St Mary in Pictures

May 2012 - St Mary is just 2 months now from vacant possession

Still Below RM200k - Menara Seputeh Opposite Midvalley

Nothing is below RM300k these days... and I am talking about Studio apartments. So, when there is a 400sf studio apartment advertised as opposite Midvalley Megamall for RM150k, I had to go and see it. This is Menara Seputeh. It is actually quite visible and I think a lot of us drive past it every day without realizing it is there. In fact, it was around almost 20 years ago when my parents were house hunting in KL. That time, Midvalley wasn't there but Seputeh is only 5 minutes drive to the center of KL. 

Despite the close proximity to the Federal Highway and the KTM Komuter train station, the location is kinda awkward. Going home from the city center is easy, just veer off the Federal Highway and drive straight in but going out to the city means driving Southwards towards Taman Desa. You then have to go inside Taman Desa and U-turn at the traffic lights opposite Desa Residency. During peak hours, this can take up to 40minutes. There is no other alternative. The train station is not entirely convenient too. I guess so... because until now I can't seem to figure how to get to the station from Menara Seputeh. There doesn't seem to be a visible path and hurling oneself onto a passing train maybe the only way to get into a train without an epic trek.

Menara Seputeh consists of a tower and a low rise adjoining building. There are studio units, 2 bedroom units as well as 3 bedroom units in the tower and the low rise consists of studios. I was rather attracted to the low rise studios until I went inside and saw this long dark corridor. It looks like a walkway to nowhere and any time a female figurine with long hair would appear somewhere from the middle.... I can't imagine what it would be like at night.

The unit that I actually went to view however was a rather pleasant surprise. It is a corner studio unit which is quite bright. Despite facing the busy highway, it was very quiet inside.

The corridor from the entrance into the unit however was a waste of space.

But with enough windows, it would be possible to renovate this into a 1-bedroom apartment with privacy.

The entire floor plan was a bit weird. The lift lobby has this huge empty space but all the units were squeezed into corners so they could be sharing the same entrance landing with 2 or 3 other units. Rather narrow...

So, what is it for RM140k... Well... for a start, it obviously have not appreciated much the past few years when we've been witnessing even shoe boxes fetching half a million. The agent claimed it is extremely easy to rent out with the rate going at RM1000/month. But I saw many units vacant.

Despite the low price and nice unit, this place is still a no go...

Sommerset Close

At first sight I thought this was a landed property project so close to the city center but at closer inspection, it turns out that this is actually strata titled town houses. Sommerset Close is a guarded community located at the junction of Jalan Loke Yew and Jalan Cheras. It has this fake Victorian old fashioned style architecture.



There appears to be various types of layout. Most are 3 storey terraces as well as 4 storey but each unit only occupy 2 floors. So, for the 3 storey terrace, the lower and upper unit basically share the 2nd level.

The upper units tend to have a single very tiny entrance as the lower unit occupies almost the entire frontage. The width of the entrance is at most about 10ft so that leaves most lower units with only the french window and no proper door at the front entrance.




They would however enjoy a back-door...



As townhouses they are quite compact. However, if compared with apartments, obviously these are more spacious and enjoy separation of the living/eating area and the bedrooms.


Typically, there are 3 bedrooms upstairs, all of them en-suite. The 2nd and 3rd bedrooms however share a common bathroom.

Bedrooms have typical Malaysian style parquet flooring which in my opinion is outdated. The bathrooms are not luxuriously fitted either.

Each unit gets 2 car parks. Perhaps the unfair distribution of the car parks is, some get to park underground where it is protected from sun and rain but others have to park upstairs uncovered.



There is a decent sized swimming pool.

...and some Victorian wannabe landscaping...

This is a leasehold-99 years property. Although townhouses are relatively lower density than apartments, the close proximity of the entrances to the units and the narrow width of the units makes this place rather claustrophobic. This won't make it as an expat enclave so don't expect good rental income here. Local Malaysians tend not to pay more than RM2000 for a family home so I guess this would be mainly own-stay buying. At around RM650k for sizes between 1700sf and 2300sf depending on the layout, location and if they're upper or lower units this is not too bad considering it is about 10mins drive to the city. We're also expecting a LRT station to be built close-by.