Is it difficult to collect rent?

One of the most frequently asked question when I talk to people about rental properties is: Isn’t it difficult to collect rent? I suppose the answer to this is relative; if you only have one rental property and that tenant gives you a headache when he doesn’t pay up, then I suppose it is difficult. But if you have more than one then you have economies of scale, whereby you don’t collect the rent yourself but can outsource the task. I prefer the latter, relying on my trusted agent and friend Mr. Lim to do the leg work. 

But even Mr. Lim is not bogged down by the tedious task of collecting rent. In today’s technological age, everything is accessible at the end of your fingertips - online. My tenants bank in their rental my bank account before the agreed date every month (usual around the 7^th) and then SMS to let me know. I will usually scan through the list using e-banking facility and can quickly tell who has paid and who hasn’t. It is also a good idea to split the payments into different bank accounts – it can be confusing especially if the amount is the same e.g. RM550 per month. The other way I can more or less know who has paid is through the different payment methods, whether it is through cash at the CDM or cheque. Companies tend to prefer cheque while individuals bank in cash.  

If the tenant is late in paying, I will send them an SMS reminder. If they still do not pay the rent by the 15^th of the month or so, I would then get Mr. Lim to give them a courtesy call and find out what’s happening. He would normally ask if they want to vacate the flat because that is usually one of the reasons they don’t pay: most owners are so hopeless in refunding the tenant’s rental deposit that they prefer not to take the risk. Most would ask that they stay the last 2 months by running down their deposit money. I usually would not allow this unless it’s exceptional case; I tell them that I will let them stay till end of the present month and pay them the 1 month refund owed. Mr Lim usually has a waiting list of prospective tenants for me that I don’t have to worry about getting them out immediately and be able to fill it in a few days time.

Well, I would be lying if I said that I have never faced any difficulties in collecting rent, but they are an exception rather than the norm. Usually if you have screened the tenants properly upfront, you won’t have to pay the price later on. But sometimes it just happens. Let me relate two real life examples which I have encountered recently.

Funnily most would think that companies would be better paymasters. But, both these incidents relate to companies and not individuals that rented my properties. The first property (let’s call it B3) was rented to a local restaurant that housed their workers in the unit a few years ago. The manager signed the tenancy and I have been getting the rental on time via cheques payments. Until recently I though everything was going fine. Then one day, a prop agent called me and asked if I wanted the new tenant in B3 to sign a rental agreement. I thought I already had a tenant. What I didn’t know was the manager has since resigned from his employment at the restaurant but before that, he had “rented” it out to 3^rd party when the restaurant’s workers had moved out. The company continued to pay me the rent, and he had been happily collecting rent from the 3^rd party for a couple of years. His scam unravelled when the new tenant moved in – they paid the previous tenant the 2+1 month deposit and promptly moved in. When I confronted the restaurant owner they had absolutely now idea of the scam. So, they terminated the rental contract and I ended up with a new tenant who says she has been cheated by the previous tenant of B3 as she had paid them the deposit. Cut a long story short I ended up with a tenant who had no deposit with me, and I did not want. I told her she could stay as long as she paid the rent promptly. But, it turned out she was not a good paymaster by being late with rent a on a few occasion and giving all sorts of excuses; best thing to do is to move them out, which is what Mr Lim is doing right now. But, here is a case of how you can lose one or two month’s rental income due to scams that can happen.  

Another troubled tenant also relates to a company (A12) – the security guard company rented a 3R2B unit to house its staff. The accounts side is so hopeless that the payment is always delayed and I have often time reminded them, going to the extent of sending the 1^st and 2^nd reminders. In the end I just wanted them out, and have told them so. But it is not so easy if they continue to pay you the rent, albeit late. So, this is still on-going but Mr. Lim is working hard to get them out. 

Well, as a final word, not all corporate tenants are bad paymasters; I have one unit which is rented out to a bookstore and they are a professional lot – payment in on time, all the time. Plus, they keep the property in good condition. At the end of the day, it all comes back down to screening your tenants well – if you invest time up front, you don’t have to pay later.

Chris

March 2011

copyright Chris Gan@2010, www.breadnbutterproperty.blogspot.com

Rent vs Buy; You decide

Recently, I visited my friend William at his house in Kota Kemuning, Shah Alam for Chinese New Year. He lives in in a very nice super-link house (double storey, 28 x70') in a gated & guarded community, right next to an idylic lake. He and his family have lived there for about a year now and he was thinking of buying it instead of renting. The prices being quoted astonished me although I have been reading about escallating prices of landed properties in the newspaper of late. Property experts have been advising potential buyers to look at the potential price appreciation of such properties to justify the high prices (instead of the low rental yields).

