Cheated by Residential Property With Commercial Title?

I just remember a conversation that I had with a property sale person in few months back in a property fair and he basically tried to convince me to buy a condominium with a justification "Cheap" at prime location. 

He basically asked me to compare the prices with other developer projects with the same type of quality and location, and see if I can get any offers that cheaper than it? So I tried to answer him and the conversations goes below...


Me: Yeah, I can't find any. But why? I'm curious to know.

Him: That's why is offer. Just left few units, better hurry!

Me: (Since he didn't really answer my questions, so I tried to probe him more). Is this leasehold?

Him: No, freehold! 

Me: Strata title? (Stupid that I asked this because I get used to asking this for landed property)

Him: Yes, of course. It always a Strata title for condo/apartment. 

Me: Hmm... commercial unit??? (Now I hit it!)

(He somehow silent and pretended never hear my questions, so I asked him again with slightly more detail. lol) 

Me: Is this condo with commercial title or residential title?

Him: Commercial title but no difference. Basically both are the same!

Me: Oh okay. I will consider it (My turn to pretend! lol)


Honestly, how can it be the same? If same, why we need to differentiate them at the first place? It is a residential property that built on a commercial land. This type of property is usually called "Service Apartment / Condo". 

Do check out my very old post on different type of properties that you can find in Malaysia here.


Why I say No to Commercial Title?

• It is not covered by housing Act. You can't sue the developer if anything goes wrong. 

• Utilities bills are more expensive. Expensive by how much? I don't really no. Maybe if you know, you can share with me.

• What if your neighbor makes their home become a business? I will be no privacy and I can't report them because it is legal!!!

• Don't you feel weird, residential property on commercial land? What is this? Common sense tells me this is not right unless I really aim this for renting it out to expat. But what if it doesn't turn out to be service apartment for expat? Oh crap, I will lost my investment!

I guess this is the outcome from developers who buy that piece of land for commercial initially (e.g. building shops) but somehow they change plan later for some reasons to build residential units instead.

After that, they try to convince you and me that commercial title is same with residential title if we aware it is commercial title? lol!


Summary

I'm sharing this because I "feel" many may think that all residential properties by default is with residential title which is not case. I"m not sure if there are any real victims of buying this type of property or perhaps I think too much. Everyone knows what they're buying. :)

Hope that helps! :) Let me know especially if you think otherwise (e.g. commercial title is better) for staying or even for investment.

Should I Buy Mid-range or High-end Smartphone?

If you're a gadget guy like me, you're always interested in the high-end smartphone rather than the mid-range one. However, the problem is this high-end smartphone will usually become a mid-range smartphone after less than a year and this makes it pointless for your to aim for a high-end smartphone anymore.

Here I list down the reasons (other than the above one) why I think mid-range smartphone is good enough.


Reasons Mid-Range is Good Enough

• It is a lot more cheaper as compared to high-end smartphone. You can get 2x cheaper for mid-range but do you get 2x features and speed? Obviously no.

• The usability and features are 99% the same. What can be done in high-end smartphone can be done in mid-range smartphone too. It is about the OS version that it runs. :)

• Yes it runs slower than the high-end smartphone due to processor speed BUT after you install whole bunch of applications, they're both slow! So what is the difference? lol

• No one knows you're carrying a mid-range smartphone because it looks almost the same with the high-end one. Look at Samsung Galaxy products, they all look the same!

• Screen resolution is usually lower for mid-range smartphone but do you know it runs faster with lower resolution? The font is big which makes it easier to read also.

• Some mid-range smartphones have dual SIM card support which is extremely useful for those who travel oversea often or those who carry 2 phones. Most high-end smartphones do not have dual SIM support now.

By the way, Camera and video recording is important, at least to me. Aim for those mid-range smartphone that offers equal or slightly lower camera and video's spec than those high-end smartphone.

That's the reason I bought Samsung Galaxy Grand lately!!! lol :) It serves all the above reasons and also with high camera and video's spec. :)

Honestly, if you're planning to buy smartphone, let's aim for the mid-range smartphone will do. No point go for a high-end one from personal finance perspective. Save your money and at the same time you still can achieve the purpose that you want to do with the phone. :) Just my 2 cents...


P/S: Perhaps that is also the reason iPhone is slowly died off because they don't have any mid-range phone? :)