Friday, September 07, 2007

Urban Poor - The issue of having a house

This issue has been on my mind for quite some time. Would want to blog about it, but wonder where to start. Or maybe I start by ranting..(again?!!)

Right, the issue is simple - I want to have a house of my own. Now, for the past 2 months, we have been scouting around the area. Area around Kota Damansara, Bukit Puchong, Subang 2, Sungai Buloh and even USJ. Here's our observation -
  1. There are many residential area being build in these places.
  2. Most of these houses cost at least 320K.
  3. Most of these new houses are already bought up. (by who?)
  4. These people will then sell off at a much higher price.
So we come to a conclusion that (maybe) we can never own a landed property in these places.

There are many more condos that are being build around the Kota Damansara area. Most of these cost at least 250K with a matching mantenance fee (>200). From our observation (yes..we done a lot of observation...), most of the units are not occupied. We wonder why...
Initially we gleefully thought that the developer are having a hard time selling it off. Later on, we found out that all of the units are actually sold! Not only that, they increase the starting price by a whopping 20% !
So it seems, there are quite a number of rich man out there that buy up these units and selling them off at a much higher price with the help of agents. Wow...so what should lower middle class people like me do to have a decent house of my own?

Subsequently we switch focus to apartments in Kota Damansara which are build by PKNS. To our dismay most of these apartments cost at least 170K with a minimum maintenance fee of RM150. Again we wonder, why would anyone buy a house that cost that much and paying that kind of maintenance fee? And considering the fact that not an inch of Kota Damansara is under freehold land?

During these period of surveying, resentment started to build up within us. We see so many malays buying up properties that cost at least 300K in a snap of a finger. Our problem is not the amount of money they have, but the 15% discount given to these people. Most of these people are not even buying their first house! So what have I done to deserve this? Did I pay less income tax? Or was I eligible to be given a tax rebate which I do not know of? Or was it because the government are doing more in education for non-bumiputras which result in this disadvantages?

There is a particular apartment unit in Kota Damansara which I am very fond of, but not allowed to buy. It seems they abolish the 15% requirement and implement a quota system. From the number of units build, only 30% of the units are allowed to be purchase by non-bumi. And needless to say, all these 30% are fully bought up, either by rich people or agents. We have to wait for the release of the bumi lot. As we ask them when will these units be release, they say nobody will know when. The funny thing is that I was informed by an agent on the way down that buying the bumi lot is still possible, but we need to give kopi lui (under table money lor...)

Indeed, Malaysia Boleh.

As all these negative thoughts gather in my mind...I say a simple prayer -

Oh Lord, I plead that You gives us the strength and the wisdom to see and treat everyone as equal. Help us from developing a racist mindset and to accept all these unequal treatments as test of our faith...in Jesus name, Amen.

4 anak ayam bother to comments:

Anonymous said...

Amin, anak ayam :)

Anonymous said...

I just enquired about a house in my area coz I saw the "For Sale" sign. I quite like this location and I was curious. The price? RM540,000! How to afford? Where got people so rich one?!?!?!

Tunku Halim said...

You have struck a raw nerve with your post. I like your blog and I'm going to blog roll you. Let me know if you mind.

siehjin said...

hmmm... what about kajang, or rawang? might properties there be more affordable? but then u'll have the problem of transport la...