Philippine Investing: Searching for Home

With the large demand for home and shelter today, real estate has tried to cater to various markets and put up buildings, small scale houses, townhouses and land development today. True enough, it is the success of any person to be able to own their sole properties and fixtures, all coming from hard work.

Real estate has had its own share of difficulties. Identifying the key areas to put these residential zones has been the forefront of most aggressively seeking real estate companies, each catering towards a specific class. The high scale houses are naturally worth millions to billions, and the lower scales are lucky enough to be below a million, depending on the location and development of the area.

In the Philippines, this has been the cry of most people, housing and development of areas that people can call home. With the political and inflationary issues that it has been experiencing, the medium of exchange and valuation of the Peso is without a doubt a crucial factor for attainment of the basic needs of a person.

There are a lot of areas that are underdeveloped, such as Laguna, Batangas, Cavite, Bulacan, Pampanga and Tarlac in the Philippines. They do offer various properties at a manageable level, but location is the inconvenience that they will experience since these are far from the commercial zones where most people work.

Areas in the National Capital Region or Manila, offer the same, but will definitely cost. Most people need millions to invest in them. The trend is for people abroad to invest in these properties for their relatives, or as a security precaution in case they decide to retire in their homelands. Another venture that they follow is invest in these properties and use them as businesses like having them rented or buying the properties being built and selling them at their fair market price once they are opened to the public. The time invested is actually the interest earned from initial investments, and this is something people based outside the Philippines such as Canada, Europe and the United States of America should look into especially with the strength of the dollar, far more dominant than the Philippine Peso.

Investing in Empty Lots in the Business Area

When a person talks about real estate investment, the immediate thing that comes into mind is that of buildings, townhouses, condominiums and large scale offices that will house the bigger corporate names of today. Business sectors will always have the space to offer for a new building to be put up, an investment that will certainly cost millions.

In the Philippines, wiser people buy land and do not really put up anything. It remains an empty lot without any improvements standing on it. So the question is, how does such an investment reap dividends?

The answer is think as an employee in a congested area. One business that may seem funny is that of converting the lot into a parking lot. It is not secret that parking spaces in this country has been slowly diminishing, and the main culprit is the continuous development of structures to house businesses. But hey, one after another, businesses are disintegrating due to losses and inability to continue. The result, a lot with a structure yes, but no occupants. What makes it worse, real estate taxes will eat up most of the profits, and unless a person would sell the property, he ends up paying for taxes for a useless asset every year.

Parking spaces require minimal effort. Cement it, paint some parking guides and put up a fence and have a person or two man the lot and walah, instant business. Imagine a parking lot that can house a total of 100 cars which pay a steady rate of Php40.00 a day for 20 days in a month, you have P80,000.00 or roughly in dollars, $1,500.00 a month. Not bad considering this is an assumption that all cars will just stay there for a couple of hours.

Basing it on experience, the need for parking is slowly deteriorating and if there is any good investment that will return a favorable return, this is one investment that needs consideration. The best way is to find lots that are in the business area. Trust it from someone who has a hard time looking for a good parking slot since 1996!

Searching for Empty Lots and Classy Residential Zones in the Philippines

Just like any other country, the Philippines is made up of residential zones that cater to all classes of the masses. Along with the classification of lots comes the land value that is usually determined as to how the development of that certain zone is at the moment. Most often, the more commercialized and privatized areas bring back a higher land value, usually in millions due to proper development and exposure. This is why initial public offerings (IPO) are given to target clients, usually to provide introductory offerings for places that are being developed by the local developers. Immediate assessment on the part of the consumers will be made for sure, and they will be varied in nature. It will all depend on how good people are at analyzing a given situation and how they project the environment to grow, probably in a given span of years.

For instance, the Greenhills area in San Juan, Philippines is totally dominated by the Chinese community as far as residential property ownership is concerned. The availability of houses and lots for sale in this area is rare to find, and unless people are content with living in high rise condominiums, looking forward to a built house in the suburbs of the Greenhills area may be close to impossible.

