Best way to Convert $80K into PHPs

moonunit0103 wrote:

Hi,

My wife and I have found some acreage that we wish to purchase, and I have the cash in a US Bank.  I have used Western Union and TransferWise, but the amount exceeds their maximum.

When my wife & I were in the states we wired 10K USD while at the bank (Citibank) to the Philippines to have an addition to our house in Pasig City.

The money was wired directly into a USD account established at BDO.

I have a peso account at BDO, but not a USD account.  Maybe I should look into that.

moonunit0103 wrote:

Hi,

My wife and I have found some acreage that we wish to purchase, and I have the cash in a US Bank.  I have used Western Union and TransferWise, but the amount exceeds their maximum.

Suggestions?

PS: What should I demand, besides the title being free and clear, taxes paid, and a new survey?  I have read of many real estate fiascos and wish to avoid them.

You can transfer it direct to your BDO account.  You have to show reason for amounts over 500K peso but your upcoming purchases will be justification enough

Go through a lawyer and make sure that the title is authenticated - Your laywer will do that for you -make sure you have all the original tax documents and also have them authenticated -

You find the lawyer do not use the sellers Laywer.  Negotiate his/her fee do not accept the percentage of sales price they will suggest

If you contact me direct I will tell you another matter I can not post here

Lastly, be very very confident that you can fund you life without that asset in the future.

Never invest money here that you can not afford to loose no matter what the circumstances are - the Law/circumstances can change in weeks

Scott

moonunit0103 wrote:

I have a peso account at BDO, but not a USD account.  Maybe I should look into that.

In order to get around the U.S. reporting requirements for foreign accounts, we transferred our home building funds into a dollar account in my wife's name.  We then moved funds under 10k to our joint account as needed.

If the seller is agreeable to the idea, you could secure the deal with earnest money while you check out the validity of the title, the owner, the tax declaration, the status of the lands and a survey. If everything checks out, you can then write a check for the balance with the seller knowing he would have to wait for the check to clear.  We have also done that in the past. 

With regard to the land itself. 
Have you obtained a copy of the title to the land and personally taken it to the register of deeds office to verify it's authenticity and that the seller is indeed the only owner of the property. Check also for encumbrances to the property which are listed on the last page of the title.

Obtain an up to date tax declaration and see who has been paying the taxes, if anyone has.

Prior to shelling out a lot of cash, obtain an up to date survey of the property and check for right of way problems with adjoining properties (if any). You wouldn't want to wind up having to allow someone to build a small driveway to their property through your yard.

Make sure the land is not listed for agricultural use only, If it is you may not be able to build on it.

Once you accomplished the above then you can move forward with the deal with your new deed of sale in hand to begin the title transfer process.

Not knowing what you know and what you have or have not done. I have listed all of the above items.

Best of luck and check everything twice.  There will be little to no help if you get burned.

A fast mover. Less than 2 years ago you were just thinking about moving to the Philippines. Now married and wanting to make a huge purchase. I'm sure a expensive house on same land is next. Hope you get 50 year lease option on such land and own house outright. Congratulations and good luck.

Transferring funds is the easy bit, the pitfalls and success in buying property here should be the main concern. OMO moonunit.

For us, we could have transferred direct from the bank in Oz but shopped with a few brokers for the best exchange rate including fees. There was little paperwork, mostly to make sure we weren't laundering etc.
We only paid PHP 100K deposit with an open settlement date based on many things that needed to be secured prior to forking out the balance, as pointed out by other members here you will need a good attorney to accomplish all the requirements competently and in your interests.

Look at the CGT (capitol gains tax) @ 6% which should be paid by the seller but most try to shove this cost onto the purchaser. Don't play their game as it can get messy with valuations assumed by BIR after the fact.

https://www.bir.gov.ph/index.php/tax-in … s-tax.html

Make sure all property taxes (municipal) are up to date or negotiate the difference including any fines for late payment. Honestly the list goes on and on but the main thing from my perspective is a clear OTC or TCT on the property, look at zonings/flood plains/encumbrances/squatters and also the amount of land your wife can own, not sure the size you are looking at.

Only a thought and I'm not being cynical against your loving relationship with your wife but things can change over time. I am in a different situation here as our relationship is not recognised in PH. but I still could have put every including the house in my better half's name but went the long term lease course, me owning the buildings and improvements, 25+25 year lease etc. He owns the land, I lease it.
Talk to your wife about covering your behind with a lease, see how she reacts and her thoughts.
Perhaps put the land title in a relatives name and lease it from them? Still in the family but with safeguards.

