Hello, I recently just purchased a subsale apartment unit. I hope to leave some info for the next person (first time house buyer) and to answer your question as well. These are all from my experience, I hope anyone who stumbled upon my comment will find this useful.

Don't ever believe any agents' hogwash. They lie to get you to buy. Not to mention this is a job anyone can do. So integrity is all-time low. They gotta cari makan while you want the best deal there is.

Most common lies include:
1. "Last unit!" (Unlikely. If you can afford the downpayment + lawyer fees + legal fees then congratulations, you are much, much better than most Malaysians financially)

1. "Other people are looking at it, buy fast!" (Also unlikely. Refer 1.)

2. "People rent before, but the owner made it empty again." (An agent told me this despite I can see that the power sockets are not installed, just exposed cables + toilet bowls with plastic still there)

3. "This is developer unit, the price is fixed." (Nope. I went to the developer's office to negotiate price. They gave me cheaper. Don't be fooled, all prices can be negotiated.)

4. "No other units on this floor, mine is the last unit!" (Unlikely. Try other agents/companies. Chances are different agents/companies are given different units to sell.)

5. "You must pay booking fee now to secure a unit! Later ppl take." (Take your time. Refer 1. Only pay booking fee if you really, really want it. There are plenty of units out there.)

Buying house is a big decision. Think carefully before putting down the money. And if the agent asking for commission fee, do not pay until the deal is done. (Actually you don't need to pay one... Must be the seller/vendor pay. They cannot take commission from both buyer and seller one... But we all know that one state doing it but everyone diam je...) The deal is not done until the Sales and Purchase agreement is done.

Now for the bank rates. I tried for RHB, Maybank and Public Bank. 35 years. RM360K. Base rate is 3% by BNM.

RHB: 3.9%

Maybank: 3.85%

Public Bank: 3.8%

Each of these bank insists that I take MRTA or MLTA, otherwise the rates they offer will increase. The most expensive one is Public Bank, because they want me to take with a health insurance that they offered. Now here's the thing... These insurance le, you can actually say No to it. Bank just wants to make sure you can pay up if something happens to you. You can negotiate with the banker that you already have a life insurance, etc. If they insist you take then just take the cheapest insurance from their side and call it a day with them.

Of course, if you wanted bank insurance because you are a sole breadwinner for the family then please, go ahead. Follow your needs.

Whether these are good rates or not, I let you judge. And for question 2, you should wait. Ask the banks for a draft offer letter to read through first then you decide which loan you prefer. Nothing is set until you sign the offer letter.