On this episode of LBS VoxPop, we are going to share a video on a special project called ‘Jejak Wira’, a collaboration effort with Sinar Harian in conjunction with Independence Day and Malaysia Day.

The past decade has witnessed an upward trend in property prices. However, the past two years have taken a halt in the trend due to oversupply and added pressure to keep the prices down caused by the pandemic. Owning a property involves a long time commitment which will affect one financial situation. Much thought is put into it before an individual decides to purchase their first home or even their next one. With the declining market price, multiple campaigns and incentives, is it the right time to purchase? Even if it is for investment purposes, with the uncertainties due to the pandemic, what is the right choice? 

The Home Ownership Campaign (HOC) was reintroduced in 2020 by the Government as an initiative of stimulating the property market and providing financial relief to homeowners. The joint effort between the Housing and Local Government Ministry (KPKT) and Real Estate and Housing Developers’ Association (REHDA) Malaysia aims to help first-time homeowners. Even so, the campaign is open to all Malaysians with no limit on the number of purchases.

There are pros and cons to this campaign. Other than the stamp duty exemption and 10% discount on the price, the Overnight Policy Rate (OPR) is also at its lowest. Do keep in mind, these benefits are only applicable towards newly launched projects and not applicable towards commercial units. Competitive pricing, location, accessibility and safety are among the factors that will influence buyers in making a purchase.

With the implementation of the multiple Movement Control Orders (MCO) in the past years during the pandemic, data have shown that Malaysians are more interested in spacious properties outside of the dense city areas. Landed units with competitive prices have shown higher demands compared to high-rise buildings. 

LBS Bina offers you affordable options to choose from. Terraced houses, townhouses and even serviced apartments. With prices as low as RM250,000 for a unit at KITA Ria serviced apartments, the property offers you a cosy apartment for a close-knit community. This guarded apartment is located in the KITA @ Cybersouth township located within the developing Southern Klang Valley.

Easily accessible via major highways including the Putrajaya-Cyberjaya Expressway through Elite Highway, Maju Expressway (MEX), South Klang Valley Expressway (SKVE), North-South Expressway (NSE), Damansara-Puchong Highway (LDP), and Jalan Dengkil-Banting. Strategically located between Putrajaya and Cyberjaya, KITA @ Cybersouth is close to various key public amenities, such as commercial hubs, financial institutions, governmental administration centre, international airport, healthcare providers, and many others. 

With all the enticing offers in the market, isn’t it the right time for you to make your purchase?

“Nobody said it was easy, It’s such a shame for us to part.

 Nobody said it was easy, No one ever said it would be this hard.”

 

Is the rhythm of the song titled “The Scientist” by Coldplay in your mind now? Or perhaps you might be singing along with this song.

As mentioned in the lyrics “Nobody Said It Was Easy”, we face challenges, and stress is unavoidable but a normal part of life. While everyone experiences stress, what stresses someone out varies from person to person, might be because of work, studies, family and relationship matters.

Yes, challenges to some extent might break down our barriers, push our limits. When you’re facing your limits and you feel that resistance, it can seem hard to overcome. But just by pushing yourself a little harder, you can really accomplish some great things.

Anyway, stress is inevitable, life goes on, and we need to face the reality of life. Here are some tips to help manage and reduce stress:

1.Eat healthily

The proverbial saying ‘You are what you eat’ is the notion that to be fit and healthy you need to eat good food.

 

2.Exercise

Almost any form of exercise can increase your fitness level while decreasing your stress. The most important thing is to pick an activity that you enjoy. Examples include jogging, dancing, cycling, Yoga, Tai Chi and Zumba.

 

3.Take time out

You may have experienced frustration on some matters, try to stop thinking about it, listen to music, gardening, play some games, chat with family or BFF, temporarily escape from stress.

 

4.Green Environments

Exposure to green spaces help to relieve stress, and generally enhances psychological recovery. Exposure to urban green spaces can generate cognitive, affective, and psychophysiological benefits that reduce stress.

 

5.Snack / Cheat time

Have a break and have a KitKat. Oh! This is not an advertisement session! In fact, you can have any snack, preferably a healthier snack, for example, low carb snack, almonds that contain several beneficial nutrients, pistachios that are high in fibre. Of course, some snacks are acceptable but do limit your snack intake, as it might increase calorie, weight gain. 

 

6.Get Some Restful Sleep

Stressful times can cause insomnia. You can take nuts like almonds, walnuts, pistachios, and cashews which are often considered to be good food for sleep.

