Setia Greens Cassia Type for Sale in Sungai Ara, Penang

I bought this house 2 years+ ago from SP Setia and initially I did plan to stay for my own but who knows plan changed that I need to sell this house now. :(

For the product detail, you can visit the official page here. Below is the master plan for Setia Greens. The arrow shows where my house is.

It is basically divided 2 phases. The first phase consists of terrace and semi-detached houses. The second phase consists of semi-detached, bungalow and condominium. Landed properties here are all 3 stories.

My house is in the middle of this row! :) This picture was taken while still in construction but almost complete. Now, few houses has moved in already.

If you're interested or maybe your friends interested, please contact me through email: "champdog@gmail.com".

[Update: 27 Feb 2016]: Sorry, this property was sold long time ago and I don't have time to update this post. May bad, and you don't need to contact me anymore.

Why I bought this property?

Perhaps it is good for me to share my thought process why I decided to buy this property and you can take them as reference in your buying considerations.

Price Per Sq Feet is Cheaper

• It is cheaper in terms of price per Sq. feet as compared to condominium in Penang. In other words, landed property is selling cheaper than non-landed property. Isn't that worth to buy landed then?

Land Title is Individual and Not Strata

• Strata title is an apartment title which means the land is not totally owned by you as compared to individual title. This means you can't simply extend your house and do renovation. I just feel weird that having landed property with apartment title where you don't have complete control on your land.

• There are pros and cons of it and it is totally up to the individual preference. This trend is starting from KL and brought it over to Penang. A good example of this kind of property is "Southbay" from Mah Sing group, near the second Penang bridge.

• Another benefit of Individual title is the maintenance fee is cheaper. Maintenance fee for Strata title's properties is usually way expensive. This is a concern for long term especially when you retire or don't have a job one day. Ultimately in my opinion, you don't want the maintenance fee to be one of your biggest expenses. 

Gated and Guarded (by Fence)

• One of the main benefits of landed property with Strata title is they usually offer gated and guarded services. However, the Setia Greens offer this service too with individual title. Isn't the best to have similar services without the need for Strata title? 

Setting Sun is Blocked by the Hill

• Apart of north-south orientation of the house (my house is facing south by the way) where your house is not facing directly to rising and setting sun, the setting sun is also blocked by the hill in second phase at west. This is very good, you won't feel very hot during evening time. For those who have stayed in landed property before will know what I"m talking. :)

Not too Close to the Hill & Fence

• I choose the house in the middle of the row for the reason of it is not too close to the hill and the fence. I don't randomly pick. It is also located in the middle of the whole area there. I don't like to be too close too the border, it doesn't feel right for me unless I don't have a choice.

Environment is for Residential

• I like this place because the environment is really for residential. People usually choose landed property in Sungai Ara area is because of this factor. Unlike some other landed properties which are very near to the commercial units, I feel those property are not really for residential. But again,  you can argue the other way round and I guess this is up to personal preference again.

Multiple Routes to Setia Greens

• If you follow my blog, one of my key criteria before I invest in a property is look at how many routes to that area (see my previous blog post here). Specifically to Setia Greens, there are 2 routes. If you look at the bigger area (i.e. Sg Ara), there are at least 3 routes. This has already met my minimum requirement (i.e. 2 routes), therefore is good to invest for me.

It is Freehold 

• Needless to say more, it is freehold. I'm not dare to buy leasehold property although it is cheaper.

Service is Reliable

• SP Setia is a very reliable developer and their service is not perfect but when you complain, they will take it seriously and ultimately fix the problems for you. I heard many developers services out there are pretty bad especially the after sale service. 

Well, you may think I'm biased but that was really my thought process of buying this property. If not, why I buy? lol.

The only CONCERN I had when was deciding whether to buy this property is the traffic condition. So I tried to experience it myself during morning hours and after working hours to see how bad is the condition.

To be frank, it is still acceptable to me. You just don't use the route from Relau which I find it always jam badly during peak hours (due to no traffic light and narrow road). Having said that, there is plan to widen the roads and once it is done, I believe it will be a lot better. The traffic light is already there now and it reduces the long queue problem already.


P/S: Hope that helps. If you have any questions about my property, feel free to drop me an email: champdog@gmail.com

You can also put your comments here in this blog if you have any additional comments to add - it is fine if you disagree with me.

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? :)