Here is what the buy vs. rent scenario looks like - you make your own decision whether its better to buy or to continue renting.
- At launch, the house was sold by the developer for RM515k, and,
- according to my friend, the last transacted price of a similar house around the corner, was RM650k a few months ago.
- the offer he made to the current owner was RM850k! and this was rejected.
- owner wants a cool RM1.0m for the super link house!

Here's how the numbers look like:
- Assuming property is transacted at RM1.0m, the down payment would be RM100k (90% LTV). Loan amount is RM900k,
- Your instalment would be RM5,002.49 monthly (@4.5% interest rate, for 25 years).
- After 10 years, loan amount still outstanding would be: RM653,926. And, you would have paid RM354, 166 in interests and principal (or your equity in the house) is RM246,074.

Now, get this, the rental for this superb property is RM2k per month only! yes, cheaper than the repayment to service a brand new BMW 3 series car. And, that's with the RM180 / mth maintenance fee included. I think this is an absolute bargain and wouldn't mind living there (but my wife thinks it's too far away from KL - approx 30kms). The gross yield on the property is 2.4%! (calculated as 24,000 divided by RM1.0m)

In any case, the rental paid after 10 years would come up to RM240k (assuming there is no increase in rent, of course). And, if you could afford RM5k per month for loan repayment in the first place, you would have saved RM360k -- which you could have invested in other investments like shares or buying other rental properties. And, hopefully this yielded higher returns than the 2.4% yield on the Kota Kemuning million ringgit house.

Now, lets assume that the property experts are correct and there is massive appreciation - e.g the price of the house doubles to RM2.0m in 10 years -- the return on this would be 7.2% p.a. (Rule of 72) which is pretty reasonable. But, the big question is: can it double in 10 years?

So, what's the house like that worth? this is a difficult question to answer, but I decided to search for some guidance on this. In the UK, rule of thumb for a house's worth is calculated as 15 times its annual rental (not sure why its 15 times? - but, prob the houses don't last as long as they are made from timber?) but lets say our super link house is 25 times, similar to our average loan tenor.  The value should be closer to RM600k (25 x 24,000 per year rental) now, which is a far cry from RM1.0m asking price.

In summary, the decision really comes down to:
- do you think the property can appreciate (in this case, doubling in the next 10 years) to justify the higher price you are paying? and,
- if you could afford the RM5k / mth instalment, would you be better off investing the extra RM3k to get higher yields, while continue to rent the house at RM2k/mth instead?

**
Chris
Feb 2011




copyright Chris Gan@2010, www.breadnbutterproperty.blogspot.com

Will the New MRT Line Increase Property Prices Significantly?

I was at Chinese New Year gathering yesterday and my host, who is  a successful, and well-respected developer posed this question to a few of us: 'Will the much talked about new MRT line increase property prices significantly?'

At first I thought it was a rather strange question to ask, since the RM30bn project has been much talked about, and received much attention in the media. The new 55km line which runs from Kajang in the south to Sungai Buloh in the north is expected to bring much new business to the areas which it runs through. In the discussion sessions with the authorities though, some groups have been lobbying to have the station in their develeopment area like in Damansara Uptown, while others like the residents of Taman Tun Dr Ismail (TTDI) are arguing against having the station in their area. The detractors argue that the new line unless its underground would be unsightly and may bring down property value (instead of improving it!). According to my friend who is well versed on infrastructure project: going underground would increase the construction costs (by many folds) - but the advantage, of course is that, it is less disruptive & less unsightly especially in highly densed areas like in Bukit Damansara (yes, its not just because many prominent people live there, incl ministers, who do not want to see the property values affected by noisy trains!).

So, I started giving this question some serious thought. Will having the new MRT line running through your area really increase the value of your property?

I guess, it all depends. When was the last time you took a ride on the current MRT? I mean not just for short ride but to get to work or even to go shopping? I have to admit that most of my MRT rides have been from Bandaraya station to Masjid Jamek (1 stop) or sometimes to KLCC (3 or 4 stops), for lunch. That's simply because- I have a car and drive. The sad fact is that most Malaysians especially in KL drive, and those that take public transport tend to be middle to lower income earners, who may not have cars. And of course, there are the retirees who find it convinient to travel during off peak hours, and enjoying senior citizen discounts. And oh, yes the foreign workers also use the MRT.

For residential areas - my opinion, is that the new MRT line will improve the value of property around the area - provided the development is targeted at the middle-to-lower income segments. In which case, link houses, and flats which are affordable, near the new stations would benefit (below 250k). We have seen examples of this phenomenon in established areas like Taman Miharja, Cheras (LRT line), Wangsa Maju, and Taman Melati. The flats and houses are in high demand - rental in these areas tend to exceed the other areas due to the proximity to the station. People who work in the city and have no cars don't mind paying a little bit more for convinience.  Of course, other factors like access to amenities like shops, food courts, and schools also play a big part in their appeal. But, I feel that the over riding factor is that that the property around the MRT area need to be affordable and within their reach.

