MIEA Johor Convention 2009 - Programme Summary

MIEA Johor Convention 2009 - Programme Summary

Saturday, 31^st October, 2009 (Day 1)

8.00am Registration and Networking

9.00am Arrival of Guest of Honour – Y.A.B Dato’ Haji Abdul Ghani bin Othman,

Menteri Besar Johor (Chief Minister of Johor)

9.05am Official Remarks by MC

9.10am Address by Mr. Lim Boon Ping, Convention Chairman

9.20am Address by Ms. Julie Wong, President MIEA

9.30am Address by Y.A.B Dato’ Haji Abdul Ghani bin Othman, Menteri Besar Johor

9.45am Opening Ceremony

9.55am Tea Break

10.10am Keynote Address: Iskandar Malaysia – The Rise of a New Metropolis

Speaker : Iskandar Investment Berhad

11.00am Session 1: Progress updates on Iskandar Malaysia

Panel Speakers: 1. Iskandar Regional Development Authority

2. Danga Bay Sdn. Bhd.

3. Nusajaya Development Sdn. Bhd.

1.00pm Q & A Session

1.30pm Lunch Break

2.30pm Session 2: Progress updates on Iskandar Malaysia (Continued)

Panel Speakers: 4. TPM Technopark Sdn. Bhd.

5. Port of Tanjung Pelepas

6. Senai Airport Terminal Services Sdn. Bhd.

4.30pm Tea Break

5.00pm Q & A Session

5.30pm Convention Adjourns

7.30pm Fellowship dinner, meet the speakers & networking opportunity

Invited guests: All Speakers, discussion panel members, Miea councilors and any Convention Delegates who wishes to attend (RM100)

________________________________________________________________________________

Sunday, 01^st November, 2009 (Day 2)

8.00am Networking

9.00am Session 3: Johor State Investment Trend & Environment

Speaker: Johor State Investment Centre

9.45am Session 4: Foreigner Property Ownership in Johor State

Speaker: Mr. Andrew Wong, Advocate & Solicitor

10.30am Tea Break

11.00am Session 5: Malaysia My Second Home(MM2H)

Speaker: Ms. Daisy Ong Danker, Consensusbiz (MM2H) Sdn. Bhd.

11.45am Session 6: Integrated Resort (IR) in Singapore

Speaker: IEA Singapore

12.30pm Q & A Session

1.00pm Lunch Break

2.00pm Session 7: Dare to Sell

Speaker: Mr. Billie Lim, Daretofail.com

3.00pm Session 8: Property Investment Opportunities in Johor

Speaker: Mr. Ho Chin Soon, Ho Chin Soon Research Sdn. Bhd.

3.45pm Tea Break

4.00pm Session 9: Marketing Malaysia Internationally

Speaker: Mr. Previndran Sathurgasinghe, Zerin Properties

5.00pm Q & A session

5.30pm Closing Remarks

Iskandar Malaysia - The Rise of A New Metropolis

MIEA Johor Convention 2009 shall be held in Johor Bahru with the followings:-

Theme : Iskandar Malaysia - The Rise of A New Metropolis

Date : 31^st October & 01^st November, 2009 (Saturday and Sunday)

Venue : The Puteri Pacific Johor Bahru Hotel (Permata Ballroom) Johor Bahru, Johor, Malaysia

CPD points : 10 points applied - Board of Valuers, Appraisers & Estate Agents Malaysia

Fees : RM400 - Registered Estate Agents / Registered Valuers

RM200 - Public

*RM100 (optional) Fellowship Dinner on 31^st October, 2009 (Saturday)

Organisers : MIEA Johor Branch and Institute of Estate Agents Singapore

Main Sponsor : Johor State Government

Corporate Sponsor : Iskandar Investment Berhad (IIB)

The objectives of this convention are as follows:

a) To work together with the Federal and Johor State Government in promoting Iskandar malaysia as a strong and sustainable metropolis of international standing.

b) To provide progress updates on the developments taking place in Iskandar Malaysia especially to the target groups, i.e. individuals companies and organizations related in real estate industry.

c) To provide information and platform to clear certain negative perceptions pertaining to Iskandar Malaysia.

d) To provide opportunity for key players/developers from each of the 5 zones to highlight on their current and future developments

e) To provide great business opportunities for all real estate practitioners/investors to get in touch directly with all the key players in Iskandar Malaysia

In view of the abovementioned objectives, the programmes have been arranged as such:

During the first day of Convention, speakers representing all the key players in Iskandar Malaysia according to the 5 highlighted zones from Zone A to E are invited to give talks on the progress updates, current and future plans in their respective fields.

On second day, we shall further examine some of the more important property related issues in the context of Johor. Issues to be discussed shall include investment trend and environment, property investment opportunities, Malaysia My Second Home, foreigner property ownership, Integrated Resort in Singapore, Dare To Sell and marketing Malaysia internationally.

