How Propsocial Saved Me RM1 Million

Property hunting is HARD. 

So many people tell me it's the best time to buy property now because economy has been weak for the last few years and will continue to be bad till 2018, this is the time to look out for flash sales from property owners who can no longer afford to sustain their properties. 

I have friends who have gotten lucky on the property market to land such flash sales. One of the friends gave a final offer on this unit and within two months the owner gave in and settled on his price. He bought the place and will be moving in soon. 

Why couldn't such luck land on me?! 

I just want a place big enough to fit a walk-in wardrobe with a vanity room, huge toilet with bathtub, extra rooms for visitors, nice modern indoor & outdoor kitchen, spacious balcony with nice view overlooking the ocean that's walking distance to nice restaurants and a supermarket. 

Is that too much to ask?

There was this one unit, just two floors beneath the unit this friend bought, which we had ours eyes on. In fact, after viewing through more than 10 units in the neighbourhood we liked, this came out at the top of our list. Let's call this place xx property. So we made an offer, got turned down flat. Made another offer, said would consider and half a year later the unit was still unsold. The price the owner was asking for was just ridiculous (almost quarter of a million more than what we offered). 

At this point I was getting dejected and wondering if it's meant to be.

Then last week, I was introduced a site called PROPSOCIAL. It is like a tripadvisor of properties. You get the reviews by the community and editor and all the details you need to know about a property, like pool size, floor plans, year of completion, launch and subsale price, maintenance fee, etc

Naturally the first thing I looked up on was xx property. 

No perfect score on cleanliness, safety, traffic and quietness. 

Then I searched up the place I'm staying at now. 

Other than traffic, perfect score on all other aspects. 

Mmm... instantly my dwindling interest in xx property died right then and there. 

You know how grass is always greener on the other side? I've been living at my place for so long, sometimes I forget how comfortable it is to live here; and the urge to want a bigger place was creeping in over the years. 

Then a day later we met our old neighbour by chance in a bistro; turned out after he moved out three years ago, he moved in to xx property! Talk about coincidence. Guess what, he didn't like xx property and was looking to move back to our building after living there for three years. 

This just proved Propsocial's credibility. If not for the second opinion thanks to Propsocial, who knows, we might get desperate and went for xx property, if not that unit then perhaps another unit, causing us ONE million ringgit worth of mistake and despair.

In the mean time I'll be following the news feed on this neighbourhood to look out for new properties for sale. 

NOT where I live. Just an example. 

What?! Zero petrol station in Desa Parkcity? 

PS// just for fun, 

I did a search on the ethnic groups of people that live in my neighbourhood. 

No prize for guessing where I stay. 

My New Hair 2017: Subtle Ash under Brown

After two years of letting my hair run wild, I finally haul my mane to Sunny at Hareta to execute damage control. 

This was my hair just a month ago on my final leg in Egypt. 

The ends were dry! The bleached hair has grown out and left untamed on its own for two whole years while I butchered it under the hot sun and in sea water during my travels. Tsk tsk. 

I've also been sprouting and plucking white hairs off my hair every six months for the last two years. Yay aging.

Maybe enough time has established living the gypsy life, it's time to go back to being vain and looking presentable. 

I didn't want any crazy color like how I worked it two years ago. 

See here (blue), here(purple), here(blonde), here(ash) and here(ash blue). 

All done under Hareta. There were a lot more, but you get me. 

I wanted something more subtle, more mature (eh-hem). After 5 hours, Sunny delivered. 

Dark brown to cover my dark roots and that dozen strands of white hair. Subtle ash at the bottom, from far you could barely make out there was ash. But it was in the subtlety that made this hair awesome. 

And I intend to keep my hair long this time. 

Valiram Sales April 2017: Kate Spade, Victoria's Secret, Canali, Tumi, and Michael Kors

Woohoo! It's that time of the year again. Every year I look forward to the Valiram Sales, like who doesn't like sales? 

If you're not sure what to do this weekend, you're welcome. Here are some shots I've taken yesterday to give you a glimpse on some of the items put on sale. Unfortunately, Tory Burch did not make the sale this time, which was a huge disappointment. I have always been a huge fan of Tory Burch. Also there was no apparel or shoe line on sale either from Michael Kors. Just these two facts alone were really disappointing. 

On the plus side, there was a huge range of cosmetic and beauty products available. Aside from a large selection of candles from Bath and Body Works and shower gels and fragrances from Victoria's Secret (and an incredibly sad selection of undies), there were also popular skincare brands like Clinique, Clinique for Men, Loccitane, Biotherm, L'oreal, and Shiseido on sale. Most of which were wiped out pretty fast, a lot of really popular items were spotted, a nice change. 

Tumi, expensive as usual

La Martina (very big sizes)

Godiva - RM50 per box 

Kate Spade - Few new items added (compared to the last sale), mostly old stocks with XS and L sizings. 

Lots of Kate Spade bags, purses and accessories 

This Kate Spade bag was sold for RM299 (there was only one left and I was there before opening hours). I didn't get it but I saw someone took it after I took a photo of it. 

