Ok, so your property is abandoned, the metal frames, glass panels and door are stripped from the property until there is only four walls left. The road signboard has dropped off and the street lights are not working. Walking into the area feels like being on the ground zero on aftermath of a nuclear fallout.
I will always remember this quote from the movie “Catch me if you can” starring Leonardo Dicaprio; in the movie there is a quote by the lead actor’s father about being resilient. It goes like this :
“Two little mice fell in a bucket of cream. The first mouse quickly gave up and drowned. The second mouse, wouldn't quit. He struggled so hard that eventually he churned that cream into butter and crawled out. Gentlemen, as of this moment, I am that second mouse.”
Instead of just leaving it abandoned and giving up any hope on the property, it might possible to consider a few non mainstream and unconventional business which can be lucrative if done properly. The Chinese proverb correct sums it up by saying there is always opportunity when danger presents.
The following are some of the ideas which could be considered :
Mushroom Farming
In Malaysia, due to our climate, the best kind of mushroom to grow is the oyster mushroom. It can grow on lowlands and its source material is palm oil tree saw dust. Oyster mushrooms thrives in dark and damp environment so your property having no electricity is perfect. Oyster mushroom farming can be done from very small scale to big scale depending on our capabilities. Taste wise it tastes like chicken so people call it the vegetarian chicken. Oyster mushroom can be easily sold to mini markets, Tom Yum shops and mamak shops, they will willingly buy from you. Just forget about selling to Tesco, you won’t be able to satisfy their demand, they are asking in tons.
Goat farming
With land so scarce nowadays, it might be a good idea to make abandoned shops are your goat rearing shed. You don’t need to worry about neighbors complaining about the smell and worry about the goats running away. Size wise, compared to cows, goats would fit well into our standard 2000 sqft shops.
Waste recycling sorting
Waste recycling is really big business, the operators pay you peanuts to send in aluminum cans and your spoiled metal fridge but make big money selling it off to bigger recycling facilities.
Swiftlet farming
This is the most commonly established business for abandoned properties. The money can be quite lucrative and there is a very firmly established industry in Malaysia. It’s a easy as 1-2-3, just pay a certain fee and the entire swiftlet business can be setup immediately. This business only works for the top floor of a building premise.
Billboard advertising
If the property happens to face a main road or have some angles where there are lots of cars passing by, it might be possible to enact a billboard to do advertising. Forget about finding big business , just find local small business which want some advertising space. The easiest is to put up property billboards to advertise other properties nearby.
Yes, you will need a license from the town council to do billboard advertising but this can be ignore d because in the first place the property is already abandoned so why bother even applying when it won’t get approved.
Goat farming
With land so scarce nowadays, it might be a good idea to make abandoned shops are your goat rearing shed. You don’t need to worry about neighbors complaining about the smell and worry about the goats running away. Size wise, compared to cows, goats would fit well into our standard 2000 sqft shops.
Waste recycling sorting
Waste recycling is really big business, the operators pay you peanuts to send in aluminum cans and your spoiled metal fridge but make big money selling it off to bigger recycling facilities.
Swiftlet farming
This is the most commonly established business for abandoned properties. The money can be quite lucrative and there is a very firmly established industry in Malaysia. It’s a easy as 1-2-3, just pay a certain fee and the entire swiftlet business can be setup immediately. This business only works for the top floor of a building premise.
If the property happens to face a main road or have some angles where there are lots of cars passing by, it might be possible to enact a billboard to do advertising. Forget about finding big business , just find local small business which want some advertising space. The easiest is to put up property billboards to advertise other properties nearby.
Yes, you will need a license from the town council to do billboard advertising but this can be ignore d because in the first place the property is already abandoned so why bother even applying when it won’t get approved.
Cut losses and sell it off
Some trading guru once asked me “Would you rather be wrong now or wrong later?”. It basically means if something is wrong, it’s better to fix it earlier and later, so sometimes it might be best to just sell off under performing properties, take the cash and make better use of it elsewhere, just like selling off under performing stock counters and moving to the stocks which have a better chance of making money.
Some trading guru once asked me “Would you rather be wrong now or wrong later?”. It basically means if something is wrong, it’s better to fix it earlier and later, so sometimes it might be best to just sell off under performing properties, take the cash and make better use of it elsewhere, just like selling off under performing stock counters and moving to the stocks which have a better chance of making money.
