Soma to speak on day two of Marec10 on getting ready for a liberalised RE market in Malaysia
Like most of the participants attending the start of the Malaysian Annual Real Estate Convention (Marec) 2010 today, I was looking forward to hear what the keynote speaker Reza Mardani has to say about the “Real Estate Way to Wealth”.
The main point that came out from his keynote address was “How you manage the process of your work is what counts”.
The other thing is your heart has to be there in what you do. Speaking from his experience of dealing with the infrastructure, oil and gas sector and civil areas, his advice to the audience was, “Do not leave your heart out of the deal. Your words have to satisfy your client’s emotions.”
Beyond these pointers, there was not much in his keynote speech. Keynote speakers are often carefully selected as they play a very crucial role in setting the tone of a meeting or convention besides helping to draw more participants to join the event.
They are usually someone who is well known in their field and recognised by many for their accomplishments.
According to Wikipedia, “the term key note comes from the practice of a cappella, often Barbershop singers, playing a note before singing. The note played determines that key in which the song will be performed”.
I understand in Reza’s case, he was very much a last minute selection as the copy of the convention programme sheet that was given out and the souvenir programme that was placed on our tables after lunch both has no mention of his name at all while the rest of the other speakers’ name for the two-day convention were all listed out.
When I tried to find out at the end of the convention on the first day from the staff manning the counter and certain key people from the Malaysian Institute of Estate Agents (MIEA) what his name and designation were, none of them seemed to know.
I finally came across a girl, who had registered us media in the morning, who knew how our keynote speaker’s name was spelt as she had written his name on a card.
My request to find out the keynote speaker’s designation later came to the attention of the MIEA president who called my mobile to inform me that the keynote speaker was Asbanas Sdn Bhd’s operations director who heads the overseas business of oil and gas as well as commodities for the Middle East, America and Europe.
The next session on Live Your Dream by Datuk Jimmy Lim Thaw Chay saved the day!
After a brief introduction about him being Holiday Villa Ampang’s owner and his involvement in other projects such as Amcorp Mall and Lot 86 Ampang in Kuala Lumpur (KL), MIEA immediate past president Soma Sundram Krishnaswamy (pic) and Siva Shanker, who is in charge of the speaker’s programme, conducted an interesting dialogue between themselves and filled us in with insightful details about Lim.
Siva tells us that Lim attributed his success during his days at the corporate helm to SW, which means “simply whack”. Apparently, Lim also likes to keep his management style simple so that it is workable. As such, his talk and advice would also be simple so that we can understand him.
One such simple advice from Lim is, “Earn your money where your strength is and KL is your best bet for homes.”
Soma continued and shared with the audience Lim’s strategies for success. They include adopting an intensive land use of his development projects whereby he would work on two projects at a time in order to derive more efficiency in terms of design and cost.
To Lim, extensive development is not good as purchasers are just a number in your books. He believes in providing convenience to the purchasers, which will make them more appreciative of the developer.
On what he thinks about financing, Siva informs us that Lim uses very little leasing or borrowing. Hence, his companies can withstand the surges in the economic turbulence and are able to take advantage of the opportunities that arise.
Lim believes in working closely with EAs when he conducts a sales launch for his projects. For estate agents who have prospective land to introduce to Lim, take note that he only builds on freehold land and one that is in the right location gives an even better price.
Since buying a property often represents the single biggest expenditure or commitment for the buyer, Lim believes in giving the buyer “not a property but a home he can call it his or her own”.
The banter between the Siva and Soma on Lim’s replies got a wee bit carried away. I was starting to wonder whether is it because our next speaker won’t be showing up.
My fears were allayed when they finally gave the floor to Lim but not before telling us where Lim predicts where the future growth areas in the Klang Valley will be.
With KL located in the valley, the growth direction will be constricted. The pull will be towards Putrajaya and Klang. For residential, the areas identified are OUG, Bukit Jalil, Puchong to Kajang and the fringe of Putrajaya. For commercial, it is Shah Alam, Klang to Puchong.
The second growth area will be the Kesas Highway, Port Klang while the third growth area will be towards the Guthrie Corridor.
Although Petaling Jaya, Shah Alam and Putrajaya have lots of spare land due to sanitisation and leasehold status, Lim said these could be changed dramatically if the government starts to allow changes of land use conditions such as converting leasehold land to freehold.
Watch out also for the international zones such as Ampang, Titiwangsa and Bukit Jalil as they have the potential for immediate explosive growth.
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