Vertical II Bangsar is Completed

In August, 4 months ago UOA was rushing all buyers to pay up and take possession of their Vertical II office suites. Immediately, they started charging maintenance fees at the full rate of 55 sen psf. Today most of th offices (over 99%) are still vacant.

Issue is not about demand. The issue is the building is not even completed yet! Starting with the corridors and lifts. They are dusty from daily constructions works. I am not talking just about the floors upstairs. I am talking about the lifts, the main lobby and the car parks. Of course the corridors up where the offices are dusty as well but I understand there might be some renovations going on. But on my floor there are no renovations but yet the corridors and lift lobby are dusty. There is no cleaning service.

It is still obvious there are constructions going on. Where you park your car, the sign boards don't mean anything because most of the exits are still boarded up. So you can end up driving round and round looking for an exit.

Traffic control is also a night mare. Temporary cones mark the routes. But as you exit the underground car park, you need to enter again in order to make a u-turn to go out. This type of chinaman developer really lose my respect.

I can understand if there are still rectification works because the building is still new. But I cannot accept the offices corridors, lobby and lifts to be dusty. It is not acceptable to tenants and certainly not acceptable to me when I am paying RM600 per month for NO SERVICE.

Once in a while

Once in a while I'd like to post my rants as a property owner in this blog.

If you are renting a property in Malaysia, appreciate it if your landlord provides you with Internet. You cannot imagine the hell he has to go through dealing with YOU and the service provider to install the service and restore it when it fails.

How many of us here feel like we are renting Wifi instead of apartments?

This Blog been very quiet lately... what's happening?

That's because something BIG is in the plans... watch this space ;)

Black-Listed Tenant Facebook

Hot on the heels of my rant about a Landlord-Tenant directory, there is now a facebook closed group to highlight bad tenants. They have over 7000 members and growing.

Next we need a Blacklisted Landlord forum.

The Making of Plat Kitchen - Part 2

In June, we started renovations of the Plat Kitchen  after an extensive search for a suitable location. Today we have been running in style...

Menu board outside features the day's promotion. The cafe is also promoted via social media and this has been very effective drawing over 60% of the cafe's clientele via this medium.

At the entrance, you will be greeted by delicious cakes which are always sold out by the evening...

The specialty here has to be the gourmet coffee. We went the extra mile (literally) to make sure we serve the best beans... in fact, the best in Melaka

And round the coffee bar, you will find a busy cafe...

The menu is designed to provide you an all round choice of meals, from breakfast to lunch, dinner, tea cakes, beverages and desserts...

The specialy Big Plat all day breakfast is one of the best sellers...

Besides the good food and coffee, our objective to provide a comfortable and relaxing culinary experience is successful. Most of the customers come here to catch up with friends and we also hosts parties.

Do visit us at 596, Jalan Melaka Raya 10, Taman Melaka Raya, 75000 Melaka...

We actually rented the whole shop upstairs and downstairs.... keep a look out at this space while we transform the top floor into a fashionable home stay...

Irresponsible Renovations

Over-commercialization of Bukit Ceylon will one day cause property prices to drop when people stay away from the area. Intermediate landed properties here, most of them used to be residential have transacted no less than RM7million the past year. Naturally this causes owners or their tenants to try and maximize as much useable space as possible, resulting in some of the most horrible renovations you have ever seen. 

While the building below was under renovations, I witnessed the cross beam which is holding 2 floors above it warp in the middle. One day it will collapse. 

Our friendly city hall officers have come and pasted some notes to attempt to stop their work. But this has been completely ignored and as we see, there is a lack of enforcement. 

Whatever the structures above are going to house, whether it is a bar or a back packer inn, I am convinced once the loading reaches its limit, the structure will collapse and people will die.

What a way then to kill, not just human beings in the process, the entire property market in the Bukit Ceylon area.... watch this space...

Sekeping Sin Chew Kee

Tucked in a corner somewhere off Jalan Pudu is another one of Seksan's masterpiece... Sekeping Sin Chew Kee. This is another example of a "responsible conservation" that adds value to the property

the Signature Serviced Apartmentel at Mont Kiara

Over the weekend, I came across this very interesting project. Which I witnessed being built at various stages as I pass by Mont Kiara on the Penchala Link but I never knew what it was. 

It is a sort of mixture of private residences, hotel, car show room and restaurant, all in one. So definitely commercial title.

Location wise, one can argue about it until the cows come home. On one hand, this is probably the only property sitting nicely within whack of Sri Hartamas and Mont Kiara. It has the best of both worlds. The abundance of cheap eateries and cafes of SH and the exclusiveness of MK, all within walking distance. Though separated by an elevated highway, there is a walkway from the Signature to cross Jalan Desa Kiara to Plaza Mont Kiara and the 1MK Mall.

On the other hand, living beside a highway can drive one nuts. Especially when your unit faces it. Though it has pretty good quality sound proofing, the noises from the speeding traffic still filters through and drowns out the silence (or lack of..) of the night.

View wise, there isn't much... if you are not facing the highway, you are facing this soon to be construction site below..

Or, an oxidation pond...

which comes with a bonus of a petrol station...

perhaps the only decent view is Sri Hartamas below but most units who have this view will also have the smell courtesy from the oxidation pond and the petrol station...

Views, sounds (and smell) aside, the place is pretty well decked out. It doesn't have a very impressive large lobby but the quality is there to see. From the lift lobby below... 

the car ramp coming up to the building...

and the lift lobbies on every floor... you notice the construction quality and superior ingredients used.

The hotel and the residences share the same buildings. And floors. The residences are separated by this security glass door which is pretty annoying because it doesn't close on its own and will beep all night if you do not close it properly.

The residences units itself are quite small. About 400sf. As you enter, you are faced with a tiny living room, with a dining area and kitchenette

The white goods and kitchen cabinets below are provided by the developer

same as the quality bathroom fittings...

the rest of the interior design are up to individual owners...

It's such a small place. So it's easy to fit out. What I really like is the quality fittings and finishings provided. Marble floor for the living/dining/pantry/bath area and wood for the bedroom. There is also entrances to the bathroom from both the living room and the bedroom. This is very important. 

There is a sky lounge, which is essentially the hotel's reception and has a small cafe restaurant - I presume for hotel guests to have their breakfast.

Probably the best facility is the infinity pool. It looks really good but a tad too small to have a decent swim.

The obligatory gym looks under utilized and under-equipped.

There is also a childrens play room..

For RM450k per unit, the price does seem pretty steep for the size of the units. It's not something easy to rent out to people for long term stays. But if you can handle the hassle of check-ins, check-outs, complaints and demands of short term guests, you might have a business case.