Malaysia Watch Forum

Off Topic => Investment & Real Estate => Topic started by: feydrax on December 29, 2016, 11:53:26 AM

Title: To buy or to rent a house for own stay?
Post by: feydrax on December 29, 2016, 11:53:26 AM
For a young professional with zero backup from family.

Looking at the current market in Klang Valley now, do you think it's sensible to rent a house to start a family, or to save even longer to buy a new one?
Title: Re: To buy or to rent a house for own stay?
Post by: meoramri on December 29, 2016, 01:07:40 PM
Rent first.


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Title: Re: To buy or to rent a house for own stay?
Post by: epsilon82 on December 29, 2016, 01:45:25 PM
If you are single, rent a room and save for down payment.


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Title: Re: To buy or to rent a house for own stay?
Post by: feydrax on December 29, 2016, 03:00:12 PM
Renting sounds more sensible, but seems like a lot of people around me think that one must have a house before marriage  :Blue: given the market now, Pr1ma / WIP is the way to go for house ownership? Else, the only other option would be to get new developments that scrape off the downpayment requirement
Title: Re: To buy or to rent a house for own stay?
Post by: dualcarb on December 29, 2016, 04:15:30 PM
Nothing wrong with renting first. The "I must buy a home first" before I get married thing is over rated. Why bog yourself down with a liability so early on? The market is over saturated anyways. There will be bargains down the road.
Title: Re: To buy or to rent a house for own stay?
Post by: meoramri on December 29, 2016, 05:50:13 PM
I got married in 1995. Rented for 10 years before buying one in 2004 (moved in 2005). With seniority (for loan) and savings able to get a nice landed property.


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Title: Re: To buy or to rent a house for own stay?
Post by: feydrax on December 29, 2016, 06:24:02 PM
wow.. that's quite inspirational! Thanks for sharing your experience with me @meoramri. I have been contemplating on renting for quite a while and you've shown me that this is indeed a reasonable option.

@dualcarb you're absolutely right. The current market is indeed over saturated. But thanks to the weak ringgit, the developers are building at a much higher cost too. No matter how bad the market is, the price can't go lower than the cost, right? I guess we can just wait and see what the excess in supply is going to do to the market.
Title: Re: To buy or to rent a house for own stay?
Post by: applecal on January 03, 2017, 08:20:31 PM
Just bought a unit in bukit jalil..high rise though...few years back, ppl were saying property price will goes down but what i see is price keep hiking year by year... :thumbsdown:
Title: Re: To buy or to rent a house for own stay?
Post by: niaochu on January 25, 2017, 11:56:15 PM
to me all depends on your affordability .. if u are stretching your wallet, then by all  means rent first. rent you have flexibility .. got few frens caught by the economic downturn n hold too many properties.. all gone overnight ...
Title: Re: To buy or to rent a house for own stay?
Post by: opp61 on February 01, 2017, 08:53:15 AM
Buy..

Get a few buddies together and get a property. Sub rent the rest of the rooms out .

Better to have something in your name now or never.
Title: Re: To buy or to rent a house for own stay?
Post by: weibbb12 on February 13, 2017, 09:45:23 AM
By looking at starting a family, of course it would be better if you can own a property for stability purposes. You can rent a house but if the monthly rental is almost equivalent to paying monthly housing installment, perhaps buying is really a wiser choice. Anyway, this is just my personal thought, hope you find a house soon.
Title: Re: To buy or to rent a house for own stay?
Post by: nightwatchman on February 27, 2017, 06:50:25 AM
Assuming you can get your loan approved (banks have really tightened up), buy, but find a bargain (they are out there).
Title: Re: To buy or to rent a house for own stay?
Post by: yume on March 15, 2017, 08:54:06 AM
rent first.
Title: Re: To buy or to rent a house for own stay?
Post by: dualcarb on March 22, 2017, 02:36:36 PM
This is from an expert's point of view. And the numbers that he provides shoulb be able to paint a rather interesting story. IMHO...the banks are always the winners.

http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/nation/2017/03/22/buying-a-rm500000-property-better-to-rent-says-expert/


