Presently living in South Florida, moving as soon as I am able

The internet is full of good info, but try a month on holiday over there if you really want to know what you're getting into.

Choose areas that interest you, buy a backpack,  and try them out.

@marcfladell

HI, my name is Andy and I am living in a condo in Boracay for 9 years now. Before I moved to the Philippines I considered to buy a condo in Miami Beach, however, Trump 1 was elected and so I dropped this plan. The price in the US was 4 times more than in the Philippines at this time. And here I have a condo with view over the ocean and the golf course. The condo is in an US - style estate. However, to live here you need to know a few things:

As a foreigner you are not allowed to buy any land here. So the dream to build your house on the beach is not impossible but hard. You can buy a condo unit but no land. If there is a girl involved you must make sure she is the right one. Philippina girls do not chat with just one foreigner. The have many "boyfriends" abroad to support their life and the life of her parents and possible the life of her kids. If you are going to get married here you might need to support her family. With a foreigner in the family they see her and you as main source of income. Not all girls are like that but if there is a huge gap between your age and her age and your look compared with her look there is chance that you are seen as an ATM. I was lucky with my Filipina wife but there are lots of "gold diggers". I talked with lots of people renting condos here. The men are old the girls are young. And the girls want money for their family, money for clothes, food for the grandparents and suddenly they are pregnant.....

Another thing here is the pollution, traffic and infrastructure. When you land in Manila and you want to go to the booked hotel you will remember my words.

Before you move here, you might want to discover the country first. Start in Manila, fly to Cebu, Boracay, Bohol, Palawan, .... and make sure this is the country where you want to live.

All the best

Andy from Boracay   

Like Fred wrote do some research.  Locate some targets based on your desired lifestyle and budget restrictions.   I ve been married to a Filipina for 35 years.  We chose a place 40 km north of manila where she has family.  We snowbird here and go back to Ohio for spring summer some fall(have to get my football fix).  I volunteer with local government, she cooks food she wants.   We travel to see her high school friends and my friend in Davao.  We live simple so expenses are low(house is paid for so basics food electric is less than 1000/month).  Renting around me is basic 50/month to really nice for 400. 

@Andy_1963

Your right.  Make sure you only spend a small portion of your assets in a relationship.   There are a lot of widows in their 50/60s.  My wife has quite a few friends from high school in olongapo who have good jobs and are single and self sufficient. 

This is the first time I've tried researching the Philippines through an expat chat room. I don't know what I don't know but I want to learn. I would like to strike up a conversation with those similarly situated. - @marcfladell

Welcome to the forum and enjoy, plenty of info on this site if you care to search.

If this will be your first visit I would suggest like others to do many visits and explore, taste the flavours and culture before finalising any plans. I visited here 2/3 times a year for 8 years before we finally called this home. Same partner for 15 years same partner and not looked back. As others will say never show your wealth but don't be afraid to be generous at times. Learn to say "NO" as required.

I wish you luck and can only say no need to rush. The Philippines is definitely an acquired taste, some love while some hate.

Cheers, Steve.

Moved to the Philippines from Palm Beach County about 4 years ago. You can follow my story on YouTube at:  https://www.youtube.com/@Kanointhejungle

Sold my house, my car, my wife, and my dog.

...Sold my house, my car, my wife, and my dog. - @Wingfat

Similar to my exit from Canada, 2017.

I really missed my dog.

Selling chattels, even a wife is easy but the dog? Our case 2 Labrador's and had since 9/10 weeks old and if ever I/we moved internally or internationally the kids come also. The beauty of our K9 friend is they don't demand, loyal and loving and will lay with you when you die,

Just my thoughts.

Cheers, Steve.

@marcfladell

Mabuhay to the Forum Marc. Can’t really add much to the excellent advice given hitherto.

One observation I will make having first made footfall in this archipelago of over 7000 islands ( on a business trip) in Jan 2001.

