TO FORFEIT OR TO REFUND?

"My boss once asked what I want when I receive a new listing and I said "a closing". She said you must ask/pray for a smooth closing and satisfied buyer & seller so you can be a happy realtor.

Dalam economy tak stabil ni, tetap ada pembeli & penjual. Tetapi atas sebab luar kawalan, banyak kali terjadi duit deposit terpaksa dipulangkan padahal kami, orang tengah yang kerdil (walau ada kami yg oversize), sudah menjalankan tugas dengan betul. Titik peluh kami terpaksa dihalalkan sambil mengharap deal seterusnya yg tak pasti bila."

The above is my Facebook status few days ago.  One of my colleague is having difficult time in one of his deal. He is considering to abort the deal as buyer and seller not in agreement on some matter. I feel sorry for him because he has done his work dilligently. He sweat for it, spent money on advertising and telephone bills and other expenses. His has invested a lot of time to the property.  It is fare to ask him to make full refund to purchaser?  

Also, it is fare for the vendor? His property is on hold once earnest deposit collected. He might lose another offer during that period.  I do not have full story as I don't go to office as often as I should but knowing this situation made me sad. 

On other hand, I feel bad to forfeit purchaser's money. Property is always biggest purchase one make and the earnest deposit is defitenitely biggest investment he put down to. I would fight to get my money back if I'm in that situation.  

What will you do? 

  

BUNGALOW LAND FOR SALE @ CAHAYA SPK

 

Design & Built your own bungalow at the most elite, premium land in Cahaya SPK

Perched on a scenic hilltop, The Hillpark is a comminity of exclusive bungalows where you determine and function your own dream home.

In hand now I have two lots for sub-sale.  An intermediate units and it is 50% slope. One is 12,561 sq ft and the other is 8,783 sq ft.  Construction works can commence immediately.

Think about coming home to a house that you yourself design.

Cahaya SPK is also a complete neigbourhood with 38,000 sq ft Cahaya SPK Resort Club offers top notch facilities such as:-

* Olympic-length swimming pool
* Children Fun Pool
* Gymnasium
* Dance Studio
* Tennis Court
* Squash Court
* Badminton Court
* Games Room
* ..many more

PENYEWA LARI SEBELUM CUKUP SATU BULAN

Oh no......

Nightmare ok! Nighmare. This happened in July 2015.  The rented property is an end lot located in Shah Alam. 

Here the situation. 

I have a listing in Seksyen 6 Shah Alam with Landlord that I have been working with since 2011. The said unit is a fully furnished double storey link house. I shared the listing to with colleagues and one of them brought a very good candidate.  A director for one of companies operating in Shah Alam. The tenancy will be between the company he works for and landlord.  To me, this is a good potential as I like the stability a company provides. 

After one showing, the prospect Tenant like the house and subsequently made a number of request such as extra air conditions, new refrigerator and few more which the owner complied.  About two weeks after he and his family moved in, my colleague received call Tenant that he wanted to move out and want to see her to return keys. Naturally we were shocked.  

Another meeting was set between me, Landlord and my colleague as tenant's agent. Landlord was absolutely not happy and asking us to replace with new tenant. Landlord has spent an amount of money and Tenant that we brought in did not honour the tenancy. 

Here some issue:

1.  Deposits
2.  Duration signed & stamped
3.  Agent's fee is one month rental for period of tenancy
4. Agent has to replace for free


The deposit was forfeited. 

Duration was two years and by right the Tenant has to reimburse owner whole remaining sum because he breaks the promise

The owner was right to ask the agent (which is me) to replace with new tenant for free.  At first I was sad. Why should I do it for free? Sedih juga sebab penat yang dulu tak habis lagi... Somemore I shared the fee with my colleague, she should bear it. However, the trust was given to me by Landlord. So teh duty fell on me, not her.

Alhamdulillah, I managed to find new tenant not long after that.  So far, Landlord is happy with MY tenant. 

Moral: Jangan berkira bila bekerja.

Thankful because it ended well with my Landlord

SEWA RUMAH/KEDAI : TUGAS PERUNDING HARTANAH

Hi all,

Demam gembira jumpa Fahrin Ahmad dah hilang dah...back to norm. Dah tak mimpi-mimpi lagi hahaha

Hari ni mari kita cerita apa tanggungjawap Perunding Hartanah terhadap tuan tanah (kedaung atau tidak). 

1. Sewa adalah satu bentuk perniagaan yang boleh memberikan pulangan yang menarik. Semestinya yang berniaga mensasarkan untuk mendapat keuntungan yang cantik. Perunding hartanah pula berfungsi sebagai pihak tengah yang membantu mendapatkan client buat tuan rumah.

