,
I happened to read your comments and would like to inform you that I have 2 units in Block B for sale (1 unit 2bed/2 bath and 1 smaller unit). Should you be interested, please email to kkinfo@yahoo.com.

regards

sinleong said...

how much are you selling?

Anonymous said...

I have held onto these 2 properties for more than 10 years and now intend to sell them to consolidate and also in a way to raise money for my development projects (semi-D factories in Kajang). As I have not done any research on the market prices, your advice would be very much appreciated.

Anonymous said...

Hi Sinleong,

Appreciate if you can share as for Mutiara villa, which block and type is in better demand for rental purpose (smaller unit). Thanks