Any house for sale

Ah, well, you may want to visit some more subdivisions then, before making blanket statements about all of them.
Yes there are poorly managed subdivisions; especially those that cater mostly to those with a smallish budget often struggle with implementing their HOA rules and regulations (homeowners association).
Luckily there are also quite attractive subdivisions around Dumaguete.
The same goes for stand alone houses though, plenty of those in areas I would not want to live in.

 

When i first came to Dumaguete 10 years ago we rented a house in a brand new sub-division with security guards at the gate, street lights and rules and life was perfect, very soon things changed and not for the better.
One homeowner decided they had (no budget) anymore for the association dues which from memory was around 300 to 400p a month even though they ran some sort of business and had a brand new ford raptor type vehicle blocking half the road as i think none of them were proficient drivers or could be bothered to park it in their driveway.
The domino effect started, more and more people started to have (no budget) , the association had a foreigner as the leader and when he started to try and do something about the situation he was immediately ousted as foreigners were not allowed to hold the position of leader.
The solution by the new leader was that the people that were still willing to pay the dues would have to pay more to compensate for those that had no budget (seems fair)
So we left and and i can still remember the sight in my rear view mirror of the cars and motorbikes parked all over, dogs unleashed running wild, chickens kept in gardens and the big karaoke speakers outside houses so they could share the noise with their neighbours .
HELL on earth...

 

No thank you, no reason to believe that any other sub division can operate on a level above what I experienced, its the mentality of the neighbours thats the noose around the neck, unless its a one house sub division, where you can choose your own flowers, and where you travel to the sari sari store in that it doesnt come to you

 

And when you buy a lot along some road not in a subdivision and build your own house then all of a sudden your neighbours will all behave like angels and not have chickens/roosters, dogs, karaoke machines and will all remember to park on their own lot because obviously they are much more accomplished drivers than those residing inside a subdivision?
I am sorry, but I honestly can't see the logic in your reasoning.

 

You are correct IMHO - wherever you build, you are in for potential problems, unless you own all the land in a 2km radius! You may find a quiet, green and pleasant lot - then later others move in (from Filipinos who bought their lot to squatters). We already heard in this Forum recently of people stealing water and electricity and then wrecking your equipment if you complain. Karaoke noise is not contained to the near vicinity and nor are roaming dogs, burglars and other nuisances.

The best locations seems to be in an up-market sub-division with guards and very strict rules about noise and maintenance of the environment (e.g. no fires, no cockerels, dogs on leashes when outside) - but, of course, you pay heavily in house price for that. I lean towards socialism but, as with everything, nothing is black and white, so I do not favour mixed housing developments as those with poor standards can wreck the lives of those around them, in ANY country. And you still don't overcome the noise factor from the surrounding area!

Finally, places like Aldea homes are not good examples of sub-divisions - I have been there to look and would not rent, let alone buy.

 

By the way, yes I live in a subdivision, and from your description I wouldn't be at all surprised if it is the same one that you rented in all those years ago lol,
As a rule, no cars are parked in the street here, there's no street vendors coming in, nobody has chickens/roosters, no free roaming dogs here, friendly neighbours, and karaoke, well, sometimes there's a party where the ladies like to sing, so what?
Does that mean it is paradise, no of course not. Wherever one chooses to live there will be issues.
But I am happy here, and so is my gwapa asawa.

 

Frankly I think the whole thing is pot luck with the neighbours. We've bought our standalone plot and the worst aspect of neighbour noise is the cockerels, which you don't notice after a couple of weeks, occasional loudish music and the neighbour firing up their vehicle at 7am and running the engine for 20 minutes (I think a recent hint may have cured that). We've had to compromise as access is not great, but good enough for our small car, and we have to work on the title as we are now doing. Despite those inconveniences I wouldn't swap the location for anywhere else as we've been immediately accepted by the majority of neighbours (that just takes a few small gestures, I find) and have made access and lighting improvements that all the neighbours benefit from. In short, a bit of prior research into the neighbourhood and some friendly gestures after arrival can make for a serine and happy environment.

 

Have you some examples please.

Once I moved into a small group of houses, not really a subdivision, and found one person very helpful in the moving process. I gave him some cash for his help and then noting his children I told him I would give him cash each month (not set a rigid list of jobs to be done but when we needed something small done perhaps he would help) - I told him this cash was so he could help his children with food, clothes and education. He very rarely did anything for us, except ordering (but not delivering) cooking gas twice a year and delivering water containers once a month, but I accepted that as that is what I told him.

Firstly, I was informed he spent the money on online games and whenever something arose (e.g. fiesta, birthdays) he always wanted a loan (which I gave up to the max of the next month's payment) - but what surprised me most was that during lockdown when I ordered my own gas and water, I found he had added P100 to each gas order and P5 to each container of water. In all, this amounted over a year to a very tiny amount of what I was giving him for free. I stopped his free gift! Btw, when we fed our local ascals on chicken neck he remarked it was the same as what he fed his children on - with the money I gave he should have given them whole chickens!

I know being here is a learning game - but I still get surprised by attitudes.

 

I find that very hard to believe that people here have ever doubted these peoples attitudes. There are many instances on here where the rose coloured glass's brigade are in maritial bliss with their 25 year old wives living in Nipa houses and fully enjoying the tropical lifestyle but cannot understand why their wives five brothers and three sisters all living in native houses the foreigner paid for in the compound he bought cannot understand how their rice cooker or plates, knifes and forks and spoons went missing.. especially with all the family there..This is not meant to offend anyone but a little bit of humor helps.. Hehehehehehe

 

Examples: We've been out twice in the area during quarantine delivering bags of rice and corned beef; we installed solar lights on poles on the approach to our property and agreed to move one of the poles to provide better lighting for all at a junction; we've invited neighbours around to birthday parties etc (and has been reciprocal); we've exchanged food with two of our neighbours quite regularly; we let our immediate neighbour tap into our wifi for free; we are doing some improvements to drainage outside but slightly away from our frontage to assist everyone as it floods quite bad when it rains heavy - assists us when we walk to neighbouring sari-sari and should reduce mosquitoes; we often go walking in the neighbourhood and buy from small businesses and chatting to locals, sometimes taking the dogs walking; we've been respectful of local traditions (we got a comment from one neighbour when we got home late one evening and swept up some debris and dust from building works - apparently frowned upon after dark! - we explained why and no problem). Apart from the food we've had numerous small gifts from neighbours like plants and bottles of beer.

What I found was that they seemed genuinely surprised how friendly a foreigner neighbour could be - like they were as wary about potential problems as we were initially.