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Iskandar Residences @ Medini

sgcount

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1 Medini Residences. This is the only condo in the area that was completed last year. Don't know why they cramped all the different condo projects so close to one another!

1Medini%20cramped%20condos_zpsmvtvdbmz.jpg



1 Medini Residences at night

1Medini%20night%20deserted_zpsbvbj6esp.jpg


Only a very small handful of units had lights turned on. Not many occupants there.

I wonder if all owners in the condo pay their maintenance fees if many of them do not occupy their units. Suspect a lot are foreigners who invested without any intention to stay there.
 

enjoylife77

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1 Medini Residences. This is the only condo in the area that was completed last year. Don't know why they cramped all the different condo projects so close to one another!

Maybe there are setting aside land for future development like condominium project.
 

FHBH12

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1 Medini Residences. This is the only condo in the area that was completed last year. Don't know why they cramped all the different condo projects so close to one another!

1Medini%20cramped%20condos_zpsmvtvdbmz.jpg



1 Medini Residences at night

1Medini%20night%20deserted_zpsbvbj6esp.jpg


Only a very small handful of units had lights turned on. Not many occupants there.

I wonder if all owners in the condo pay their maintenance fees if many of them do not occupy their units. Suspect a lot are foreigners who invested without any intention to stay there.

Sky Executive condo in Bukit Indah that VP around 2013 took 2 years+ to reach about 80% occupancy (my estimate based on actual viewing of occupancy signs from facade), so Medini condos may take 4 years to reach over 50% occupancy. Actual owner stay in rate could remain low given the general investor profile of the buyers.

Forming a committee to take care of the condo after 1 year could be problematic as it may not have the contacts of the owners, unless the developer is kind enough to share. But the usage could be low so wear and tear is not as big an issue. Biggest maintenance is the pool and its filtration system, and lifts.
 

Manhattan

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Does the causeway bus has a pickup point at 1 medini? It will definitely encourage people who work in sg to move in, while waiting for the employment opportunities to pick up around medini, if it ever happens
 

mpan12

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Medini is mainly foreign play so occupancy rate may be depressed for a long time. Maybe most buy and keep.

Renting out is likely very tough given the place is not well-developed yet. Sky Executive is in a much better location in terms of development and rental prospects. Purchase price is much lower than Medini so landlords are more competitive in attracting tenants.

Not so sure about the maintenance part but I've heard friends telling me some condos do change management a few times. If the condo is not occupied for long, or many owners don't pay, there is also less motivation for them to upkeep it well. Problems include general run down condo facade, dirty swimming pools, rubbish not cleared on time, tennis court ground surface worn out, frequently spoilt lifts....
 

mpan12

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Does the causeway bus has a pickup point at 1 medini? It will definitely encourage people who work in sg to move in, while waiting for the employment opportunities to pick up around medini, if it ever happens

Not that I know of.

Takes close to 2 hours on a very good traffic day and not crowded bus or immigration checkpoint to reach from Singapore's city area to Legoland. (If there is traffic jam or large crowds, good luck!) From there it's another 15 mins walk to 1 Medini side.

So if one wants to take a bus to work in SG, be prepared to leave your home at 1 Medini area at 4.45am to beat the traffic, walk to Legoland side and arrive at work 6.30-7am if lucky.

Better to have a car. But even so, for me, such time spent going in and out every day is not worth it. Too taxing.
 
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Manhattan

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Personal view. Once the southern link is ready next year, the bus can have a stop at 1medini and sunway Iskandar before reaching 2nd link. Hope this will make the bus journey more appealing. For those driving a car everyday to sg, the cost will slowly become prohibitive.
 

mpan12

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Personal view. Once the southern link is ready next year, the bus can have a stop at 1medini and sunway Iskandar before reaching 2nd link. Hope this will make the bus journey more appealing. For those driving a car everyday to sg, the cost will slowly become prohibitive.

True...

