Enhancing Value of Your Neighbourhood

I stay in Puchong. This year marks the 10th anniversary of my stay as a Puchongnite.

When I made my decision to own my house in Puchong 6 years back, it's was really tough to tell people that you actually bought a house in Puchong. Back then, it makes you look stupid investing in a place full of mining pool and shady shoplots-some are even renovated into dodgy pubs. IOI mall has so many vacant lots and their anchor tenant, The Store, could not even survive. Many asked me why I bought a place in such areas (a.k.a low-class-area). Many recommended Subang USJ to me at that time. My answer was simple, without help from anyone, how can you afford to own a landed property in Klang Valley after working for only 2 years?

I have never stayed in a strata property before in my life-time (my entire hometown has only 2 blocks of residential apartments) and I came from a foreign state where landed freehold properties are halved the price of Klang Valley's. It's really tough to make a decision to own a relatively expensive piece of property in the early days of your working life. However, I knew I wanted a freehold, mining-free, gated landed property in Klang Valley and the properties that fits into the category are getting scarce day by day.

Setting price factor aside, one of the reason I bought a place in Puchong instead of Subang is because Puchong has plenty of land. You might be surprise with this reason as it contradicts with the normal rule of economics where scarcity increases the value of goods. I knew about this, I know Puchong's property value might not appreciate fast. However, when I look at Subang from Google Earth, the entire area was very well planned with little space for roads and highways. Most of the land are built with landed properties and you hardly see any vacant land plots on the map. The Subang's population will be saturated and the commercial properties are not doing well here. Subang is definitely a no no for me to stay as I hate traffic jams. On the other hand, a future city with vacant lands gives the future city mayor a chance to plan for a better city. I always tell my friends that Puchong will be a bigger city compared to Subang in years to come. I chose Puchong.

Some of my major concerns when buying a house during my early 20s:

• Price & Budget
• Crime Rate & Security
• Neighbourhood
• Landed, Tin-Mining-Free, Freehold

I knew there are many more concerns for everyone else but the 4 above are my major ones. My Puchong property had everything right except for the neighbourhood factor. For sure, you do not want to stay close to foreign labours, drug addicts or prostitutes. Also, you want your next generation to study with other kids who are brought up in a good family. The question now would be, how can you be sure about your neighbourhood when you are buying a newly developed property.(the neighbourhood has not been established yet).

Of course price factor does come into the picture, but we have to take price factor aside in this discussion. (or I will just stay in Kenny Hills) My best friend bought the same area two years after me and we started to promote Puchong to friends. Most of our university mates are working as professionals now and I ended up having most of my university friends staying in Puchong now. I am very surprised as my housing area are now occupied by doctors, lawyers, engineers, architects, professors, lecturers etc. Even better, 10 % of them came from my hometown and many of them came from my home state. I am satisfied with my neighbourhood now as everyone are very co-operative and we have a very good security management.

A peaceful and friendly neighbourhood greatly enhances the pleasure of your stay in a particular housing area. A good neighbourhood also increases the value of your housing area indirectly. It is therefore important to do your part to create a pleasurable neighbourhood. Some of the things my residential committee and neighbours does:

• Pay security management timely
• Keep the roads clean
• Organise seasonal events
• Alert every residents on any burglary cases within the neighbourhood
• Alerts the security when suspicious foreign labour found wandering around (they climbed over fences sometimes for shortcuts, as what they claim)
• Do not simply park their car outside your house (it's very annoying, and part of the reason being, a young neighbourhood generally has less cars)
  

On a side note, Subang's property prices are falling lately. Apparently, Subang's crime rate is getting worse according to the latest report. And who says Puchong's property is cheap now? IOI latest two-and-half storey terrace house is launched at the price of RM880K for an intermediate unit.

I love Puchong.