Taragon Puteri

I have seen someone trying to market Taragon Puteri as a Bukit Bintang property. Just as Casa Mutiara is not a Bukit Bintang property, Taragon Puteri certainly is no Bukit Bintang as well in my opinion. Taragon Puteri is Imbi or Pudu. Given the notorierity of the 2, I don't think it matters anymore as long as people don't get fooled into thinking that this is Bukit Bintang.

What is the general impression of Pudu and Imbi?

Pudu = Red Light district

Imbi = Gangsterland

Related to the slightly more posh name-sake in Jalan Yap Kwan Seng (Taragon YKS), Taragon Puteri is the second development in KL to carry the prefix Taragon. It used to be a long abandoned project at the back of Berjaya Times Square through the notorious backlanes of Imbi. Relaunched by developer Taragon Capital, Bluestone and Singaporean Allco as an integrated condo residence, hotel and retail outlet last year, I believe Taragon Puteri will change the landscape of Imbi's backstreets for the better or worse; something Times Square has not been successful at doing. The hotel will be managed by Rendezvous hotels and resorts international (http://www.rendezvoushotels.com.au/).

Coming out of the success of Seri Bukit Ceylon which is co-branded with the international serviced apartment group Somerset, Taragon Puteri's association with Rendezvous should turn out to be a successful one. Subject that the economic crisis does not eat into it...

Taragon Puteri consists of a mixture of family sized 3 bedroom units and studios. The 522sq ft and a rather odd sized 1044sq ft studios are fully sold at launch around RM600psf. While I can perfectly understand spending RM300k for a studio, I am puzzled how someone would even consider paying in excess of RM600k for the 1044sq ft unit. It is a very strange unit with a separate entrance for the kitchen, 2 living rooms (!!), 2 bathrooms and only 1 bedroom.

The most popular units also seems to be the Type 7, approx 1500sf unit which consists of a 2 bedroom and 2 bathroom with an adjoining studio unit which has a separate entrance. This is a very good idea for own stay and you have a separate studio unit to earn you valuable rental income or somewhere to stick your mother in-law or your wayward teenager.

picture above: The adjoining studio unit

Picture above: The studio unit has its' own kitchen

In my opinion, this is good value for the RM900k price tag as the studio would easily earn you at least RM2000/month (benchmark on Times Square) and if you decide to rent the 2 bedroom unit as well, it should be able to fetch at least Rm5500/month giving you a combined income of RM7500/month for a 1500sf plot. It should not be too difficult to rent out the studios especially considering there are only 5 units of studios per floor including the oddly laid 1044sf studio. Type 7 is the only one which has a view of KLCC. No wonder it is SOLD OUT:

However, there are still a few units of Type 8 which has a similar concept (i.e. a larger 3 bedroom 3 bathroom unit with an adjoining studio which has a separate entrance). I reckon Type 8 is not as popular as it is a corner unit which has a wall facing the hotel and the rest is overlooking ... Cheras...

The showroom at the site models the Type 8 which in my opinion is a disappointment. The kitchen is really too small and dim with a connecting maid's room. The bathroom connected to the maid's room is really just a toilet and a sink. The maid will have to share your bathroom as I cannot see any possibility of installing a shower within the tiny space...

Picture above: The larger Type 8 unit's kitchen is really too small and dim

Picture above: Type 8's 3rd bedroom

Picture above: Type 8's Living Room

Final verdict on this?

Well, the smaller studios are probably a better buy considering the benchmark that Times Square has set at RM2500/month rental. The low density of studios compared to Casa Mutiara and Times Square would mean little internal competition and faster movement. Type 7 although sold out would be a value buy if it comes out into the sub-sale market especially if it is a firesale in the rougher economic doldrum next year when Taragon Puteri is expected to be completed end of 2009 (bad timing).

The location is not exactly great, especially when one needs to negotiate crime and vice infested backlanes of Imbi to get to Times Square and the monorail station. Hopefully, the prestige of an international-grade hotel will change the neighbourhood for the better. Getting to Bukit Bintang by car is also not straight-forward due to the one-way road scheme.

Condominium Management

Over the past year there have been flurry of activities to hand over the management of condominiums to the respective owners. Many owners are getting their strata titles which has been owed to us some going back more than 10 years. Management bodies comprising owners are being formed. Decisions are being made whether to vary the fee contributions, insurance and other management issues. Some I have seen going smoothly with nothing untoward but most are quite messy.

