Buying house and lot

Dont By Rent only!!

why any issues ?

Any many here on this is site and many other sites over a period of time say rent first, keep your money in your own country until you can find some place to buy, as many say to many scammers out there to relieve you of your money even solicitors.
Be good to hear some stories where foreigners have been scammed.

Just type "housing scam Philippines"  into your browser and you see pages of housing scams in the RP.

Rent first, get to know the area.

Thank you for that  Teejay, I will.

Rent first, don't buy, to many scammers out there, many here and other sites say that, leave your money in your own country, this warning is always being advised, if they know you got money , maybe the family will find some way of getting it out of you, as on another topic here they tell lies, I know personality I had about 4 different meeting with filipino girls, they start with the girl first, then other family members will try with there sad stories, they never stop, please be advised again rent first, don't be a walking atm.

I'd highly suggest that you only deal with licensed Real Estate Brokers when you decide to buy a house in the Philippines. That way, you know that you're dealing with professionals who are duly recognized by the state.

if i had it to do over i would rent a nice place and move to a new place each year or two, see more ,experience more, risk less..be free of the anchor and stress it can bring. keep your money in your pocket.
you may decide to move back in 5 years, ...or somewhere else!

ciaranvro wrote:

I'd highly suggest that you only deal with licensed Real Estate Brokers when you decide to buy a house in the Philippines. That way, you know that you're dealing with professionals who are duly recognized by the state.

Finding a property through a licensed broker may be better than trying to go it alone, though trusting what they tell you is another issue altogether.

Some will have pages filled with rave reviews of their services (negatives deleted)  and will still fill you full of bs just to make the sale.  I've had some interesting meetings with "licensed brokers" . 

If they find you a property do not depend on what they tell you about the property to be true.  Once you find it, it's time to check and double check on your own and validate what is being told to you about the property.

Titles, encumbrances, right of ways, listed only for agricultural use, etc..  Is it in a flood zone.  Over a known fault line.  Are the utilities dependable?   

If it's a new or second hand home, what materials were used to build it.  Is it only 4 inch block with no rebar or concrete fill?  Foundation depth and build depending on the soil composition is also something good to investigate.   Do they have a set of blueprints listing the architect and how the house was built. 

A licensed broker may find you a nice place, and if you're lucky they'll be knowledgeable about the property or just say "I don't know". 

Educate yourself before you commit your cash, once it's gone it's gone and you'll find little to no legal recourse if you get scammed.

We built a home and got along with most everyone who worked on it.  Though if we had not been there almost daily, some important details regarding its construction would have been "overlooked".

[Post under review]

mikebrant1973 wrote:

any way before you buy make your gf/wife to rent you the house for 20 years ,,so she cant do any thing ,,,,cant trust no women

It's illegal to lease from your wife and if you share your home with your girlfriend for an extended period of time,  the lease may be considered invalid by the courts.

Maybe you should stick to renting on your own?   

mikebrant1973 wrote:

any way before you buy make your gf/wife to rent you the house for 20 years ,,so she cant do any thing ,,,,cant trust no women

Wow. . . . Trust no women? Sounds like you have had some bad experiences.

Some men are prone to bad experiences (not meaning you) because they are lonely, desperate for love and make the same mistakes over and over. Probably the biggest mistake is trying to develop a relationship with every women they meet. Being shy or afraid of rejection makes it easy to respond  to anyone who shows interest in them. Infatuation is not Love as Pyrite is not Gold. You have to know someone long enough to get past infatuation. Infatuation is a strong emotion overruling common sense.

It may be hard for them in meeting women the normal way. Introductions by friends, meeting women on the job or through a common hobby or by accident in their own country.

I can't blame a women for accepting money, gifts or pathway out of poverty.

as far as buying something already built, it may look ok on the outside but you will NEVER know what its made out of.When i built my house i watched and participated in every minute of it and glad i did.
examples-
   one time during installation of rebar in the ring beam forms i walked away to eat for an hour when i returned i saw the rebar that goes around the ring beam and loops in and around the upright rebar at the columns had one corner column totally bypassed! The ring bean rebar just skirted on the inside wall area and did not even touch the rebar in the column!
that column would be more or less not connected to the house at all except for where its cement would be touching the hollow-block!
  When placing hollow block every other hole had upright rebar from foundation as well as every 3rd row having rebar running between courses from column to column, to be back-filled with concrete. the workers were cramming snack wrappers and plastic bottles and debris in the holes! i saw one guy blow his nose on a chip bag and shove it in a hole of the hollow block! i made him remove it and saw other holes with crap in them, had to have work stop while everyone cleaned out the hollow-block so it would not create voids in the cement.or even total divisions between lower concrete and the concrete to be poured on top.
   I have seen hollow-block i could crush with my hands back to sand... if they didn't handle it gently it would break apart before they had a chance to build a wall with it !  No joke.

  There were many other things and correcting them took time and or money/materials. but i wanted to be able to lay in bed and know the upstairs slab was not going to fail or the walls were not going to separate from the house and fall away during the night !
we have had many tremors, and some pretty good ones, no cracks or damage.

