So upon arrival we were greeted by a client and relationship manager or a salesperson who would explain about how the concept of land investment works. We were also given free food (breakfast and lunch) and RM 100 Parkson vouchers but it's just sort of a gimmick to get you interested. There's also some idle talk before that to get things, and to be honest, they're really smooth talkers. Here's how the concept works:
- The company purchases a plot of greenbelt land. This is land that cannot be developed unless it is rezoned (a process known as getting planning permission) by the government.
- The land is sub-divided into many smaller plots and sold to investors.
- The company retains 25% of the land so that it is also “vested” along with the investors.
- The company goes out to apply for planning permission. This process will take many years. As such, this is more of a long term investment. We were told this would take five to ten years at the minimum.
- Once planning permission is obtained, the value of the land will rise 5-10 times (from your purchase price) and you can realise your gains when the entire site is sold. In Jardin Smith International’s case, 60% of the owners will have to agree before it can be sold through a voting after the land has been rezoned and after 15 years. But the land must be sold no matter what when it hits the 20 year mark.
- UK has a housing problem and land will only become lesser and lesser. And if I'm not wrong the Government needs to build about 30 million homes by the year 2026.
- The price of land has been increasing steadily (About 20-fold in the last 15 years).
- 2012 Summer Olympics will be held in London and this will have positive effect on the property market.
The plot on offer by Jardin was being sold for about RM 67000. An initial deposit of 10% was required and could be paid by credit card. The balance could be paid by credit card and UOB cardholders could even pay by interest-free 12 months installment plans.
In the end we decided that we're not going to invest for some reasons. But I did get to learn something, which is a good thing. No pictures for this event though. And this will be my last post till I'm back from Penang. Good luck to all SPM candidates also!!! =)
20 comments:
Hey, good work Adrian!
Keep up your nice blog :)
To be clear I regard most UK land banking schemes as a scam so i am very biased ( I am from the UK). Here are some issues not identified in your post:-
1: The most likely outcome (99%+) is that this land will not gain planning permission. This is Green Belt land in an administrative area called South Bucks.The last 20 years included one of the biggest UK housing booms ever. Zero Greenbelt land was released by South Bucks for house building. Yes that is Zero. 87% of the area is greeen belt but the council has stated they will not need to release any green belt before 2026 . That shows how much greenbelt there is and how much building land there is in the other 13%.
2: What is the open market value of the land in the event that no planning permission is obtained? In the case of Profitable plots they were selling green belt land parcels with a UK open market value of 1500 RM for 40,000 RM claiming they could achieve 120,000RM if planning permission were achieved. Without planning permission and with Profitable Group in the process of closing down the land plots are probably worth 1500 RM minus legal and administrative costs for selling. Basically worth nothing.
3: What if Jardin Smith fails or closes down (most land banking companies do that within 5-10 years) - how will any sale or planning be achieved ?
4: The UK does not need 30M houses between now and 2026. That is either a mistake by you or a lie by them. In any event as stated above South Bucks have already said that they can meet all of their housing needs between now and 2026 from available land without touching the green belt.
5: Lets say they do need green belt. Why will they need to come to asia to buy it in small plots from greedy investors when they can work with a local landowner and voter for less ? 87% of the land is greenbelt. There is a lot of it if they decided to relax the regulations.
6: Search for Jardin Smith Gerrards Cross in Google and you will find all you need to know.
This is very a high risk investment which is not regulated by MAS or any other authority in Singapore. Think very carefully before investing. You may lose all of your money.
If you do a search for "jardin smith" using the google advanced search feature for the last month you will find nothing but entries for job sites. Does Jardin Smith really have so many jobs ? Because of their abysmal performance in returns on investments and return of capital land banking companies are now very restricted in the media outlets they can use. Most reputable newspapers and TV will not touch them. So a strategy is to run adverts for non existent jobs in job sites and farm the responses for contacts. These people are then invited to the next seminar.
For those that have invested in this scheme, i have set up a facebook Group. I know there is much we can do, but at least we can try to do something for those future investor to be more aware of this scheme. the facebook group is https://www.facebook.com/groups/JardinSmithInternationalInvestor/
Good explaination ....
Just want to know if anyone have work with this company??
