Interview by Mediacorp Singapore's MoneyWeek on Iskandar Malaysia

18 December 2013 - COO of Tiram Realty, Lim Boon Ping, interviewed by Mediacorp Singapore's MoneyWeek on Iskandar Malaysia

Interview by 财经追击 Money Week on MediaCorp Channel U, Singapore
http://video.xin.msn.com/watch/video/episode-44/2efaci39h

Updates fromTiram Realty's Facebook Page

Appointed as the Organising Chairman of Marec 2014

COO of Tiram Realty, Lim Boon Ping, has been appointed as the Organising Chairman of Marec 2014

Tiram Realty, Your Trusted Real Estate Agency in Iskandar Malaysia

Winner of:

Best SCB Panel of REA for sales performance for 2013 (1st Quarter), 2nd Runner Up
MIEA National Real Estate Awards 2012:State Real Estate Agency of the Year (Johor)

CIMB PropertyMart - Top Real Estate Agency Awards 2010 (Southern Region)

Best SCB Panel of REA for sales performance for 2010, 2nd Runner Up

CIMB PropertyMart - Top Real Estate Agency Awards 2009 (Southern Region)

CIMB PropertyMart - Top Real Estate Agency Awards 2008 (Southern Region)

Three Reasons to LIKE Tiram Realty Facebook Page

We've just upgraded our Tiram Realty Facebook Page. Now it will automatically show:

1. The latest real estate properties for sale, rent and auction

2. The latest articles updates on this website

3. Real estate news, specifically in Iskandar Malaysia.

And you could get all that by simply clicking "Like" button on the right blue Facebook box. (If you're not Facebook user and prefer to have our listings sent to your email instead, please subscribe our FREE newsletter via the box on the lower right. )

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.

Auction cancelled 20 minutes AFTER HAMMER DOWN

In response to our article entitled "Can someone cancel the house I bought in an auction?", one of our website visitors is kind enough to share with us a personal experience:

It happened to me 2 years ago. For my case, 20 minutes after the hammer down, the bank cancelled. I was not even given the chance to sign S&P. Nevertheless, I proceeded to sue the bank and won the case in KL High Court. The difficult tasks are finding a lawyer that is willing to sue and a valuator willing to prove your damage. My case is pending for the damage assessment.- S Ong

Under the auction law, the property is declared sold upon hammer down, hence leaving no more rooms for withdrawal. So, I have no doubt that Mr. S Ong above has a solid cause of action against the bank and i'm happy that the KL High Court has further strenghten this principle. He pointed out a very practical problem however, i.e. getting a lawyer to sue the bank.

How to get satellite images of your property?

Thanks to Google Maps, obtaining a satellite image of your property is as easy as lifting your finger, and and it's FREE! Though the image may not be real-time, it's already a technological wonder that many of us could benefit from.

View Larger Map

If you have noticed, Google Maps has now included many street names in major cities in Malaysia. Hopefully very soon we could find detailed driving directions through Google Maps, as what millions of users in United States and many other countries have been using.

If your property is in Malaysia, you might find it tricky to find it on Google Map using your address (as I've mentioned, it's not fully functional for some countries like Malaysia). My tip is to first find a bigger area ("Malaysia", or "Johor" for example).

Once you are in the "Malaysia" map, then all you need to do is to do some dragging and zooming in. (If you know any other better ways, feel free to share it with us!)

To see the map in satellite mode, click on the "Sat" button on the top right corner of the map. And yes, you can show the terrain of the area by clicking the "Ter" as well.

You could even mark your property with it, like how we mark the location of our office in the map above.

P.S. If you have yet to use Google Map before, and you would like to know more about it, you might want to visit the following link:

http://maps.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=68259

Real Estate Tips #20: Subprime loan crisis, the after thoughts...

This is what happen in United States, i.e. if you cannot qualify for loans or are having difficulty obtaining credit through the normal channel, then a subprime loan may be your next port of call. A subprime loan is a loan that is given to people with a bad credit record. The interest rate on a subprime loan is likely to be a lot higher than an interest rate you would expect on a loan from a bank.

In Malaysia, the closest to its kind is probably credit company. However, this kind of credit loan is usually smaller in amount and is not widely used when purchasing real estate in Malaysia unlike its peers in United States. Once defaulted, as with the case with "loan-sharks", it creates more social issue rather than economic issue.

What I'm more concerned with is the so-called "Full-Loan" package the developers are offering in the market for the past few years. Yes, you can now own a house by paying a nominal sum of probably RM500. The developer can achieve this by marking up the true selling price of the property by 10%, enabling the buyer to obtain 100% loan, or full-loan so to speak. Unlike the conventional way of buying houses, where the buyer used to fork-up minimum 10% downpayment for the house price, this new marketing strategy has given more people (even the less affordable ones) to own a house at an earlier stage.

