Best Posts in Thread: Best Way to Find a Rental House

Again, thanks all for the great tips. Although I hate to move multiple times, we might be best off getting a place for a month or 2 then with boots on the ground looking for a 6 month - 1 year rental.

 

I gotta' agree with stevehigg. Checking the surrounding areas for problems is a MUST. Roosters in the area can be a real pain in the butt. I went with a new townhouse and found out that the neighbor likes to sing karaoke (as loud as humanly possible) on weekends. Lucky for me, it's only in the daytime. Then there's a piggery behind the townhouse, but the pig noises and smells don't seem to affect us. Ants are a big problem, but I just need to get some borax and life will be good again. Stray dogs have been a problem when walking in the area, but I bought my wife a taser flashlight and that pretty well stymies them just by letting it crackle some lightning. Also one of the neighbors likes to park his small car in such a manner that it blocks everyone's access to the gate (he keeps his furniture in his parking spot). Things like these need to be considered before agreeing to rent someplace.

 

I would suggest that you see before you rent. Places posted online with pictures tend to be old pictures taken just after the place was built and also you cannot get a real feel for what is surrounding the house. for example a all night drinking and Videoke stand just outside your gate. or a motorcycle repair business next door or a piggery up wind from you. and many more examples. The population of retirees versus available houses is making good places to rent more rare every year. Good Luck and Welcome.

 

Have a look at DumagueteRentalHomes.com to get an idea. AJ (U.S.) and Aiko are great people. I will also try and talk them into making a showcase here.

 

One man's meat is another man's poison. I have moved out of rentals in the past and recommended them to other foreigners and never had anyone take me up on it. It means you probably will not like something that another expat is enthusiastic about.

There is nothing like boots on the ground looking. Besides, good deals are snapped up instantly so you have to be here to take advantage of them

 

I have gone back and forth a few times and use Marpas in Valencia as my landing point. I have my boxes shopped there and while waiting I hot the streets on foot. There are SO MANY MORE rentals that are off in the sidestreets and even a motorbike won't find them, you have to walk. I found my place and it's tucked away in nice one way in one way out area and I love it, spacious and quiet and only a few minutes walk to restaurants and bars

Yes AJ and Aiko are great resources also.

 

You've got some good advice already. We just moved here in March. We shipped our stuff and flew here. Rented a completely furnished apartment short term just to have a base of operations. Stuff arrived 60 days later. Sent a 2 Balikbayan Box "Survival Kit" to the temp apartment 60 days before we met. It arrived 3 days after we did. You need to look at the residence and the neighborhood at various times of day. You need to make sure the services you need ( the ones we take for granted in the US ) are available. Travel through downtown is time consuming. If you need to be on the north end of town a lot, then you may want to give more weight to living on that end of town. Or the south end. If you haven't been here before, you really ought to come for a month or so before you make the big trip. Any way, good luck.

 

Yes Dave,
I think that is a sound plan and what we will follow. There are some nice properties on the recommended site. One is even rental/sale, maybe you be get an option rental to buy if you found the right property?

 

I hope you put your belongings into large plastic trash bags and don't have anything breakable. I didn't use LBC the time before, but my BBs arrived waterlogged from the secondary shipper and several of them were crushed a bit. I was wishing I had put a frame inside the boxes to protect them, along with plastic bags. Nothing was really ruined, but the large bottle of laundry detergent (heavy plastic) was cracked and leaking everywhere in 1 of the boxes.

 

Do you know where the BB boxes would come in? Some shipping places don't mind if you use their address and then you just have to pick them up yourself if you can find out what shipping place they would arrive to.

As far as places to rent there are lots but they are always coming and going and you can often ask for a few days to decide but weeks or months isn't going to be respected as its a cash in hand thing. Plus what you like may be completely different then what I like vs what that other guy likes. Also not knowing if you have any experience living here as well makes a difference as often newer expats w/o longterm experience have much higher standards assuming that it would be like back at home to find shockingly its nothing like that.

My best suggestion would be that a couple of the foreigners on here have apartments to rent. Find one with a vacancy that is month to month and take that for a couple of months. If your having a couple BB boxes shipped I'd doubt most of them would mind still receiving them even if you moved out after a couple months before they arrived and you just have to pick up as long as your a good tenant and friendly.