These are only thoughts/suggestion moonunit so please don't take offence as we all think differently.
I do wish you and your wife success with this venture, it is a nice feeling to have your own bit of dirt here in PH.

Cheers, Steve.

Lat61 wrote:

A fast mover. Less than 2 years ago you were just thinking about moving to the Philippines. Now married and wanting to make a huge purchase. I'm sure a expensive house on same land is next. Hope you get 50 year lease option on such land and own house outright. Congratulations and good luck.

Yes, will be married a year coming up this December.  Have a fantastic wife, her family is great, so I don't see much downside.  The property is nestled between large developers who have bought adjacent parcels.  No hurry to build a house for now, looks like a good investment.  Need to check out the deed and find an attorney.

My neighbor from Texas bought a house down the street from my inlaws, and the wife has embezzled money, and has a BF in town, and he stands to lose the house and the car if/when he leaves.  What a dummy!!

You can have a PHP account with Transferwise then send to money into your php bank account at bdo via

OlivierDeCavite wrote:

You can have a PHP account with Transferwise then send to money into your php bank account at bdo via

There is a cap of ₱480,000 using TransferWise.  Looking for a way to do one transfer with the best exchange rate/lowest fees.

moonunit0103 wrote:

Lat61 wrote:

A fast mover. Less than 2 years ago you were just thinking about moving to the Philippines. Now married and wanting to make a huge purchase. I'm sure a expensive house on same land is next. Hope you get 50 year lease option on such land and own house outright. Congratulations and good luck.

Yes, will be married a year coming up this December.  Have a fantastic wife, her family is great, so I don't see much downside.  The property is nestled between large developers who have bought adjacent parcels.  No hurry to build a house for now, looks like a good investment.  Need to check out the deed and find an attorney.

My neighbor from Texas bought a house down the street from my inlaws, and the wife has embezzled money, and has a BF in town, and he stands to lose the house and the car if/when he leaves.  What a dummy!!

Lessons to be learnt and your friend that we all know about from Texas on another thread is not the only dummy,,,,, a wise man learns from others mistakes and a dummy doesn't. OMO.

Cheers, Steve.

if you are not sure about the paperwork keep your money in the US for now.
you definitely need your own attorney to protect yourself before transferring that much to PH.
did you choose the place or your wife did ? if you were single could you imagine yourself buying that land ? do you have an exit plan ?

moonunit0103 wrote:

OlivierDeCavite wrote:

You can have a PHP account with Transferwise then send to money into your php bank account at bdo via

There is a cap of ₱480,000 using TransferWise.  Looking for a way to do one transfer with the best exchange rate/lowest fees.

Looks like you already purchased? There is or shouldn't be any rush to buy and settle especially here only a minimum deposit. moonunit I found 3 brokers that would transfer AU 150K, that was 3 + years ago.
I have used Worldfirst twice now without problem, house, car.
I regularly transfer AU 10K from my bank in Oz to our PHP bank accounts (peso accounts) here and no problem, the bank is about .2% lower than the bench mark and if I want I can do that daily or go over 10K but haven't tried yet to our local accounts, my bank has clearance for AU 160k per day, but I only did that to buy the property.

Do you have an attorney in tow? Is the land OTC, TCT or tax declared or some other instrument? Multiple owners? Slow and steady wins the race and given our current situation it's probably unlikely other punters are lining up at the door to purchase this lot........... is the lot owned by a family member/s? Over inflated price? what are the asking prices of similar lots in that Barangay? My dear old Dad always told me "fools rush in", he was right and I have passed that onto my children.
Please be careful moonunit, take a leaf from your Texan friends problems.

OMO.

Cheers, Steve.

In regards to transferring any amount of money, say over 100kphp, you will need to be compliant with Anti-Money Laundering/Combating the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT)  systems, (the IMF has been very active for over ten years in the AML/CFT area).  It is meant to be a world wide compliance which should be followed by most legitimate countries.  Having said that i heard on the news today that some banks have being caught out transferring money for criminal activities.  So hang on to your pant's  for tighter compliance of the AML CFT.

It is generally not as daunting as it sounds, and is there for a good purpose, to stop laundering of money by criminals and to stop the funding or terrorism.

I have on numerous times being ask to provide the source of my income (funds) and the purpose of why i whish to transfer the money.  I am not sure of the limits.

As long as you can show how the money was acquired and what the money will be used for there should be no problems.

