Rewards, contests to woo house buyers
MM 09/04/2002 By Dennis Chua
Prospective home-owners can expect to be educated as well as rewarded in this year's Home Ownership Campaign, or HOC 2002.
The event from April 18 to 21 at the Putra World Trade Center is organised by S.K. Brothers Realty with the support of the Housing and Local Government Ministry, the house Buyers Association (HBA) and Projek Wawasan Peruncitan Bumiputera (Runcit).
S.K. Brothers chief executive officer Charlie Chan said many of the 60 housing developers would have attractive consumer contests or reward as part of the general trend to make exhibitions and campaigns more customer-friendly.
He was speaing at a Press conference at the Royal Selangor Club to mark the announcment of HOC 2002.
Present were Deputy Housing and Local Government Minister Datuk Peter Chin, HBA secretary-general Chang Kim Loong, and Runcit chairman Mohamad Safie Mohamad Jaffri.
Chan said prospective buyers would this time be educated with tips on buying a home without getting shortchanged, courtesy of HBA.
"We do not only want consumers to own homes but also to own quality homes," he said. "Quality of homes is important for quality of life and consumers have to be alert and aware of product defects."
Chan said that with the economy gradually recovering from the last few years' downturn, this opportunity to own homes should not be missed.
"We are out to make the Government's drive to have a house-owning nation possible." he said.
Chan said HOC 202 was not just about home ownership, but also an avenue for acquiring land banks, buying industrial lots, and the promotion of the Runcit programe to help Bumiputera entrepreneurs kick-start their businesses.
Peter Chin said the Government wanted to stress the importance of consumers knowing about their rights as house buyers. "We also want to remind developers that they must be ethical and not shortchange buyers," he said. Chin said developers must not compromise quality for the sake of quick profits.
"Many complain of insufficient profits but the fact that they are still in business and launching new projects indicates that they are still making good profits," he said.
Chin said HOC 2002 would be an avenue for the Government to inform the public about its initiatives, including the promotion of low and medium-cost housing, and the stamp duty waiver for house buyers from Jan 1 to June 30.
He said the Gpvernment would also promote initiative to have purchases of second homes by foreigners. This is to encourage the flow of funds into the country.
Mohammad Safie said Runcit was open to all Bumiputeras keen on owning individual shoplots and acquiring survival skills in the competitive domestic market.
Runcit, he said, was a means for budding Bumiputera entrepreneurs to get financing and financial advice necessary for economic survival.
About 200,000 guests are expected to attend HOC 2002. This campaign has been held six times since 1999.
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