As a result, the banks now loses their comfort zone of this 10% of the house price. Once defaulted, the borrower may still owe the bank's a considerable sum of money even after the property is being auctioned. In other words, house buyers today are much more heavily-indebted as compared to the conventional ones. They are also exposed to higher risk on variation in the interest rates, i.e. Base Lending Rates.

Spending future money seems to be the trend now. Even when we buy a few thousand mobile phone, some still opt to pay by installment, thanks to the bank's "zero-interest" repayment scheme.

We are in the midst of building another economic bubbles, which we don't know when it will burst. But if it does burst, are we then prepared for it?

Real Estate Tips #19: Sell your property through a registered estate agent

By way of referral or advertisement, you may call up a registered estate agent to sell your property for you. On your first meeting, the following should be discussed:

(1) Joint inspection of the property
- Before the joint inspection, you might want to give the address of the property to the agent for him to gather some information on the market price. During the inspection, the owner should produce documents such as photocopy of the title or quit rent receipts as proof of ownership.

- The owner should clearly point out to the agent any renovation involved and any known defaults on the property.

(2) Formal written instruction to procure a purchaser
Any registered estate agent should have with themselves a an instruction form, normally known as " Appointment to act as an estate agent (to secure a purchaser) " . This form may vary from one agent to another, but the general information should be as following as prescribed under the Malaysian Estate Agent Standard:

(a) Vendor's (seller) details and contact.

(b) Type of property

(c) Property address.

(d) The permission for the agents to display signboards/advertise in the media/send out flyers and promote generally the sale of property.

(e) The general terms and condition of sales, which includes:
- Asking price
- Earnest deposit on acceptance of offer, which is normally 1%
- On signing of Sale & Purchase Agreement, which is the balance 9%
- After signing the balance to be paid within, which is normally 120 days
- With or Without vacant possession, it simply means the buyer can or cannot take over the occupying of the property after purchase
- Other terms and conditions include, such as 8% p.a. charged on any extension give to the completion period of the agreement.

(f) Types of agency, such as exclusive/sole/sole joint/joint/ad hoc agency. Further explanation can be found in my previous article named Types of Agency you may come across with an estate agent.

(g) Appointment period.
- It can vary from 2 months to 6 months or so.

(h) Agreed fee
- Commission payable as prescribed by the Valuers, Appraisers and Estate Agents Act
- Payable upon the creation of a binding contract for the sale and purchase of the property, i.e. the signing of a unconditional Sale & Purchase Agreement.

- Other reimbursement may include :
I. costs of printing, plans, copies of documents, lithography, traveling (only when the distance between the agent's office and the property is more than 40km) and other expenses actually incurred;
II. costs of media advertisements, signboards, brochures or other promotional materials;
III. costs of private auction, conductin a tender, open house , exhibitions and tele and electronics marketing services.
IV. the total cost of reimbursement is payable on receipt of a statement of accounts even in the event of the transaction not being successfully concluded.

(i) In the case of this appointment being aborted, the estate agent is entitled to claim 50% of the full fee or 50% of the forfeited deposit/ compensation received, whichever is the lower.

(j) The capacity of the instruction given, such as registered proprietor, attorney of the registered proprietor pursuant to a Power of Attorney or a trustee for the legal owner.

(k) Signatory and witness.

(l) Viewing arrangement need to be decided as some property may be tenanted , then special arrangement needs to be made with the cooperation of the tenant before viewing.

Again , the above may vary from one agents to another, but this is pretty much the terms needed to be agreed upon between the agent and the vendor at the stage of appointment.

Real Estate Tips #18: Getting a registered estate agent to source a house for you

Over the years in the real estate industry, I've noticed one phenomenon, i.e. many people tend to seek service from a registered estate agent (REA) without knowing exactly what they want! Here's a simple guide or questions rather, that can help you to determine what you want before looking for a REA, hence making things easier for a REA to work on your instruction more precisely.

Qualifying process:

(1) What is the purpose of this instruction?
- Investment
Then you are looking at tenanted properties, giving you consistent rental income with possible growth in capital value.

- Owner-occupier
Then you are looking for properties that can deliver vacant possession, i.e. that even if it's tenanted at the time of buying, but the tenancy can be terminated, giving back to you the right to use the property at a timely manner.