Title: Re: To buy or to rent a house for own stay?
Post by: strapfreak on March 31, 2017, 07:54:04 AM
if i were you i will look into my savings first. Rent is more affordable but that's put into expense category, you loose that money. but if you're buying, you pay and you get the house.
Title: Re: To buy or to rent a house for own stay?
Post by: dualcarb on March 31, 2017, 08:28:26 AM
if i were you i will look into my savings first. Rent is more affordable but that's put into expense category, you loose that money. but if you're buying, you pay and you get the house.
You only get the house IF it's fully paid up. Otherwise it technically belongs to the bank.
Even if you wanna sell it at a "profit", the old adage still stands true. Willing buyer willing seller. You have to secure a willing buyer first.
Title: Re: To buy or to rent a house for own stay?
Post by: D'Andy on April 01, 2017, 06:46:57 PM
Either the demographic here are rather young, or I am rather surprised that many suggests towards rental instead of property purchases. Yes, if you buy your first property when you are younger, you would have to make financial sacrifices but then again, the hard work would only make you tougher over time. I remembered purchasing my first house when I was in my 20s. My salary then was RM1.5k (these days, many fresh grads start off with RM3k easily); and after deductions for the house and car instalments, some monies towards my folks, I was left practically with a pittance. But take a look at it today, and the same house had appreciated by more than 4 times of its purchased price (especially after the LRT plan was announced for Mutiara Damansara)- you could never go wrong with properties located at the right (location, location, location). All my properties purchased and flipped over time were at key locations in Klang Valley, and rental income has been good.

The key is to go step by step as your disposable income improves over time; and not go for those speculative MLM-free-advice-buy-few-units-at-the-same-time-with-guaranteed-returns as any spanner thrown in the works and your financials get screwed as per one of the forummers' sharing above. If you start young and start right, you could have gained a portfolio of choice properties a few decades down the road; and that would meant that your kids would be set for an easier time (since you started with zero back-up from family as you mentioned, so you would understand what I meant).

I'm rather passionate about properties- if you are in doubt, you could drop me a PM and I could give you my 2 sen's worth if it helps. So go ahead, go get a good property that you could afford- and after things settle down over time, then you could go for other short-term gratification hobbies such as cars, bikes, and watches. And by then, you could really enjoy your hobby.

(https://www.realestatesuggestions.net/gallery/which-are-the-steps-to-buy-a-property/which_are_the_steps_to_buy_a_property.jpg)
Title: Re: To buy or to rent a house for own stay?
Post by: Swoosh64 on April 21, 2017, 12:28:46 PM
Good point, no sacrifice no gain... thanks for sharing!
Title: Re: To buy or to rent a house for own stay?
Post by: dualcarb on April 21, 2017, 01:14:34 PM
Either the demographic here are rather young, or I am rather surprised that many suggests towards rental instead of property purchases. Yes, if you buy your first property when you are younger, you would have to make financial sacrifices but then again, the hard work would only make you tougher over time. I remembered purchasing my first house when I was in my 20s. My salary then was RM1.5k (these days, many fresh grads start off with RM3k easily); and after deductions for the house and car instalments, some monies towards my folks, I was left practically with a pittance. But take a look at it today, and the same house had appreciated by more than 4 times of its purchased price (especially after the LRT plan was announced for Mutiara Damansara)- you could never go wrong with properties located at the right (location, location, location). All my properties purchased and flipped over time were at key locations in Klang Valley, and rental income has been good.

The key is to go step by step as your disposable income improves over time; and not go for those speculative MLM-free-advice-buy-few-units-at-the-same-time-with-guaranteed-returns as any spanner thrown in the works and your financials get screwed as per one of the forummers' sharing above. If you start young and start right, you could have gained a portfolio of choice properties a few decades down the road; and that would meant that your kids would be set for an easier time (since you started with zero back-up from family as you mentioned, so you would understand what I meant).

I'm rather passionate about properties- if you are in doubt, you could drop me a PM and I could give you my 2 sen's worth if it helps. So go ahead, go get a good property that you could afford- and after things settle down over time, then you could go for other short-term gratification hobbies such as cars, bikes, and watches. And by then, you could really enjoy your hobby.

