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1. FEATURE ARTICLE: SELLING AN UNSALEABLE PROPERTY
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One of the most common queries I get is about selling a
property. Or to be more exact, how to sell a property that
appears to be unsaleable?

Folks would say something like this: “I’ve been trying to
sell my house for over a year now. But there are no buyers.
I’ve tried everything - advertisements, using the services
of estate agents, brochures - but nothing works. Can you
help me sell the property?”

Now I cannot help you sell the property as I am not an
estate agent. But I can share with you on how to sell the
property.

As hard as it is to believe but properties do not sell for
one reason only. That’s right, folks, one reason only. And
this is the reason - the seller is asking too high a price.

“But I don’t want to make any money,” folks would protest.
“All I want is what I paid for it. That’s all.”

But that’s the problem right there. The truth is that the
buying price has little to do with the selling price. The
selling price is what the market will bear and what the
buyer and seller agrees. It has little relationship with
the buying price.

For example, you paid RM100,000 for a house. However, due
to unfulfilled promises such as abandoned projects by the
developer or uncompleted highways, the market value is now
only RM80,000. In reality, that’s the maximum price you will
be able to sell your house for. If you insist on getting
your money back, you’ll be waiting for a long long time.
Perhaps forever.

In other words, what I’m trying to say here is this - you
need to drop your selling price if you want to sell your
unsaleable property.

“But if I do that, I will lose money!” is the retort.

“Yes, you will lose money,” is my reply. “But if you don’t
sell, you will lose more than money. You will be guaranteed
of a hurt every time you make the mortgage payment to the
bank, which happens every month. You will be upset with
yourself and you may lose sleep at night.”

Look at it this way; if you sell the property, you get one
big hurt and that’s it. Learn the lesson and move on with
your life.

But if you keep the property, you get hurt twice every
month. One, you get hurt paying off the mortgage and two,
your heart bleeds a little every time you write the cheque.
You are killing yourself slowly here.

In my opinion, it is better to absorb a one time big hurt
instead of suffering a little every month.

So drop the price, sell the property, get it out of your
system, learn the lesson, make better investment decisions
next time and move on with your life.

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2. QUOTE OF THE MONTH
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“Money will only make you more of what you already are.”

* T.Harv Eker *

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3. YOUR QUESTION ANSWERED
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QUESTION: How do you get the compound interest calculation
figures mentioned in your books “Millionaires are from a
different planet” and “The Millionaire in Me”? I tried
calculating them but cannot get the figures.

ANS: You need a financial calculator to calculate compound
interest. I use an HP 17B and find it extremely useful. A
normal calculator cannot calculate compound interest, which
explains why you did not get the same figures.

An alternative way is to use a spreadsheet such as Excel.
Of course, you need to set the formula first. Remember that
compound interest convert interest into principal.

Finally, if it’s too much trouble, just accept the figures
in the books. They are correct.

* HOT TIP *

Read “Wang, Anda dan Islam” by Zaharuddin Abdul Rahman