These guys are still making unsolicitied calls to sell this crap to people they've never met and inviting them to nice hotel cups of tea/coffee and cakes high pressure selling experiences during the weekends.
Why haven't they been shut down yet???
Until today they have been persistently calling me every few months, quoting that ive been referred by "Anne Tan" which might be a random common name used in the spam calls
hi, stooge is right on the prices. using per square feet uk farm land currently mawsley (their current project) is only rm 2+ psfn they have the guys to sell to investor at rm 80 psf. anyone willing to do some extra did diligence would have found out this difference. my personal rule is never to sign up to any purchase immediately and give some time to sink so that the rational side of brain can function. i feel like going back to sort out to future investors about the price difference and at least if they but they but with eyes wide open. (i feel extremely sad and pain when the future and current investors find out about the true pricing). i hope my comment will trigger readers to do more due diligence.
My husband and I just came back after their presentation held in Sheraton PzJ which took about 2..5 hrs. The presenter was cool and did his part but the catch was his superior was disturbed when we started asking pertinent questions as to how an application can get the registry of land's approval within 10days in the name of the purchaser. We noticed the dates shown on their documents. This erked one of their lady directors and she told us we were invited in error to attend as it was a closed door presentation for thier existing clients. Can you believe her arrogance to cut off when we werr doubtful. Please do some research as investment needs sometime to plan not an impromptu stuff to invest immediately. Just my caution statement. Dated : 10 Aug 2019, Kuala Lumpur
I'm glad to have stumbled on this blog post while searching for references on Jardin Smith. Very surprised to see that a blog in 2010 is still attracting comments from as recent as 2019!
Got a call from a JSI agent inviting me and family to a very casual, closed-door event at an established hotel in Bangsar. The agent spoken professionally and respectfully, explaining that the invite was only extended to JSI's existing clients and a referred individuals. He also offered that he will personally attend to me when I am at the event. The event's agenda were neither offered nor disclosed despite being asked. Agent was polite but pushy in trying to register me - offering a choice of only Day 1 or Day 2,... a "No, thank you" was not in the options. :-D
Long story short, I declined,... and am happy to learn from posts here that I didn't miss out on a major investment opportunity only for the specially selected few. :-)
Mind sharing the name of the agent? Does it start with letter M?
Invested in 2012 for land banking at Water Orton no update news from JSI for years and only mentioned once about the HS2 development few years back. Any investors' link I could follow up.
I have heard of 1 positive story, one where HS2 is planning to go through a number of plots sold by Jardin Smith, the investment is now worth over 10 times the original.
Investing in this way is totally speculative. JS is setup so they never lose out, they will cover their costs, you'll pay more than double the cost of green belt land, which is likely never be developed in your lifetime, unless you get lucky. You'll pay for all the fees like the lawyers etc. Even when you get lucky, its likely they will make it difficult for you to deal with another agency, and they will earn more on your investment.
Just remember they are a business and they are will never lose out.
Good Morning. I am a investor too with them. Initially bought a lot in Y2016 under Mawsley. Than had cash a bit bought another lot claiming early exit of Mawsley for Y2021. My wife was adamant to invest. I will patiently wait the outcome. No reason for speculation. Once is everything goes well I will write back In theis htead. So far so good. Hope and pray we are not taken for a ride. I was informed that their earlier investors all already cashed out. God knows!!! They were very convincing that the investment will make money!!! Anyone have a better clarification please do comment. May god bless our hard earn money investment. I am sure there are many investors out there following everything closely but keeping quiet. I invested with my retenrenchement payout!!!
Likely you say goodbye to your retrenchment payout.
Say goodbye to your invesment
I investedin their first project called Reigate in 2007. I was told that it was in a built up area not green belt (showed me site on googlè map). No updates after sàle. I havè to call thèm but always same story. Have submitte for planning approval but need changes as requested by the council. It has been a long wait of 14 years! Latest news is their KL office will now managè my case as SG office at Internationàl Plaza will only do sàles.
Only consolation is if no planning approval by 15th year, the land will be put up for sàle.
Àny Reigate investor here?
Reference to the above, now it's the end of the 15th year. Any update?
dunno what to say even Confucius is confused?
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