“Here’s a book for you to read… it’s by this woman who’s had no property background, but today is very successful buying and selling properties. Give her a call and talk to her,” said my editor, Andrew Wong, a few weeks ago.

He gave me the manuscript to Renesial Leong’s book, titled Property Jewels. I took one look, flipped through a few pages and promptly told Andrew it looked like one of my school textbooks, something I outgrew years ago.

But work is work. I had no qualms about meeting the author, so I took the draft home to read and prepare my interview. And was I in for a surprise! Not only is it written in a clear and understandable manner, it’s also littered with gems of advice from real-life experiences.

After finishing the effort, which seemed to be modelled on a Dummy-meets-Chicken Soup book, I couldn’t wait for the interview and days later, over a sumptuous Japanese lunch, Leong explained how she got into the buying and selling of properties.

Concrete rewards
“After working for 10 years in business administration, I decided to become my own boss in the mid-80s, and started an import-export business from a rented shophouse in SS19, Subang Jaya,” she began.

“Not long after, I encountered problems with the landlord, who wanted to increase my rent by 100 per cent. I had no choice but to move out and this disrupted my business.”

She realised then that moving to another rented unit held no guarantee that she would be free of greedy landlords and rising rents. She also realised that buying landed property has its rewards.

Her first acquisition - a double-storey terrace house in Taman Sri Rampai, Kuala Lumpur - was bought for RM45,000 in 1988 and subsequently let out at a rate that gave her a monthly surplus of RM100 after paying the mortgage instalment.

“I realised that it made more sense to own, especially properties that can command rents which are more than a bank’s monthly instalment.

“It provides good passive income,” Leong said.

What she learnt during a trip that took her to Hong Kong, China and Canada cemented her resolve to get into the business of trading real estate.

While in Hong Kong, she read in the local newspapers that the island’s property tycoon Li Ka Shing had won a bidding war for a prime piece of development land.

Her next stop was Beijing, China. While passing through Wang Fu Jiang, the city’s commercial heart, she was attracted by a row of specially designed “for rent only” office buildings stretching from Silver Street to Gold Street, all of which belonged to Li.

Her final stop was Vancouver, Canada, where she saw a group of locals protesting the award of a prime piece of beachfront land to another of Li’s development companies.

Leong found out later that the rationale for giving Li the job was because of his strong financial standing, excellent track record and ability to develop the land on his own, unlike the closest bid by a consortium of four companies.

“Was I impressed by Li’s achievements! Right at that moment, I knew I had to make a career out of property investment,” she said.

Getting into the business, she found out that not only could she derive steady income from buying and selling real estate, she also had more time to enjoy with family and friends.

Forty-something Leong claims to have bought and sold more than 200 properties of various types since the late 80s.

“One of my most satisfying transactions came from the purchase of a shop-office in the USJ-Subang Jaya Taipan Triangle business precinct for RM600,000 in 1989. Four years later, I sold it for RM1.75 million,” she said.

Leong said she started by investing in residential properties “because they were ‘safe’ - they didn’t cost very much and could attract a large pool of tenants”. Once she got into the hang of things, she took the plunge into the “challenging” world of commercial and industrial investments.

“I went into the industrial market during the ’97 economic downturn. Many people were selling, prices were low and it was a good time to buy.”

Soon after, Leong ventured into the office and retail sub-sectors, and is now the proud owner of a penthouse office in the KL Sentral development as well as a few retail lots in Sungei Wang Plaza in Kuala Lumpur.

Overseas ventures
Besides Malaysia, Leong also invested in residential units in Hong Kong and Australia in the early 90s, but cashed out six years later.

“Hong Kong was a lucrative market for expatriate residential properties. I initially bought two studio apartments of less than 400sq ft each but traded them for a larger unit. In 1996, I became uncomfortable with the political situation and sold all my Hong Kong properties,” she said.

Her experience Down Under wasn’t good, she admitted. A dishonest real estate agent made her believe that her apartment in Perth was untenanted, but on an unplanned visit six months later, she found out from neighbours that it had been tenanted all along, which made her lose half a year’s rent.

A few years ago, Leong decided to “start giving back to society” by holding seminars to share her experiences and insight. Now, she runs about six seminars a year.

This is the result of promising herself years ago that she would document her success in the property sector and guide others, so that they would not make the mistakes and suffer the same pitfalls she did.

When she started investing in properties, which subsequently became content for her Invest Right the First Time and Every Time seminars, Leong referred to books, magazines and attended many seminars to learn the wise ways of investing. Unfortunately, she found the reference materials and seminars to have largely foreign content which did not fit the local property scene well.

Tested strategies
“Property Jewels came about as a result of the lack of relevant information in the marketplace. Written in a straight-forward style, the 220-page guide lists 263 proven and tested investment strategies,” she said.

Currently doing her Doctorate in Business Administration, Leong said now is the best time to invest in properties, because of the all-time low financing regime.

“People must arm themselves with the right knowledge before buying, to avoid expensive mistakes. One can make a profit of up to 30 or 40 per cent, before cashing in to re-invest,” she said.

As for her future plans, Leong plans to write two more books, one on managing tenants and the other on finding the path to financial satisfaction.

- Property Times 23 August 2003 issue -