Once they plaster over everything and paint it may look ok but trust me whats INSIDE the structure will NOT look as correct as whats visible in ANY structure built here.

Building your own home with boots on the ground and in the mix is the only way to go, control. Our aim and angst that you have already been through. Do it, do it well or tell them p+ss off. Buying off the plan they are the boss and while cosmetically looks great will crumble in the firsts decent earth quake, or the third.

Though buying a house and lot, this thread now seems to be dealing with the build/quality it appears will only be achieved,,,,, the brand new condo will be demolished  in 40 or 50 years,,,,,,  the stately homes and other structures in western countries that stood for those 50 or 500 years are being remodelled and command new prices because the original build was meant to last,,,,,, Why are condo's being torn down in PH,? To erect new at the expense of,,,,,,? Obviously there is money to be made and not up with the compensation received by the owners of the demolished building have to question the, firstly ramifications on the condo owners/losses probably with the new development and secondly where/what can they do to maintain a similar life from what was probably a 30 or 40year family home and where they will push forward.

OMO.

Cheers, Steve.

Soonretired wrote:

installation of rebar

When placing hollow block

Soonretired no reflection on your post, just some things you reminded me of.

This stuff they call rebar, I've had black licorice twists that would be thicker than the rebar used here.

The stuff they call Hollow Block, My Grandson's wall built out of Lego's would be stronger. Probably the Hollow Block would float, so next Typhoon grab some Hollow Block and save yourself from drowning.

Do they have any building codes that are checked out by building inspectors?

We looked at one property 6 years ago that seemed ok, 2 story with a rooftop entertainment area, it was a basic Filipino style 3 bed 2 bath but the bedrooms were tiny,,,,,, as were the CR's, yep Filipino style. It was a small lot, 120M2 and the house was about 90M2 not including the roof top. It was new and almost complete and offered opportunities to alter many things, it was advertised absolute beachfront and the price was 1.5M, I got excited, the better half didn't because of the narrow access off the highway. We asked for title and building plans as I was looking at extending forward to the beach,,,,,,,,, after lots of questions over several meetings and research it turned out that the house was landlocked, never had a building permit and it turned out that the absolute beachfront property had a 400M2 lot in front owned by some one that was not contactable, walk away. We have encountered many properties over the years that are shady and walk away from. Buying property here is a dangerous game and not for the fool hardy, very different to western norms.

Rent first as others recommend, we did for a year and I learnt a lot in that time.

Yes agree Bob sometimes the rebar sold as 10mm is only 8 to 9mm.

OMO.

Cheers, Steve.

A friend looked at a house in a small town near Tagaytay.  Brand new house with a two car garage and nicely painted and finished.  The lot was about 500 sq mtrs  and the house was about 150 sq mtrs.   I don't remember the exact price, though is was around  5 or 6 million pesos.

He had learned after looking at numerous homes to take a contractor he trusted with him to sort through the BS from the seller and or "licensed real estate broker" and to look thoroughly at the construction.

He found the following on this "beautiful home".

Built with 4 inch block with no evidence of concrete fill in the voids.
Rebar was sporadically placed and the incorrect size (smallest and cheapest) .
No concrete lentils over windows and doors.  Only concrete block sitting on a piece of coco lumber.
Steel trusses improperly attached to the home with only spot welds to the sparse undersized rebar in the walls.
The owner could not produce a title.
No blueprints or inspections were provided.
The lot was not surveyed and was still part of a farm that was listed as agricultural and owned by a relative of the builder (it was illegally built on agricultural land).
The water was tapped from a neighbor, though there was an incomplete well.

Before the inspection and finding out about the missing documentation and a "legitimate" building permit issued for the home even though it had no survey, the lot not defined  and built illegally on agricultural land.
He was considering purchasing the place with only a tax declaration supplied by the seller.

It would have been a hard lesson if not for those that opened his eyes to all the issues.

Now the horror stories come out, lol. Where our 5,000 relatives live, squatters on PNR land for 30 plus years, Ben, the better half has told me as a kid he used to play on the train tracks that were 10 feet from their front door, the line was shut down to Legazpi after a typhoon took out many bridges and infrastructure, concrete now. Well it seems all the "legal" squatters houses built in front of the illegal squatters properties took precedence and blocked access. While not sure of the real story or legal ramifications we were offered this house behind my SIL squatters house some 6 years ago, 2 storey on about 200M2 that needed about 150 to 200K to make it respectable,,,,,,,, price was 500K but no access, the SIL offered to sell us access by demolishing part of their house and extend up another floor, 200K was what they wanted, the vacant land behind the house could not be purchased at any price, try we did but the owner I'm sure was waiting for the price to drop on the house we were looking at,,,,,,,, to date the house is still there and Ben tells me the price is now 200K, no one wants it. I don't understand why his SIL doesn't buy it as its a better house than they have and would add to their property,,,,,,,,, nope a new motorbike is better......... go figure.

Sorry for the rant.