Michael Kors - not as popular nor as good a selection as Kate Spade this sale. But if you get two, you will obtain an additional 20% off which was quite worth it. 

Then there was this selection of MK bags selling for RM590 (not entitled to the additional 20% but you can get additional 5% discount if you use Maybank Card) which was selling like hot cakes. They were selling these at RM900+ at previous sale (last year) and it was retailed at RM2k. I guess sale last year wasn't good because there was A LOT of these. In all colours and many designs. 

(No I didn't get these either)

I did snag a white Kate Spade tote bag (RM1k after discount) and a white Michael Kors cross body bag (also RM1k after discount). If I'm going to buy a luxury/branded WHITE bag, I might as well get it while it's on sale. White bags get dirty too darn fast, it hurts less when it gets worn out a year later. At least that's my logic. 

Then few other times for gifts and a keychain from Kate Spade for myself. It was a lot less than I would usually buy but the bill came to about the same as I would normally spend because of the two bags and the extra gifts (I normally don't buy bags because I do think I own too many bags, and I'm not as into bags as I was 3-4 years ago, so this was quite an exception). 

I Tried On Kim Kardashian's Waist Trainer Belt For A Week

It was around December of 2016, two weeks short of my trip to Hokkaido that I injured my back during a period of daily workouts without rest.

I didn't have professional assistance, and I didn't feel that I was pushing myself too hard, but there it was, the nagging pain that was increasing in intensity day to day. Then one day I wasn't able to get off the bed without cringing at the sharp pain that was hugging my back.

It was two weeks to my yearly snowboarding trip, the one trip I looked forward to the entire year. The chance of me hitting the slope was looking dim. I was so disappointed and angry with myself.

I ceased all workout immediately. I rested most of the days, hoping the rest time could accelerate my healing. No such luck. It was this time a waist trimming belt was presented to me. Initially I laughed at the thought, I didn't need a tinier waist, I need wolverine's healing power!

But a second look made me reconsider. It was not just a waist trimming tool, it was a back support, a posture control belt and physio-muscle injury aid. Immediately I wrote in and received a Waist Trainer and Back Braces couple of days before my flight to Japan.

Jonlivia Waist Trimming Belt

Jonlivia Physio Braces

ONE WEEK with the WAIST TRAINER
Day 1:
Putting on the waist trainer/trimming belt was easy. After strapping myself in, I stood up. The pain, it wasn't there, I didn't feel any pain standing up!
I bent myself backward, nope, nothing. I bent myself sideways, oh wait, I felt it.
I re-strapped the waist trainer, making it tighter this time. Bent sideways as much as the support would allow, nothing.
Success! I can finally heal without aggravating my injury even with daily activities.

Day 2:
My next few days has been rather routine where I wore the waist trainer to sleep, when I wake up, when I eat, sit in front of the computer, even when I go out. It's hardly noticeable when I wear it under my normal clothes. The only problem I had was taking it off to go into the shower. The pain returned instantly the moment I peel off the final strap on the belt, feeling my torn muscles kicking into action to support my upper body.

Day 3:
I have been walking straighter, my posture perfect when I was seated. With the waist trainer I could still slouch but it would take a bit more effort. If I were to switch to the full back support gear, then slouching was not even a possibility and with this I could perform more active activity. Was snowboarding a possibility with this gear? With this thought, I boarded the plan to Japan for my 3 weeks holiday. The flight was uncomfortable even with the belt, sitting long hours in a less than comfortable position was proving a challenge for my back. I changed out of the belt and into the back braces for full back support mid-flight and felt okay again. But when I arrived Tokyo, the shoulder strap was eating into my shoulders it was hurting.

Day 4:
Went online to research about my pain and discovered that it would take me 2-3 months before my pain would completely go away and my injury fully healed. Feeling frustrated but also extremely glad that I had the gears to help me through this phase. Looking forward to my Hokkaido trip a bit more and with less disappointment. I was able to walk around Tokyo today with much ease, feeling a bit tired in the back by the 3rd hour in Ginza and had to rest.

Day 5:
My tummy felt tighter and flatter. I rarely feel real hunger even though I would still eat like normal (out of habit or appetite, not sure). There was once I heard my stomach rumbled which was a weird feeling because I didn't think I was actually hungry. The tightness of the belt made me less conscious of the going-ons in my tummy.

Day 6:
Boarded a flight to Hokkaido leaving Tokyo behind. It was more comfortable this time both during the flight and the bus journey to Niseko. I was wearing the belt/waist trainer.

Day 7:
Woke up. Changed into the full back braces, put on my snowboard gear and headed for the slope.
I took it easy the first day, mostly out of my own fear that I would injure it further. Made some easy slides and called it a day. I still have weeks to go so I reckon I would take it easy. Oh, and my pants felt really comfortable, usually it would be a little tight against my tummy, but it actually felt that it was sitting comfortably beside my tummy. Nice.

Conclusion:

I've been really really happy with both of waist trainer and the back braces. They came to my aid when I needed a solution to my pain just in time and I couldn't ask for more. Thank you Jonlivia a million times. I actually stopped wearing both the belt and the braces a week into the trip because I was feeling so much better and the pain was going away.

That's happy me on the slope