Who wouldn’t want to live in the Greenhills area, considering that they cover all the needs a person would have. A supermarket, (Unimart and Cherry Shaw Blvd.), the shopping malls, dining and restaurant outlets, movie houses, hospitals (Cardinal Santos Memorial Hospital), churches (Mary the Queen and Santuario de San Jose), and easy access to convenience stores all around, what more can a person ask for? There are many empty lots, but they are pre owned.

Curiosly, there is an empty lot that is close to the Greenhills West Clubhouse. This is a good space to put up a dream house but the details have yet to be given. For sure this shall be the eye of many brokers in the Philippines. Perhaps the foreign investors who view this site may be interested in such a place. If I had the money to buy such an investment opportunity, then I would not think twice.

If there are any interested people in this area, you can drop me an email at byalung@gmail.com or just post a comment. I will get the specifics once needed and requested.

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How I Blog: Brian Yalung, MBA

Buy and Sell: Real Estate Buying and Leasing in the Philippines

Real estate, as said time and again, has been slowly picking up from where it left off in 1996, that is, aggressive buying by local bred people who are now residing in various parts of the world, particularly the United States of America and Canada regions. Filipinos who have opted to take their talents for better paying jobs abroad have allowed them to consider making investments in local properties, known to be among the affordable and feasible manners of investing for their future and their dependents. There is of course the difference between high-end and low-end sectors, but regardless, the bottom line is one of our basic hierarchy of needs according to Maslow’s hierarchy, that of which is shelter.

But wait, it is not all about security but more on studying the opportunities of being able to establish a medium of investment and income from outside the usual profession that most people practice everyday. Visitors, with emphasis on foreigners from other countries look for the cheapest means of lodging, especially when they want to make the most out of their trips. The Philippines is known to be among the top spots for foreigners to go to, especially once vacation time comes for them. Cost is definitely competitive, and compared to their normal neighboring countries of tourist attraction spots, people want something different. The belief that the world offers a lot is usually one of the reasons why foreigners immediately look towards the Philippine tourist spots, especially the beaches and resorts like Boracay and Palawan areas, have been the forefront of the aggressive investment of the country towards tourism. Come the summer time, even the local inhabitants crowd these places, and despite the inconveniences, they will go at nothing to be able to satisfy their hunger for a well-deserved break from reality.

With this in mind, foreigners see it as an opportunity to be able to make advanced bookings by being situated here locally before the expected boom and overcrowding of reservations and accommodations set in during the second quarter of the year. Finding alternative places to live in outside hotels which cost as high as $50.00 per day, depending on the type of hotel they are looking at, can be saved if they can find locally available condominium units for rent. Places that are usually the landing spot for most temporarily staying foreigner include the high class Rockwell Power Plant in Makati, Eastwood Condominiums in Quezon City, and The Fort at the Fort Bonifactio Area. Condominiums are being strategically constructed here, and there are also units that are being rented or sold at a fair price.

Among the offerings is located at the Rizal Condominiums, located beside the Professional Graduate School of Ateneo. Rizal Condominium is largely dominated in terms of occupancy by foreigners.

Current Properties for Sale

There is one unit being offered at the moment for sale at P30,000,000.00 and fully furnished. What surprises me the most is that this same price is close to the actual offering before the entire property was allowed for occupancy and is certainly a good buy! I have yet to get the details from my sister-in-law who works in a bank, and I know the sale is really needed as soon as possible.

Just recently, another unit located in the classy area of Anapolis, Greenhills is being offered as well. A small pad worth P10,0000,000.00 is up for grabs at the One Beverly Place, one of the posh condominium units that can be seen along the busy streets of Anapolis Street, Greenhills. It is a good place to stay, especially for visitors who are in search of cheap goods and a relaxing place to stay since local folks come in droves to be able to kill their time and get good buys of consumer items such as designer clothes, electronic devices, cellular phones and computer peripherals.

