Home ownership dilemma

For many young people, committing to the purchase of their first home can be a daunting experience . — Filepic

Buying a first home in the city is fraught with many considerations besides affordability and location

NEXT April, I will be 32 years old.

Like most people in my age group, my mind is increasingly occupied by one question — home ownership.

It seems that these days, whenever I hang out with friends, the topic of home ownership finds its way into conversation.

At home, my mother has been dropping hints. That’s my nice way of saying she nags me to start looking for a house to buy.

I can’t say that I haven’t given it much thought.

As a journalist covering local issues in Klang Valley, I’d like to believe that I know more about housing issues than most people.

I cannot help but think many people jump onto the bandwagon of acquiring property without fully understanding what they are getting themselves into.

Unlike my mother, whose priority is how big the house will be, my main considerations are the location and distance to my workplace.

Having raised my sister and me in a low-cost flat, my mother is also not keen on us buying a strata property because she was upset with the dismal upkeep and cleanliness issues that snowballed due to the poor maintenance fee collection at our housing scheme.

Recently, my sister bought a landed property on the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur. She now spends 40 minutes or more commuting to work daily.

The commutes take longer when it rains because of traffic congestion. Imagine the fuel cost in addition to the toll charges.

The nature of my work, which requires me to be mobile and ready to travel when needed, means that I need to live in a central location.

Unfortunately for me, the prices of landed properties in the capital are way out of my budget.

This means that much to my mother’s chagrin, strata properties are my only choice, if I insist on living in the capital.

My work assignments have taken me to several badly managed or outright rundown strata schemes that I am wary of such issues.

Many problems stem from the poor collection of maintenance fees, which greatly affects the ability of the management body to service the building.

Unfortunately, local authorities are powerless to step in because these buildings are private properties and public funds cannot be used to resolve their issues.

My aunt, for example, had the misfortune of buying a unit at an apartment scheme in Pandan Indah, Selangor, that has now been completely abandoned.

The facilities are in such bad condition that no one wants to live there. Yet my aunt continues to service the monthly loan.

There are also questions about land status such as freehold or leasehold, and residential or commercial zones.

Plenty of strata projects nowadays are built on commercial land, which some homebuyers may not be not aware of.

This means that the assessment tax, electricity and water tariffs may be higher, compared to properties on residential land.

I have met several unit owners who were shocked to later learn that they had to fork out more for assessment and utilities because they did not know the properties were located on commercial land when they made the purchase.

I recently found out that for properties on commercial land, the owners can apply to Tenaga Nasional Berhad to have their tariff rates converted from commercial to residential.

However, this requires them to prove that the unit is being used for residential and not commercial purposes.

Another complication is when the land of the strata scheme is nearing its leasehold expiry.

Apparently, the leasehold period can be extended but the management body must submit an application to the land office.

This requires an agreement from all unit owners, which might be challenging to obtain if the owners cannot be traced when the time comes for renewal.

In my aunt’s case, it is difficult to get anything done because many of the owners, some of whom are foreigners residing outside Malaysia, cannot be traced.

With all these considerations weighing on my mind, I took more time deciding what to buy.

I recently settled on a strata property home on commercial land in Kuala Lumpur.

My mother is not thrilled with my decision but I am sure she will be onboard – eventually.