Home Sweet Home: Tips on House Hunting

Alhamdulillah, after almost 3 years waiting, naik/turun to lawyers’ offices, banks, Land Office and even signing not one, but two Sales & Purchase (S&P) agreements, - finally we’re home owners!

 

In this entry, I would like to share our experience which might be useful for those out there who are about to start looking for your own nest =)

 

Our house hunting session began since I was pregnant with my lil' princess. She's now two. So you can imagine how long we have been waiting for this =) We spent countless afternoons driving around to various housing areas in Klang Valley looking for the right house. Kadang-kadang tersesat sampai kat ceruk mana! One fine day, as we were driving around we spotted a house at Bandar Kinrara, Puchong. It was the perfect house! Double-storey, corner lot, low density housing area, very near to shop lots - wow! We called the property agent who came right away. Checked on the price, took a look around the house. "This is it!" We immediately locked the deal. The following process was so smooth. The agent introduced us to someone who arrange for the bank loan application. We submitted the documents, the loan was approved etc. and before we knew it, we were already at the lawyer's office signing the Sales and Purchase (S&P) agreement.

 

Little did we know that the owner was having a second thought about selling the house - at the price that we got. She blamed the agent for undervaluing the house. Apparently a same house opposite the one that we got were being sold RM20k higher around the same time we got ours. But there was nothing much that she could do as the agreement was already signed and stamped. With the lawyer's advice - both parties decided to proceed with the deal. As the developer still holds the the title of the house, the owner had to apply for the transfer of title. This was where the problem began. More than 6 months after that, there was no progress at all. We began to lose our patience. What's the problem? As our lawyer couldn't provide the answer, I did a quick check with a friend who work with the authority. It turned out that there was no problem with either the developer or the project. My friend confirmed my suspicion that the owner purposely dragged the process. She was still unhappy with the deal!

 

We were called to the lawyer's office a few weeks after that. The owner decided to return our money back, she wanted to cancel the deal. I was like "WHATTTT?" She thinks she can return the money back just like that after all the efforts that we had made and the time that we had spent on the house? I told the lawyer, "No way we are going to agree with that". I took the S&P and luckily found the clause that I was looking for that goes something like this - the vendor has to pay double if he/she decide to terminate the agreement. So we gave the owner kata dua - either she settle the title transfer process within a month, or she has to pay us double the amount as stated in the agreement.

 

A couple of months later, we received a call from our lawyer saying that the owner agreed on the latter. So there goes our dream house...thanks to the greedy lady!! But we are two time richer hahahaha!

 

Here's the summary of the lessons I learned from this experience:

 

#1 - When looking for a house to buy, always set your priority. Identify your preferred area, type of house and most importantly your budget. Property price is so high especially in Klang Valley. Most of the house that we had wanted were priced more than RM800k. So it would be good to have a 'Must Have List' and another list on things that you can compromised to avoid unnecessary dissapointments. Knowing your priority will also help to narrow your options and will save you some valuable time.

 

#2 - Even if everything is smooth sailing, always expect the unexpected. READ all the agreement & documents before signing it. As for us, we were lucky not to lose any money (except time and energy) when the deal is terminated. Ask as many questions to the lawyer, agent, etc.

 

#3 - Know your RIGHTS even if you have your own lawyer. You are the one who knows best, actually.

 

#4 - Make sure every transaction, conversation, agreement is documented for future reference.

 

Hope this helps, happy house hunting!