Episode 2 - Land Grab - Along The Kelana Jaya LRT Extension

Continued from Episode 1

Pretty much every landed property in the old Subang Jaya side have price tags from RM600k and above except for some tiny terraced houses in SS19. These are small 18ft wide houses. Even so, I saw auction prices actually starting from RM360k for these. They are also nowhere near any of the LRT stations.

After old Subang Jaya, the LRT route crosses the KESAS highway and snakes around almost half the perimeter of USJ2 but not a single stop in this area. USJ2 folks will have to either use the SS14/SS18 station or go to the one at the USJ6/USJ7 station. USJ7 is an industrial zone. USJ1 adjacent to it is also a mix of industrial, commercial and there are some residential houses. They are probably the most affordable but not so desirable considering the congestion in this area and that USJ1 being the only leasehold patch in USJ and Subang Jaya.

 The houses in USJ2 close enough to the 1st stop (STN07) in USJ are actually the smaller variant 20ft x 60ft double storey link houses. Prices in mid-2012 were hovering around RM400k but now it has gone up about 15% to 20%. Houses in USJ6 are similar although you will find the classifieds plastered with advertisments of houses for sale everywhere in USJ but there were very few for sale in USJ2. I was also quite astonished that many owners whose houses are clearly very close to the proposed stations have put up their homes for sale. They could have waited a few more years for better appreciation or perhaps they are anticipating their property prices will be affected by the unwarranted traffic.

This is quite true. A few months earlier, I have considered this house in Kelana Jaya.

It is quite a nice house, with a nice number 8, well-maintained by owner, faces a childrens playground, just steps from a row of shophouses which included a few banks and most attractively, it's just 300m from the Kelana Jaya LRT station. The price RM680k, which fell from the initial selling price of RM750k. But still it didn't generate the kind of interests that you would imagine for a property like this. I remember it remained in the market for quite some time and I am not sure if it is sold yet.

The major problem is the congestion by illegal parking sometimes even blocking the main entrance. This is a seriously irritating attitude of Malaysians who park everywhere and even blatantly ignoring summons. So, the same can happen here... I think many landed USJ property owners take advantage of the current high price to exit this area for a more peaceful life somewhere else.

This might explain the slightly better selling proposition of USJ2, as compared to say USJ6, USJ13 or USJ18. All these are landed residential zones adjacent to the LRT stations.

Taking on this cue, I purposely avoided properties that were too close to the LRT station. But I finally settled for this house in USJ13...

 

 

It is approximately 1km from STN09, the 3rd stop in USJ - not too close, not too far either... At the time of viewing, there were at least 8 to 10 other similar houses for sale in this area alone. They were asking between RM380k to RM480k... depending on the condition of the property. However, considering that these houses were built by Sime Darby in 1992, even the best maintained house would still need some tender loving care such as replacing the parquet flooring, electrical cabling, plumbing and the most common faults with Sime Darby is the roofing.

 

I chose this house because it was in very bad shape and that gave me good room for negotiations. Finally closed it at RM350k, I think it is an extremely good bargain considering I can plunk in a good RM80k to RM100k to replace every single part of the house from the roof to the floor, cabling, pipes, all the switches, toilet, doors and still have room to extend the house to make it larger.

 

So effectively, I am going to get an almost brand new house, in a star freehold ex-plantation location. The next fun bit is to actually renovate it and works has already begun. I regret I have not taken many pictures of the original house to give you a good before and after view... but I'll share the finished works in a few months time. Keep your eyes on this blog ;-)