Cahaya Alam offers aesthetics, functionality and after-sales services

FOR many, buying a house is not about the purchase of blocks of concrete and a patch green, it is about owning a place to be with loved ones.

This is the principle, property developer, Encorp Bhd adopts when creating its township in Section U12, Shah Alam.

The township, Cahaya Alam, made mainly of residential projects is sited on 209 acres of leasehold land with a gross development value of RM800mil.

Since commencement of the project in 2004, Encorp has developed about half of the township.

Beyond just developing houses, Encorp has a community-focused approach to ensure quality living for its residents.

Besides its current landscaping ideas and common facilities like the 1km linear park that runs through the township, Encorp is looking to build a community hall.

“This community hall is going to be different because we want to manage it. We will organise other events that will be useful for families like educational activities, a tuition centre, music centre and other recreational activities,” executive chairman Datuk Seri Effendi Norwawi says.

“We’re exploring the possibilities to ensure the place is well-utilised and kept in tip-top condition. We want residents to feel that they are part of an Encorp community,” he says, adding that Encorp will work with a joint-management committee for this.

Effendi says a lot of thought has gone into the planning and designing of the houses.

“From the beginning, we think of everything that will give the house real value for the buyer. Buyers start with the aesthetic, as always the case. So we work hard on the aesthetic by detailing the layout and functionality of the house,” he tells StarBizWeek.

“We think of every user living there – the husband, wife, the children – and how can the house be as practical and as user-friendly as possible,” he adds.

Encorp emphasises on innovation in its product offering and one selling point they have is after-sales services.

Encorp will be providing renovation and furniture packages as well as home repair services.

“This is what we call the Encorp experience. Homebuyers always spend a few hundred of thousands on renovation. It’s wasteful,” he says.

“We have various packages, depending on what you can afford. For example, instead of a spending RM45,000, our package can be RM34,000 because we can do it cheaper and yet maintain the quality,” he explains.

Encorp also promises to respond to requests for home repairs within the hour.

“We don’t make profit from these services. We just want to earn within the reasonable margin based on market value,” he says of Encorp’s approach.

Furthermore, Encorp has also come up with easy entry financial schemes to help young buyers to purchase homes.

It is working with a panel of financial institutions for its schemes that allows buyers to pay 2% or 5% up-front with the sale and purchase agreement legal fees and stamp duty waived.

The schemes are interest-free during construction and buyers will only need to begin mortgage payment after the keys are handed over.

Last weekend, Encorp launched two phases of its medium to upper-market range properties known as Frangipani and Lotus.

Frangipani Phase 3 has 58 units with a price tag of RM684,000 to RM700,000. These are multi-facade superlink houses that come with different external designs to give the illusion that the two and a half storey houses are not linked.

The built-up area ranges from 2,169 sq ft to 2,749 sq ft.

Encorp’s first semi-detached houses, Lotus is now in its Phase 2 and has 36 units priced between RM1mil to RM1.2mil. Lotus has two and three-storey units with built-up area of between 2,980 sq ft and 4,610 sq ft.

Effendi says the Lotus project is Encorp’s “first attempt at semi-detached houses because the market can take it now.” He is referring to the change in buying power in the last two years as more have been able to afford homes in the upper-market range.

Both Frangipani and Lotus were first launched last year. Frangipani is now in its last phase but Lotus has another phase to be launched in the last quarter of this year.

Effendi says that Cahaya Alam has enjoyed about 80% word-of-mouth sales as customers encouraged their family and friends to be part of their neighbourhood. He also notes that there are some repeat buyers, with more new buyers coming from Klang and Cheras.

Cahaya Alam property has enjoyed more than 60% price appreciation the last two years. As an indication, its middle-market Camellia 2 houses which were selling for RM360,000 in 2010 are receiving offers of nearly RM600,000 now.

Despite the appreciation, Encorp continues to target families and home-occupiers instead of investors. While this category of homebuyers may not buy and sell properties the way investors would, Effendi said that families can always look to upgrade to the upper-market units.

Putting things into perspective, Encorp has perhaps set a smooth path to benefit its own customers over the course of its Cahaya Alam township development.

Its previous projects in Cahaya Alam, such as Rosselle, Jasmin, Camellia 1 and Camellia 2, were within the middle-market range.

The company is also embarking on a new masterplan to develop the remaining 90-odd acres. This would have a resort lifestyle design and concept.

Encorp is planning four more projects to build two and three-storey terraces and zero-lot bungalows. The four upcoming precincts will be gated and guarded, with water features and landscaping.

Encorp estimates to complete these upper-market projects by 2018.

Cahaya Alam only has one commercial development, Magnolia, which are shop-offices currently under construction on 7.7 acres.

The township, surrounded by the New Klang Valley Expressway, Federal Highway and NKVE-MERU Link, is a joint venture between Encorp and the Selangor State Development Corporation.

By The Star