Buying a 2nd hand house is not a bad idea | Wonderful motherhood
Wonderful motherhood

Friday, August 20, 2010

Buying a 2nd hand house is not a bad idea

pic from google

I think I blog almost everything, but this topic is something that always remain as draft (in mind only okeh..hehe lazy + busy). And since later I will blog about kitchen cabinet, I think I must gave a priority to post about buying a house (actually I am more happy to blog about kitchen cabinet, but to be fairla kan!). Besides buying a house was a big commitment besides getting married.

Before proceed to the adv of 2nd hand house, I listed few criteria need to be consider before you sign ur life away (ekeke sign berpuluh2 page untk S&P hingga naik lenguh...so silala ada sign versi express-zass-pendek). And this is based on my point of view (not a property expert, but just my cents)

So hereby criteria to be consider before buying a house

1. Budget. This is the main criteria...No need to further explaination kan? But chop..before that you might consider few sub-thing
Salary + bonus – you might be promoted, bonus for several months and so on (itu kalau nasib baik, kalau tak dptle increment ciput..or even xde lnsg =(), although ur salary might increased ur expenses also increased..rega brg naik, minyak naik, and besides ur family members also growing..a little baby will cost you few hundred a month - diapers, nursery and so on, hutang ptptn, loan kereta and 1001 expenses..

Dont’t follow others budget – I admit that I envy with those that have big house..sudahle muda2, kawen grand, rumah plak besar, kereta best, can affort to have designer things..seems that everything perfect..but nevermind itu rezeki masing2 kan? So don’t follow others budget..follow ur budget. Mana tahu in future you can upgrade buy buying second house lagi besar, lagi menarik (jgn pulak beli rumah besar2 end up kena lelong sbb xmampu bayar..)

2. Location – KL, PJ, Rawang, Subang? Nearby office? How about other points like surau/masjid, sekolah, hospital, shopping mall, pasar etc? It takes times for some areas to be developed...so if you choose new area of course you have to be patient for the development compared to well developed areas. Diff location also you will have diff expectation like KL rumah cinonet cost a lot compared to areas like Rawang, Batang Berjuntai so on.

3. Type of house & size – condo, apartment, semi d, terrace and so on...how many rooms? Bathrooms? And size 18’ x65’, 22’x70’, corner lot, end lot, and so on...you have to discuss here and there as ur partner might have diff preferences from urs...

4. New or second hand – Hehe this is the tricky part..I admit I simply fall in love with show house (erk...agak2nya klu masa tu ikut nafsu mebi berjiran2 ngan family Mila..tp sebab ikut k’mampuan maka berjiranlah dgn Ah Meng =p).

I think most of people will be like me...but be realistic, show house is for marketing..of course they have ID to make the house look bombastic...Please look to the same house but without any ID..kosong sekosongnya and you will notice crack here and there....

How about 2nd hand? For 2nd hand jgnla tgk rumah2 terbiar, for sure u think its ugly...if you found the 2nd house is nicer from outside, just call the agent for appointment to look the inside. You might be surprised later that with the same cost for new house you can get 2nd hand house that have been renovated nicely (silap2 ada autogate lagik u). Dont fell disappointed of 2nd hand house, just save extra money every months and later we can renovate it plus some nice interior design...masa inilah leh cilok idea show house =)

5. Now or later? - This is the biggest commitment, and if you really cannot afford after considering so many thing, just put it aside..

I remembered that last time when I watched Oprah, someone is asking when is the best thing to buy a house? Is it when the market down? The answer is there is no specific perfect time to buy a house, because it might be a situation where you have $$$, but you might couldn’t find the perfect house or the market is down, the house price is lower but u dun have enough $$$...so just think and plan carefully

The rest I cannot think..erk maye you can find urself from google

OK now move to main topic..buying 2nd hand house is not a bad idea...start with the cons..
- it a 2nd hand house,
- you need to have some saving for lawyer fees (new house usually promo legal fee dh waive),
- you need some times untuk sesi-tukar nama..TNB, Syabas, Majlis perbandaran...
- you might not agree with certain things in the house..likes tiles, cabinet or so on (xpa nanti2 dh kaya upgrade lah kan)

The advantage of 2nd hand house
1. Dapat banyak brg free =)...eh2 this only apply if your seller is really kind...I mean he might left few thing that he don’t want before he move out.