This brings us to the situation we are in today:  the new MRT line will run through TTDI, The Curve, Bukit Damansara, Ara Damansara which can be regarded as well established areas, and where property prices are already high compared to other areas.  How much more can it go up? It is unlikley that people with cars and drive to work will suddenly be keen to take the MRT now the new line is there. Also, even less likely would be people who are earning less than 5k a month (and having less than 1k to spend on housing) would suddenly be buying or renting condos in Mutiara Damansara, just because the MRT station is next door. 

And given that land prices in these areas have skyrocketed, a 250k link house would be a dream. It is just not going to be profitable to developers who own land around the future MRT stations to be building link houses costing 250k and below.  The high land prices would just not permit this to happen. So in the end, we will probably (for residential) see more high end condos, and super link or semi detach houses being built to justify the high land prices: probably not what is demanded by the likely users of the new MRT line. But in any case, developers and the agents will be  carrying on, promoting the merits of having the MRT station next door to your new property. And that prices will escallate once its built.  Of course, some of us will be tempted to buy these new property, but be warned: remember, who will be main users of the MRT?

Unlike Hong Kong and Singapore which are high income nations, and riding public transport such as MRT is the norm, in Malaysia, the likely winners of the development may be areas that have affordable housing already in place - and existing property that will be enhanced by the new MRT line. This is a more plausible scenario compared to the "new" property developments having high potential gains because of the MRT.

Finally, perhaps the "smart/ old money" in TTDI or Damansara know something the rest of us don't? That the new MRT line is not necessary a boon to all that it pass through. And in some cases, it may even be a bane to them due to noise pollution, indiscrimate parking or perhaps just drawing in the "wrong" crowd to the right neighbourhood? Food for thought. Happy CNY.

**   

copyright Chris Gan@2010, www.breadnbutterproperty.blogspot.com

Impact of 70% cap on third housing loan on rental properties

Happy 2011! It has been a while since my last update. I have been meaning to write on this issue but proscrastination over the Christmas and New Year's period got the better of me. Plus, I have been trying to analyze the impact on this whole business of acquiring rental property for income.

On 3 Nov 2010, Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) announced , that it was imposing a 70% loan-to-value (LTV) ratio on third housing loan for banks. This was done in an effort to cool down the housing market that was perceived to be "bubbling" especially in high end developments. What it means is that if you have 2 housing loans already, for the third the LTV will only be up to 70% - so, this would affect investors who purchase more than two properties. While this was targeted at those speculating in high end bungalows and condos, unfortunately it also includes all other residential properties like our "bread and butter" ones, which cost between RM80k to RM150k. This measure does not distinguish between a third loan on a RM1.0m bungalow in Setia Eco Park and a third loan on RM100k flat in Setapak. It all gets tarred with the same broad brush.

So, what's the impact on acquiring rental property for income?
- For one, its now much harder to buy with "no money down" (except on the first 2 properties, of course); the lower 70% LTV combined with banks being more cautious on its valuation of property means it is difficult to get away with buying a property and it being totally financed by the bank.
- But then again, on the positive side is that you don't need to shop around the banks to see if any of them would give you better financing on your 3rd, 4th or 5th rental properties; it should now be 70% (or less).
- secondly, it is now more tedious to refinance existing rental properties; like me I have some loans which are abiout 3 to 4 years old, which I managed to get at high LTV but now, if I were to refinance it with another bank - it's only going to be 70%, which is not attractive. Further, the prices of these property haven't gone up that much, that I am able to withdraw some descent equity (at 70% LTV).

Given the above, its no wonder that BNM reported that housing loan approvals were down 10% in Dec 10 vs. last year, as the market adjusts to these new guidelines.

So, what can you do, in light of this new guideline?
- well, if you already have some rental properties, and you can't refinance it, there's always the option of increasing your rent. Yes, why not? Since the price of everything from a bowl of noodles, cotton, cooking oil to RON 97 petrol has gone up, why shouldn't rental also go up. Since late last year, I have increased rental by about 10%. A 2R1B unit which used to rent for RM550/mth is now RM580/mth, for 3R2B rental is now RM750/mth (vs. RM700/mth previously) and tenants don't complain. They just pay.  That helps to maintain your margins; making sure you get enough positive cashflow every month, and as a buffer, when BNM eventually increase interest rates some time later this year.        