I transfer money every month or so depending on the exchange rate, and am sometimes asked to explain where the money has being earnt and what it is to be used for.  When/if i purchase a car or house or land in the future i will start the previous year to transfer money across.

Everything should be planed, no rush purchases.

Yes pej, even Aussie banks are caught up in that current fiasco. It's interesting you mention PHP 100K, is that a thing in Mindanao?
We transfer AU 10K regularly (PHP 350K +) and never a question, we are in central Luzon so maybe different requirements.
We have never been asked to justify bank to bank transfers,,,,, Westpac to BDO but larger amounts, property, car yes but those funds went to the realestate agent for disbursement and the car company so not a problem and shouldn't be for moonunit fora property purchase unless Mindanao has different laws.
When we opened our accounts in Manila 8 years ago (that was a fight) we were advised by the manageress not to deposit more than 10,000 dollars in one transaction, to date I have not tested that suggestion and all good.

Cheers, Steve.

You can have the best wife in the world, but what happens if you out live her?  Since you can't own the land it would then go to her family. Best to have an attorney protect your interests.

Have you checked with the PNB (Philippine National Bank) branches in the US? I always have this in my mind they may already have a way to efficiently transfer funds between PNB in the US and branches in the Philippines.
I was going to visit a PNB branch in the east coast for this purpose (and visit family) but I would not travel there for now or the next 6 months.

Moonunit 0103...OMO...To me USD80k for vacant agricultural/land sounds expensive.
For me I'd look for cheaper options (again omo/deep may be your pockets) Things can change v.fast here all the loving & cosy feelings can be over quite fast when someone starts demanding for more...I've seen it happen...Thats why here I don't trust no certificate/contract/agreement doc...i only trust "cost average"
Again omo

I think land prices will fall with COVID-19, employment and OFW workers coming home.

Lat61 wrote:

I think land prices will fall with COVID-19, employment and OFW workers coming home.

Though this is off topic is a good point, I keep an eye on property prices in our area for the last 5/6 years and while there were hikes in many areas especially beachfront 3/4 years ago things seem to have stabilised for the last 2 years, have not seen any price reductions especially M2 rates for land.
Interestingly the house 3 doors up sold for 21.5M 3 years ago, the asking price was 24M, there have been no improvements and in fact it looks a little tired now. It was re listed for sale 3 days ago at 35M.
I wish them luck.

Cheers, Steve.

manwonder wrote:

Moonunit 0103...OMO...To me USD80k for vacant agricultural/land sounds expensive.
For me I'd look for cheaper options (again omo/deep may be your pockets) Things can change v.fast here all the loving & cosy feelings can be over quite fast when someone starts demanding for more...I've seen it happen...Thats why here I don't trust no certificate/contract/agreement doc...i only trust "cost average"
Again omo

It might sound like a lot MW but we have nothing to compare it with, is it 1 acre or 10? what is the going M2 rate in that area? Will it flood or is it steep unusable land etc? Is it a third cousins property being off loaded at a high price?
I am sure moonunit has done his homework given the info supplied from members above, now needs to barter the best price if the lot passes all the legal and emotional criteria.

Cheers, Steve.

Trying to sell anything now is difficult.  I wish them luck is they increase price now.

Richard Yan wrote:

Trying to sell anything now is difficult.  I wish them luck is they increase price now.

Agree Richard, I think they are trying it on, all the properties on my road (on the beach side and opposite) are westerners with Filipino partners, the property they are selling was owned by a westerner but now Filipino owners. House and lot here in our area are 10 to 30M. (now 35M) mind you there are a few that would easily hit 50+M.
Property here is slow to move because of the prices, probably even slower now with no new blood coming into the country. The next door vacant block has been 13M for 2 years now and we see Filipinos and westerners looking at the lot with the owner from time to time,,,, chatting with her as we do she will not lower the price because in her mind that is what it's worth. We went through the thought processes of property for sale here by locals on another thread. To add to this I have heard this lady has a dozen properties around the province so obviously she won't be in a hurry. But some will be. Slowly slowly and never get passionate.

Off topic again and sorry.

OMO.

Cheers, Steve.

Morning steve. U  can put any price u wish. It's the prerogative of the buyer.

Richard Yan wrote:

Morning steve. U  can put any price u wish. It's the prerogative of the buyer.

Still off topic and again my apologies.

