Property Investment for The New Decade

Last Saturday, 22 May 2010, I attended a seminar by one of the financial coach at Cititel Hotel, Midvalley. I attended this seminar because besides reading books, I think attending seminars will further enhance my knowledge especially in property investments. The seminar is a whole day event from 9am to 5.30pm and my expectations were very high.

Unfortunately to say the least, I think paying RM700 for the seminar is really not worth it. Because of the title of the seminar, I was expecting something really out of this world. But what I encountered was the opposite. About 3/4 of the seminar content was about content in his books which I had read a few of them. Only about 1/4 of the seminar I found to be something new to me and useful. Even during the lunch break, I even told my friend that he better share something useful after the lunch break because I don't think its worthwhile to pay and listen to him repeating points from his books.

Even if the seminar is about the content of his books, I was expecting him to elaborate more on the points that he can't include in his books. Unfortunately, even this did not happen. One of his point is buying properties below market value through auctions. Surprisingly, if I recalled it correctly, his only story about property auction is the terrace house he bought in Subang Jaya many years ago which you can find the story in his books. If he only did it once, how can he emphasize so much on that? He should be an expert on that to talk about that. One property from auctions can't say too much about you right?

Now to the useful points. From his seminar, he predicted that property bubble will occur sooner or later. Well, this is just a prediction. Whether he is right or wrong, only time will tell. So don't panic. His prediction is based on causes of the US sub-prime crisis which had began to occur in the Malaysian property market. I can't agree more with him actually.

Looking at the current property market trend, we are seeing ridiculously priced property. Even a medium high cost apartment in Shah Alam is selling in the range of RM250k. People who can't afford to own properties are forcing their way to buy what they can't afford. Owning a property have become easier with easier financing and low or no down payments. When the borrowers can't pay, they bank will land into trouble later. Somehow, something will give way eventually.

Besides that, he also shared what are the steps to be taken to face this challenge which are sensible in my opinion. The main thing is to be prepared for a crisis and grab the opportunity when it comes. The last hour of his seminar was a session with a lawyer. The lawyer is also an author of a book. Many legal questions were thrown to him and they really gave me more insights from the legal point of view with regards to property investment.