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Take Mutiara Villa for example. The condominium was completed more than 15 years ago. It was only in the past 2 years that owners have started to receive their strata titles. And in all these years, we have been paying our maintenance fees without actually seeing any accounts on how the money has been spent. There are about 250 units, each paying on average RM250 per month which totals a RM62,500 monthly collection or RM750,000 per year. In the past 15 years about RM11 million was collected. So today in 2008, the management or the developer has yet to be able to present any audited accounts going back the years on how this RM11million has been spent.

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Of course, the management and developer argued that many owners have not paid up. In fact, when Mutiara Villa held a briefing last month to owners they revealed that only 10% of the owners payment has been up to date. This is a shocking fact! Why then has the management not done anything to compel the owners to pay up?

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What has been most worrying is the developer is now on the verge (as required by law) to hand over the management of their properties to the owners. Will it now become the onus of the owners' management committee to go after the defaulters? What about other liabilities such as the poor maintenance like falling structures, legal fights and other legacies that the owners now will inherit? So, the developers have created a mess and now they are going to pass the mess to the owners to handle.

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The Mutiara Villa briefing turned into a shouting match and the new management body appointed by developer Sari Mutiara under a clout of secrecy now promised to hold the 1st AGM to form a management committee by December 2008. It is interesting to see if this is going to happen.

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In the case of Mutiara Villa, the developer Sari Mutiara is not that well known. In fact, they are no longer active. However, on the other end of it we have E&O - the well known developer from Penang famous for high-so projects such as 202DC, Dua Residency, Sri Tanjung Pinang and runs a posh hotel in Penang called Eastern and Oriental.

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E&O has been on the receiving end of the stick by owners at Kampung Warisan. During the 1st AGM conducted last weekend the owners were upset that only the 2007 accounts were being distributed and even that is un-audited. There were shouts of incompetence, poor governance and unprofessionalism from the owners and a top financial representative from E&O even brought out the word "Fraud"! Interesting that this word came out from an E&O representatives mouth. The fact is, nobody ever accused E&O of fraud but while the finance representative was making his defence, under so much stress he uttered that the residents should not be suspicious of E&O committing fraud with their money.

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In my opinion, it is highly unprofessional of E&O being a respected and experienced company not being able to come up to the owners in a cooperative and transparent way. About 6 months ago, the owners of Kampung Warisan formed a residents committee. They highlighted many issues of poor maintenance and management to E&O and demanding some transparency in the accounts but the very same finance representative from E&O sent them a letter stating that the residents committee is not a recognised body. During the AGM, a foreign owner blasted E&O of not properly informing all owners about the AGM. E&O replied that letters of invitation were given through the residents committee (which they officially said that they did not recognize). Here they were trying to pass the blame.

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E&O also sent out the agenda of the 1st AGM which was "To DECIDE" and "TO DETERMINE" a number of things such as whether to continue with the insurance policy, vary or maintain the quantum of the maintenance fees etc. No doubt the strata title act requires all these agendas to be included in the 1st AGM but E&O has not even provided the residents with a proper audited accounts and also the insurance policy for the residents to be able to make an INFORMED decision. And the 1st agenda of the meeting that E&O drafted, the AGM has to vote to adopt the agenda of the AGM which means all those issues need to be DETERMINED and DECIDED upon.

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Unlucky for E&O, the owners were able to out-manouvre them. The first action which the owners took, which was provided by the Strata Titles Act was to elect a Chairman among them to chair the meeting. This was an important move as the Chairman was then able to conduct the flow of the meeting away from the intentions of the developer. Then the AGM voted to proceed to elect the Management Committee and adjourn the meeting straight after so that the decisions will only be made when the 1st AGM reconvenes after E&O has provided all necessary information to the owners to make an informed decision. In this way, E&O cannot say that they do not want to provide whatever information to an "unrecognized body".

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It is extremely important that all owners of condominiums or apartments to keep their payment up to date and to acquire their strata title. Otherwise they will not be able to vote or be voted into a decision body which determines the fate of their properties. UMLand however conducted the 1st AGM for Seri Bukit Ceylon without this requirement. I noticed that there has been some minor irregularities in the conduct of the AGM, for example not all owners who voted got their strata titles and the meeting was chaired by the CEO of UMLand instead of a Chairman elected by the owners. Proxies were also voting by show of hands - which the Strata Title act says they could not. Proxies can only vote by secret ballot.

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Nevertheless, I am impressed by UMland's conduct. The fully audited accounts were published and distributed to all owners prior to the AGM. Despite the accounts running at a loss, UMLand made the decision to absorb all the lossed so that the new Management Committee started from a clean slate. Unfortunately, the AGM voted to increase the maintenance fees from 25sen to 34sen psf. It was also heartening to see that the owner of the biggest block of units in Seri Bukit Ceylon, Somerset Serviced Residences agreed to pay a higher maintenance fee at 40sen psf. Makes me just want to cry.... To top it up, UMLand treated all the owners to delicious sandwiches and cream cakes at the end of the AGM.

