DAILY EXPRESS. 28TH AUGUST: The upcoming Shareda PropEX (Property Expo) 2023 on Aug 31 till Sept 3, offers ample opportunities and possibilities for first-time house buyers, especially younger generation, to own their dream houses.
Its organising chairperson Joanne Wendy Chung said the four-day event at Sabah International Convention Centre (SICC), would be tailored to target specifically the young.
She assured that PropEX 2023 would be a fun-filled, educational and informative event that will entice young people to come to the four-day event apart from exhibiting various types of properties available for sale.
“In the past, the normal visitors who attended the event would be those with money, investors, and a certain age group.
“But this time, PropEX is targeting the young people, especially first-time home buyers, to come to our event that will help to attend to their needs and wants to buy their dream houses.
“This is because the common grouses among them, including young married couples, was that they could not meet requirements or criteria set by the banks to purchase their aspired homes within their financial means.
“Shareda want to help them to own houses, especially for the first time, through existing government schemes that they are unaware of plus incentives given by the developers,” she said.
Joanne said they have come up with specific activities to entice the young generation to come to PropEX and take part in the competition-based activities.
She said the activities are created to spark interest and enhance public awareness on what is happening in the PropEX.
She said the highlight would be the #raceto6888 treasure/amazing raze game tailored to challenge young people to participate but open to all to win cash of RM6,888.
“Participants need to register on Aug 31 starting at 10am until 6pm and a card will be issued for each registration, but this game is only limited to 350 participants.
“If the queue reaches 350 people at 10am on Aug 31, then the counter for registration is closed. They have to make sure they have the cards because without it, they cannot be in the race,” she said, adding that the game is open to all, including Shareda’s main committee and family members.
Joanne said the race runs for two days on Sept 1 and 2 where the participants have to visit each of the 50 booths or 25 booths a day to ask what they need to do and when the tasks are done, the participants will get stamps on their cards.
“If this competition succeeds, then it would mean that I have attracted 350 visitors to the expo which is also aimed to enhance their awareness on the property industry in Sabah,” she said.
In addition to the race game, she said they are also organising two photography contests namely Best Family Look Alike Portrait and Best Dress Merdeka Theme contest for children below aged 12.
Joanne said photos for both contests will be taken professionally at the expo on Sept 1 and 2 and all the participants need to come to the expo over the course number of days at the event.
“What the participants need to do is to upload the photos, tag and share the photos (in social media). This is more of an awareness for the event and to attract more people to come.
“The prizes for both photography contest are attractive vouchers and a stay at a resort in Mantanani for the family portrait contest. We also have daily lucky draw prizes to attract the younger generation because the first, second and third prizes are Marshall Bluetooth speakers and transparent ear pods which is the in-thing to give away, among others,” said.
Furthermore, she said about 12 to 13 Artisan local vendors at Riverson were invited to showcase their local products.
To further educate the young generation about their possible chances to buy own homes, Joanne said they are highly encouraged to attend several talks by Federal Housing and Local Government Ministry (KPKT) on a scheme via Syarikat Jaminan Kredit Perumahan (SKJP) to help first-time house buyers among young people, a talk by Shareda’s organising chairman Benny Ng on an incentive called i-Miliki and a talk by an Australian property developer, among others.
An interesting talk, she said is by a sport medical officer from Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH) on how to build more elderly-friendly houses which many developers did not consider and to bring up ideas to make modern homes that accommodate senior citizens.
“I think it is timely for developers and exhibitors to use this opportunity through the PropEX 2023 to interact and engage with visitors and educate them because many have the impression that one has to be 35 or 40 buy a house or pay deposit like RM10,000.
“But today, the government has come up with schemes and developers with packages and incentives to assist first time house buyers like no deposit to pay, free legal fees, sales and purchase agreement (SPA) and stamp duty exemption, among others.
“The bankers also play huge role in educating and assisting, especially young generation who have interest to buy their first property because many do not know how to go about it and have low awareness and knowledge on the matter,” Joanne said.
Also present at the press conference were Shareda President Datuk Sr Chua Soon Ping, his deputy president Datuk Johnny Wong and main committee members.