Thanks for that. Gives me a few more things to think about. Kind of similar to our renting experience. We had two bed town house with covered and fenced in area for parking outside the front of the house which gave bit more space and somewhere to sit outside out of the sun. Downside when raining did get leaks through the metal roof. Did have basketball court so bit of open space in the subdivision and when we started a pool area. Back of houses ran as the edge of the area and also some security guards which believe required piece of paper to take stuff out but never really felt that lot required to go in. Had a couple of small shops and sari sari, hairdressor, barbecue fish/food place and a small supermarket so had ability to have most things available. Also reminded me of the barking dogs as you wandered around. Thankfully in time we were there didnt get flooded. Dont remember really interacting with the locals so hard to guage if professional or not but suspect mostly not although would have put the house owners in that category. Your comments on them are worth thinking about. How much were the subdivision fees as dont remember paying them although have memory of the HOA tryjng to get set up and trying to get some money as think when we moved in it was still the developer paying for central facilities.
I would not say our living conditions are perfect but pretty dam close, I built a small house 1.2klm from the centre of town and this in an area with a low crime rate we have a private gravel road and we are off the main road by 50mtrs, which is fairly quiet anyway with very little traffic, the annual housing/land tax will be very low no more than a months council tax in UK. In my opinion it is folly to invest a large amount of money on a house in PH, do not spend more than you can afford to lose, 3 to3.5 mill should get a good house perhaps on the smaller side, all CHB houses are built in the same ****e way no matter the price of them, paying double the above price just gets you a larger Dung Heap and a larger area to cool down with AC. In the event of a serious Quake the smaller house will be less prone to flexing and cracking, if you do have extra money to burn perhaps this is better to be invested in Land, sometimes you can find a cheap house costing little more than the price of the land and in need of some renovation, at least this will be serviced with water and electric, doing a cheap renovate to this may be good for a rental, I do believe having land there is good for a long term investment. A friend of mine bought a Lot 1yr ago this was a family concern with 6 siblings all having 2000M2 each on offer but they were not selling, as soon as the first lot sold another Foreigner he jumped in and bought one these were priced at P1.8K per M2, my friend ended up putting bids in for the other 4 and now owns three of them and hoping to get the other two, he is of the opinion they are now worth half again the original price. Something similar happened to me, myself and another Foreigner we bought 1800m2 together from the same owner and got it at a reduced price but at this same time one more was sold just down the road to another foreigner, I was telling my Filipino neighbours that I was the first Scotsman to buy land in the town and how we Scotsmen are the superior Race having invented TV, Telephones, Antibiotics and a host of other things, and now their lands will have increased in value, Filipinos believe everything they hear, soon after a few lots close to us were on the market at double the price we payed, they have no chance to get their asking price, however the seeds are sown and I expect mine is worth half again what I payed for it and I never did tell a lie?
in the larger well organised site, the fees were P1450 for a 2 bed rising to 1750 for a 4, this did include a payment for water. the smaller ones were between 500 and 1K and included water, Btw I only pay no more than P50 per month for water where we are now and we get a P200 per month discount on our electric as we have a geothermal producing plant close to where we live.
Thanks for that. Think our views on housing in the philippines are similar including investment no more than can afford to lose and more concerned that really need to be living there to spend money on house. Building isn't viable unless living there to oversee so really need to look at something ready to go.
I wasn't going to go into security but, not that he'll want to hear it it's actually very relevant to Alan, especially if he's planning on wandering off alone hunting insects and things: One of the main reasons foreigners are attracted to Sub-Divisions is they normally offer a degree of security, a guard on the gate and cctv they also provide the road, drain etc. so you don't need to fight the neighbour for access rights etc. People who don't live in an SD or apartment block generally introduce their own security: high wall, barbed wire (we use glass), cctv, dogs, chickens, house sitter/watcher/maid to keep an eye on things when they go out or off for a few days (we don't have a maid but if we go out we almost always ask someone to keep an eye on the house). Unfortunately, there are lots of scumbags here who want to rob you - some of them are armed and some of them aren't but a lot of thieving goes on because people don't have enough money to eat: or they're on drugs or it's just there way to make ends meet or they cannot resist the easy pickings that careless old foreigners often present them with. In addition, there is the NPA - depending on where in the Philippines you're planning to go... they quite often kidnap foreigners for gain - I've never seen any NPA but according to my wife they are definitely here in Leyte where we live. This is not the UK and the police are definitely not like the UK police - living out in the provinces all alone with your wife on an idyllic little farm living the good life could easily turn into a nightmare if you are not careful.
