Thursday, June 08, 2006

Home and Workplace

I have had so many colleagues and ex-colleagues who chosed to buy a house near where they work. The reasoning is, it's closer to their office. I have a personal opinion that people should only buy a home nearby where they work if: -
  1. They're happy and gonna continue working for the same company for the next 15 years.
  2. They know they will not get retrenched.
  3. They know that the company will not go bankrupt.
  4. They know that the company will not suddenly wish to relocate somewhere else.

Besides the collective reasons above, buying a home nearby a workplace is a very unhealthy practise. It's putting priority on the workplace, and then buying a home to accommodate that priority. Gold Medal - Workplace, Silver Medal - Home.

I believe that when one chooses to buy a home, they should consider the neighbourhood (and of course financial health) and the factor of workplace should not even be in mind at all. Look at it this way. At 6pm, I drive from my workplace in KL to my home in KL and it takes me 30 minutes due to the traffic jam. In the morning it's only 10 minutes to work. That same time gets me from Puchong to Damansara which is a lot further from KL to KL. So, realistically, no matter where you live, there will be traffic jams, so choosing a house should not factor in workplace at all.

On the other hand, for those who do not have high ambitions to work only in specific company, it IS healthy to find a job nearby where you stay. That way, your home is number one, and workplace number two. Nicer equation. Still, lots of those real estate slogans "Why rent when you can buy?" pushes people to buy a home near their workplace, rather than rent first, and then decide when to buy a home when they do need or meet one. I think renting is totally fine, as long as it's not too expensive. If you're from KL, and you work in Johor, and you still wish to retire in KL, it's better to rent something cheap in Johor and then come back to KL to buy a home. What if you already bought a home in Johor and ended up quitting in 10 years? You still have 20 years to go to pay for the home. Okay, one thing good is the appreciation of that home, whereby you can sell for a higher price. There is a risk of non-buyer, guaranteed. If there's always a buyer, the daily classifieds will be only 2 pages big, and not 10-20 pages as it is today.

Seriously, neighbourhood is the main factor to choose a home, not the workplace.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thanks for writing this! I agree and it gives me justification for not buying a house where I'm staying now:)

Anonymous said...

Agreed with Javalier and Queenbee. Love my family more then to sacrifice it for work. Anyway, we need money jugakkan? So kena lah balance kan. Cheers!!

Winhelm said...

Thank you to both insects for commenting. :D