Are You Stuck in Property?

With the rise in property prices over the years, there are many investors who are committing well over 30% of their income towards property. People max out the loan amount, and saddle themselves with huge monthly housing loan installments in their desire to buy property. How much should you commit when you want to buy a property? How can you improve your financial situation if you are already overstretched financially?

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How to Be Sure if a Property is Worth Investing and Worth Financing?

Many individual investors let good opportunities slip through their fingers without knowing it mainly because they fail to identify if an investment is generating enough cash flow or not. This happens commonly in real estate investments as most of them involve finance. Moreover, calculation of cash flow becomes more sophisticated when there is a loan involved in an investment.

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It Is Time To Go Fishing (for Property?)

If we have been accumulating cash-flow-generating properties, we will find ourselves now enjoying the increased rental income pushed by the other endless tide – inflation. We will also see the equity in these properties escalated by the tide of property boom. While the property market is consolidating, it is time to consolidate our financial statements as a preparation to go fishing in the ocean of real estate again. We should now be able to find extra capital from the increased equity of existing properties, and more time to wait for better deal in an over-supplied market.

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Limiting Home Purchases: Malaysia Boleh?

Malaysian government announced in mid Sep 2011 that they are considering to limit home purchases. There is another rumour in the market also about raising the Real Property Gain Tax (RPGT) from 5% to 30%-40% in year 2012. Is it possible for these ideas to materialize? Nobody can tell you what is going to happen next. However, such irresponsible announcement by Malaysian government will only make housing prices to go even higher. Let me tell you why.

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Fact and Myth about Apartment Square Footage

How important is the square footage of a rental apartment? Can you expect a 1,000 square-foot, one-bedroom apartment to rent for more than a one-bedroom apartment with only 900 square feet? Most rents of apartments are based on ‘x’ number of bedrooms per unit. An apartment that has two bedrooms will rent for more than a one-bedroom unit. Market conditions are the primary determining factor. However, when the building is suffering because of the size of the apartments or lack of closet space, the square footage consideration then becomes important.

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