Cheers, Steve.

Enzyte Bob wrote:

Soonretired wrote:

installation of rebar

When placing hollow block

Soonretired no reflection on your post, just some things you reminded me of.

This stuff they call rebar, I've had black licorice twists that would be thicker than the rebar used here.

The stuff they call Hollow Block, My Grandson's wall built out of Lego's would be stronger. Probably the Hollow Block would float, so next Typhoon grab some Hollow Block and save yourself from drowning.

Do they have any building codes that are checked out by building inspectors?

when i first bought some rebar i found it would break if you bent it and bent it back!
i had to go to 3 different places to find rebar. they looked at me like i was crazy when i bent it and bent it back and forth testing it and when it broke paid for one piece and walked away.
i did finally find good rebar, but i had to get my sheet metal for the roof brought in all the way from ormoc (4 hour drive) by truck because all the sheet metal here was like tin foil, i want to WALK on my roof when i paint it and inspect it and not have it crushed underfoot.

bigpearl is right, boots on the ground and eyes on every tiny process involved.

oh, had to throw this in, if you search on youtube theres a video of a building maybe 30 floors tall FALLING OVER ! It was in a city and fell over and hit the building across the street!  i think it was still under construction, good thing it was not full of families yet!

I guess many of the best selling hardware/building materials that are sold in many of the local barangay shops are the 'D' grade type that are not as durable but kept cheap due to high local demand... so If you do need those better/higher grade materials I'm sure there are niche retailers for these 'A' grade items which are much more expensive.
I too have seen/still seeing a lot of shoddy work being done daily & you just got to be around watching everything being installed regardless whether its  the 'A' or 'D' grade you purchased.

FIRST I NEVER MARRY HERE !!!!!!!! no need to buy the cow for glass of milk
second its legal to make borrow money agreement  between you and the girl and she will sign that you can live in the house 25 years,,,,

other good option is ASSUME ,,,,,like that you pay the house slowly for 20 years

mikebrant1973 wrote:

cant trust no women

Perhaps you can't that because of your attitude     

mikebrant1973 wrote:

(from other topic)    well i never get marry here,,,,no need to buy the cow for a glass of milk !

because why would they be honest to you if they can't trust you...? 

Remember concerning lose face and not being married in Phils that's still in big part as it was in "western" countries 60 years ago...  The good trustworthy Filipinas want to get  married...
(Some not good ones too but of other reason      
Some good ones can find it ok to be live-in for a while, but want to get married.

Perhaps there can be some good exceptions, being influensed by life in "western" countries, not finding it important to get married, but I haven't seen any       
But I aim at get married anyway, foreigners married to Filipinas can get extra benifits e g concerning VISA.

I common missunderstanding is foreigners can't own any part of land, but it's possible to own max 40% of a company, which own land,  IF fullfil the demands mainly the land have to be needed for the business.

Solarguru wrote:

Dont By Rent only!!

I agree better rent,
but I have the problem there are (almost) no* houses at locations and floorplans I like.  That's ok for a while, but then I have to build to get what I want.

*Almost all houses at locations I like are nipa huts      A few hacienas I I like locations and ok floorplans, but then I don't like the price      Except one but that one I don't like because they had built own piggery just beside!!!   

coach53 wrote:

I agree better rent,
but I have the problem there are (almost) no* houses at locations and floorplans I like.  That's ok for a while, but then I have to build to get what I want.

*Almost all houses at locations I like are nipa huts      A few hacienas I I like locations and ok floorplans, but then I don't like the price      Except one but that one I don't like because they had built own piggery just beside!!!   

Why not consider bulding a special treated/coated modular bamboo house...Its a philippine invention that has won world fame for a manila based materials engineer Earl Patrick Forlales a 23-year -old who designed the 'CUBO', modular & has just started his manufacturing plant here.

manwonder wrote:

coach53 wrote:

I agree better rent,
but I have the problem there are (almost) no* houses at locations and floorplans I like.  That's ok for a while, but then I have to build to get what I want.

*Almost all houses at locations I like are nipa huts      A few hacienas I I like locations and ok floorplans, but then I don't like the price      Except one but that one I don't like because they had built own piggery just beside!!!   

Why not consider bulding a special treated/coated modular bamboo house...Its a philippine invention that has won world fame for a manila based materials engineer Earl Patrick Forlales a 23-year -old who designed the 'CUBO', modular & has just started his manufacturing plant here.

Enzyte Bob wrote:

manwonder wrote:

coach53 wrote:

I agree better rent,
but I have the problem there are (almost) no* houses at locations and floorplans I like.  That's ok for a while, but then I have to build to get what I want.

*Almost all houses at locations I like are nipa huts      A few hacienas I I like locations and ok floorplans, but then I don't like the price      Except one but that one I don't like because they had built own piggery just beside!!!   

Why not consider bulding a special treated/coated modular bamboo house...Its a philippine invention that has won world fame for a manila based materials engineer Earl Patrick Forlales a 23-year -old who designed the 'CUBO', modular & has just started his manufacturing plant here.