This is a good topic, should be "emerald". I assume, a lot of people plan to build a house here, but is it really a good idea ? lets hear ?
well on living in the philippines site they say better to rent for 12 months and have a good look around then buy, some places in phil u can own yourself to, or as people on this site have said u can get a lawyer to draw up a doc so if u part from your wife u still get to keep your house , you may have to sell it if its not one that a non philippno cant own, but there aew ways round thing best see a lawyer for best info
I doubt I would contemplate buying anything in Phil.............. The only pros I see, in retiring there, would be the weather and the cost of living, up to a certain extent. I would get a better return, in the long run, by moving to Italy, or Tenerife, I reckon.
It's not so cheap over there in the cities now particularly with the exchange rate as bad as it is. If it were up to me I would rent, but with two kids and a partner they want security so I expect at some point when I can afford it I will build, but no way am I building without me there to supervise the project otherwise it will be a money pit and nothing will get done the way I want. Materials are so freakin shoddy over there, we are forever repairing broken taps and pipes that burst, the only time repairs last is when I do them myself.
I've no personal experience of building a house in the Philippines. I do have the experience of at least 5 others who did it. All of those, without exception, have said that knowing what they know now they would have done it a whole lot differently. There appears to be some common lessons, such as don't do it if you have no building experience, don't do it if you cannot be on site every single day, don't do it without a darn good translator, don't consider a shoestring budget. There are plenty of individual stories to be told.
I have already built a house over in Dumaguete,( well nearly built ) If any one wants advice, make sure the lot has clean title and have a lawyer double check it. We went and built the house even without a title, now Iam paying the price costing me a lot of cash to get a title transferred. The only good point is that when i built it the exchange rate was very favorable, and land was cheap. Rent vs buying... would not buy again, to much headache, got to be on site when the workers are there, or they will fleece you. Plus its difficult to sell over there. Renting, you can always leave the place easier, and rent somewhere else.
You don't need a translator, asawa should do that, anyway most speak English. Building experience, have a architect to draw up the plans, you will need that for building permit. Also you need a good foreman, look at his previous houses that he built, and you might want an building engineer before you start the foundations.
Really sorry to learn about that Jim. Plenty of people have found similar difficulties with that. I agree that clean title is really so very important. If anyone feels confident to do it themselves then I would suggest that's probably your best bet. Otherwise you will need to put yourself in the hands of a local lawyer. (just don't use the services of the sellers lawyer!) Anyone wanting to check title themselves would need to visit the local assessors Office together with the description of the property and property number. From there you can get the title number. Then go to Register Of Deeds (ROD) and get a copy of the true title. Now you can see who (and how many) title holders there are and also if the property is mortgaged or not and and by who.
I ahven't even contributed to my own thread, lol. Sorry. Aside of the very good tips and warnings given already is the one point often neglected, the actual costs... A regular house costs somewhat in the 7 digit region, a rental between 4 and 5 digits. make your own arithmetics and see how much your initial investment would be, then calculate Interest on the investment with conservative amounts and see how much you would have in 10 years. Step two is to calcualte the rental amount for the same time. 10 years is because in the tropics after 10 years renovations often cost almost the same amount as a new house, this CAN be avoided by careful building and good maintenance, but then again, those costs have to be added. Thumbline from practical expereince, calculate 5% /annum for renovations annually. And spend them, if you don't, you have to spend 100% after 10 years. often overlooked is the extra "strain' on buildings in this humid and salty air environment...not to mention termites and other nasty stuff...