To quote Donald Rumsfeld with a liberal dose of license:

You will encounter known scams, unknown scams and known unknown scams : the latter 2 will hit you from left field.

In other words be prepared for events that are beyond your control.

Remember ‘ it’s more fun in the Philippines’

@Aidan in HCMC

Couldn't take the dog... Covid time period. I still miss him.

Just to give you an idea of what Lotus Eater means by scams , I will give you 2 examples of scams that filipinas tried on me when I was chatting to them online. I had met both in person, the first one twice, the second one once. The first one got into debt, borrowed money from family and friends and ran away to another island. I was told later that she had a online gambling addiction (bingo) Her half sister that I had met messaged me one day to say my girlfriend had commited suicide, telling me of the news slowly using Facebook Messenger. It was hard for me to get details out of her as some questions I asked she answered quickly and others took time. Then came the simple message saying - but there is a problem. She never asked me directly for money but I am sure she was expecting me to offer to pay for the funeral service, the coffin, flights for the family and hotels so they could all attend or the flight back for my girlfriends body to her home town plus money for a lavish do to give her a proper sending off. These were my exact thoughts when I read the last message- but there is a problem. I actually emailed my girlfriend told her and she answered back claiming the scam was nothing to do with her and was all down to her half sister. I never believed that because the half sister in my opinion was probably not capable of coming up with an idea like that. I think my girlfriend was behind it and simply instructed her half sister to message me and told her what to say and anticipated and provided her with answers for some of the questions she expected me to ask. That to me explained why some of my questions were being answered quickly and why some she had not anticipated took time for her to respond. Any message with the words, problem, money or help in them is potentially a red flag.

The second scam was a lovely lady I had spent just over 3 weeks with who was an OFW when we started chatting online. When I got back home things were good for a few months until she ghosted me on and off. There is more to  the ghosting but I don't want to go into that. One day she messaged me asking for 96K (Pesos) saying she wanted to take Japanese lessons in Manila while working and the money was to pay for an apartment so she would be close by and still be able to support her family. She said it would save me money on hotel costs on my next visit and the apartment was 2 bedrooms with a swimming pool and I would stay in her bedroom while a friend of hers was living in the other bedroom. It was a lazy scam with not much effort put into it, no pictures of her looking round the place or even pictures from the company renting out the property although I did find the listing myself when she told me the location. I did the maths and realised she was asking me to pay for both her and her friend and after several messages I came to the conclusion it was just a poor attempt at a scam.

I never paid one peso for either attempt but these are the lengths that some women will go to to get money from a man they say they love. Of course there are plenty of honest, decent and hard working women in the Philippines and to be honest with you I do believe that the second woman in my story was a good woman and hard working when I met her. I think her mum may have pressured her into trying to scam me because her mum had messaged me a few months earlier asking me for money, saying that it was expected in the Philippines.

@marcfladell

Hello marcfladell.

First, have you ever been to the Philippines ?

What are you looking for ?

Which country are you coming from ?

Like everywhere, there are some good points and some bad, it does depend on what you are after.

Life can be cheaper here if you let it.

People are mostly friendly here until they can sense a way of getting more money out of you .

English is understood by most people, don't try to get them to reply in English.

Any more advice I can give you, just PM.

regards  Bruce ( Aussie)

Moved to the Philippines from Palm Beach County about 4 years ago. You can follow my story on YouTube at: https://www.youtube.com/@Kanointhejungle
Sold my house, my car, my wife, and my dog. - @Wingfat

How much did you get for your wife?  What did you use as a cost basis on your tax return?

@mugtech

How much did you get for your wife?

Never thought they had a resale value mugtech. Especially after hubby has been effectively cleaned out with the divorce.

Plus I never knew the loss was tax deductible 😀

@mugtech
How much did you get for your wife?
Never thought they had a resale value mugtech. Especially after hubby has been effectively cleaned out with the divorce.
Plus I never knew the loss was tax deductible 😀 - @Lotus Eater

Said he sold her, seemed like a reasonable question, I would like to know the IRS response.