A simple flyer, a person named Jack and a not-so vacant condo unit for sale.

The ingredients for this freaky experience a close relative had recently.

He/she was tipped off to an auction of a condo unit near Bukit Jalil in Kuala Lumpur, going at RM 46,000 below its market value.

Starting at RM 189,000, the unit at a high floor is up for auction by the bank to recoup the loan from the owner, who also has another house at another location up for auction.

Jack, the so-called property agent from KIM Realty, advertised this through flyers stuffed into mailboxes and some strewn around, being stepped upon by passer-bys. No surname was given.

At first, everything seems rather normal, with the agent advising this, advising that.

But, as more and more truths were unraveled, the property unit being advertised doesn’t seem so innocent anymore.

The dodgy spots of the auction started to be more obvious with more probes into it.

Apparently, the owner is missing, thus the bank has no choice but to auction off the property to recoup losses.

1. Repeated request to view the condition of the unit was met with many excuses from the Jack (and the beanstalk) agent. Initially, he said since it is auction property, only the bank has the keys. Later on, he changed his statement and said the unit is currently occupied.

He refused to let people view the property, not even after suggestions of making an appointment with consent from both sides. He gave lame excuse that the owner might change his/her mind and call the auction off. Huh?!

2. The condo development was developed by UEM/Renong Group and is still under one master title, which means the strata title has not been done. This means, under the master title, the land where the condo is located, still belongs to the developer. If strata title has been done, this means owners of individual condo units have a share in the land.

After 10 years and master title has not been distributed… what does this mean? Who does UEM/Renong Group belongs to? Is this a ploy to buy time so that they could take back the land for development into something extravagant, a sprawling istana perhaps?

3. At least Jack is frank with this point. The price of the condo there has somehow become stagnant. Thus, the income comes solely from rentals. And rental potential there is good, with a university just a stones’ throw away and many amenities nearby such as Carrefour.

4. He refused to reveal the bank which is auctioning off the property unless the bidder registers his/her name and ic (so that he could register with the bank and receive his commission).

5. He also said to expect some leakages in the property and refused to reveal the unit number but he accidentally blurted out the number and the surname of the owner.

6. Jack is just too unprofessional to be a property agent. No proper introduction, no proper replies, no proper English. I’m quite picky on that.

Here comes the fun and freaky part.

A check at the level showed almost all units are occupied, save for one unit, which have the kitchen lights switched on even during bright daylight. Probably the owner forgot to switch off the lights, right. Let’s check.

On the next day, the lights were still on. No shoes or shoe rack is outside the property. And on the front door, there’s two yellow strips of paper, used by Chinese to ward off evil spirits. And a check on the back door also found the same yellow strips of paper stuck to the middle of the door.

The most telling sign, is the uneasiness when he/she was there. Dim, dull and stagnant air. Makes him/her have goosebumps all over. It looked and felt eerie. So who is ACTUALLY occupying the ‘vacant’ property?

A check with the nearby floors found that most units on the lower floor are vacant. Weird, considering the condo to be located at quite a strategic place, within quite a prime area in Kuala Lumpur.

With all these findings, the idea to bid for the auction was dropped.

Lesson to learn? Do your own checks, especially if it involves an auction property, even more so if it is on emergency sale. Never trust the property agent wholly.

You have to be really careful when buying a property, especially an auction property because it will usually be plagued by many problems and problems associated with it. It is never wrong to be over-cautious but a hefty price to pay for laziness and greed.

Note: Maybe my relative and I are superstitious regarding this. It is personal, so others might beg to differ.

If you do, and are interested in the condo unit up for auction, it is currently still available, and the auction is going on during the Jan 21-Jan 27 week. Leave a comment or drop me an email at myhomemalaysia at gmail dot com, for more information.

It might be a genuine property for sale. I might have been a bit biased towards the property agent. It indeed have good points, if not, why would we be interested in it in the first place?

That area has high rental potential, as the university - International Medical University (IMU) nearby is undergoing renovation at the moment and will complete by Aug this year.

So I guess, the university will be staying put for some time. Students from IMU also prefers renting the condo because it is just within walking distance to the university and for groceries shopping, Carrefour is also within walking distance. It should be easy to get students to rent, as the supply is there.

The condo unit could fetch up to RM 1,300 in rentals per month. It has four bedrooms and two bathrooms. Students could share the whole place among themselves to cut cost. (And it is more fun staying together too)

There are many work places around there too, so professionals will be another market. The Bukit Jalil Stadium, which hosted the Commonwealth Games, is just next door. Quite a downtown area.

So, if you are genuinely interested despite the superstitious part, drop me an email and we will follow up from there.