the FAQ i get after getting my job, marriage, and a son - all about buying a house.
no. we don't.
at least for these-early-10-years, we may not have our own space called - house - of our own. i have many friends, who already own -at least one- houses of theirs. i don't know their objectives, but for us, not yet. if i could list down the WHY...
1. we stay in Sarawak - & we're not Sarawakians!
2. we don't have much $$$$$.
3. we have very limited knowledge real estate/properties.
reason no 1 is very easy. there's no reason for us to buy a house in Miri, coz we're not going to settle down here! -please let us go back to Peninsular after a maximum 6 years.. - and we're not comfortable with the idea of renting out... it's too far. even Tok Pa -has several houses in Johor-, gets many problems with the tenants. and he gets negative cashflow! uh-oh, we're not that rich to watch our money goes negative.
and, the idea about buying house in Peninsular also doesn't work for us. it's because of reason no. 2, we don't have much money. even combining both our salary never makes RM10,000 in our bank account. if we buy a house in KL, let say, we still have to pay for the house we stay in now! double expenses! and we have to commit to the mortgage for 20-30 years.. while have to pay for our current living. else, the RMs could be safely & lucratively invested. and about renting it out, we have reason#1 to say, no.
and, the idea of "buying is better than renting bcoz the amount of money a renter spends on rent can be about the same as or less than the amount a homeowner spends on a mortgage. by buying, you get the house. by renting, the house will always belong to the owner" doesn't work for us. the answer is reason #1.
for us, since we may not staying at certain place forever [we might be here for another 5 years?..], we probably won't break even on the closing expenses incurred while buying it. futhermore, since we're renting company's house, we don't have to pay for the maintenance. yeay! just call the office if our anything break down, and there's a fortnightly grass-cutter!
even if the financial expert, David Bach said, "if you rent, you'll always be poor", but it's not necessarily suit everyone. unless, we master the no 3, the real estate part. it's true that we can buy and rent it out. but it's not that easy, and it doesn't work to most of our family members, who own houses, even if in KL! so, how about a small part in Sarawak, where the development is keep on coming! will anyone attracts to buy a 'used house' for a high price? we're not gonna sell our house for lower price than we paid! ]and we're not donald trump, renovating a house to be sold for double price! - too good to be true]
when we go back to KL, we'll think about buying a house. for now, it is more interesting to watch the money grows somewhere rather than gambling our luck in a world we are not familiar with. yes, housing price will be increase year by year. but it's just like other market, it has ups and down. it's just the matter of- when?
as for now, just rent. save money, and wait for the right opportunity to come along. yeeha!
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