Limited seats available, max 300 participants from both Malaysia and Singapore on a first come first serve basis. For enquiries and registration, please contact the following:

Malaysian Institute Of Estate Agents, Johor Branch

No. 8, Jalan Dedap 17,

Taman Johor Jaya,

81100 Johor Bahru,

Johor, Malaysia.

Tel: +607-3558877

Fax: +607-3550033 / 3535160

Email: limboonping@gmail.com / ann.pslek@gmail.com

Contact Person: Mr. Lim Ah Leck @ +6016-7203399

"I want to sell my property according to the value indicated in my assessment (cukai pintu)."

"My assessment (cukai pintu) says my house is worth RM300,000, please sell my house at the value indicated by government valuers."

Yes, we still receive numerous selling instructions with the abovementioned manner and I was always puzzled by this type of instruction. My answer is NO due to the following two (2) major reasons:

(1) Purpose of valuation
The purpose of valuation when the local government valuers did the valuation is for the purpose of assessment, not for the purpose of sale negotiation. The basis of valuation is therefore varies.

(2) Date of valuation
Our local governments do not update the assessment value every year, they usually update it every 5 to 10 years' time. In the case of Johor, some of our assessment values were actually valued over 10 years ago. Yes, believe it or not, the assessment value you have just shown to me is already 10 years' old!

Therefore, please stop going to estate agents and tell them your property is actually worth higher than the current market value simply because your Assessment (Cukai Pintu) says so. One interesting observation here however, they never show you their assessment when the indicated value is lower than the current market value,due to the reason best known to them.

Is Iskandar Malaysia (formerly IDR) a MYTH or VISION?

I gave a talk on the topic matter pertaining to "Johor Property Market Outlook 2009" early January 2009. During the talk, I was surprised to find there are still many local Johorean who knew very little on Iskandar Malaysia (IM) and/or hardly have any interests in understanding what IM is all about. From what I've gathered so far, foreigners seem to be more "excited" with IM as compared to locals. I do not wish to elaborate too much on why this is happening, the fact is, there are simply too many white elephants running around in Johor Bahru city over the years.

This time round however, I stand to differ. To me, IM is a bold and yet tactful long term plan for Johor Bahru, i.e. to focus, enhance and improve the level of service industry in Johor Bahru. This is a very tactical approach as I dare to say Johor state has been doing well so far in respect of industrial and agricultural sectors, should we want to go further and make our economy more well-rounded, service is the thing to go for. The same goes to many other foreign economies where the GDP percentage for service sector is ever increasing.

During the talk, one question was asked, " why does Johor State Government want to spending hefty sum of money to build new government buildings in Gelang Patah? Is there a need for it". First of all, I am in no position to answer this question. Secondly, this question to me is now irrelevant. The new Johor State Administrative Centre has already been completed and the state government departments are moving in stages by stages starting early this year. The question we all should be asking right now is "how can we play a role in Iskandar Malaysia?"

Especially during this challenging time, we should all get involve more with IM and explore our business opportunities with all the key players in IM, which my company has done so ever since its inception. We have already benefited and we are very optimistic about it. When's your turn?

Malaysia My Second Home - MM2H

MM2H is not really an open license for everything in Malaysia, especially with Johor State pertaining to property ownership. The general MM2H rule of foreigner owning property of priced at RM150,000 doesn't apply to Johor. If i may clarify, all land matters are state matters in Malaysia. In other words, land laws are under the jurisdiction of the different state governments. Take Johor for instance, foreigner can only purchase residential properties of minimum RM250,000 and above with many other terms and conditions.

MM2H originate from a previous plan called "silver-haired programme", which to me is a great move to attractive more foreigners other than just the elderly people to reside in Malaysia. A great disappointment however, this programme prevents them from working. How can we expect those younger and affordable foreign personnels to come and reside in Malaysia for a long period of time without giving them a chance to work locally? Are we too overly protect our local job market? Just some thoughts to share.

Tiram Realty awarded Top Real Estate Agent Award 2008 (Southern Region)

We're proud to have been received the Top Real Estate Agent Award 2008 (Southern Region) from CIMB on 13th February 2009.

Real estate blogs and you

Recently, i came across some blogs concerning real estate investment in Johor Bahru. Interesting blogs as they may be seen, and i am happy to see more blogs of this nature to come into existence, as they provide a good platform for investors at large to pool in their opinions with regards to Johor Bahru property market. Be cautious however to their opinions, as they are not accountable to any real estate professional body to what they have said whatsoever, be it ethicals or real estate professional practices in Malaysia.

I have always tried to avoid general statistics or formalaes in my articles as i always tell this to my clients, what they should choose to invest at the end of the day should be something that they are "familiar" with, which they have plenty of on-site market information. Information, information, information is the golden rule to property investment. Always check out the location, rate of return, tenantability and property management when you want to invest in property. You can refer to my previous articles on this.

One word of advise however, never get yourself "over-geared/over-borrowed" in property investment, or else you may be easily get caught when the market is in the downturn like what's happening to our counter-parts in the States right now.