misfortune...

Yay, I've been slapped with a summon for illegally obstructing the driveway.

Time to strike 4D toto lottery, whatever they call it.

connaught avenue...

My first brush of shoulders with Connaught Avenue's developer, Akisama Enterprise, was back in late 2006 when I visited their show unit for Kuchai Avenue. I was pretty impressed with their finishings and pricing, especially that the locations they acquired are usually pretty strategic.

And when I saw a banner erected at Jalan Cheras on their latest development, Connaught Avenue Service Apartments, I decided to visit the show unit to take a peek at what they have to offer this time.

To put it briefly, Connaught Avenue is located beside Econsave and will take up the location which currently The Challenger Futsal Centre sits. A leasehold land with 99 years (starting from 2009), with a total land area of 8.66 acres, more than half of the land taken up by 2-storey shop-lots that will be completed together in end of 2011.

One thing unique about Akisama's residential properties is that they always come up with only one type of lay-out, regardless of how many units there are. Connaught Avenue will have 385 units of service aparments spread in two blocks, which makes it about 193 units per block. Having stayed in D'aman Ria with over 400 units in a single block, personally I think this will be quite low in density.

I've always been impressed with what Akisama offers together with the units they sell, back then when I visited Kuchai Avenue, they were selling at RM15X,XXX per unit of 935sf, inclusive of fully furnished bathrooms and 2x2 tiles. I visited the show unit pretty late, and at that time there were only 2 units left, and they even offered 2 units of air-conds to close the deal. Let's just say I passed the offer and now I live to regret the decision. ; )

Anyway, last weekend was Connaught Avenue's soft launch, and it was already Sunday when I finally went, and boy their sales certainly impressed me. Soft launch for the first block with about 190 units, 70% were already taken up by the time I reached (around 1 noon).

What not, with their starting price of RM180,500 for a 950sf unit, I'd say it's pretty affordable especially since it's in a location with mature residential lands surrounding it. And to top the offer, the bathrooms come fully furnished together with plaster ceiling, and now they include built-in wardrobes for all three bedrooms and the kitchen cabinets! Not forgetting that the maintenance fee is 0.13 cents per sf, that adds up to less than RM140 monthly including the sinking fee (which btw, will be waived for the first two years).

I'll leave it to your decision whether this is going to be a good development or not. I have my opinions, but I'd rather listen to others on how they see Connaught Avenue.

: )

confusion...

I'm trying very hard to find flaws in common financing packages, I'm sure there's a common practice amongst investors where they get to finance properties 100% but in reality the loan agreement says 90% margin of finance in black and white. The banker values your property higher than the transacted price, and the bank approves 90% loan according to the bank's valuation.

But considering that the bank will require all the necessary documentations of the transaction and SPA, how on earth do one get away with the inflated price to acquire a higher loan amount than he/she is supposed to get?

Even if this works, how do we claim the extra cash from the bank when they help you to pay off to the vendor? Doesn't the money go straight to the vendor? If not, then do the bank transfer the loan to your own account? Which didn't really happen during my first experience in properties. So how does the money go about here?

And if it's a common practice, do the loan packages include zero entry cost, or just plain loans for the property value? If the package can include the likes of MRTA and such, then surely the loan wouldn't be the exact '90%' but higher. So how does the bank calculate the loan amount when the transacted price is totally flawed on purpose in the first place?

I must've missed something very important along the way. Surely there's a way to explain all these.

I hate it when something bothers me this much.

valentine's home-made dinner...

Well, considering that a close friend is having his wedding dinner on Valentine's this year, we've brought forward our Valentine's plans to Friday night.

And considering that the lady of the night is under strict diet control following consultations with her colleagues, we ended up cooking our own Valentine's dinner.

Which wasn't so bad.

Grilled Salmon with tartar sauce

Campbell's cream of mushroom

Black pepper grilled chicken with bacon

Mirinda's orange

While wedding is a good excuse to skip a fancy restaurant dinner outside, to be honest Valentine Dinner sets are always a cut-throat to your pocket. A dinner like the above could've cost us like, what, RM300++?

It was a good dinner at home on the eve of Valentine's, which we both think was spent pretty well.

A very belated Happy Valentine's Day to all!

bye bye hoglets...

Well, I was supposed to blog about my Valentine dinner, or ZH's wedding, whichever, but unfortunately the camera's not with me and the photo images are yet to be transferred to the computer, so I'm blogging about something else in the meantime.

On the night of ZH's wedding, someone called up and expressed serious interest in purchasing my last hedgehog on the same night, and after much hesitation (it's Valentine's Day and a close friend's wedding for Pete's sake!), I finally decided to have the deal done, and my last hoglet finally left to a new owner's home at 12.30am. : )

While I would say that breeding hedgehogs wouldn't really give you very good profit, at least it has covered up my expenses when I first started rearing. But anyway, it isn't really for all the money; nobody gets rich by breeding livestocks and selling them, personally it has been a wonderful 4 months I have had watching the hoglets grow from an inch long into the size of my palm. I'm just glad to find a hobby which can give me a little return in cash to be 'reinvested' to my hobby.

