If you are a beginner at house hunting, you would have surely experienced the symptoms of “love at first view”. Similar to falling in love with a person, the symptoms include butterflies in your stomach as you start dreaming about how great your life would be if you live in that house.
You can’t forget the clean, tree-lined streets, the shiny gate glimmering under the sun, the spacious kitchen, and the airy bedrooms.
Yes, from the above description, buying a home can be a very emotional process.
However, Malaysians have a high tendency to fall in love, over and over again, with different properties. According to iProperty Asia Sentiment Survey (H3) 2013, most Malaysians considered themselves House Buyers (31%) as opposed to House Owners (30%), with 41% owning more than one property.
From crush to true love
Falling head-over-heels for a house is a fairly common occurrence and very much similar to dating – it all starts with a crush. If you still remember the feeling of having a crush when you were in school, having an infatuation on a house comes pretty close to that.
Instead of doodling your name with your crush’s last name (if you are a girl), you start to imagine the colours you will paint the walls with, and the type of furniture that will dot the living area.
Once you have a house obsession, you will find yourself drawn to the same property again and again. But what are the factors that turn a house from a crush to true love? Based on the findings of the same survey, here are some of the factors that can ignite a love story – between you and a property.
1. Location, location, location!
This is the number one factor that attracts home buyers to a particular property. According to the same survey, Malaysians consider this the most important factor in deciding on a property, with the top three hotspots in Selangor being, Petaling Jaya (14%), Puchong (11%) and Ara Damansara (10%).
2. What’s the price?
Malaysians are also found to rate the price of a property as a deal breaker. Rated as second most important, because Malaysians understand falling in love with a property that they can’t afford just spells H-E-A-R-T-B-R-E-A-K.
3. Size does matter
Who doesn’t want a spacious home with enough room for a family of five? Rated as third most important, Malaysians are definitely into sizeable properties.
Who are the property Casanovas?
Malaysia has seen more male property buyers in 2013. There has been a slight increase in male participants in comparison to last year’s iProperty survey, from 59% to 60%. However, the number of female participants dipped from 42% to 40%.
Most of these property Casanovas are aged between 26 to 35 years old at 48%. This is also believed to be the right age to make a major life commitment.
Everyone has a preference, when it comes to dating and also choosing a property. The type of property most property buyers go for are terrace houses (49%) and private condominiums or serviced apartments (47%). These make handsome properties – no doubt breaking hearts as they were constructed and built.
And Malaysians property Casanovas are known to be faithful with 57% of them staying in the same home for more than five years.
Falling in love can be hard on the knees
Borrowing the words from a famous love song, love is a many-splendored thing. But love also has its downside—heartbreak.
Though most Malaysians long to fall in love with a property of their choice, many find it difficult to do so. Half of Malaysians surveyed answered that property prices are too high, while 16% answered that they cannot find a suitable property.
Even though it is an emotional affair, one must try to keep a clear head when deciding to purchase to avoid falling prey to a number of home buyer mistakes. To avoid property heartbreak, a home buyer must keep an open mind and perhaps consider several houses at the same time in case the first choice doesn’t work out.
Source: The facts and figures used in this article are taken from the iProperty Asia Sentiment Survey (H3) 2013. In Malaysia, a total of 8,048 people responded to the online survey. The survey responses were collected from three sources: Facebook Post, Pop-Up invite and web link.
Ready to fall in love? Find out what’s your housing affordability here.
