Suggestion Best Posts in Thread: The Boulevard Residences

I know of many condos and houses that are delivered as a "shell" and these are probably that way. It means you have 4 walls, a roof, door, toilet and sink and the rest is up to you to provide.

I am guessing that by "no kitchen" you may mean that propane appliances are not allowed in the units but as far as I know there is no reason you could not put in an electric stove or induction cooktop.

 

I suppose it is a matter of perspective. When I looked into buying a new condo in Cebu some years back it was in a similar raw condition at a similar price. Its hard to be specific as the 2.5M units are just bachelor pads, about the size of a hotel room so would not be expected to have a full kitchen but the 1 or 2 bedroom units should have space for a kitchen and yes, they are more expensive than some condos in small town Canada.

So I am curious what kind or unit you are thinking of when you make your comments? For me, a full size condo would be too expensive and I would expect a spot for a kitchen, but a bachelor pad size might suit me and that would not be a fair comparison.

 

I suppose I should include my thought process behind my post. Someone check my math.

(4000000 / 46.67) * .08 / 12 = 566.67

That's taking that 4 million pesos and putting it in an S&P 500 index which has historically returned 8% interest. That's not accounting for inflation. You would be generating $566.67 in interest every month. With that interest you could afford to rent a nice house today (or a d*mn nice apartment.)

When it's time for an exit plan (Wrye83 style) then you put in your notice and flee. You don't have to bother with selling a condo.

Your money isn't tied up. It's liquid. If you need it for something better, then you can get immediate access to it.

Buying would have to be a long term option to be worth it. With rental prices today, I'm not sure it is. X years from now, buying may have been a better option. But X years from now Dumaguete may be a **** hole and I'm long gone. X years from now I may have a family which has outgrown a 1BR condo. X years from now the condo may be worth more, or the building may go to **** and the money I have tied up into it is gone. This isn't land that you can build on, it's a box in a mystery building.

When I say rich, I mean I can jiggle my balls and $80K falls out. And I would have had to make that money from the lotto, professional sports, inheritance or some other source which doesn't require for me to have acquired that money by being a good money manager.

Yes, there's a possibility you could make that money back as an investment. But lets not go there because that's an entirely different argument. Real estate investing requires expertise in that field and that's not what we are talking about here. Let's also leave renting the place to others out of this because it's the same thing.

There may be some convenience, but that's too much money to dish out on convenience. Making 80K sure as **** wasn't convenient as I probably busted my *** to make that. And having that money in a liquid form earning interest is also convenient.

People have an emotional attachment to buying a a pad. It's part of that BS we were brainwashed with in the marketing of the American Dream. I get that.

Still a dumb decision.

 

d*mn, how can they sell condo's for that much? Who would be dumb enough to buy one? Or rich enough that 4 million is no big deal? And if you're that rich you're probably going to do something more productive with your money just out of principle.

It's land and demand which sets the prices.

Dumaguete seems to be a rental market. Prices for buying are crazy here when you can rent so cheap.

 

A rule on the Philippines: Never buy anything in real estate which is not already build and being ready to move in. That case happens quite common in the Philippines (and most other countries as well).

 

Many of the buyers are probably investors expecting the value of their condo to go up.

 

How will the people cook in a such apartment? High prices for the apartments and then there are no kitchen? Sounds outright silly.

 

In the US at least, when you buy a condo and sign the contract it's like you signed a checkbook full of blank checks and handed them to the management.