But I guess many would drive. It's hard to move around Johor without a car. Whether or not they decide to erect a bus-stop there will depend on the frequency of usage. If many buyers of the condos in 1 Medini area are investors, there could be little demand.

Legoland side has a stop because that's a tourist attraction. Even then, it wasn't crowded at all when I boarded the bus. About 5 us only.
 

rotikok

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Legoland side has a stop because that's a tourist attraction. Even then, it wasn't crowded at all when I boarded the bus. About 5 us only.

Ok to do malaysian do not take public transport, those who use are either Bangla or singaporean. :biggrin: Singaporean % population who know how to drive is not that high by developed countries standard.

This is the only condo in the area that was completed last year. Don't know why they cramped all the different condo projects so close to one another!


As I said, since you already bought in medini, your only hope is the public transport....that are still planning. High density development make economical sense to have frequent public transport service as the usage rate will be high.

Imagine by 2025, any place in Medini can spend less than 10 min to walk to a stops or stations, a BRT line or RTS line is available as frequent as 10 min during peak hour, access to either both sides CIQ take 15 min, max 30 min to pass thru custom, the real demand all lies with how efficient those public transport does. And all if really happened, those condo will not be enough.

Share the same dream with me? so go back to sleep.
 

rotikok

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Innocent or naive buyers interpreted the increase in price as a sign that the property is booming. Agents sweet- talked them further that they had to buy now or else prices would increase even further! So there was a lot of false demand there. It was not supported by real demand but speculation.

Developers just want to sell of their units, regardless how they do it, nothing to be moral about. Need to be careful, price shout by primary market (builder to user) is always not genuine as those from secondary market (user to user). It is actually happened in many developed countries, take UK or Aust for eg, many developers esp those China & malaysia developers come and build condo and trying to sell to their countrymen. Always make me wonder, if the demand is so good, why dont they just sell it to local.... and even the local feel it is expensive and small. Sooner, those who buy from Sydney, London very likely to get burned. Disappointing rental and ppty depreciation.

If all our neighbours say their units are for rentals, it is bad news. We do not know who is going to rent, when it is going to be rented and chances are the tenants are a very mixed type. If it is a luxury one, still not so bad as it is either vacant or the tenant can afford type. If it is a mid price one, then chances are owners will throw prices and all sorts of tenants will come in. Some will share a unit and who knows you have 10 people staying in one unit.

Personally, I will opt for luxury that the rich local johorean want to live, a million ringgit or more but less than 2 million is very common for rich local, i see many of it, G&G, spacious, landed ppty and close to amenities. Two things to be benefit about, there will be real ppl staying, less likely to be ghost town, easier to rent out; and it will be easier to sell off and at least take back your money. Luxury that others doesnt mind vacant or not still seem very investment grade ppty, risky investment, why others want to buy your luxury when others next door vacant can be bargain for cheaper or others have done their enjoyment of the luxury and want to sell it off. If I buy PH, I will disregard whether it is investment or not, better surrounding empty ppl so I can monopoly the luxury.

Anyway, many vacant luxury is a bad investment. Occupancy rate is important, be it cheap or luxury when it comes to investment. See sentosa cove, shud know what im saying.

Come to think of it, yes, for foreigners, they can probably make more money from stocks in the long term than invest in Medini or other JB properties.

Let me guess, your ppty knowledge, before getting into medini, was pretty much shaped by sg ppty market. Yes, stocks is much less costly to involve but much trickier than ppty to make buy and sell decision. Fry short or long term, factors that you need to take into account is much more than ppty investment and some really need experience eg market psychology. As local johorean, those that i know did relatively well in nusajaya area real estate investment are only those who buy and sell lands....who convince them to do so? certainly not Hutton agents and capital involve is huge and they need to know what is cheap what is not. Until you able to make independent decision, not relying on agents to make buy sell decision, not follow crowd, able to read market movement, market psychoogy, otherwise stock or ppty are all difficult. Do not try to make assumption about one asset class is easier than the other, if do not have critical thinking skill, everything are difficult. Not implying anyone, just some kind warning to forummers.
 

