5 Unique Ways to Save For a House

With an oversupply of houses and increased cost of living, it’s not uncommon to say that Malaysians who are looking for homes have the short straw. The median price of a house in Kuala Lumpur is about RM550,000 as per Q3 2018 data while Putrajaya has a median of RM400,000 and Selangor RM382,000. It feels as if they’re getting more and more expensive every year, honestly.

*Note: the median price refers to residential property sales prices in the middle.

According to the Edge Markets, the average home price in Kuala Lumpur is about RM772,980. So if you’re earning a wage of RM2,700 per month, it’ll take you 23 years to get a home provided that wage does not increase and state of economy remains as it is. A wage of RM4,000 would get you the home in 16 years, a wage of RM7,000 – 9 years.

Aduh, that sounds scary.

Plus, that’s a really long time to save up for a house. The fact that wages aren’t perpendicular to the increased cost of living, combined with the state of the economy makes it even harder for us poor people here. But is it possible to save money for a house and buy it…at some point in the future? Yes, of course!

But memanglah we need to do some long-term planning. Cannot escape this.

Here’re some ways that you can use to save for a house 🙂

1. Snowball Your Debt

Ever heard of the Snowball Effect? 🙂 It’s pretty much a process that starts small with little impact, but then has a bigger impact later as you take bigger steps.

By snowballing your debt, we mean start off by paying off your small debts first. Once you finish paying the small ones, pay the bigger ones and so on. Eventually, you’ll get to a point where you have NO debt and can proceed to allocate some of your income to save instead of paying debts!~

Sounds great, doesn’t it?

2. Freelance Your Way

The increased cost of living has driven many working professionals to turn to the Internet, utilising the power of technology to freelance and/or do remote work to cope. Freelancing, for those unfamiliar with the term, is basically a self-employed person who’s not committed to an employer for the long-term. A freelancer usually takes on temporary projects for multiple clients.

Freelancing has become increasingly popular and common in Malaysia as they take charge of their schedules and what projects they’d like to do. As freelance projects are typically short-term, people who have full-time jobs freelance sometimes for additional side income.

There are of course full-time freelancers, but do note that freelancing isn’t exactly a stable full-time job unless you have a very good network of clients and budget accordingly. But that might not even be enough, hence people usually freelance as a side job instead.

Good thing we have the Internet, yeah?

3. Comparison-shopping

Saving tends to be a really long process. When it pays off, you might be tempted to buy impulsively (totally understandable), but it’s really better not to. You don’t want to buy something and then regret it later (let’s face it, we’ve all been there).

So take some time and shop around. Take as much time as you need, to be honest. And take a notebook with you to make a list of prices to compare. You’ll be amazed how much you can actually save with comparing prices. You might even find amazing house deals while hunting for the right place, so keep your hat on and head up high!

Oh, and don’t forget to bring a pen along, too.

4. Lenders might sound great, but are they really?

So you’ve found an amazing person who’s willing to lend you a ton of money for your house. But is it really all that it looks? Many people have been scammed lately, and scammers have been getting smarter.

Know your budget exactly and what you have if you really want to borrow money. You should also do some research on home-ownership costs and the lending industry before proceeding. But the safest way is to just buy your house with your own means with no strings attached.

You never know if there might be additional or hidden costs in the agreement with the lender, so better be safe than sorry 🙂

5. Find like-minded people, or good allies

There’s no need to be alone. If you know where to look, you can find great people to help you with your real estate journey. Do the math and make a list of priorities, research accordingly before proceeding. Some real estate professionals are great and can help you look for incredible deals and good houses.

Buying a home may be intimidating sometimes, but with a great real estate ally, you have nothing to worry about.

If you’re uncomfortable with buying, feel free to just rent for now.