Have a warm bath, listen to calm and relaxing music, do some gentle yoga and meditation to relax your mind and body. Exercising regularly, cutting down on caffeine does help beat insomnia.

Write away your worries. If you tend to lie in bed thinking about everything you must do tomorrow, set a to-do list before bedtime, it helps for a night of quality sleep.

If you cannot sleep, do not lie there worrying about it. Get up and do something you find relaxing until you feel sleepy again, then go back to bed.

Do consider consulting a doctor if lack of sleep is persistent and it’s affecting your daily life.

 

7.Seek Help

It’s OK to not be OK, we’re human, in life we go through a lot of ups and downs. Don’t be afraid to ask for help, go for counselling sessions and consult a psychologist. Remember, You Are Not Alone. Take care.

Now that everyone is completing their second dose of COVID-19 vaccine, are you mentally ready to go back to normal? To how everything was before? Admittedly, it is a big step stepping out of the pandemic and going back to our previous routine, but eventually it must be done whether we like it or not.

We understand this might be a little stressful, especially with the number of daily cases being what it is, but remember how stressed out we all were having to sit at home for months, wishing everything would go back to normal? How working from home in a mostly non-conducive environment was taking a toll on our mental health?

When we are fully vaccinated, it becomes our responsibility to slowly start returning to our obligations. Meetings need to be done face to face for better clarification, things can be done more efficiently in a timely manner, and on top of performance improvement, it will also benefit our social and mental needs. We will finally get to breathe in some fresh air daily and we get to mingle and laugh with our colleagues.

As to how we understand your concerns, we hope you understand ours too. We must keep operating if we want to keep providing for everyone. Unfortunately, the harsh reality is we can only sustain when we are fully operational, and we know this is a bitter pill to swallow. As we embark on this journey of embracing the new normal at work, we need to learn to be interdependent. Relying on each other and helping each other out will ensure that we will be able to swiftly get back into our previous work routine safely and efficiently.

We promise we will be there with you every step of the way. Experiencing back-to-work anxiety is completely normal and together, we will manage the issue. Remember that you are not the only one who is facing this – we are too. There are plenty of ways for us to address this issue and one of it is identifying our causes for concern.

At any given time, you are allowed to voice out your concerns and together we will find the best solution. Let’s normalise openly talking about our mental health and to always be inclusive and attentive of one another. This will foster a mentally healthy workspace, and given the current climate, we are each other’s resources, so we must have each other’s back.

Two years ago, we could only dream of being here, unable to see the light at the end of the tunnel. This is a breakthrough, and we must seize this opportunity now more than ever to help our society return to what it was. We must turn over a new leaf and although it is still a little tricky, there are SOPs put in place to guide us through. We are not saying we are ready to go back to a mask-less society, but we are heading in the right direction. It is a scary step but a necessary one. If you want things to go back to the way they were, you have got to be your own hero.

What if I bought my first house 5 years ago, what if I listened to my family and friends to start saving for my own property instead of spending lavishly on trivial things. What would’ve happened if I didn’t do it properly last time and just do things according to my guts instead of doing research on things that I wanted to get. I’m sure many of you out there have regrets about not making the right decisions on things that have been done previously. Like me, my biggest regret was not buying my first property during my early twenties. But I have thought to myself not to think about the past and keep moving forward.

From what I have learned all these years, you must always grab any opportunity that comes into your life. Sooner or later, if you don’t grab it, you will have a sense of regret for not taking the opportunity that was presented to you. What if you got a new work opportunity previously but you felt that it was not the right time to move or felt that you are afraid to leave your current work for the sake of feeling secure, but years after that you felt that you should have taken the opportunity that was offered to you years ago.

But now, if you have the means to buy a house, it is the right time to do so. With the low-interest rates that are being offered to customers that want to purchase their first house. Promotions like HOC which stands for House Ownership Campaigns that will give a lot of benefits to home buyers. Now is the right time to start looking to purchase your first house. Worried that you will need to pay a lot of booking fees? Fear not. Now there are low booking fees, free legal fees, free stamp duty for loan and MOT (Memorandum of Transfer) and a minimum of 10% rebate for house purchases.