A guy who lived not far from where I am currently drinking my morning tea was shot dead in the Philippines by the very security guard he employed to guard his business, guard turned up drunk, altercation, BANG. My sons family have guards, barbed wire, and CCTV on their beach,every vehicle or person entering has to come through the main entrance, you just never know.
I have heard of the Islamic group Abu Sayyaf kidnapping foreigners in certain areas where foreigners are warned from visiting but I have never heard of a single instance where the New peoples army have ever held a foreigner for anything. The NPA are communist anti Government rebels thar run around in the mountains. For what its worth, the locals around here say that NPA stands for Nice People Around. From my perspective,since the Duterte assault on criminal drug dealers and his massive attack on islamist extremists in the South,life has become very peaceful here in our neck of the woods. I personally wouldn't feel any safer living in any European country including the UK then I do living here.
John I think what you say is not all that relevant to Alan's case, I believe a Foreigner living in a rural district is likely to be quite safe just as I am living in much the same conditions, likely he will not need to travel all that far to find the habitat of the insects, they will be right on his doorstep and in the Hoose as well, perhaps even a few crabs in his drawers? outside of the Cities and large towns in the rural parts the people there tend to be very honest, in my own area it is not so common to see high walls with barbed wire and other such security devices especially where Foreigners are concerned, but many of the larger houses belonging to Filipino do, it is just another way for them to show off and tell the world; behind this high wall lives a rich Filipino, another thing they have a tendency to do is even when the have a large Lot, they will build their house as close as possible to the street in front even on a main road with lots of traffic again this is just a show off thing, poor Feckers they are so stupid and they don't know it.
You may be right... May be just my wife ranting on... and just to make it more complicated she also often says no one is really sure if it is the NPA or the Army/Police dressing up and acting like the NPA to stir things up and justify their existence!
Couple of cop ambushes by NPA in the last 6 months, I saw some footage last year of 4 cops dead in a vehicle, negros I think?
On the other hand HONEST DAVE if Alan is a bit of a David Attenborough he could be exposing himself to far greater risks and it's worth pointing out he'd be better leaving the intrepid explorer bit for the South Wales Valleys: Health risks UK health authorities have classified the Philippines as having a risk of Zika virus transmission. For information and advice about the risks associated with Zika virus, visit the National Travel Health Network and Centre website. Mosquito-borne illnesses like dengue fever, Japanese encephalitis (JE) and chikungunya virus occur all year round. There’s a heightened risk of dengue fever during the rainy season (June to October). The Philippines Department of Health declared a national dengue epidemic on 6 August 2019. You should take appropriate precautions to avoid being bitten by mosquitoes. Medical treatment If you need emergency medical assistance during your trip, dial 911 and ask for an ambulance. You should contact your insurance/medical assistance company promptly if you’re referred to a medical facility for treatment. ... Private hospital treatment and medical transport can be too expensive for many people, eg the daily cost in intensive care units can be more than £1,000. Make sure you have adequate travel health insurance and accessible funds to cover the cost of any medical treatment abroad, medical transport and repatriation. Full version of this is here UK Foreign Travel Advice to Phils Just one more thing ... Maybe check your intended's ID - unfortunate case of German guy yesterday trying to help and then gets accused of rape because she wasn't over 18 as she told him she was!
For sure, John, it is important to have travel health insurance, but best not to worry about too many things as we'd never leave the house! I wonder how many men check the id's of girls/ladies before horizontal jogging or other pleasantries! Beer goggles and a lot of logic goes out of the window. Mr. "Pogi German" was accused of rape which is a very bad thing to do; there are hundreds of thousands of girls who are over 18, why take a chance though.
I saw that idiot sex tourist German guy, left himself wide open by publicising his activities with pay-for-play ladies.
Believe it or not my wife was trying to defend him! And there's me trying to get her to understand that he's exploiting the child's poverty to improve his f''ing ratings on FB (a site that should have been banned a long long time ago). He is in very deep sh*te... apparently he's also overstayed his 2019 visa...
Getting them into bed for a few quid then saying its a prank, he has sleaze written all over him, the pinoy newspapers or one of them at least reported the 17 year old he was with had been sexually assaulted.Hope he ends up in bilibid prison, my mate was in there for a few years then released without charge, immigration offenders aren't dealt with very quickly, he could be in there for quite some time, Mr Pogi
