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(Sumber : Azizi Ali Newsletter October 2011)
Every now and then I would receive a question on mortgage refinancing.“Azizi, should I refinance my mortgage?” They would ask. “I took a mortgage 10 years ago when the interest rate was 6.75 percent. Now that the interest rate has gone down, I want to refinance the mortgage so that my monthly repayments would drop. This will help ease my cash flow. Furthermore, as the value of my house has gone up considerably, I can get a much higher mortgage, which means I will have some money for investments. What do you think of the idea?” Though the details about the interest rate and the period may differ, the point of the questions remained the same – should they refinance the mortgage to take advantage of the low interest rate and also the rise in value of their property?
In other words, should they take on a new larger debt? I told them that the answer is yes and no!Let me explain the ‘yes’ part first. Yes, they should refinance if the intention is to take advantage of the current low interest rate. By doing so, their monthly repayments would drop (assuming that the loan amount remains the same, of course). Generally speaking, you should consider refinancing your mortgage if the interest rate drops by 2 percent or more from the rate that you are currently paying. Of course, to be sure about the whole thing, just add up all the charges, such as stamp duty and legal fees (if applicable) to the total repayments for the new mortgage, and then compare it with the total repayments from your current mortgage. If the figure from the new mortgage is lower, then ‘yes’, you should do the refinancing. If the answer is otherwise, then obviously, you would be better off sticking with the current mortgage. At the same time, you also need to look beyond the numbers. You must also consider the terms and conditions of the new mortgage. Needless to say, they should also be better than your current mortgage.
Now, we’ll move on to the ‘no’ part. I’ve discovered that the reason why most people refinanced their properties is not because they want to take advantage of the lower interest rate. Actually, it is because they want to out the equity from the property. As the value of their property has gone up considerably in the last couple of years, it means that their equity has gone up considerably as well. After seeing their neighbours living the good life – vacations, new furniture and fancy cars – from the cash received from the refinancing, encouraged by well meaning (though no experts on money matters) workmates and cajoled by smiling loan officers, it is little wonder that a lot of people cannot sit down still! The thought of having all that extra cash to spend is burning their behind!
Of course, they justify it by saying that they are going to use part of that money to make investments. “I’ll use it as seed money to invest in shares, business and gold,” they would tell me. Now if they actually did that, i.e. find an investment that pays a return higher than the interest charged, things would not be so bad. But the reality is that it is not so easy to find an investment that pays a return higher than the interest charged for the loan. To compound matters, most people know very little about investments. As a result of this, instead of making money, they often lose money from their investments. So this is why I often answer ‘no’ to the question. No, they should not refinance if the intention is to take out the equity from the property. And why not? Because; (1) they would increase their debt level as the new mortgage is larger; (2) their monthly repayments would also increase as a result of (1); and (3) chances are they will blow much of that cash in no time at all.
Now we’ve come to the bigger question: How come I’m just about the only person (aside from the folks at AKPK) cautioning you about taking on new and bigger debts? The answer is that the others (loans officers and financial institutions) want you to get into debt! They make money, lots of money, whenever you and I do so. First of all, the loans officers get a fat commission every time our loan is approved. Next, the financial institutions are happy as they have just added your name to their long list of people who just volunteered to work hard for the next 20 years to make them richer! Hey, I would also encourage you to borrow money if such a deal is at stake!
Of course, this is not to say do not borrow money (though that wouldn’t be a bad idea). You would probably need to take on debt to buy properties (not too many of us can afford to pay cash for a property worth half a million ringgit). Borrow yes, but make sure that you can afford to pay the mortgage on a consistent basis without having to sacrifice much else. Next, make sure that you can still afford to do so when interest rate rises (and they will rise). Actually, there is nothing quite like borrowing money. When times are good and the value of your investments rise, you will look like a genius to the power of infinity by using borrowed money. Tragically, the same debt will cut you into a thousand pieces when the tide turns. I once attended a talk given by our former finance minister, Tun Daim Zainuddin, some years ago. He told a story about one of his colleagues who was so high flying during the good times that he was termed as having the Midas touch – a real life Superstar! Practically everything he touched, particularly stocks, rose in value. Banks were lining up at his office to offer him their money!
However, when the Currency Crisis blew into South East Asia, the tide turned and turned so suddenly that it caught a lot of people cold, including the Superstar. As the stock market dived, his shares were forced sold, and he still owed millions. The good thing is that banks were still lining up at his office. However, this time they were demanding for their money back!I hope I will never forget the story. If a smart, high-flying, well-connected and super rich guy can get caught because of debt, what more ordinary mortals? As my friends at AKPK would say – be careful of debts. As for me – I only borrow money to buy appreciating assets, and only in manageable amounts. If I do not have the money to buy something, then I sit in the house quietly!
Copyright © Azizi Ali 2011
My opinion : Simple je. Consider carefully good debt. Jangan over leverage. Monitor BLR.
Try hard to avoid bad debt.
Seorang agent hartanah lelong yang bersedia memberikan perkhidmatan lelongan hartanah secara menyeluruh.

Seorang agent hartanah lelong yang bersedia memberikan perkhidmatan lelongan hartanah secara menyeluruh.
Seorang agent hartanah lelong yang bersedia memberikan perkhidmatan lelongan hartanah secara menyeluruh.

Seorang agent hartanah lelong yang bersedia memberikan perkhidmatan lelongan hartanah secara menyeluruh.
KUALA LUMPUR: A proposal to change the way housing loans are approved has property consultants and analysts worried as they felt loans given based on net income as opposed to gross income would dampen demand for housing.
Some banks, however, don't have an issue with the proposed changes as one banker said changes to the debt serviceability ratio would be good for the housing market. He said the proposed changes were for the benefit of home buyers.
