Tempat Berteduh

New family member equals to more space required in the house. It's not like I'm adding one more child on top of 5 that we are not having now and not that I'm carrying triplet in my belly. There are only 3 of us in our small 998 sqft condo and so far it fits us perfectly; small area = low maintenance. Tu pun kadang-kadang aku dah malas nak kemas sungguh-sungguh, lalu panggil part time maid je. And to give space for our new little one should still be sufficient.

Since the property price has been skyrocketing as compared to the past 3 years (even our small house has now doubled from the bought price), it is a good time for us to start look, before it's too late! I mean the location is surely going to be farther and father from the city, the offered sqft is getting smaller and smaller, to keep up with the attractive price. So we went for some good 5-hours survey at some targeted area of new landed residential projects.

Prior to that, I've made some online homework as we could not afford to merayau-rayau without hala tuju within the limited time. Among the considerations were :

1) The targeted location is to be as close as possible to my in-laws. It's good to be closer to them as they might need our assistance and so do us. As such, we only shortlisted the projects to those situated in Damansara, Subang and Shah Alam area.

2) Price. The monthly salary for 2 senior executives at their age of 30 who are working and residing in Klang Valley, with one and soon two children, and a new car, is not a passport to own a more than RM500k landed house. Even with down payment of 10%, yearly interest of conventional bank loan of 4% - 5% (after minus the BLR), you would still have to allocate around RM2,200 of monthly earning just for the house loan (you could google "House Loan Calculator" and easily find a lot of this kind of application). Yes, you could always makan bersila after moving in to the new house since all your savings and EPF has been used for the down payment, house renovation and all.

3) Size. This is not actually an option. You could settle for either the price or the size since the price for 20 x 70 as compared to 22 x 75 could reach more than RM50k. Yes, quite some additional price for a 2 x 5 ft area, that could hardly equivalent to a standard parking space.

4) Design. Hmm.. You could say that we are being picky but yes, we would want a modern design as that is going to be the place that you would return to daily, after a long, tiring working day. Bayangkan kalau anda balik, menghadap rumah yang design rumah mak kau kat kampung lagi lawa.

This resulted to several areas listed in our mind : Subang Bestari, Ara Damansara (yeah, I know, kau dah gila ke apa. But my PILs insisted us to check this place out), Denai Alam, Puncak Perdana, Bandar Nusa Rhu and some other new developments at those area (sepanjang Jalan Batu Arang).

Ladies and Gentlemen, prepare for some jaw-droppings :

1) Ara Damansara. Apparently Sime Darby is now focusing on developing commercial area. But there is a project of a few of bungalow units, the is currently opened for booking but we don't dare to ask for the price.

1) Subang Bestari. Some developments are in progress but we could not find the sales office and gallery. But the area is quite isolated with view of RRI's rubber estate on the right side along the main road. There's a petrol station, secondary school, surau and other common facilities but the area is still being actively developed which results to holey and dusty road. Price range : Unknown (you could always google more information on this area online).

2) Denai Alam. This area is developed by Sime Darby, same like Bukit Jelutong, and yes, you could expect the standard as set by Sime Darby. This newly developed area is a bit further ahead along Guthrie Highway towards Rawang but easily accessible from Guthrie in fact you could see most of this area from this highway. The latest development is Maple 3-storey series which I don't dare to ask the price after knowing the latest lowest price for 2-storey in Denai Alam is RM750k. They'll be launching new series of 2-storey landed property perhaps next month and the starting price is again nothing lower than RM750k. C R A Z Y. But the design is fabulous. Modern design with good selection of colors. Plus, the whole area is well-planned as areas that are going to be developed has been flattened and cleared, meaning no heavy-duty pecah bukit activities will be done.

3) We passed through Puncak Perdana and Puncak Alam and drove further along Jalan Batu Arang. This road will lead to another currently develop area, Shah Alam 2. From my research, the offered price could probably starts from RM300k, but the location mak datuk, jauh ke dalam! We eventually settled with the next house survey area at Bandar Nusa Rhu.

4) Bandar Nusa Rhu. This area developed by Metrogen Sdn Bhd is currently having some new units of landed residential. We went straight to the ongoing development area named Idaman; some of the houses have been 50% completed whereas some of them are still under construction. There is a big hill (batu kapur) right beside this new development which will later be flattened to make room for future development by Metrogen Sdn Bhd. At 20 x 70, offered price after discounts is RM515k and there are only 4 units left. The design is quite OK but the fact that there is going to be some pecah bukit activities sooner or later, you might want to think twice to occupy this place before the area is being completely cleared.

5) Sunway Alam Suria. Located opposite Bandar Nusa Rhu and Puncak Perdana along Jalan Batu Arang, this was among the first developed cluster at this area. There is one project of 2 1/2-storey landed residential by the developer, currently opened for booking with price of at least RM688k for 22 x 75 ft area.

So, which one did we consider? NONE. *menangis keluar air mata mencurah-curah*

All down to the ultimate factor : price versus monthly income.

And since we are not in the hurry for a new bigger house, as for now we choose to explore more on other options or other future developments. Yes, we might require more space for the family but at the same time we would want to be able to live comfortably too. Selagi ada tempat berteduh.

Jauh lagi nampaknya perjalanan mencari rumah pencen ni.

Info from a friend : Kajang area is actively developed too. Soon there's going to be a new landed residential launching with starting price lower than RM400k but you have to expect long queue as early as lepas Subuh, with high possibility that everything will be gone before noon. Yes, I know, I N S A N E.


Interesting Info : Japanese companies believe that married men work better than unmarried ones do because the former feel more obligations and responsibilities toward their families. This results to the higher unemployment of men aged 35 above, with direct result to the homelessness in Japan. Source : Wiki lah, mana lagi.