Best Posts in Forum: Banking - Investing - Finances

We have no intention of buying a condo here but as I had some spare time while waiting for my wife I asked the saleswoman at Hypermarket about the monthly dues for this project that covers the security guards and all other maintenance.
She told me that there was no figure on that yet and it would be explained at the orientation after purchase.
The reason I asked was that in 2014 we signed up for a condo in Manila, we were told the same regarding dues but as is was a 52 floor building and the cost of the dues would be divided between a large amount of people we were not too concerned.
On completion in 2018 the cost of the dues was revealed to be eye wateringly high
On completion the property management is handed over to be run by a private company.
I would advise anyone investing in this project to take this into consideration.

 

Just a heads-up on G-Cash.
Despite their denials this morning, G-Cash was hacked yesterday.
Hackers succeeded in transferring 37M pesos from unsuspecting users to their own bank accounts, but they were discovered before it was too late to recover the funds involved.
Reportedly victimized G-Cash customers were reimbursed.

Conclusion: G-Cash might be handy in some circumstances, but their system is apparently not up to security standards. Best to not have a large balance in a G-cash account. The public denial regarding the hack is obviously an attempt to limit the impact of the fall-out from the event on their business.

 

I have two wills, within each acknowledging the other will, basically saying what I own in Australia remains to my kids in Australia and what I own in the Philippines belongs to my partner (all individuals are named not just their status). The will in Australia was prepared by the same legal firm which has an office in Manila and which prepared my Filipino will.

P

 

I like AUB, Asia United Bank, across the street from the check inn on Locsin Ave. I really hate to tell people about this bank because I am afraid they will end up with too many customers. As it is now, when I go in there, I am the only one there, and therefor the first in line. They have two ATM's in town, one out side the bank, and the other next to the Red Ribbon bakery, inside Lee Plaza. I think they still have a few Safe Deposit boxes left, but i'm not sure. I have both a dollar account and a piso account. I send the money over as dollars, and when I need pisos I sell my dollars to the bank for usually about 5 centavos less than spot. They just transfer the money from my dollar account to my piso account and I never have to touch a thing except sign the paper authorizing the transfer. The managers name is Shellane, a very nice and helpful lady. Oh yes, and they have parking spots for 4 vehicles, or 5 or 6 motor cycles. The guard will come out and move the sign so you can park. Every one in the bank is very friendly and eager to help.

 

When we came here 10 years ago and bought a property to save us having the paper work hassle we agreed a price with the seller that included them to pay all the fees and capital gain tax, BIG mistake, the title was never coming and the seller was blaming their "broker" (i use that term loosely) for not doing what they paid them to.
Long story short and it was an excruciatingly long story we had to pay 10,000php to get it sorted, not a huge amount and the time wasted was more annoying.
When we came to sell that property we insisted the buyer take care of all transfer and capital gain transactions as once we had the money they could take as long as they want to get the title.
The next place we bought we settled on a price that included us paying everything even the brokers 5%, all went no problem.

 

all world currencies go up and down relative to each other reflecting a myriad of economic indicators as well as other issues. the changes reflect the relative purchasing power of each currency. trump and duterte probably have an impact but perhaps no more so than other world leaders. my dollars buy more in pesos now, about twenty per cent more , than when i came here in 2014,. if trump and duterte have an impact, trump has been dramatically positive for US citizens here.

you can use this to your advantafe. i keep dollars in a philippine account and then covert as i need pesos but try to do this on an upswing. the long term trend suggests in five years a dollar will be worth about 56 to 58 pesos but its just a guess. the exchange fluctuates on a current basis by one or more pesos to the dollar each month, going up and down daily. it may be a fools game but i try to exchange based on watching for the best current rate

i think the most significant way to help yourself is to look for the best place to exchange dollars for pesos to my knowledge the "x change?" under robinsons downtown has the best rate, better than their sister outlets and better than most banks. by all means avoid exchanging at street corner vendors

you also will make the best of your money if you transfer dollars to the phils, bank account to bank account for little or no cost and then maximize your exchange as noted above. using an ATM for example may involve both a fee and getting nicked on the exchange rate they offer.

 

When was doing business in the Philippines fun?

 

Simply put you would want to be off your rocker to buy anything that resembles a condo, unless you make the rules and set the fees you are on a loser in every way possible, every decision is out of your hands, we have all been around the Philippines stayed in condos as part of hotels or airbnbs or otherwise, sub standard at best, most of these units are bought off the plans, by horny fiancees and OFW looking for some breed of an investment that could get them home quicker to their families, Condo purchasing should be added to the "Diseases to avoid" list

 

Transferwise! www.transferwise.com found it a better deal even if you had a dollar account since you lose a bit of peso converting.