First Real Estate Investment

I graduated from local University back in 1996 then straight away got a job in multinational company in June 1996. My first paycheck was RM2000 and allocated most to celebrate with family. Bring my whole family to a nice dinner and thank them for their support throughout the years until I got a job. It wasn't mean to pay back their support throughout those years with only one dinner but to share my happiness, share my first hard earned money. The first paycheck was the most valuable paycheck ever.

Then in 1997, I bought my first property, an apartment not too far from the terrace house I rented with my friends. It was in September 1997 if I remember it right; after about 15 months when I started my job. The price was RM92,000 and I need to pay 10% down payment and the rest can be financed. Ten percent is RM9,200 and of course I need to have more than that to cover expenses like stamp duty for Sale and Purchase Agreement (SPA), stamp duty for loan agreement and lawyer fees. So rough estimate, I need at least RM10,000 to be comfortable.

I can't save much from my gross RM2000 monthly paycheck during those 15 months working, a lot of commitments like contribution to family, house rental (share with friends), new office clothes and daily expenses. I need to save at least RM650 a month to come up with about RM10,000 to get me ready with my first investment. It means about 35% of my net (minus about 10% for EPF and income tax) take home money. Do you effort to save that much monthly at the early years of working?

What I did was I used people's money to make my first commitment in property investment. Borrowed RM1 from brother, RM1K from sister, RM1K from another sister, RM3K from father and the rest from friends. Couple of hundred each plus my small saving, I managed to pay 10% down payment and the expenses. Promised to payback all the lenders after 3 months. So where do you think I can get that amount of money within 3 months? I even cannot save that amount during 15 months working. Now we are talking about 3 months. It is impossible isn't it? Unless I found a treasure somewhere underground or under my pillow. Or maybe meet rich girl or mak datin who can support me. I’m sorry, just kidding.

Again, I used people's money. But this time was a bank.