I've mated my pair of hedgehogs last week and hopefully this round, I'd be able to breed the mother's colour which didn't happen in the last batch of hoglets.

On a different topic, I've finally put the pen on paper for another investment, ending my 6-month monitoring and research, and three weeks of continuous negotiation. Now it's time to shift my attention to another location and begin the tedious works all over again.

Next post will be either Valentine's or ZH's wedding. : )

wedding bells on february 14...

It's Valentine's Day this Saturday and I will officially NOT celebrate on February 14th. No thanks to my life-long brother's biggest day of his life.

CONGRATULATIONS!!!

Oh well, I can celebrate Valentine's a day earlier.

Anyway, this is going to be great experience, a church wedding in the city. I've never been to one before.

Okay, I lied. I've been to one before. But that's my lecturer's wedding which was held in the church she frequently attends. Which is located in a residential area. So it's different okay?

Back to the wedding, so it's going to be a double celebration every year from next year onwards. Anniversary on Valentine's huh? That's gonna be a bit corny, but hey, it saves the guy from having to remember another anniversary date, no? And one present for two celebrations.

That's cunningly smart. Sorry bro but I've exposed your plans here,.hahaha...

false alarm...

Damn it, when things look like they're too good to be true, then it's too good to be true.

I guess it wasn't really heaven, just a pile of clouds in the sky.

Oh well, better luck next time.

CIMB's BLR drops today!

And it's all great news!

Ah, it's like all the best things that can happen today happened!

I'm in heaven!

back from break...

I'm back!

Well, yeah, something like that. So I was hanging out in Butterworth for the last few days (hence my disappearance from the cyberworld), and started my early morning drive back to KL at 4am just in case we get stuck in traffic, but the journey was pretty smooth all the way back home.

Supposed to take a nap now to regenerate, was up all night, but I guess it should be alright to drop a line here just before I hit the lights off.

Hope everyone had a terrific festive season for the past week, and get your ass back to work tomorrow! ;)

big fish...

Came across an ad of a property priced at approximately 7% below market value on sale last month but after (very) much procrastination, the property was 'JUST' sold by the time I lift up the phone to make an enquiry.

Having studied the rental rates of similar properties, it's probably going to fetch about 9% rental yield, at least. Or better still, I've come across investors who's getting 12% for the same type of property.

Oh well, that's a big fish that escaped.

Anyway, I guess I'll need to be more alert next time, but it's gonna be hard considering that the BLR has dropped to 6.5%, with news that it's going further down in the coming months. Good news for current landlords, yay, bad news for slowpokes like me, nay...:(

baking day...

Had a family baking day yesterday, not surprisingly, considering Chinese New Year's round the corner.

This will be more like a picture posts, so just enjoy the photos and spare the words!

Some of the ingredients of the Kerabu dish for dinner.

Our Kerabu's sauce. Yummy!

Egg yolk to apply on the biscuits.


Not sure what these 'fluffy' biscuits are called.


Sweet Almond biscuits.

Family favourite Pineapple Tarts.

Had some dough left and we've decided to make some themed-biscuits.

'Doggies' lining up in the line of fire.

They make pretty good gifts in a box.

"Crap, why do I have to be the bottom one?"

How would a tortoise biscuit look like when baked?

Hmm, pretty okay I guess, though the head's slightly deformed.


What about this blind old man?

Went for a hair-dye.

And finally, my favourite biscuit. How will it turn out to be?

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

Not too bad for a 'Hedgehog' biscuit. ;)

pancit...

It's pretty much a norm in the last decade that Liverpool loses steam in later stages of an 8-month season.

Last night, Man Utd won 1-0 against former Liverpool man Emile Heskey's Wigan Athletics. As much as I hoped that Man Utd lose, it's apparent that they'll be able to grind out a victory no matter what. They always do, don't they?

Anyway, back to current standings, Liverpool are only leading at the top by 2 points, with Man Utd having played a game less. Winning against Bolton will see Man Utd topping the table and ahead of Liverpool by a point.

Heartwrenching?

Not really.

Not that I don't have any feelings about it, I'll be heck disappointed in fact, but in a way to summarize it better, it's not unexpected.

Liverpool have never got the steam to last the entire season for so many previous seasons, they either start up slow, or slowed down in the second half of the season. Plus, the many inconsistent displays throughout the seasons see them lose unnecessary points.

We went through some great moments during the turn of the new year, solid displays to thrash both Bolton and Newcastle, only to be let down by mediocre showings against Stoke. How did it happen?

This season looks more exciting than the previous years because, unexpectedly, all the top teams are dropping points at some stage in the course of the season. Man Utd started slow, Arsenal's choking here and there, and Chelsea in the midst of a crisis in confidence. Liverpool too, are having some major hiccups before Christmas, and it sure looks like we're going to have few more blips before the season ends.

But this is definitely one of the better seasons to watch in recent history. If there's a need to lower my expectations, I only hope that Liverpool will last the pace and be in contention for the league title in the last couple of matches.