Hence the investment for these type of properties is aimed at high-end markets. But considering the appraisal of land value, for sure, this is the interest gained from initial investments, something that money in the bank cannot even match as far as long term investments are concerned.

For more information, people can drop me a line at byalung@gmail.com for requests as photos, land data, property specifics and pricing per square meter.

Real Estate: A Place We Call Home

Home can be is more of a broad term than what most people would think. The immediate thing that comes into mind is that a home is a place where most of us resign into once a hectic day of doing our daily chores and routines are done. Some would look at it in a different way, referring to it as a place where they can hang out and unwind, some where they can comfortably kill the time and get away from reality or maybe even a place where they can work quietly and maximize their efficiency. In all, home is somewhere we can be at peace with ourselves and forget about the actual reality that life has to offer.

Home is also looked upon as an investment of sorts. Most of us are not blessed with the rags to riches and financial capacities to be able to declare that we live in our own houses due to financial reasons. A home does not have to be big because we make it big as we fit ourselves into it. Size is not an issue. Home is a place of comfort and no matter the monetary exchange value that a home has, the bottom line is that it is where we can retreat and recharge ourselves, both in the physical and mental aspect so that we can sustain the type of lifestyle that we long to have.

Real estate in the same way is tagged in two different ways, a commercial aspect and a private aspect. The commercial aspect looks more on the manner on how to effectively manage a business or venture while at the same time being comfortable with what we see around us to maximize the time and energy we exert into ventures. Often, this is termed as a working place, a business environment to which we can bring out the best we can in the professional sense and attain goals as we deem necessary. In summary, it is a proper mixture of efficiency and relaxation, allowing us to work and be convenient.

The private aspect does not really have to be expounded. Most real estate companies today such as Ayala Land Corporation and Century Properties Inc. try to cater to all classes not really just to earn millions of profit but to also satisfy one need of people that of which is shelter. These are commonly investments that can be later on held as choices on whether to consider them as prized assets or just to retire into once we reach that age where we feel that we can rest and have used up our wits and brains as far as our professional careers are concerned. The question though is where to invest and how much we can afford to invest. We all have different lines of work and affordability is a key factor in determining the amount to which we can be able to set aside money. Especially for the people who have to survive in their daily routine, the level to which we are able to sacrifice is something that needs to give much thought.

Whatever the case may be, there are posh properties out there just waiting for us, and we will eventually land into one soon. The matter of how soon we get them and at what level will entirely depend on how we weigh things out and how we can properly exert sacrifices, especially at the governing rate of expenses and inflation of today.

The Re-Birth of Real Estate Investments in the Philippines

The last real estate boom was evident in 1996 but just like other business entered an age of recession because of hard times that have been plaguing most countries. The Philippines, being among the countries that are drowning with debts, encountered rough sailing for the past 10 years and the rise in demand for real estate was an imminent stand still.

Today, more and more people who look for wise investment opportunities have turned towards investing in real estate properties as the feasible way to put excess earnings, with the belief that such would reap returns at some point in the future. There is no question that the land value will truly appreciate once development has been done for a certain area and initial public offerings prior to project completion will truly be the wise investment today.

The entrepreneur in most people have gotten the best of them, most realizing the need to secure a bright future ahead. In any case, there is no doubt that investing in real estate is similar to putting money in a bank like time deposit to earn interest. But at the rate that people are buying properties these days, the returns may even be more attractive in the sense that properties and assets are more than just pure investments, but something that they can turn to, when times become difficult or when business expansions would need additional cash influx.

Today, real estate buying has become a frenzy. Location is a factor as well, but for places to which they are available, especially the developed and the ones near distinctive and commercially accessed areas, expect cost of investment in such real estate areas to be far more expensive compared to that of under developed areas.