Student Housing? Broadband Internet is the Answer!

In July this year, just barely 3 months ago, I wrote that Sunway PJS7's Mutiara Perdana is undergoing some kind of a boom. This apartment is located barely 5 minutes walk from the Taylor's College Campus. It was really hard to find any unit to invest in at that time as the demand for student rooms were high. It's September now and I can tell you that there are at least 10 units for sale and 9 rooms or whole apartments for rental.

Although there is a huge shortage of accomodation in Sunway PJS7, students are still shunning Mutiara Perdana. I have learnt that since the last couple of months, many have moved out. Some even prefer to live in PJS9 or PJS10 across the LDP highway.

Why is that?

Reminds me of the time I was in Kota Kinabalu. A friend summoned me to his hotel to help sort out his WiFi internet (Yes, if you guys need help in that area you can call me). The hotel is located right in the middle of the city and should have no problems getting guests as the location is very good. However, his guests would stay for a few hours, find that the internet doesn't work and move out straight after while demanding a refund.

Internet is a necessity these days. It is on par with other utilities such as Electricity, Telephone and Water. Imagine if you have no internet access at your house. For a day or 2 it's OK but if you are living there for a year, it can kill you.

Mutiara Perdana was abandoned by the developer who handed the units over without any sewerage and telephone utilities. The developer went bankrupt shortly after and disappeared. The amazing thing is, the local council MPSJ issued the Certificate of Fitness (CF) - it is obvious there was corruption involved. So, to cut it short, since occupying their units in 2008, there is no telephone. To make it worse, Indah Water Konsortium, the company that handles sewerage refused to take over the sewerage system - the apartment have to repair the system and manage it themselves!

Then, all the vultures start to set in... one TM contractor gave a quote to connect the Telephone risers in each block to the Telekom manhole for RM100k. And miraculously too, despite being located less than 400m from the main gate of Taylors College and the sorrounding upmarket Sunway area, none of the Wireless Internet Service Providers have coverage of Mutiara Perdana. And the signal level of the 3 major 3G broadband companies is miserably low.

I learnt recently that the developer price for each unit was RM95k without car park and RM15k for the car park. At the peak, the owners were even trying to sell at RM220k to RM240k. Last checked that they are now back down to RM180k to RM190k but judging from the number of units for sale, it looks like there is somewhat lack of interests here...