2. Sebagai perunding hartanah saya berpendapat sewa adalah pendapatan sampingan mudah tetapi peningnya bukan sedikit.  Sewa agak tricky dan perlu kesabaran yang lebih berbanding jual/beli. 

Pernah dengar tentang tenant from hell? Yang tidak bayar sewa, yang rosakkan rumah, yang terlalu bermasalah hingga jiran mengadu ke tuan rumah dan ada juga yang jadikan rumah tempat jenayah. Maka, beruntunglah jika anda mempunyai penyewa yang baik dan bertanggungjawap. (Tip : janganlah sewenangnya menaikkan sewa tanpa asas kalau dapat gold tenant)

3. Cukup berat sewa ini kerana owner bergantung kepada kita setiap kali menghadapi masalah seperti penyewa tidak membayar sewa, kerosakan dan sebagainya.  Sedangakn tugas perunding hartanah hanyalah mencari penyewa dan bukanlah memastikan penyewa membayar sewa setiap bulah hingga tamat tempoh sewaan.  

4. Paling saya gusar apabila tuan rumah meminta saya  memberi jaminan yang penyewa adalah gold tenant.  Itu mustahil untuk dilakukan.  Ketika viewing dan suaikenal, pastinya bakal penyewa menunjukkan sikap yang baik, bukankah setiap orang ketika interview adalah sopan dan nampak bertanggungjawap?

Jadi bagaimanakah saya hendak memastikan bakal penyewa adalah gold tenant? Kita bukan seperti di Australia dimana perunding hartanah dibenarkan meminta slip gaji, mendapatkan surat jaminan majikan dan sebagainya.  Perunding hartanah disini mengharapkan kejujuran daripada bakal penyewa dan campur sedikit doa semoga dipermudahkan urusan.

5. Secara mudah, tugas perunding harta adalah:-

    i)  Memberikan pendapat kadar sewaan yang diminta tuan rumah. 

    

   ii) Setelah persetujuan tercapai antara tuan rumah dan perunding, proses promosi                 bermula dan kebiasaannya melibatkan iklan, viewing dan sebagainya

   

   iii) Setelah bertemu bakal penyewa yang berminat, perunding tadi akan memberitahu             tuan rumah. Tuan Rumah sendiri akan membuat keputusan berdasarkan laporan.               Kebiasaannya Tuan Rumah akan berjumpa bakal penyewa. Saya lebih suka jika Tuan         Rumah turut sama ketika viewing.

   

   iv)  Mengambil wang booking, menasihatkan Tuan Rumah untuk memastikan keadaan 

         rumah elok dan seperti yang dijanjikan.  Juga proses penyerahan kunci & bacaan 

         meter akan dilakukan. 

    v)  Membuat reminder kepada penyewa pembayaran sewa bulan kedua.  

Kesimpulannya, tugas perunding hartanah tamat apabila serahan kunci dan peringatan untuk pembayaran sewa bulan kedua. 

Namun begitu, tidak menjadi masalah bagi kami pembantu tuan rumah untuk mengeluarkan penyewa atas dasar hubungan perniagaan yang terjalin. Namun untuk tuan rumah mengharapkan perunding tadi melakukan tugas tersebut secara percuma adalah tidak munasabah memandangkan kos telefon, perjalanan ke rumah tersebut dan sebagainya hendaklah diambilkira.  Saya juga dapati terdapat ramai rakan setugas yang tidak buat sewa kerana ia melecehkan dan memerlukan ketabahan emosi.

Untuk itu, janganlah terkejut jika terdapat Perunding Hartanah menolak permintaan mencari penyewa kerana mencari penyewa adalah seni yang tidak mudah difahami. 

Sri Acappella : Heaven for owners . If you find an opportunity to own a unit there (even a single bedroom unit) do consider it.  

My first TV interview and it's with Fahrin Ahmad!

I was so surprised to received an invite to be guest for new TV series called Inspirasi Bersama Fahrin Ahmad. Mana tak terkejut, saya bukanlah perunding hartanah yang top. Tak pernah naik pentas pun pada Awards Nite setiap tahun. Paling hebat pun saya hanya among highest closers. 

Jadi, apabila saya terima e-mail tersebut saya terus call sender untuk kepastian.  saya ambil masa beberapa minggu hinggakan diberi reminder oleh production house. Bukan sebab nak jadi diva sangat. Tetapi lebih kepada, bolehkah saya bercakap? Layakkah saya?

Ada ramai lagi di pejabat saya yang lebih hebat, mempunyai karisma yang lebih bagus dari saya. Apapun saya bersyukur atas peluang yang diberi. Sangat gembira dan berharap ini membuka saya lebih banyak peluang untuk berkongsi pengalaman yang tak seberapa.