(https://www.realestatesuggestions.net/gallery/which-are-the-steps-to-buy-a-property/which_are_the_steps_to_buy_a_property.jpg)

I agree with you. And similar to you, I also bought my first property in my 20s. But then again, when we were in our 20s the property prices are four times cheaper. You said this yourself. And I also started with a salary of 1.5K. You also mentioned that fresh graduates today has a starting salary of 3K. But the prices of properties have already gone up by fourfolds and prices of cars, almost more than double. Not to mention the price of fuel etc etc. You get the drift. So buying and committing to something that big and that expensive are not as easy. When inflation has only doubled our salary but put everything else three, four and five times the prices of yesterday.

Please don't get me wrong, I am a huge advocate of purchasing a place of your own. And and many of the things that you mentioned makes sense. What I am very strongly advising here is to rent first while saving and/or investing your money. Just to ensure that you are able to sustain your mortgage payments, so that when the s**t the fan, you are not that greatly burdened.

What I do is to ensure that I have 6 months worth of mortgage payments for my property sitting in my FD before I commit to buying. And to top it all off, FD rates these days are not that shabby.

Always take care of your investments first, then let your investments take care of you in your later years. I am no business man nor am I by any means rich. I am just your average salary man who has learned the tough way and similar to the OP, I have zero financial support from my family.

So there you have it...it is OK to rent first. Then buy when the time is right and when your finances are in place. Then later in life when your investments bear fruit, the time will be ripe for you to indulge in what you like and love, like watches or hi-fi or cars etc...
Title: Re: To buy or to rent a house for own stay?
Post by: Teikfun on January 29, 2018, 03:57:55 PM
I would strongly recommend to buy, save hard, earn hard to get the down payment to buy a house. I am also having the same background, used to be young working guy with zero backup from family, managed to buy property in early 30's and looking back, it's a great decision as the price has been up many times since then. Those that has been renting for the last 10 years, is still renting and paying but do not own the property. At the end, those who buy is paying for the property.
You can always start with a low cost property, no matter what, it will still belong to you at the end of the day. Even if you decide to sell, you may be making a profit too.
Title: Re: To buy or to rent a house for own stay?
Post by: Nkssupreme on March 12, 2018, 07:12:12 AM
rent first and survey the area that you prefer. Once you are comfortable with your saving and ready to commit for a house in long term, go for it.
Title: Re: To buy or to rent a house for own stay?
Post by: julietchuah on March 26, 2018, 09:46:02 PM
 :) If the person's salary cannot afford the house for long term, where he go to find the money to pay?
It means he just give money to bank and let others buy his house through auction in more cheaper price.
People better rent a house first before buying a house except you are very very very rich!!! :Jumping:
Title: Re: To buy or to rent a house for own stay?
Post by: D'Andy on March 30, 2018, 02:48:34 PM
It means he just give money to bank and let others buy his house through auction in more cheaper price.
People better rent a house first before buying a house except you are very very very rich!!! :Jumping:

And as long as there exists the above mentality that you should refrain from "buying a house except you are very very very rich", that should be good for all current property owners' portfolio and the annual contracted rental increment. 
Title: Re: To buy or to rent a house for own stay?
Post by: sclai5675 on May 03, 2018, 05:54:34 PM
Buying house requires plenty of research and long term planning to see if this place would be still relevant after you got married with kids!

Title: Re: To buy or to rent a house for own stay?
Post by: D'Andy on May 04, 2018, 08:20:07 AM
Buying house requires plenty of research and long term planning to see if this place would be still relevant after you got married with kids!

Buying a house should be like buying a watch. In my twenties, I liked a Sub but I could only afford a G-Shock, so I would buy the latter first. As my disposable income built up, I went for the Seikos and entry-level Swiss watches. When I have more excess funds now, I tend to collect more Subs, GMTs, Daytona and the likes. And the 5711 but the WL is stretching on.