- the second thing one can do with the 70% cap on third housing loan is just to put up more equity into the property. Hence, the amount borrowed would be much lower than if you had financed it at 80 or 90%. As such, given rates are still at low levels, you will experience higher positive cash flow every month. This would hopefully compensate you for the opportunity cost of having more money "tied up" in the property.

I believe this measure would be temporary and BNM will likely revise or at least fine tune it; as it stands currently, the banks will find it even more difficult to grow their residential loans book. Already most are now turning to focus on commercial properties instead. So, keep yourself updated on the developments as the landscape of the real estate market changes rapidly.

Happy investing in 2011.

Chris 

copyright Chris Gan@2010, www.breadnbutterproperty.blogspot.com

Regular Income from Property - Edge Personal Money

This October 2010 issue of Personal Money, talks about creating regular income from rental properties. It recommends properties which are below 150k and show you how to calculate the net yield for properties. Certainly, buying properties which are below 150k in the right area is a sound strategy. One of the experts quoted in the article righly pointed out: most people can afford rental of RM800-1000 per month, while those that can afford 2k to 5k per month are much fewer and may be confined to expats. Further the number of such expats in Malaysia have declined over the last few years in line with a lower FDI inflow.

The article also highlights the perils of buying properties which are above 500k and expect to make capital gains only. By not being able to rent them out, you may be faced with negative cash flow every month from the property as you service your loan installment. You can refer to my earlier blog on the rental range of property that would be consider "bread and butter" properties.

** Chris

copyright Chris Gan@2010, www.breadnbutterproperty.blogspot.com

Selling Your Property

This is a difficult one. On the one hand you have the DeRoos Golden Rules of property investing that says: "Never sell", and on the other, "Nothing is so good that you should own a 100% of". The truth is that it is somewhere in between, and that you may end up selling a few of your properties along the way to realise some profit. After all, once you sell, you can still buy some more property when the price is right. So, there is no right or wrong about selling.

I have been looking to sell a few of my own bread and butter properties, and realised that there is a process to this. Many books can give you some guidelines on: how to prepare the property, whether to use an agent, and also how to price the property for sale. One think I learnt is that when selling: Never be a desperate seller, as you will always come out the losing end. Make sure that you know what the market price is, and stick to your price that you want. And if you are not in a hurry, you should always get your price, sooner or later. So, be patient, not desperate.

The other thing about selling is that: you want to make sure your flat is neat, tidy and if possible newly painted. That adds a lot of value, and helps to justify a higher asking price. A new coat of paint always appeal to the buyer (its not that expensive to paint a flat, really). The other part of preparing the property for showing is that you have to decide whether you want to have it rented out during this period. The reason being it is much more difficult to show the flat if you have a tenant in. You have to make arrangement with the tenant to view, and somethimes that can be very tedious. For this reason, you may want to keep it empty while you sell it.

I would prefer to use an agent when selling. Being a busy person, it helps to have someone doing the showing, and assisting you in the negotiations with the buyer. Negotiate the agent fees upfront so that there are no dispute later on. And when appointing an agent, make sure he/she farms in the same areas (i.e. familiar with the properties). That can help to make sure your property gets sold, and at the price that you want. You may also consider having more than one agent to market your property, which will create some healthy competition. But having too many agents also has its downside, and they may not be interested to promote your property to their clients, given the heightened competition. So two agents is probably optimal.

Next we will look at how to price your property for sale, and how to get the price that you want.
**

    


copyright Chris Gan@2010, www.breadnbutterproperty.blogspot.com

It pays to check before you commit

Recently I was reminded of the importance of doing due diligence (check!) before you commit to a purchase. My friend sent me an article about the perils of not checking before signing the sales and purchase agreement (S&P); if the seller is a bankrupt, you, as the buyer may lose the down payment unless the bankrupt is solvent. Basically if you sign the S&P and have paid the 10% down payment, and then discover this – you are out of luck. You will have to wait your turn, together with all the unsecured lenders to get your money back. In the meantime, the deal is stuck as the seller as a bankrupt does not have any legal standing to consummate the deal in any case.

This brings me to the next point: hire a descent lawyer who knows what he/she is doing. This is one area you don’t want to be stingy on; don’t hire your friend unless he is well verse with conveyance matters. It can save you a lot of money (for example, if it stops you from making a mistake like signing with a bankrupt) and not to mention, a lot of pain, in the long run. Always do your bankruptcy check; and all good lawyers will advise you to do this before they proceed further.

There are all sorts of scams and tricksters out there nowadays. It pays to do your check; and as the saying goes: if it (a deal) is too good to be true, it probably is.

**

“Bankrupt Seller”, T10, The Star, 14 Sept, 2010

copyright Chris Gan@2010, www.breadnbutterproperty.blogspot.com