That'll be some great finale.

hoglets all grown up...

About 10 weeks ago, Quills gave birth to three little female hoglets.

Considering that the first mating session didn't work out, I was somewhat not expecting her to be pregnant during the second mating session when Cactus looked to be injured and there were stains of blood on the body less than 48 hours putting both of them together.

30 over days later on 21 Oct, while I was away in Tawau, I received an unexpected call from my girlfriend telling me that I've became a grandfather of three.

Last Tuesday, the first hoglet left for her new home.

The other two hoglets will soon follow suit when suitable buyers come along.

It has been a wonderful 10 weeks watching these few little 'rambutans' grow from the size of my thumb into the size of my palm.



Hope my hoglets will all end up with loving and caring owners, who'll be able to shower them with lots of affection!

2009...

First...

post...

of...

the...

year.

And I'm back to work. Yay.

Alright, not to be too gloomy, but I've had a good 10 days break from work to be fair (although I did receive countless calls related to work in each of those days).

It's still pretty early to get back into shape (as a workaholic), what more the market is pretty quiet here in this field, and I can still afford to linger around during weekends.

Pretty quiet everywhere else too, wonder what's everyone up to these days?

my best friend's wedding...

2008 is coming to an end, and I'm not gonna let the year pass by without a mention of my best friend's wedding. ; )

I must say this is one of my best moments in 2008, seeing a close friend for over 10 years, getting married. And for sure, this is the most memorable day for Ang and Pei Li.

A very belated Congratulations to Ang and Pei Li, and I hope you'll live happily ever after!

liverpool's early christmas gift...

Well, what do you know.

Christmas is in a couple of days, and Liverpool are surprisingly STILL at the top of the league table.

One would’ve guessed Liverpool would be slumping down the table with two successive draws and with some dreaded displays of late, but then again who would’ve thought the rest of the big guns are having their patchy mid-season form on as well?

Chelsea is having some tough time themselves, and with John Terry now out for three matches during the festive season, that will surely be a major loss for the men in blue.

Arsenal are already choking all the way this season, and although nobody’s writing off anybody, I sincerely believe it’ll be a huge challenge for Arsene Wenger’s side to mount a credible climb up the pecking orders with the league getting so competitive now.

Man Utd may be having 2 extra games in hand, but that doesn’t mean there are 6 points in the pocket. They can be as close as 1 point behind Liverpool, but they can also be as far as 7 points away if results go our way. And let’s not forget Evra is having a lengthy ban himself, and he has been one of the most consistent performers in the Man Utd squad now.

And let’s not forget Aston Villa is making a statement to break into the Big Four stronghold, and at the moment they certainly look like they are more than capable to do so.

It’s a fun festive season this Christmas, and though Bolton and Newcastle aren’t totally pushovers, I certainly hope Liverpool will end 2009 top of the league, and it’ll be a bonus if we can pull away from the chasing pack. ;)

Merry Christmas everybody!

december...

I would really liked to blog about my friend's and my brother's wedding in these past week, but until today I still can't find myself capable of reaching to my home PC and download some photos into it. And well, to be honest, I am kinda in a rush to finish up all the pending jobs I'm currently holding, and then take a week off work (and home too) for a breather.

First weekend in December:
At work, followed by Ang's wedding.

Second weekend in December:
My brother's wedding. And it's pretty stressful to be the punching bag of many stressful people around you.

Third weekend in December:
Which is this coming weekend, my girlfriend had planned a river-rafting trip near Gua Tempurung with my ol' housemates and uni friends, and then perhaps going to the hot-spring in Sungkai as well.

Fourth weekend in December:
Right after Christmas, my girlfriend's mom and sis will be visiting KL, and will spend the entire week off from work and home too. Well, I had to since there'll always be traces of work back at home I have run away in order to escape from work!

can the reds stay top?

I've never seen Liverpool leading the table so many months into a season and as far as I'm concerned, this may well be one season that we can finally be challenging for the title.

I don't really want to set the expectations too high so I won't be disappointed come end of the season next May, but to watch the current Liverpool team play is pretty much all the joy since the team has proved to be able to play some beautiful football at par with Arsenal and Man Utd. Of course, grinding out results and points along the way make the games more enjoyable too. ;)

And on top of everything, the team actually looks like they are not playing up to their best yet, Keane hasn't got into any sort of goal-scoring act, Torres in-and-out with injuries, inconsistent fullbacks of Dossena and Aurelio, long-term injury to Skrtel, and Mascherano looked like he's quite jaded after going for the Olympic games. So how good can this team be when everyone's back and hitting form? I don't know, but I'm excited if the team gets to show the entire league what they're capable of.

Blackburn up next without a win in their last 9 games. Let's see how Liverpool will cope with this physical side and make a statement.

It's a great season to watch Liverpool play, and it's a great month to catch plenty of matches!

it's been a long time...

What do you know, after 12 years and we're still in touch.

VSG, truly second to none. Hahahaha...:)

welcome to the world...

Welcome to the world, little ones...

The three little hoglets, 10-days old.

Aren't they cute little buggers?