My rent in Manila is 100,000 peso a year, 2 bedroom terraced house, nice place as big as the home I used to own in the UK, possibly slightly larger. Getting hard to rent for that kind of price in Manila these days and the owner (who lives in the states) has done zero maintenance, the ants are destroying the structure slowly but surely, the property is valued at about 3 million peso but frankly it's not worth even 1 million peso. My problem is that you are right, 4 million is the bottom end price of a home over there now and that is 60,000 quid in UK, round about where I am in the UK you can get a place for 40,000 quid (distressed area ) so the numbers have to make sense before one even considers a build over there. Another option is to purchase a distressed home at a knock down price and rebuild, some years ago I thought about a place in Caloocan that was up for sale at 250,000 peso at the time about 3000 pounds, my future brother in law did exactly that (or at least his wife did) they spent 1.5 million re-building a really nice place in Caloocan, only thing is it's not as nice a neighbourhood as Paranaque, but they got a great house out of it. What you say regards repairs actually makes the Condo proposition a better bet, Condo's are really a 50 year leasehold deal, our lawyer in Manila explained that all tower blocks in Manila have to be rebuilt every 50 years or at least thoroughly renovated, I am not sure how strictly the law will ever be applied. The deal that foreigners sign up to is really a lease and not true ownership, if you have kids this is not ideal as the value of the lease will drop the closer it gets to expiry. However I am not sure that a tower block will suffer the same ten year repair costs you might incur for a detached house, so a condo could be a better bet. Personally I would still like to build as a small modest place could be constructed for 1 million in the provinces. I have a Scottish friend in Paranaque that I met a couple of years ago, by chance in Paranaque (nice to meet a fellow countryman in a foreign land) he is 70 years old and is on a very modest pension, he is in the process of building a place in Albay province for his partner, slowly but surely, also he is doing it purely out of the goodness of his heart, he is thankful for a happy retirement and simply wants to provide some security for his partner. Anyway Sam will probably have a nice wee retirement place in about another 2 years (he's been building for a while), he told me that in reality he is happy in Paranaque and does not really want to leave there but he wanted to do this for his partner, a very nice man.
This was took this January, needs finishing but still no title. When i get the title i will finish the house.As you can see it has three floors and three double bedrooms four CR's Spent about £ 25,000 including land. Probably cost another £ 25,000 to finish it including high concrete wall.
Well it is certainly good to know that 3 million peso could build a place like that Jim. Given that I would go for something much more modest, that gives me an idea of what could be achieved on a tighter budget.
looks great jim it will be a good house when u finish it , you will have plenty to keep u busy all the best
Yeah I guessed that, so closer to 5 million peso worth, plus there has been a lot of inflation over there in the days since 100peso/£, but it still gives me a good idea of relative costs.
Here are some prices for Balamban/Cebu and Cebu City : my house would costs about 1.5 million to build now, 120 sqm "walled" on 2 storeys, and 120 open sqm terrace, 60 of them are my Restaurant. I can expand the upper floor non roofed one to rooms later if i lik, or another roofed terrace. I used flat concrete roof, cheaper than "tin roofs" and cooler/less sound during rain. A German ( i helped him) just build a house in Balamban for 380k, 24 smq bedroom and enclosed kitchen/dining/cr, and 24 sqm open livingroom terrace with screens. Roofed of course, but open lifestyule is a good idea in the tropics. add 20k if you want to wall that terrace in too. cebu city ( fastly going to become Metro Manila priced) one can still rent houses for 15k in good areas (not were foreigners live of course, lol) and building prices are (according to my several contractor friends) : 13k for basic house, simple tiles and stuff 18k for moderate luxury, better qual, nice and good 25k for luxury (of course no limit up) marble or similar. All per sqm floor area, 2 storey, one storey, no difference really . Lot prices vary of course. oh, building porices are almost all similar, its basically material and labour. And contractors profits, one may add 10 to 20 percent for that to the above figures.
From my perspective its better to build and own (I say "own" loosely!)then to rent.. Its good that so many foreigners choose the latter option as that helps pay for my daily biscuits. ...Bless them! That said I think many of them may have made wise and informed decisions based on their personal situations etc. I dont think you are correct about lawyers drawing up documents to give you legal rights to land and property here though..The R.P constitution is pretty clear in that regard.. There is a test case somewhere on the net where a German geezer lost everything after a long fight in the local courts with his estranged spouse.. There are anti sham laws here and just about every legal work around is doomed if the Mrs wants you gone. That said,there are locations in the R.P where you can either make a good living or realize a very acceptable ROI over a mid to long term..(If you trust your wife.. Ha ha) From my observations over the last 30 odd years I cannot remember property prices ever going down!! Incredible,I know . With property anywhere the only real secret is location,location,location. No different here IMO. Dobre szczęście ! Januarius.
Can I butt in and ask the following question(s)... Lets assume my wife & I "migrate" to the Philippines.... We buy a piece of land / house in her name We have no children Q1 - She dies.... and in her will leaves the property to me Q2 - she dies intestate As a foreigner I can't officially own land, so what happens ? Does the property get auctioned off, and I receive the funds ? .... or is there some way, due to length of time residing in the Philippines, that I can become a "resident", and be allowed to claim the property ? Sorry ... once started, numerous questions seem to spring to mind.
