Poll Best Posts in Thread: For Those Who Bought Homes in Dumaguete and Area

Building and selling property in and around Dumaguete has been my business for the last 12 years now. I am a Carpenter and Joiner owner builder from auss. I sold my house and everything I owned in Aust and invested here. And it paid off. As a investor in Philippines Immigration granted me a Quota visa as I am not married to a Filipina. I have built 4 properties each over 500 sqm buildings. I am now finishing the 5th construction a 950 sqm 2 story town houses in Piapi behind Marina Spacial. All the properties the land has been in a Filipino's name and the building in my name. This last project I am living in one of the townhouses as I complete the last unit. the units completed are all rented out.
Dumaguete has been good to me as a investor, I took a gamble and made it work.

 

basically I agree with your point of view, but at least, it is a moralistic point of view, imported from the western world. here, in south east asia, the rules are a little bit different. more than 50% of the population considers itself as poor, governments are corroded by coruption, that means "money rules" - which is also a common saying here in the philippines. one of the easiest ways to make some cash is dealing with us, the foreigners, searching for luck and love (and property), carrying a big wallet around. I find it not surprising that even your wife/gf tries to get a (secret) benefit from you, specially when you know that her family will always be the nr. 1 in her life and nobody else, even if you look like Brad Pitt and have money like George Soros - and I do not whine about that, I do not critizise that, for me tbis is simply a fact, a reality I have to deal with in a country full of poor people, greedy for money. so I try to take things in my own hand instead of relying on others, specially when it comes to big deals like buying property. be careful, watch closely, that's all I say. and if, like in your example, the foreigner is buying whatever and has no money anymore for the hospital, I would recommend him to be triple careful here or better try his luck in another place.

 

just talk to the natives around here, nearly everybody is a "real estate agent" and knows something - never purchase any property without help from an attorney, it's worth the money conc. all the issues here with title problems, road right of way etc - and just a friendly remark for all people who let their wife / gf handle a transaction: even she will add secretly a million or anything to the original sales price, for her own commission and the benefit of the family; just because you are so rich, Mr. foreigner

 

Obviously, there are many good ways to find a house to buy. Whether you find one strolling through a neighbourhood, or being told by a friend, or find it online or with the help of a broker, basically it doesn't really matter.
What matters is to find a well built house that suits your needs, in a location that is agreeable to you / your partner, and that you get a good deal (price and clean paperwork).
Prospective buyers should be careful though, especially in a property market like Dumaguete, where some offers are (seriously) overpriced.

We got rather lucky, finding a good house in a nice neighbourhood much quicker than I imagined.
My advice would be to use whatever ways you can to find a nice property for sale, and bring your checklist when you go view it.
Don't "fall in love" with a house to the extent that you end up overpaying.
If you think the house will need changes/updating, get expert advice on the cost of that before buying.
If the house is not structurally sound, give it a pass. Get advice if unsure.
Speak with the neighbours (flooding, noise, trash burning).
Get informed about the home owners association (monthly dues) if the house is in a subdivision.
Get your own capable real estate lawyer that you pay to do the paperwork. Ask around if you're unsure.

 

We (my Filipino husband and I), found a subdivision that was building homes in our price range. We lived across the street in a townhouse while they built it so we could oversee the work being done. My husband handled most of the negotiations, etc...

 

okay was writing my reply when Wifey looked over shoulder... Delete Delete Delete!

OKAY! I will say this;
Believe NOTHING You are told!!
CHECK with the DENR (Department of Environment and Natural Resources) and engage a Private Attorney who deals in LAND matters!

Just; check, Check CHECK and QAUDRUPLE CHECK!

Long story short, we will have something like an added 450,000php in charges and fees etc that we did not plan on to sort out the mess we untangled in our search to find out the truth in what we were told. We listened, we believed, we trusted... WE are slowly fixing things and *touch wood* will sort through this mess and see it to the end...

 

WE did spend more than 2 years looking around the greater Dumaguete area before we found our present home, too many homes for sale but when checking also found too many issues with many of them. Most important thing needed is a good attorney, well one with a good secretary as its the staff that do all the work.

 

For both of the last two posters: You make good points and I wish there was a way to add more options but I think that's the limit. I'll go back to edit and check if I can, but thanks for adding your thoughts to the thread;

EDIT: I cannot edit the poll now but @Wrye83 may be able to. Please feel free to adjust the settings to encourage people to respond. More votes means more info.

A change to allow people to say: "Still renting but curious about the poll." would be great. Another change to say "I jumped in and don't recommend doing it my way." would be another great addition.

 

So far I am the one vote for the stranger walking up. It isn't a house purchase, but the land to build one. (My Filipino spouse, of course, will be the owner.) I had my car right there and free time, so I said sure I would like to see it (since it was in an area: Sagbang, Valencia) where we are interested anyway. He grabbed his friend (who I think is a relative) who "owned" the property and up the mountain we went. All of her (the owner) land was pretty much vertical, and I expressed no interest, so she pointed across the way from her vertical site to a beautiful 1.5 hectare grassy meadow much of which sat on top of a hill and was more-or-less horizontal. She said: "My cousins own that and it's also for sale." The deal is still pending, but we hired a respected real estate attorney in Dumaguete who is taking us through the (frustrating, daunting, mind-boggling, time-consuming) process. So, with a lawyer to make sure all the details are ironed out, I am happy that the stranger walked up to me. Our criteria to close will be getting a clean, unencumbered title for the lot and the right-of-way. Absent that, we will walk away from the deal.

 

When you say nobody gets hurt, are you referring to the comment that you made here "even she will add secretly a million or anything to the original sales price, for her own commission and the benefit of the family"?

I would say that many people are getting hurt in that. The buyer is losing money that will eventually come out of what he has left to spend every month. The seller is losing as he would have got more money if he had negotiated direct with the buyer and both would be happier. The wife is losing the trust of her husband if he ever finds out. Who knows, that extra million pesos may be the foreigner's last savings and then he ends up in hospital with no way to pay.

That said, I will agree that no one gets hurt when any individual acts as a referring agent for an agreed upon amount or commission and is not sneakily trying to get rich at the expense of someone else. For example it is common to get one month's rent if you find a tenant for someone who owns property and they end up signing a one year lease. No one is hurt there. If a real estate agent charges 5% of the transaction and its known up front then no one is hurt. Lawyers will charge that too for simply drawing up some paperwork.