Just like the simple watch analogy presented, you don't hanker after a high-end duplex condo in Mont Kiara (e.g. 5711) during the start of your career days- you start off with a simple apartment that could be more affordable (e.g. G-Shock). As you progressed through your career and graduated from your single life, you would looked for better accommodation in line with your disposable income. Just my 2 sen's worth.
Title: Re: To buy or to rent a house for own stay?
Post by: Salience on May 15, 2018, 11:57:42 PM
the basics is - do you have money/ savings in hand? if you do and you can maintain a property, buy a property. if not, rent cheap and save to buy one or just buy a property even further and save to buy a more expensive/bigger/ better location one.

basics.
Title: Re: To buy or to rent a house for own stay?
Post by: Brandon Khoo on May 18, 2018, 08:40:16 PM
To start a family, definitely owning a house would be more sensible to me.

However there is nothing wrong to rent until you have enough research and funds to get a house which you really like.

Getting a house requires lots of research and study towards its location and would be good if you could get a tip on potential developements nearby.

Make sure to choose properly.
Like what my dad always say, it is not like "buying a pack of fried bihun, but rather years of financial commitment and sacrifice"

Make a decision you would not regret.


I am just like you, a young profesional of a family of 3.
I just got a house recently and i took into account

1.Location
-I prefer somewhere central with lots of shops nearby
-a better neighbourhood with security
-a place where there is potential developement which could impact the price such as high speed rail

2.Price
-i wouldnt advice to commit more than what you could afford as this may take up to 35 years of installment.
-make sure to do a proper calculation on your monthly expenses, keep some cash for rainy days as well


I am definitely no expert and i do not have any experience in buying a property prior however i hope this helps in your decision making
Title: Re: To buy or to rent a house for own stay?
Post by: Salience on May 21, 2018, 06:18:00 PM
some people believe that a house can be used to hedge inflation. in most cases it does- at the risk of liquidity. if you can get more gains with cash in hand - why not?
Title: Re: To buy or to rent a house for own stay?
Post by: Chris on July 16, 2018, 09:27:11 AM
rent first, buy later. nothing wrong with renting one and starts a family and get one when you have the money.
Title: Re: To buy or to rent a house for own stay?
Post by: tanandtan on July 18, 2018, 12:30:06 AM
Buy to wait don’t wait to buy
Title: Re: To buy or to rent a house for own stay?
Post by: wateveritis on August 01, 2018, 02:16:11 PM
Buy to wait don’t wait to buy

just curious, buy to wait for what? no harm renting if can't afford to buy. 
Title: Re: To buy or to rent a house for own stay?
Post by: tayman on September 05, 2018, 08:41:20 AM
Buy when you are ready. Imo, first house is always for you to set up a family later on. I got some friends that buy their 1st house to rent in some hot places. However, in meantime, they are renting in other places. Thus, I am not sure why they bought the house at first place.

well for me, i bought my first house which is near to my workplace, my in-laws place. It is quite ulu at Puncak Alam.
Title: Re: To buy or to rent a house for own stay?
Post by: Richie Richs on October 09, 2018, 07:39:43 PM
the basics is - do you have money/ savings in hand? if you do and you can maintain a property, buy a property. if not, rent cheap and save to buy one or just buy a property even further and save to buy a more expensive/bigger/ better location one.

basics.

Agree with this, also don't rush into buying a house as there is a lot to look into.
Title: Re: To buy or to rent a house for own stay?
Post by: derick93 on February 01, 2019, 05:14:56 PM
For a young professional with zero backup from family.

Looking at the current market in Klang Valley now, do you think it's sensible to rent a house to start a family, or to save even longer to buy a new one?

Buy if you can afford the down payment... why pay installment for others?  :mooning:
Title: Re: To buy or to rent a house for own stay?
Post by: canon5dmk on February 12, 2019, 08:48:48 AM
During my times, I stayed with my parents.  Once you got your saving, get a house that you are affordable.  Not necessary must get a new house/condo.  If you prefer landed property in Klang Valley, you can look for ShahAlam or Klang.
Title: Re: To buy or to rent a house for own stay?
Post by: hadi9802 on February 15, 2019, 03:39:24 AM
1. Buy a good rating house (refer Faizul Ridzuan or other prop experts recommendation + your own due diligence)
2. Rent it out to at least cover the loan payment  (if can get positive cash flow is best)
3. Rent yourself a house (you can get a much better unit/area if you rent with the same $$ for mortgage)
4. Once your salary grows, buy another house
5. Repeat #2
6. Once your family grows bigger (kids and all), rent a bigger house
7. Buy a house for you to stay, once you know you want to settle down for good already. As early stages or working life, you wouldn’t know where you’re gonna be working in the next 10 years or so. You might be moving here and there first as the job progresses.