Per Square Feet?

These past couple of years I have become familiar with properties selling at per square feet price. Before we would talk about the whole value of the property. Say a 1000sf apartment at RM300k vs RM300psf. What has happened? It looks like properties becoming some sort of commodity being sold by the kilos.

We've got Seri Bukit Ceylon going for RM900psf, Meritz at RM1300psf, Parkview RM1100psf....

For me, I largely ignore this. In my opinion, a KLCC view unit at Seri Bukit Ceylon is worth more than a unit facing the wall of Kirana at Marc Residence. So I would rather negotiate based on the complete value of the unit rather than follow trend based on psf value of the property.

A few months ago while looking at Menara Bukit Ceylon, one particularly opportunistic owner wanted to sell his 1500sf unit at RM950,000. He pointed out that Seri Bukit Ceylon is RM750psf, so at RM630psf, his unit is a bargain, never mind the fact that Menara Bukit Ceylon was transacting at RM500k to RM600k per unit at that time. I am certain that owner is still looking for a buyer today but he might well find it in a few years time provided he is patient enough to wait. But I do feel sorry for the estate agents who advertise the unit at their own cost.

In Recession - it's Official

It's interesting to note that the classifieds are still advertising KLCC properties at sky high prices. We are talking RM1300psf for Meritz and RM1200psf for Marc residence. I am curious if there are actually any transactions. What is certain now is that the advertisments for the same property runs for much longer, disappears and then reappears again a few weeks later.

This is the recession that everyone has been anticipating since last year. In my view, it is the longest lull before the storm. But what is certain, the next few months we will start to see property prices on the downward slide.

Why do I say this?

There will be a few thousand units coming into the market this year. Many of them purchased by short term speculators. Yes, some might argue that there were many cash buyers, foreigners, Arabs, Mainland Chinese with buckets of Yuan... but there is no doubt that there are hundreds, if not thousands of local speculators among them. I know at least a few people who do not have the fundamentals to back up their purchase, they were just hoping to cash out upon VP. The cash buyers, mainly would probably just sit still and hold it out for a few years until the economy picks up again (provided that their other investments or livelihood is not affected). While the speculators will drop their pants when the installments, added with the maintenance fees and other costs kicks in.

So, has it been a mistake to have bought a property a year ago since there will be a fire-sale coming? I would say no. I myself have made a few purchases. Our Malaysian inflation is now at 8.5% (official figure) - the unofficial figure is of course higher, when you take into account that we subsidize a lot of out goods from tax payers money... So that means, if our money has stayed in the bank earning 3% interest p.a., it would have depreciated by 5% to 7% within this 1 year period. So, 1 year ago if we have bought a property, we would have enjoyed and collected 1 year's worth of rent to counter the losses of our money depreciation.

How about now? To buy or not to buy?

I would say it is probably not a good idea to have wads of cash sitting in the bank. First of all, it depreciates, even more this time. And secondly, the bank might not necessarily be around any more next few months. Don't panic yet! So what do you do with the money? Buy gold? Buy USD? Buy stocks? Everywhere there are risks.

In my opinion, property is still a safe bet because it is still a tangible investment. No matter what happens, you still have that property to live in which will at least last you 99 years till you children grow old. And the next economic cycle will see that the property value appreciates higher than the value dropped.

The challenge is of course to find a good location, a good property with a very good price. And make sure you bought it cause the owner was desperate to sell. Of course this makes sense only if you have lots of cash. If you don't, my opinion is to sit still and do nothing for the next few years. But if you really itchy and really have to buy something, try to go for those fixed rate loans.

Office in KLCC area

First of all, I must confess this is a market I am not at all familiar with. Commercial. However, when I saw this ad for a 800sf office just a 10minute walk from KLCC for slightly over RM650psf, I thought this is a steal considering all the residential lots within a 1km radius of KLCC are going for minimum RM1000psf. And this office unit is located within the same building as Seri Maya hotel, with nice Italian quality marble entrance, steel and lots of tempered glass. Certainly an A-grade Jalan Ampang address - well, perhaps an A minus...


The building you see above is actually a 3 in 1. At the front is Menara Chan, an office. In the middle and the main lobby houses Seri Maya hotel, a 4 star hotel. And at the back is Plaza 138, another office block with individual owners and strata title. Location is directly opposite BSN tower and in between the KLCC and Dang Wangi LRT station. It is also about 400m from the Bukit Nanas monorail station. I would consider this a prestigious address... not sure about those familiar with the commercial market. Please advice.