Episode saya bertajuk : Perunding Hartanah

Tak sabar rasanya bila keluar TV :)

Bad times...

Our property market is rather slow nowadays at some locations and Shah Alam is feeling the same too.  People are playing safe and choose to wait and see before making any move/decision. For that I’m thankful for two closings I successfully secured last month. One was an under-priced double story link (intermediate) in Seksyen 8 Shah Alam and the other was a condominium in  Sri Acappella Seksyen 13 Shah Alam.  These two units was sold after my long hiatus due to preparation to sit for examination to become real estate agent. 

There are too many property on market and us negotiators noted that one listing has too many negotiators working on it.  I’m sure you saw units with too many signboards from many agency. Not many owner would give Exclusive to negotiator. Some of us are scared but some ignore it. For me, belum jodoh.

I’m optimistic that this is the time that our market is doing price adjustment.  For many years our transacted price is rather on the high side and become unaffordable at certain location. However I hope the price adjustment won't take too long.

Kisah Hidup Seorang Agent Hartanah / Life as Realtor (Part: 2)

Next October will be my 6th year as real estate negotiator. Lama kan? I made numerous closings and yesterday as I was driving home from meeting my co-agency partner I was reflecting how much I learn from this closings.

It is a simple viewing, negotiation, and closing. But it took three Saturdays. 

Saturday 1 - Viewing

My sister called telling me that her friend looking for corner lot or Semi D in Putrajaya with budget of RM1m.

Saturday 2 - Negotiating

Negotiating  took a week for vendor and purchaser to arrived to agreed price.  However, one BIG problem, the price that the owner's indicated earlier was NETT price.

It took us a week to renegotiate to make everybody to be happy

Saturday 3 - Closing

Finally collected deposit. 

What took it so long?  This is interesting part in every work when life get in the way it is up to us to stay calm and stay focus. What I learned being real estate negotiator is that just follow the rules. True, some rules are made to be broken but not all.  As intermediary, all we need is being transparent and making sure you tell the truth and focus to the problem at hand. 

No point to be jumpy and yeah, rezeki is something I can't control. No one can.

My view on Bukit Bandaraya Shah Alam

Bukit Bandaraya Shah Alam (BBSA), Seksyen U11 is a development developed (and still developing) by Lebar Daun Bhd. Located in greenery of Bukit Cerakah the place is serene, beautiful and it is a good location to live. It is far enough to be a quiet place to live but not too far to be forgotten. 

I live there for seven years, from 2005 until 2012. I made good business deal from selling and renting BBSA. We sold our house but I am still working for property in BBSA. Now allow me to share with you my view of BBSA and hopefully you can make if you are deciding about buying a property here. 

Love it:

1. The place itself. Green, quiet, birds chirping every morning. Imagine driving in wide road with trees left and right. Then there's lake bordering BBSA and Bukit Cerakah. I absolutely love to drive after rainy day. 

2. Neighbourhood. I would say it is 95% Malays and mostly are working people. Also many are not local Shah Alam. 

3. Design - I like every design of BBSA. From Moroccan style for their 2nd phase (Palladium & Salasia) to modern design of Phase 9 (Collaris and Laurus).

4. Investment return - the developer is yet to complete developing BBSA. There is more work to be done for example, commercial area. That's the beauty of it. The place has lots of prospect to grow and it is totally liveable now so the price that you pay surely will be rewarded in short time (taking consideration of  penalty of early settlement & RPGT). 

5. Good rental income - there's always call asking for rental house in BBSA

6.  The Price - this is a checkmate for any property transaction. You can still find property below RM600,000 in BBSA

Hate it :

1. The developer did not really taking advantages of the big lake. They should also build more playground or maybe some picnic area by the lake.   

2. Finishing quality.  When the design is beautiful there is always some work need to be done such as hairline crack, uneven door and buyers must always make full use of the Warranty Period.  That's why buying sub-sale is always better IMO

3. No commercial area. You have to drive to Seksyen 8 to buy groceries etc. It is about 10km away.

4. Break-in. There are some break-in cases. Not many but there's some. The neighbourhood don't have boom gate yet. 

I say make your decision fast and do let me know if you wish to know more about Bukit Bandaraya Shah Alam.

p/s: I sold our house at 35% profit

Hidup & Pilihan

Ni sekadar nak mengomel tentang hidup dan pilihan. Tentang kehidupan kita yang sentiasa dipenuhi dengan pilihan. Semuanya tentang membuat pilihan. Terjaga diwaktu pagi, kena pilih nak katup mata lagi atau bangkit, perut lapar - kena pilih nak tahan atau nak makan. Nak makan apa? Nak minum apa? Nak makan dengan siapa?

