Hello! I am a new Canadian member of the forum. I am planning to stay around Dumaguete for approximately 6 months starting from October 2016. I know I am in advance. I am looking for a small and clean furnished apartment, 1 room with ideally a queen bed (double would be fine), air conditioning, fully equipped kitchen, fridge, wifi included. My budget would be 9000-12000 PHP. I would like to stay near Dumaguete, in a quiet area close to the beach and to a grocery store where I can find all the basics. Probably Bacong or Dauin. I could also stay in Dumaguete if it is a quiet. If you know any places that meets my needs, please let me know! Thank you in advance for your help
You are probably going to have a bit of trouble finding an apartment at that price. Might need to go up to 12-15k a month for something in Dumaguete. You might have a little more luck looking in bacog or sibulan for a place at that price.
Hello! Thank you for your quick reply. 12000 PHP for Dumaguete would be acceptable, but 15000 is above my budget. Are there basic services in Bacong (grocery store with fresh fruits and vegetables, drugstore)?
You would be very lucky to find a place for 12k in Dumaguete with any utilities included. Not impossible but you will be hard pressed to find such a place. The town's surrounding Dumaguete are going to have public markets which will provide you with your basic needs but nothing much more than that. Those smaller towns have small pharmacies but you find much more than over the counter drugs in most of them. Valencia, Bacong and Sibulan are only a 10-15 minute drive to Dumaguete though. If you are on a budget your best bet is to find a place outside of Dumaguete City. Valencia would be your best option IMO.
Thanks for your opinion! Valencia however is not next to the sea. Also it is a bit further from Dumaguete. But I will do some research to look for the best area.
In Bacong you have a convenience store and the market. Convenience store have basic needs, some imported stuff to,not like in mall tough, and seen some fresh meat outside the store 1-2 times a week. In market you can buy vegetable and fruit, okay quality. Meet and fish to in market, need to say, I will never buy that, because of the way they keep it, the sun is hot and flies around. You can buy fish on beach of local fishermen like tuna and mackerel 80-120 peso a kilo and fresh. Bigger fish you need buy in market in Dumaguete. Trike to Robinson mall 10 peso from highway, think 20 peso to city center. Here is nothing, thats why I like live here, no turist. Cafe/snackbar Ecils just open, good food and owner Chris is a nice guy. I look at Valencia first when I moved here, but no sea, thats why my choice is Bacong. Hope see you, Im new here to !
Some of the things you ask for are mutually contradictory. I have never seen a grocery store near the sea in the Philippines, not saying there aren't any, there aren't any in the southern part of Negros that I know of. Cheap lodging in average/ usually quiet (4 days of 5 excluding roosters or the odd loud muffler) area can be had but usually unfurnished and utilities are not included. Depending on what you use, utilities can be fairly inexpensive. With no air conditioning your utilities will probably be under 1,500 peso a month. With air conditioning, you can add another 3k to that depending on usage so about 4.5k php per month. That would just be too much for the landlord to absorb from a 12k php rental. If such existed, someone already lives there and they aren't moving! I hope you aren't expecting hot water to come out of the tap at that price? There are a lot of people who buy their own instantaneous water heater and take it with them when they move. The place you rent may or may not be wired for a w/h in the shower. The Philippines can be cheap living. I like to call it the Al-a-cart lifestyle as you don't pay for what you don't want. If you want western standard, be prepared to spend more than you would in your home country, but much less than you would spend in your home country near the beach. I would not automatically assume the beach will be quiet. Filipinos like the beach also and where they gather, a portable boom box karaoke machine may appear. I am originally from southern California in the US and have lived the last 25 years in and around land locked North Texas. I like the beach, I think it is great that I could go to the beach every day cheap if I wanted. I wouldn't care for living really close to it or on it though. If being very close to the beach is important to you, I would move some money from the entertainment budget into the housing budget. Good luck.
I know there are studio apartments 1 km south of Robinsons Mall. p10,000/mo internet included but you need your own router for wifi, aircon, 1/2 size refrigerator, dirty kitchen with single portable electric cooktop, furnished with double bed. You pay electric and water, probably p3,500 to p4,000 a month total.
I have an idea that may suit you, but I want to know if you enjoy walking 30 minutes to get to the beach. Its close (as in under a 10 minute ride on the motorcycle, but how close do you mean?
A lot of people have this generally unrealistic expectation that they will find a place where they can look out the window and see the beach.