Manhattan

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Volt, beside Iskandar Residences.

Shiok and looks good. See the video link below. Any idea when it is building?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MsoM5tDhsnk#t=117

Not going to happen anytime soon, still a forest at the site. But that area is really in need for those luxury car showrooms, especially when the thousands of luxury condos are ready at PH and every unit need a nice car to match.
 
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snowbird

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Old news, the missing link might be some dissapointed brt, but better then nothing. If can, i would still prefer melb style rather than brisbane style public transport. Hopefully nxt yr is real.

ISKANDAR PUTERI: The government has given the green light for the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) to continue with its planned implementation in the Iskandar Malaysia growth corridor in southern Johor. Iskandar Regional Development Authority (IRDA) chief executive, Datuk Ismail Ibrahim said the first phase of the transport system was expected to be operational by 2020. He said the BRT system's alignment could likely be determined by late next year, and the public transport network may cover about 90 per cent of the southern Johor growth corridor. "Our intention is to ensure the BRT is implemented before 2020. We received a mandate to continue developing the project , and to offer the proposal to any party which is interested in the investment," said Ismail after a briefing with press bureau chiefs and reporters, here today. The BRT is a transit system that utilises dedicated bus lanes, universal access stations, integrated pedestrian access, rapid boarding and high service frequency aspects. Ismail said the cost of the BRT here would be five to 10 times less than a Mass Rapid Transit system or monorail. He said the BRT system here was based on some of the best existing models being used in Brisbane in Australia and other cities in Europe and the Asia Pacific.

Read More : http://www.nst.com.my/news/2016/03/136255/green-light-iskandar-bus-rapid-transit

Always take such news with a pinch of salt.

Six years ago, someone started a company with RM1 million "to drive strategic initiatives for long-term economic development for the country by forging global partnerships and promoting foreign direct investment".
The bold slogan says "Forging Partnership, Advancing Growth", very encouraging and heartening indeed.
However, six years later, no project was proposed, nothing was build.
But "Advancing Growth" was literally spot on, the only major achievement and growth was the debt that within 6 years grew to RM50 billions (RM50,000,000,000.00), which can be used to build the HSR.
 

mpan12

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Always take such news with a pinch of salt.

Six years ago, someone started a company with RM1 million "to drive strategic initiatives for long-term economic development for the country by forging global partnerships and promoting foreign direct investment".
The bold slogan says "Forging Partnership, Advancing Growth", very encouraging and heartening indeed.
However, six years later, no project was proposed, nothing was build.
But "Advancing Growth" was literally spot on, the only major achievement and growth was the debt that within 6 years grew to RM50 billions (RM50,000,000,000.00), which can be used to build the HSR.

Nah-jeeb! :smile:

I thought the sprucing up of Iskandar is one of the economic developments with foreign direct investment?

It's slated to be a "growth corridor"...

Medini%20Darling_zpsszarf5rv.jpg


Foreign investors' "DARLING"!!! International metropolis....
 

enjoylife77

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Yup...If you look at the earlier posts of this Iskandar Residences forum, back in 2013/14, there was so much enthusiasm. It slowly died down and now, I guess most are just putting it aside and waiting for it to complete.

Generally property prices will rise over long term but the most damaging factor to existing owners are the persistent weakening of the RM$ which is a discouraging factor to potential investors.
 

mpan12

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Generally property prices will rise over long term but the most damaging factor to existing owners are the persistent weakening of the RM$ which is a discouraging factor to potential investors.

Even though RM is weakening, it may bounce back up provided the MY government/politics becomes clean. That's the problem. It's not going to be easy for them to change.

For past investors who bought like 20-30 years ago, when RM to SGD was like what... SGD1= RM2 or less.... property prices have gone up a lot more than the loss they incur from RM weakness.

I see the greatest problem for present investors is not just the falling RM. It's the oversupply, who is going to rent or buy over the expensive properties, and the high entry point. It means you got to sell it even higher to not make losses which reduces the chance of finding buyers. Also not forgetting there is the RM1mil restriction placed on foreigners. Maybe there will be more restrictions in future?