Also there’s a lot of associated costs (read: with emotional factor) if you were to buy yourself a house for own stay e.g. renovation (you want to do the house nicely but seriously, you would eventually move out anyway as your family grows bigger).

I currently own 6 properties (with very good cash flow), but I’m still renting myself in a great location which cost me half the price vs. if I were to buy the unit, and I’m very happy with it. Just my two cents.


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Title: Re: To buy or to rent a house for own stay?
Post by: kbng on March 08, 2019, 07:17:30 PM
It is a strait forward question, no money then rent it, got extra money for down payment then buy it.
Title: Re: To buy or to rent a house for own stay?
Post by: flarev on March 24, 2019, 10:28:04 AM
If no rush in moving in, can opt to buy from the developer for those unsold unit or undercon one as the Downpayment is not so huge compare to the Subsales

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Title: Re: To buy or to rent a house for own stay?
Post by: revolution21 on October 23, 2019, 11:16:59 PM
Buy only if you know how your going to deal with it when you get the key. Whether stay or rent. Check the market nearby.
Title: Re: To buy or to rent a house for own stay?
Post by: smureli on November 13, 2019, 01:57:10 PM
Buy your own property, do not aim high, get something comfortable, something to get you going with home ownership. Also, go to a bank and get them to give you a assessment on how much loan you can obtain, with that info, work on buying a house which you CAN AFFORD.

Title: Re: To buy or to rent a house for own stay?
Post by: cheesycake7 on December 01, 2019, 12:51:14 AM
The sooner you can buy, the better of course. But don’t overstretch your limits. Save up a good deposit first before buying.
Title: Re: To buy or to rent a house for own stay?
Post by: feydrax on February 19, 2020, 02:07:39 PM
Hi all,

Fast forward 3 plus years, I managed to get myself a house and I gotta say I am quite happy with it so far.

Had to put in lots of effort into growing my career to make this happen.

Thanks all for your insights.
Title: Re: To buy or to rent a house for own stay?
Post by: engkow on February 19, 2020, 05:11:26 PM
  :thumbsup:
Title: Re: To buy or to rent a house for own stay?
Post by: WestFly on April 10, 2021, 10:56:59 PM
I would suggest you to buy a house, it is long term planning. U dont rent a house for 30 years, dont you?
Title: Re: To buy or to rent a house for own stay?
Post by: gr2k on August 25, 2023, 08:47:19 AM
this is a tougher question to answer in today's market and if you ask someone who's from the Gen X or Boomer generation they will say 100% buy...but the truth today is it depends on your scenario:

Scenario A: Not Having Children

If you plan to buy and the amount you end up paying in full over 25-30 years far exceeds 30 years worth of rent, you're better off renting.

Assuming an RM700K property in Klang Valley, 90% financing, 30-year loan at 3.6% interest. Your total out-of-pocket will be RM1.1mil not including other fees. That's equivalent to RM3K rental/month for 30 years...and Malaysia's rental market is relatively crap so you should be able to rent for much lower than that.

Even worse, some people resort to withdrawing EPF money to buy a house - no one can predict the future but historical trends show that EPF has the most consistent dividend payouts that are much better than FD, and much safer than most investments plus it has a compounding effect. Withdrawing EPF to buy a house could actually be worse for you in your retirement days (i.e. you could lose more potential savings than you gain from your property value, especially if it's a condo)


Risks associated with renting:
You could get kicked out anytime if the landlord wants a new tenant / sell the place. Without kids its just you and your partner moving, so its less hassle.


Scenario B: Want To Start a Family
You may want to consider buying, predominantly because it limits risks of you being evicted which can affect your child's schooling routine and such especially in the younger ages.

It's likely condo is the way to go because it's cheaper - start small and don't have too many kids - the cost will add up significantly and you will run out of space.