Setiap pilihan dalam kehidupan saya yang saya rasa paling simple antara sedar atau tidak akan mempunyai kesan tersendiri. Cuba lihat kembali pilihan yang kita buat 10 tahun atau 10 minit lepas dan kesan terhadap diri kita  dan adakah ia mampu merubah hidup dan pandangan kita tentang kehidupan. 

10 minit tadi saya sangat dahaga. Sebabnya pagi tadi saya memilih untuk tidak minum selepas sarapan. Apa agaknya outcome yang boleh jadi jika saya bawa bekal air selepas membuat pilihan untuk tidak minum selepas makan pagi:

1. Kalau saya bawa bekal air, saya tak akan sedahaga begini.

2. Kalau saya bawa bekal air, saya akan berulang ke tandas (masalah bladder pendek hehe)

3. Kalau saya bawa bekal air, saya akan duduk dimana sahaja yang mempunyai wifi tanpa perlu order minuman.

Kalau lihat 10 tahun lepas, harus saya menangis lagi.  Atau mungkin saya akan gembira jika dipandang dari segi yang lain pula. Setiap pilihan yang saya pilih telah membawa saya kesini hari ini. Dari segi career paths, men, friends, clothes, movies and books. All those made me me!

Is there anything that I regret?  I'm human and yes, there are more than a few, let me list it:-

1. Should have quit my job and get in real estate asap

2. Should have bought the gold Mini Cooper that I like in 1995

3. Should have buy gold when it was 30/100g (my mom asked me to but well...)

4. Should have keep my mouth shut when I should 

5. Should have learn languages

6. Should continue and sharpen my writing skill

7. Should and never allowed my self to be this fat. 

8. ...the list goes on.

Now a choice to be made:

What's for dinner?

I am tired

Being a real estate negotiator is not easy. The job is tough, competition is even tougher and sadly the income is not as rewarding as people want you to believe.  Having said that, there is lots of things that I love being real estate negotiator. I love the flexibility and ample time that I have, I love that I can pursue other project. I love meeting people and for that little sacrifice I have a dream to be a license real estate agent someday. 

Becoming a licensed agent is my retirement plan.  I imagine that when I'm in the age where I no longer has energy to go out and show people houses I can delegate to the staff to show that house, when all I want to do is travel the world and kicking off my bucket list I know I have my license to ensure a steady source of income.

So in 2012 I registered myself to Board of Valuers and Estate Agent for the examination to be one. The process to be a licensed agents:

1. Part 1 - 6 papers
2. Part 2 - 5 papers
3. Two years of practical/internship
4. Interview by the examination board.

I didn't put a deadline but if all go smoothly I should be doing my internship by now!

How life has other plan and sometimes what you wish for didn't fall thru.  My heart broke into pieces when I received the result last Monday. I failed (again) Accounting (expected) and Law (surprised).  I thought I did well in Law paper. But Lady Luck is not with me!

For now I want to put aside my dream, put it in box and lock it and put it far away so I won't cry.

p/s  but I do not want to look back and regret for not strive for it. ugh! What to do next is clear. But frankly, I am just tired.  

STEAL LIKE AN ARTIST - AUSTIN KLEON

That is my 2015 gift from the husband. Apparently he is now encouraging me to start writing again commercially. My husband is the writer of Ask the Lawyer! series and also he wrote fiction with local publisher Fixi.  I have been berangan-ing to be a writer myself but too afraid to get it done. Maybe with this book I will find some pushing factor to write.

Anyway, back to the book.  It is an interesting and one good inspirational coffee book.  

So, if you are like me, stuck in rut and getting deeper into lazydom we definitely need something to fire up your gut and I hope this will help tremendously.

Basically the book teaches how to move forward by watching the people you admire adn copy their work. Copy how they do it. How their work schedule like, what inspire them, how they write and who they read.  Or if you like to paint and draw, find what make your idol special. Find it and copy it.  

Remember, if you copy from one it is plagiarism but if you copy from many it is called research.  Don't worry, you can't replicate your idol...slowly the real you will take over and that work will speak the loudest in your work. 

I find this advise is a bit not practical as I'm depending on my smartphone but I'm happy to give it a shot and been writing bit and pieces of my thought but not daily as I should.

The book shared how Jerry Seinfield is forcing himself to write everyday and using calendar to track all his writing.  So, from the daily jabbering surely there's some worth saving eh? 

Who am I kidding? Surprisingly it is in the book.  Important reminder.

Anyway, I wish I can publish my story before end of year and all I need now is lots of discipline to write it.

Wish me luck!