(2) Budget
What's the initial outlay and installment that you can afford? For a residential property, you should be prepare minimum 15% for the house price as initial outlay, i.e. 10% for the downpayment, balance 5% for the incidental costs such as legal fees and stamping. The monthly installment figure should not be more than 30% of your monthly net disposable income. Net disposable income is the balance sum of your monthly gross income less monthly commitment with financial institution, such as car loan or other mortgages.

For example,
Gross Monthly salary = RM5000
Car Installment = RM1000
First house Installment = RM1000

Then your net disposable income is equals to :
RM5000 - (RM1000 + RM1000) = RM3000

Monthly installment that you can afford now = 30% @ RM3000 = RM1000

Based on the above calculation, your loan approval should be hassle free, provided you are not blacklisted under CTOS or CCRIS. This is how the banks look at your financial standing as to how much you can afford to pay monthly.

(3) Buying a house for owner-occupier purpose
After decided your budget, few things you need to determine here:
- Location
- Landed or highrise
- Number of rooms
- Prefer house with renovation or without
- Value added features such as gated and guarded
- Orientation , if that's of importance to you

By now, you should be able to know clearly what sort of house that you are looking for. The REA can now work effectively as per your instruction.

Real Estate Tips #17: What are the types of agency you may come across with Registered Estate Agent?

There are few types of agency as noted under the Malaysian Estate Agent Standard :

(1) EXCLUSIVE AGENCY - This refers to the instruction from a client to a single registered estate agent to act on his behalf. The client may make introduction but will leave the closing of the transaction to the registered estate agent. The principal must pay the appointed estate agent the agreed fee even if the estate agent was not the effective cause of the transaction.

(2) SOLE AGENCY - Just as in exclusive agency, a single registered estate agent is engaged. The client may, however, wish to reserve the right to close deals in addition to making introduction and the client may plays an active role. The principal must pay the appointed estate agent the agreed fee.

(3) SOLE JOINT AGENCY - This is a variation of the Sole Agency. The registered estate agent works together with the client as a team and the fee is divided on a pre-agreed formula. The client has the flexibility to compensate additional registered estate agents and at the same time maintain the advantage of having one registered estate agent in control.

(4) JOINT AGENCY - This is where more than one registered estate agent is appointed and only the registered estate agent who closes the deals gets paid. The number of agents appointed is limited and each is aware of the appointment of the others.

(5) AD HOC BASIS OR COMMONLY REFERRED TO AS OPEN LISTING - In this case, the principal can engage an unlimited number of estate agents on an ad-hoc basis and fees are paid only on successful conclusion of the estate agency transaction.

If you ask me from the perspective of a registered estate agent, they will definitely opt for Exclusive Listings. Very often, how much effort an agent will put in one particular listing for sale, is very much dependable on the types of agency he's getting. The higher the hierarchy, the harder he will try to dispose the property for you in the shortest time possible.

Property Auction #6: Are you bidding on Standard & Chartered Bank's properties?

If you are planning to bid for Standard & Chartered Bank's property (Laca case), always remember to register yourself with their panel agent few days in advanced. The purpose is for the agent to apply for you to waive the maintenance fees, quit rent and assessment owed by the previous owner.

If you do not perform the above, I'm sorry to inform you that you yourself have to bear those costs. In many instances, these figures can amount to more than RM10,000!

This only applies to Laca cases, i.e. properties without individual titles being issued. As for non-laca cases, this is not really an issue as the bank will automatically absorb the sum.

The beauty of auction properties with most overseas banks is they will pay up the owing sum directly to the management corporation. As compared with the local banks, they will normally ask the buyer to fork out the money first, then claim back the money from the local banks at later stage, which sometime takes up to one year! Therefore, if you are buying properties through auction with local banks, please get ready the owing sum first as part of your initial outlay.

New features added to www.tiramrealty.com.my

I'm pleased to inform you some of the exciting updates on Tiram Realty website:

(1) Property Listing - where you can search for the properties you are interested online. If you are interested on listing your property with us, please drop us a email. Do try out our advanced search function under the property listing section as well.

(2) Property Channel - A video channel showing property-related videos online, where you will find FREE tips on home improvement, home decoration, fengshui/geomancy, property news and general information on living in Malaysia.

(3) Newsletter - The first issue of our newsletter, i.e. The Real Estate Insider has been issued and sent out on 24th July, 2007. For those who's interested, please wait no further and register to our newsletter right now!

(4) Property Events - Any upcoming property events will be shown, such as seminar or exhibition.

(5) Podcast - Tired of reading? Have you tested our Tiram Podcast? Let our broadcaster to read out our articles for you. You can even choose to download our article in mp3 format!

Enjoy!