Since we bought 2nd hand house, we never thought that the seller are kind enough to left a lot of things; most of it still in good condition...DVD player (but later we found out dah rosak), book rack, single bed, pails (rasa mcm lebih 5), brooms & mop, dust pen, 4 dustbin - 3 bakul sampah biasa, 1 yg bertutup, 2 kitchen cabinet (bkn kitchen cabinet yg itu..but ada tempat leh buh dapur dan simpan brg2 dapur), pots pans (since the seller is Chinese we send it to recycle), mugs, stove dan tong gas, 2 boxes screwdriver, sabun tops few kilos, 3 rolls toilet tissue, glass cleaner, a box of safety kit aid, besi tuk buai (so kitaorg beli kain buai je), baby bath tub (xguna..), few baby hampers (bedak2 tu sume dh lama, so just throw it away..but I saw one bib and 1 baju baby – basuh2 bg kat Afham), musical mobile for baby cot (tp mcm dh rosak, but still we just take the music box....yg gantung2 tu dh rosak xjalan), iron board, 2 nice lamp – bentuk epal, 3 stand fan – yg pendek, full house curtain - so rod, railings sume dh ada la, few plastic chairs, and the rest I couldn't remember (eh tp kan ada 1 beg LV saiz mcm beg balik kg..tp dh guna la)

Besides few things maybe he want to do but tertunggak – 2 pintu bilik air, kepala paip

2. Getting married and at the same time buying house is something that makes our budget thigh (even tho my wedding is not a fairy-tale-comes-true, but still $$$..). So by buying 2nd hand house we could save few thousand of buying certain things. The seller agree to give 2 unit of air cond, a water heater, lights and fans (since xkan dia nk move out bawak sumer2 tu kan). Besides he also change the sliding door and master bed room windows...

3. You can find 2nd hand house yang dijaga elok siap dh renovate certain area(s), which later you will no need further renovation. Apa yang dimaksudkan ialah after several years some house will show true colour (apekah itu??) which maybe some defects can be minor or major...cthnya leaking bila hujan (okeh2 I'm not property expert, but I think sometimes keje2 pembinaan rumah ada yg guna brg 2nd grade or maybe pekerja2 xsimen elok2..and so on). So sometimes the original owner already rectify it and change it very nicely

4. The owner might want to let go all/ several items in the house...although it might be included in the purchase price but you have option to choose it...In our case he said he want to let go everything, but we told that we only interested with the bedroom set and dining table (hehe sbb mula2 nmpk 3 door wardrobe and king size bed terusla suka). But what I really like, he is kind enough to left all the items no 1 (although we do not request it..)

5. You will save some times for furniture hunting, if you agree to take some / all the furniture (so xde sesi patah kaki survey dan jugak xde la masam2 muka gaduh2 pilih warna, design, corak)..But I believe this only applicable for those yang tidak terlalu berkira dan jugak if the seller have almost similar taste with you
6. You don't have to worry about rumah-lambat-siap, rumah-terbengkalai, rumah-separuh-siap and so on...

So I think this is enough...All are based on personal experiences and opinions. I can consider our house hunting is easy, besides although it is a 2nd hand the seller was rarely staying in that house since he has 2 houses. We also have few concerns as the seller is Chinese, but after background check we satisfy like he do not have dog...

Oh ya before I forgot, buying house from non muslim, perlukah kita samak? Read it here or in case 50-50 sila la samak
Thats all from not-property-expert...Pssst buka nak makan ape ye?

1 comments:

  1. "Buying a 2nd hand house is not a bad idea" and you are right there because my house where I stay right now is a 2nd hand too.

    Paula M

    ReplyDelete

 
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