home sweet home

like most first-time home buyers, i've been poisoned by my family members to buy a home. when only i thought buying a home is as simple as buying a camera, i was damn wrong.
it is NOT a simple process. it keeps me awake at night, makes me go cuckoo at the office and everytime i drive to and back from work, all i can think of is the things i have to do to buy a home. i still have reservations as to why i need to buy a home. do i really have to buy a home? should i?

is investment or some sort of savings a reason why people buy a property? yes, i do agree at some point that the property you buy (invest) will appreciate, at an average of 6%. yadayadayada..the value of the property after you've invested sum of money after 30 years will be millions. but the question is now, how do you buy a property?

1. scout for the area of choice
2. visit the show unit (if any)
3. pay deposit
4. apply loan
5. loan approved, pay downpayment, sign S&P
6. project commences, start paying interest
7. project completed, get key and pay monthly mortgage

i've summarised it to 7 easy steps. easy to write, type or even verbalised it.
the actual fact, i'm stuck at no. 3. take an average jane doe who earns RM 3000 a month, deposit could easily be RM 10,000. where the hell do i find RM 10,000?
i can't even save RM 100 at the end of the month, let alone to get RM 10,000. that's already a challenge.

step no. 4, apply loan. hahhahhahah!
bare in mind, bankers are not nice people. they won't help!
they will calculate the property you intend to buy, minus out your commitment i.e. car loan, credit card installment, debt here and there. your earnings minus all that, will be divided by the price of your property. a magic number will appear on their calculator. if the number if above 60%, you will not be eligible to apply for the loan.
what they are trying to say, you can't pay your mortgage if your pay is low and the property you wanna buy is expensive. then again, what is not expensive nowadays? please enlighten me. pls!!

don't get me going to downpayment. 10% of the sales price is the downpayment you have to pay the developer after your loan is approved. for example, the property is RM 600,000. the downpayment is RM 60,000. if you're bumiputra, minus 7 %.
i repeat, i can't even save RM 100 at the end of the month, let alone to pay deposit of RM 10,000. now i have to dig for RM 60,000. hurray! *clap clap*

according to the bankers, if you earn RM 3000 a month, you're entitled to purchase a property that is less than RM 400,000. question now, where can you get a home for RM 400,000? freaking nilai or tanjung malim? no thank you.

property prices are freaking ridiculous and now bankers are saying we are not entitled to purchase a home. this is 2011, not 1984 where you can get terrace house less than RM 200,000.

something is wrong somewhere. either property prices are ridiculous, my salary is not enough or i have to opt buying a house somewhere in puchong or tanjung malim. (no offence to those staying in puchong or tanjung malim). i don't want to be known as 'aunty puchong/tanjung malim/selayang'. i refuse to!

i hate to say this but most people i know got their help from their parents. either the parent buys it for them, pays their downpayment or give it as a present. my parents are doing neither of those. i'm not saying this because i'm ungrateful that my parents doesn't want to help me, maybe because i don't ask. i'm grateful enough that my parents are still here with me by my side. i'm trying my best to be independent and get a home i can call mine. that has my name on it. but it's getting too difficult that i think i'm going to give up.

either you have your parents to pump in some money for you to start buying your own home or you just give up like me :)