So I think the greatest difficulty is the long number of years before one can even think of selling in the secondary market, if at all possible. The timeline is uncertain. 10, 20 over years? There will be opportunity costs. Money locked up is always not a good thing unless it's not for investment.
 

rotikok

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Even though RM is weakening, it may bounce back up provided the MY government/politics becomes clean. That's the problem. It's not going to be easy for them to change.

For past investors who bought like 20-30 years ago, when RM to SGD was like what... SGD1= RM2 or less.... property prices have gone up a lot more than the loss they incur from RM weakness.

I see the greatest problem for present investors is not just the falling RM. It's the oversupply, who is going to rent or buy over the expensive properties, and the high entry point. It means you got to sell it even higher to not make losses which reduces the chance of finding buyers. Also not forgetting there is the RM1mil restriction placed on foreigners. Maybe there will be more restrictions in future?

So I think the greatest difficulty is the long number of years before one can even think of selling in the secondary market, if at all possible. The timeline is uncertain. 10, 20 over years? There will be opportunity costs. Money locked up is always not a good thing unless it's not for investment.

Some not so long ago experience want to share. After US QE policy, Australian dollar A$ was on parity with USD and even slightly higher than USD for more than a year. During that time, australian was euphoria about A$, lamenting about US not producing any real physical things, high debt...unlike australia that resourceful, selling iron ore, farm products etc. People are expecting higher A$.... nope, end up confidence direction changed, USD is back, those factors that get aussie excited about their "strong economy" such as selling raw material, more real resourceful economy, selling real items economy, all affected by bad commodities price.
 

mpan12

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Imagine by 2025, any place in Medini can spend less than 10 min to walk to a stops or stations, a BRT line or RTS line is available as frequent as 10 min during peak hour, access to either both sides CIQ take 15 min, max 30 min to pass thru custom, the real demand all lies with how efficient those public transport does. And all if really happened, those condo will not be enough.

We all love to imagine the good stuffs. :smile: A few years ago, when so many condos in Iskandar were launched, I had agents in Singapore and JB coming to me, saying, IMAGINE very soon, you will be commuting in and out of Johor conveniently either using the RTS or HSR. They will be completed in 2018 and 2020 respectively. Iskandar will be a bustling place full of life. People will live in Johor and work in SG, enjoying the best of both worlds. Life will be soooo good!

Another name some of you may have seen, Ryan Khoo, said the properties in Iskandar are not in oversupply. He said all those reports by Maybank, the SG govt and others are misleading. If just 5% (or is it 10%?? Can't remember the figure he gave) of households in Singapore move over to Iskandar, the properties there are in undersupply! Haha... That's a big "IF". Guess that guy was dreaming even bigger than most people.

Then another Singaporean businesswoman (not going to name her) who turned a property developer selling her Danga Bay project, told potential buyers, IMAGINE this nice condo overlooking the sea (Straits lah, actually) as your retirement home, away from the stresses of life....so much cheaper than condos in SG. Just recently, I heard that her company is in deep trouble, owing lots of $$$ to shareholders and her Iskandar project never even took off after 3 years. I don't know the state of the condo development now. Wonder what happened to those who had placed their deposits.
 

Investor888

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Don't worry! Nowadays got Grab-Cock.. oppps I mean Grab Cab to shuttle you cheaply into Singapore's Orchard Road at a cheap cost.




Not that I know of.

Takes close to 2 hours on a very good traffic day and not crowded bus or immigration checkpoint to reach from Singapore's city area to Legoland. (If there is traffic jam or large crowds, good luck!) From there it's another 15 mins walk to 1 Medini side.

So if one wants to take a bus to work in SG, be prepared to leave your home at 1 Medini area at 4.45am to beat the traffic, walk to Legoland side and arrive at work 6.30-7am if lucky.

Better to have a car. But even so, for me, such time spent going in and out every day is not worth it. Too taxing.
 
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