The unit in question is in Plaza 138. Despite the excellent location, one of my quarrels with it is, Plaza 138's entrance is actually at the middle of the building which, if you don't know you might not be able to find it. However, it is directly opposite the entrance of Seri Maya hotel's lobby.

picture above: Top view of the main entrance

Plaza 138 is basically quadrangle. There is a center courtyard which is actually the swimming pool of Seri Maya hotel. You can barely see it when you look down because it is covered with a bamboo roof. It is served by 2 very slow lifts but they seem well maintained and looks very classy with a lot of marble and stainless steel.

picture above: Top view of Swimming pool

What attracted me to Plaza 138 is that every office includes a small pantry, a shower and a toilet within the unit. So, this means it can be turned into a SOHO unit if the tenant wants to live in it. It can be renovated in such a way that it's partially residential and partially office. Just needs imagination.


The main issue of course is the Muslim graveyard behind the building. Unfortunately, every unit has a nice view of the grave yard. I would imagine that this would affect the feng shui of businesses as well as the ability to find a tenant who would like to live or work so close to the graveyard.

From my understanding, the rental fetches about RM4.50psf/month but it does not come with car park. You have to rent the car park separately from the building management at RM160/month per plot on availability basis. During my visit, the offices are about 80% occupied. I would say, the rental and the price is reasonable for the location but the graveyard is really a big issue. For me, one who works late every night, I would have a problem and would have an even bigger problem convincing my staffs to stay late and finish their work.

Recently Completed - Merc Residence

I always like niche developments... those which are really low density and exclusive. I have my eye on these places all the time. One such development is Sri Bayu in Bangsar (only 16 units, price circa RM600k), and One Jelatek (99 units by Tan&Tan in Setiawangsa) and now, this one... Merc Residence in Taman Desa. Not to be confused with Marc Residence opposite KLCC, although I suspect the developer was trying to rub shoulders with an established name.

The developer is little known, although apparently they did the shopping mall underneath Dataran Merdeka and the drab shop lots in Taman Shamelin Perkasa. But Merc Residence is completed, so why worry?

In terms of location, Merc Residence is somewhat liveable... it is not quite Bangsar or Seputeh but not too out of the way either. In terms of accessibility, I think it's not too bad as it is the first left turn of Old Klang Road but I would imagine getting out of it in the morning would be a hassle as one has to go further up for a U-turn. Then there is the public transport factor... there is no such facility except the irregular buses but one would not expect the tenants here to be public transport material anyway. In any case, Taman Desa with some very successful condos like One Residency and neighbouring Taman Seputeh's Sri Langit do not rely on the public transport factor to be successful. It's target market which is mainly the booming Midvalley and Pantai enclave would ensure good yield. Each unit is given a car park and with only a total of 36 units, it is extremely low density and exclusive.

With 4 layouts to choose from, I am particularly attracted to the 2 corner units particularly the 1205sf Type A. There are only 10 units of each type to choose from so you can imagine why it is now sold out. Although I know of it's existense some time back when it was launched, I only took sudden interest this morning. And yet, I procrastinated. It was advertised in one of the classifieds and by the time I got there at 5pm, it was completely sold out. The pricing between RM300k and RM450k is extremely aggressive for this kind of development and I am not at all surprised... although disappointed...

Note: Highly disappointed at not being able to snare a unit, I forgot to take any photos - the pics above are courtesy of the developer's website.

Mutiara Villa

picture above: View from Block B, Type G

picture above: Type G at Block B is a corner unit, with a rounded window in the Master Bedroom

Picture above: Type G in Block B has a 2nd bedroom which is quite big in size and has it's own attached bathroom
Picture above: The living room and kitchen is rather narrow. This bar will need to be demolished.

There is no doubt that the rental demand is very strong for lower cost city center condominiums. By lower cost, I mean:

• Less than RM2000 for studios or 1 bedrooms
• Less than RM3000 for 2bedroom units or bigger
  

And by city center, I don't mean Sri Hartamas, Bangsar or Mont Kiara....

With the success of the "low cost" condominiums, I have been looking for more units in Mutiara Villa to invest in. Mutiara Villa, situated at the corner of Tengkat Tong Shin and Jalan Sahabat is at the foot of Bukit Ceylon. This means, just walking distance to most commercial and shopping centers in KL.