Yep I hear you very clearly,,,,,,,,, it is only worth what one pays for it. the market generally dictates the price and that's the only way respectable valuations can be appraised, historical sales.
While it might be the prerogative of the buyer to nominate a price, ultimately it is up to the seller to accept or negotiate higher or simply say no, come back when you meet my price and are realistic or prepared to walk away. Each sale is different.

I have to wonder the bargain I got here when we purchased,,,,, has it affected the other properties?
It would appear not as they seem to be going up, not down.

Back to converting money for the OP, not sure if I mentioned but we do not have a dollar account and simply send Aussie dollars to our peso accounts here, the exchange rate is calculated in Oz so I know what we will receive before I push the go button.
I got an email 2 days ago from my Aussie bank advising customers that for certain countries now (about 8 from memory PH included) the minimum transfer amount is AU 1k. Must be costing them too much for smaller amounts.

Anyways, moonunit has lots of credible info now and stuff he didn't ask for, we all wish you luck mate.

Cheers, Steve.

"Have a fantastic wife, her family is great, so I don't see much downside."

sounds like something i said 6 years ago, i hope you can still say that in 6 years.

for that much money you could build a modest 2 bedroom place on a modest rural lot and have money left over to live in that house in a semi-modest lifestyle for 3 more years or so.
80k is a lot of money to gamble with. when times get tough or laws,rules,relationships change one thing remains - "cash is king"

Soonretired wrote:

"Have a fantastic wife, her family is great, so I don't see much downside."

sounds like something i said 6 years ago, i hope you can still say that in 6 years.

for that much money you could build a modest 2 bedroom place on a modest rural lot and have money left over to live in that house in a semi-modest lifestyle for 3 more years or so.
80k is a lot of money to gamble with. when times get tough or laws,rules,relationships change one thing remains - "cash is king"

Not king if you lose it/blow it on a bad deal.

Cheers, Steve.

An update: walked the boundaries of the land, which is next to a new subdivision being built, yesterday.  There are 2 squatter houses on the property (4HA), the rest in sugar cane.  About 1/3 of the land is in a river gorge, which is unusable.

I was driving the family truck around the area, and drove down a road to the bottom of the gorge and got stuck on the way up the hill (2wd, not enough weight in bed), and shredded a tire.  Wife called her brother who came with some friends an hour later, and while waiting, two guys came by and hung out.

Found out later they were NPA.  We took her brother's Ertiga back home, and her brother brought the truck by an hour or so later. Said NPA followed them out of the Barangay. 

Think I will just pass on owning land for now. Not worth it to me.

There's one too many of them.

A few years back I was very interested in building a home on Negros Occidental.. we had enjoyed visiting there and riding the Kawi 650 over to Bacolod a couple of times. Absolutely gorgeous country, empty roads, mostly sugarcane and rice.. and unspoiled.. I was really amazed.

Then we found out it was crawling with NPA. After they ambushed some local politicians and police, and killed several local farmers, I decided it wasn't where I wanted to build after all, haha.

Wise move Moonunit..

The time will come...meantime stay cool guys....& keep your bank accounts (power) intact.
Again wise move moonunit 0103.

yeah thats best left alone.
safety is paramount ,renting a house can be so cheap(if your wife does the talking) it does not make sense to sink money in things here. i wish i just kept renting, had nice 2 bedroom house for 4000 peso a month. i was perfectly happy there.
just take your time,no rush,as long as your money stays in your bank you are all options.

moonunit0103 wrote:

An update: walked the boundaries of the land, which is next to a new subdivision being built, yesterday.  There are 2 squatter houses on the property (4HA), the rest in sugar cane.  About 1/3 of the land is in a river gorge, which is unusable.

I was driving the family truck around the area, and drove down a road to the bottom of the gorge and got stuck on the way up the hill (2wd, not enough weight in bed), and shredded a tire.  Wife called her brother who came with some friends an hour later, and while waiting, two guys came by and hung out.

Found out later they were NPA.  We took her brother's Ertiga back home, and her brother brought the truck by an hour or so later. Said NPA followed them out of the Barangay. 

Think I will just pass on owning land for now. Not worth it to me.

Rent a house with a backyard in a gated subdivision. buying land and building a house is a common filipina dream for her family. You could buy a land in a secure area for your child but never for a woman.
I knew a former director of a bank in singapur who built a resort and offer an island to his single mother filipina, six years later they've divorced ad now the filipina owned an island and put the resort under the name of her daughter without spending a single peso.
Learn from other man because in any scenario in the justice court you might loose all your asset.