LBS Bina is known to build affordable houses for Malaysians, there’s a lot of locations for you to choose from in different states in Malaysia. Various selections of properties to fulfil your needs. Our selection of houses covers different regions of Malaysia including Kuala Lumpur, Selangor, Perak, Cameron Highlands and Batu Pahat, Johor. These properties could cater to all your needs from every level of income, which covers Landed Properties, Condominiums, and townhouses.

Finally, this is the right time for all of you to start looking out to buy your first house or even get your second or third house that could be used for your investment purposes. Because all these promotions and offerings will not last forever, as this will only last till the end of the year. Grab this great opportunity so that in the coming years you won’t feel a sense of regret. And accompanied with the phrase saying, ‘What if I grab the opportunity to buy my first house in 2021?’.

 

Two years ago, we could only dream of being here. Being cooped up in our homes with the number of cases only getting higher and higher, it did not seem like there was a way out. Being vaccinated is far from our imagination. We could not see the light at the end of the tunnel. Our spirit was low, we did not have the motivation to do anything, we missed our family and friends, we missed dining out, and we were worried we or any of our loved ones would get infected by COVID-19 – we had a hard time adjusting to the new normal.

 

On top of all the stress of going through a pandemic, we were still expected to live our lives as normal as possible, meeting work deadlines with a pay cut, and some even lost their job. We were living in uncertainties, and it was hard. We also had to go through a crash course on particle filtration, alcohol level to effectively sanitise, room ventilation, and a whole lot more things that we wish we knew a whole lot less about.

 

We also had to learn about interdependence to ensure the survival of our species. We learned about forming quarantine bubbles, donning protective gears just to go get groceries, and having only essential physical interactions. The days were suffocating, and the nights were long. We look forward to the day when we can breathe easier again, although the future seemed bleak.

 

And it seems like we are finally having a major breakthrough. COVID-19 vaccines have successfully been developed and distributed worldwide after months of research by healthcare experts. Vaccine rolls out in Malaysia kicked off on February 24 with Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin receiving the first of the two-dose Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine as mass inoculation campaign started.

Through the Ministry of Health (MOH), the Malaysia government has by far approved a few COVID-19 vaccines. One being RNA vaccine – genetic material from the pathogen only – known as Pfizer-BioNTech. Three being non-replicating viral vector vaccine – another virus that cannot copy itself carries the pathogen’s genes – known as CanSino, Johnson & Johnson, and Oxford-AstraZeneca. And the last one being an inactivated vaccine – killed pathogen that cannot replicate itself – known as Sinovac. Two other vaccines are currently undergoing clinical trials in Malaysia; one non-replicating viral vector vaccine – ReiThera, and one inactivated vaccine – Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences.

 

June 21 marks the kick-off of Phase 3 of National COVID-19 Immunisation Programme in Klang Valley, which would be the final phase of vaccination before heading to Phase 4: the Economic Recovery Plan. As of June 18, 4.9% of the population has been fully vaccinated while 12.4% has received their first dose. Life is slowly but surely going back to normal, so what now?

 

It seems like we are finally turning over a new leaf, but can we do pre-pandemic activities again? Yes, but it is a little tricky. Being COVID-19 vaccinated means the virus would no longer endanger you much, but they do not give you superpowers. You may still carry it and put those around you at risk, so until we have reached herd immunity, we still need to take precautions, but the list of pre-pandemic activities that you can do will grow.

 

It is completely normal to still feel scared even after you are fully vaccinated. To go back to a mask-less society or entering a crowded lift seem like a precarious act, and currently it still is as we learn more about the power of these vaccines, hence why the need to still follow the recommended SOP by MOH. Knowing the overall risk of infection in your area is also a good step towards making better decisions.

We are heading towards the right direction, but it is understandable if we are still enveloped with uncertainties as more research is currently being done. Simply returning to our old habits would be deadly. To be mentally prepared, remember that even though you have a new “force field” around you, it is not impenetrable.

 

It is important to refer to only credible news to not hinder the government’s vaccination effort so we can reach herd immunity faster. Do not easily trust forwarded messages you read on WhatsApp as most are fake news, and more importantly, do not forward it to others. Stop the chain, it starts with you, do not create vaccination hesitancy.

 

Bottom line is, yes, you can now breathe easier after being vaccinated. You can walk or sit taller and let go of some of the worries that have been lurking in the back of your mind for the last two years. Remember that getting over the pandemic is a journey, and while we race toward widespread vaccination to get back to life before COVID-19, we also must play our part in the meantime for the under 18 population who cannot yet get their shots.

Together, we will beat this and rise above it.