“It's up to the banks to manage it. Banks have their own ways to control and approve loans,” said Zerin Properties CEO Previndran Singhe.
Previndran was critical of the proposed change, saying such a drastic move would be self defeating and would mean more Malaysians could not afford homes.
Henry Butcher Marketing Sdn Bhd chief operating officer Tang Chee Meng said such a move would tantamount to a limit on the amount of money a person could borrow to buy a house.
Although lower demand may push prices down, he does not think developers may be able to reduce prices by much given the increase in building material prices over the years that has pushed the cost of building a home upwards.
“I will support any measure by the Government to cool down the property market so there is no bubble, but they have to be careful when taking measures and need to determine if there is really an asset bubble building up,” Tang said.
One analyst who covers the sector said such a measure, if it was to control speculation in the property sector, was not needed at the moment as house prices would soften in a period of weak demand brought about by an economic slowdown.
“Developers and banks would surely lobby against such a move,” she said, worried about the chain reaction a weaker property market would have on the overall economy.
RHB Research Institute on Monday analysed the proposed changes and concluded that a move to change the assessment of eligibility for housing loans to a net income basis would lower affordability by 14% to 37%.
It said the high-end market would be most affected, and should supply match demand then prices would have to correct by a similar or smaller percentage, or supply will have to be reduced to hold up prices.
“The mass market segment which is largely concentrated in the medium-priced range will see smaller impact, especially if first-time home buyers are excluded from this measure,” it said.
While some might see the measure as a move to bring down the price of homes, others think such a move by Bank Negara would in turn ease the growth in household indebtedness.
Bank Negara, which had been looking to introduce guidelines to stress-test individual borrowers this quarter, has sought the opinion of banks on the proposed move.
One of the factors that precipitated that move is the buildup of debt that has seen household debt to GDP ratio reach nearly 76%, which is on the high side compared with countries in South-East Asia.
“It is understandable for Bank Negara to take action given that the rising household debt, as measured by household debt to GDP ratio, has surged to a record high level in 2009 and 2010, largely stimulated by low interest rate and easy financing scheme for property purchase,” said RHB.
With residential loans rising 14.7% in July, residential loans accounted for 54.3% of total loans in the same month, up from 49.7% a year ago.
Although housing loans had been the biggest contributor to the increase in household debt, the buildup of personal loans had also been rapid and that had caught the attention of the regulator.
CIMB Investment Bank Bhd economic research head Lee Heng Guie concurred that the proposal would affect demand for housing, but said the intention of the proposed change was to get people to buy what they can afford.
Lee said any decision to implement the new computation method had to be weighed against the current sluggish global economic situation.
And while household debt may be an issue, the ability of households to service their loans do not appear to be a problem as yet.
Lee said that in 2010, for every ringgit of income, households paid 47.8 sen to service their debt.
The debt service ratio of household debt was 49 sen in 2009, 39.5 sen in 2008 and 41.1 sen in 2007 and the factors that affect that ratio is household income and the interest rate outlook.
Perghh...kalau la kerajaan betul2 implement langkah ni, memang ramai la yang akan senak...kena plak kalau financial statement tu tak kemas..banyak komitmen..memang kena reject je la application korang...
Macam mana nak kira benda ni? Biasanya bila kita apply loan, bank officer akan buat kiraan nisbah antara komitmen bulanan dengan gaji kasar kita..Biasanya bank guna nisbah 50% ( jumlah komitmen selepas ditambah dengan ansuran rumah yang dipohon tu tidak boleh lebih dari 50% GAJI KASAR)..Kalau langkah diatas dilaksanakan, bank akan guna kiraan GAJI BERSIH ( maybe selepas ditolak EPF, potongan2 bank, PCB etc).. Maknanya lagi susah la nak comply dengan ratio 50% tu sebab gaji yang diambil pakai untuk kiraan dah semakin kecil.Kalau cashflow tak kuat, memang susah la loan nak lepas..
So ada dua cara je nak atasi benda ni, either kurangkan komitmen bulanan atau tingkatkan pendapatan bersih. Silalah pilih ikut citarasa masing2...
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When you drill down into the things we have in our lives, it’s easy to see that time is our most valuable asset because it cannot be replaced. This is significantly different from almost everything else in life. Almost everything in life can be replaced including…
Houses
Cars
Money
Investments
Friends
Businesses
Clients
Spouses
Partners
Employees
On the flip side, the things that cannot be replaced are…
Time
Health
Parents
Grandparents
Brothers/Sisters
Our Children
Sure you can argue with a few items on my list, but you must agree that time is NOT replaceable and IS critically important.
As a little experiment, I’ve decided to eliminate TV for next two weeks. When I decided to take this little test, I didn’t think I watched much TV. However, within the first day of my experiment, I realized I watched more TV than I thought.
I’ve used the time saved to get caught up on a few nagging “To Dos”, read and I’ve spent a little extra time writing. Right from the beginning of this little experiment, I can tell that eliminating TV is going to be a very productive decision.
Want to become instantly more productive? Try this little experiment yourself and see what happens! You might find that you have time to pursue new hobbies, start new businesses, exercise more, or read an extra book or two.
Baru je terbaca artikel ni. Menarik gak idea yang cuba disampaikan. Harap kita sume dapat manfaat.
Selain dari tu, dengan implement benda ni, bukan setakat masa sahaja dapat dijimatkan, malah wang ringgit juga. Kita dapat berjimat dari beli tv yang canggih2, dapat jimatkan bil astro, dapat jimatkan elektrik etc. Wau terbaik!
Seorang agent hartanah lelong yang bersedia memberikan perkhidmatan lelongan hartanah secara menyeluruh.
Seorang agent hartanah lelong yang bersedia memberikan perkhidmatan lelongan hartanah secara menyeluruh.