Thursday, January 17, 2013

Relativity and Bubble Tea

Long long time ago, but not nearly as far back when mata wore shorts, we were happy drinking our ice lemon tea and kopi c. Whether in the school canteen or kopitiam, they were always home brewed and prepared, served by moody uncles or pissed looking aunties fighting pms. No preservatives.

Fast forward to today, in a modern aircon stall in a busy shopping mall, served by giggly youths, we have the same thing - fruit flavored or coffee and milk cold drinks, except at 3x the price and nicely packaged in air tight spill proof high tech packaging. Add to that a dose of 'bubbles', essentially gelatinous balls, for a nice chew, which gives a nice 10% add on to the already wonderful profit. A nice large diameter thick straw completes the offering. Hey, you even get to pick your color!

So the smart kopitiam uncle and auntie buys the bubble tea cup sealing equipment and supplies, sets up a corner at their drinks stall, and sells their own brand of bubble tea at 30% off the shopping mall brands. They even concocted chinchow and bandung bubbles. I probably have never seen them smiling from cheek to cheek endless with the throngs of school kids lining up for their fix.

Now apply that formula to property projects. Have you ever wondered how some new projects can actually help pull up the price of older ones in the vicinity?


Take for example, the Echelon launched in Dec 2012, saw impressive takeup in a matter of days. Packaged with the latest bells and whistles in luxury fittings and facilities, the average psf hit was as high as 1700psf. 

Contrast that to Ascentia Sky, launched few years back at 1200psf. It has since completed building and how much do you think the owners are now asking for?

That's the power of relativity and vicinity. So as you make your next killing, be sure to do your research on your target projects' vicinity. If there are announced government plans for plots of land sales, whether reserved or confirmed, you can be quite sure you have one leg in the bank vault already.

Meanwhile, I will head for my kopitiam bubble tea with attap chee pearls...