I am not too surprised that the available units for sale now are asking 30% higher than last year's price. For example, a 2 bedroom unit was auctioned from RM240k last year and finally sold at RM280k. This year, the minimum asking price for a 2 bedroom unit is RM340k. However, this makes it harder to justify because rent has not increased a great deal. take a 1 bedroom unit for example, the rental 2 years ago is in the range RM1200 to RM1500. This year, I have seen units rented out for RM1800. Perhaps the owners have done some renovations and bought new furnishings.

Also due to it's location, Mutiara Villa has in the past few years been dogged by security issues. It is so easy for people to just walk in and there are all sorts of people in this part of Bukit Bintang. Many residents tell me that the crime are mostly committed from within. This is quite possible. An agent who started operating in this building has been making quick rentals by renting to immigrant workers. As many owners live outstation or overseas entrusts their keys to this agent, they are not aware about what's going on except for receiving rental money monthly in their bank account. Some of these units have 10 and even 15 occupants! They made their presence felt by gathering in the lobby and swimming pool deck, sometimes creating a nuisance.

Why then am I still interested in Mutiara Villa?

Well, first of all, it's location, location and ... location. Secondly, there is a ray of hope now that a new management company has taken over. Security gantries and a key card system is being introduced. I understand that owners will soon be forced to register their tenants and only a limited number of keycards will be issued for each units to prevent them from being turned into dormitories. If serious action is taken, I am confident that Mutiara Villa can return to its former glory.

picture above: Type F Block A's view

Mutiara Villa consists of 2 blocks with about 270 units of studios, 1 bedrooms, 2 bedrooms and some 3 bedroom apartments. The 1 bedroom units here are particularly popular especially those in Block A facing KLCC. Other popular units are those facing the swimming pool. Of course, being more than 10 years old, it looks really tired but there are now some attempts to refurbish the common areas. Common facilities include a swimming pool, jacuzzi, barbecue pit and a sauna that doesn't work.

231TR Revisited

231TR is a commercial-titled serviced residence located at well... No. 231 Jalan Tun Razak. It's immediate neighbours include the Kuwaiti embassy on one side and the notorious Indonesian embassy on the other side. From the launching date, buyers have seen a capital appreciation of almost 40%. Considering that the developer is bearing interests costs during construction period, this has been a good investment. As though to minimize interests payment, the developer seems to be rushing to complete the project ahead of time. Judging from the picture above, taken on 29th August 2008, it seems well in place to complete by October 2008.

Tranquility of Kampung Warisan

I was just showing some prospective tenants around couple of weeks ago and couldn't help taking some pictures of scenes which impressed them a lot. The result of the day of course was encouraging.

Picture above: Fish Pond with Koi

Picture above: Swimming Pool

Picture above: Gym

Picture above: Village like setting

Picture above: Jogging track

Picture above: Basketball court

Picture above: Lots of greenery

Picture above: Restaurant

Picture above: Swimming pool from another angle

Picture above: Jacuzzi

The Pains of Renting

I just have a tenant move out leaving me only 1 day to clean up and repair before the next tenant moves in. I would normally expect some minor repairs to be done which is mainly due to wear and tear but when it is damage done deliberately it's something else. Starting with this remote control with the battery wires totally ripped out.


Next, I've got scratches and unremovable stains left on table tops....
Window handles were also ripped out and the problem is there is no spare parts for this type of window handle. It's already obsolete and the only solution would be to change all the window handles.
Some heavy material must have dropped on the floor. Dents on laminate flooring would be easier to fix but troublesome and expensive as you need to get the specialist to come.
There are also scratches on the wooden doors and walls. These were caused by someone with a sharp or hard material.

Apparently, one day my tenant came home without his keys and decided to hire a locksmith to break open the door. I was not informed about this until the day he moved out and imagine living for a few months without any locks! This is the main door!
Never leave any expensive and nice looking pieces of furniture in your rented house. This neo-antique table lamp is broken and missing the top silk lamp shade.

Besides the broken cabinet doors, one of them broken in half, of course the place was filthy. The kitchen tops and all utensils are covered in grease, maybe 1 year and 4 months old, bathroom molds and the dust revealed that the place has probably never been cleaned for the entire tenancy.

How did this happen? Well, this is to expect when you rent to a single guy. And the single guy met a woman who came in to stay with her 2 kids. All of them in this small 600sf 1 bedroom apartment. Anyway, I am not upset or disappointed... that's why we keep a deposit. I would advice all house owners to hold on to the deposit until the house been checked and repaired thoroughly before releasing the balance to the tenant. Many of the repairs cost a lot because they are small and petty and you have to pay a premium to get people to come and do the work at such a short notice. In all, in good faith, I am still grateful and thankful to the tenant for staying with me for 1 year and 4 months.