From Mr TG, a viewer who wrote in by email
TG is 35, a government secondary school teacher recently transferred to Kuantan, where he now lives with his wife. He earns about RM6,000 a month, has no debts, RM130,000 in savings and RM30,000 in ETFs and stocks. His wife's own house, due in late 2026, is too small for classes, so he is eyeing the last unsold intermediate double-storey house in a completed Bukit Setongkol project for RM440,000, with the developer paying the SPA legal fees and stamp duty. He would hold it for about 20 years, then retire to Selangor.
Should he buy the house to run his tuition class downstairs and rent out the rooms upstairs?
“I want to make money the right way, the legal way.”
Only once he knows he can legally run a tuition centre there. Many do it in houses, but a residential title isn't meant for it, and neighbours, safety and licensing can end the plan. Without the business, the house has to stand as an investment, and its rent won't cover the instalment.
Why
A home is not a licensed premises
A proper tuition centre usually rents a shop office, registers a business and meets fire and space requirements. Running one in a house saves on rent, utilities and licences, which is why it is common, but it lasts only until someone is hurt, something goes wrong or a neighbour complains.
Neighbours bear the cost
Classes of 30 to 100 students bring cars dropping off and picking up every evening, noise at night and heavy use of toilets and water. Some older KL houses on busy roads have been rezoned for business, but they still register as businesses and cost more to maintain.
Landed rent rarely covers the loan
At RM440,000 the instalment would be about RM2,000 a month, while local rents point to about RM1,500 to RM1,600, so the tenant would pay the interest and he the principal. In small towns people buy as soon as they can afford to, so rents stay low; landed homes earn mainly through price growth of about 3% to 5% a year.
Rooms for transferred staff can pay
In smaller towns, teachers, doctors and nurses on transfer struggle to find rooms quickly and will pay 20% to 30% more for immediate availability. His network of transferred teachers could fill the house room by room.
What to do
- Ask the local council whether you can get a licence to run a tuition centre in that house before buying.
- Check rents for double-storey houses in the area; Sean would buy if it could rent for about RM2,000 a month.
- Use your LPPSA housing loan if you go ahead.
- Compare it with a unit of about RM400,000 to RM440,000 in KL whose rent covers the instalment.
- When researching any home, find out what causes the area's traffic jams, such as schools, markets or highway bottlenecks.
Editorial Note: Summarised from Sean Tan's full episode. The quoted answer is in his own words; the rest is our paraphrase. Figures reflect the recording date, so check current rates and rules before acting on them.
ASKING SEAN #300 | INVESTING IN A HOUSE TO RUN TUITION CENTER
Sources & Verification Data
Summarised from Sean's full English captions for Asking Sean #300. The quoted answer is verbatim; everything else is paraphrased. The rental data Sean checked was for single-storey houses, so the rents are an estimate. Figures are as stated in October 2025. The episode's sponsor, a retirement fund provider, is unrelated to this advice.
