AboutBill and Lorna Collings Expertise Feel FREE to ask us about traveling, living, relocating, retiring and investing in the Philippines. Guests from 83 countries make our place in Manila an incredible meeting place for world travelers who exchange travel stories and information. We understand both the joys and the hardships of living and traveling in the Philippines.
Experience I arrived in the Philippines in January 1980 to travel for 2 months; I stayed 4 months before reluctantly leaving. I met my Filipina wife, Lorna. an incredible stellar, "one in a million" individual in 1983 in Seoul and we moved to the Philippines in 1986 and opened our 3BR house to world travelers on a budget. After welcoming thousands of guests from 83 nations our place has grown to 30 bedrooms but will never lose its "Home away from Home" atmosphere. Almost everyday at The Townhouse Hotel there's a party-like social scene with vibrant, almost magical energetic conversations between our guests who have the pleasure to meet each other and share their life's many experiences. Sometimes. three groups with conversations in different langauges are going on at the same time.
So we've been exposed to every kind of person from all over the world and shared their experiences.
Publications Suite101.com, eDreams.com, expertcentral.com ( who asked me to apply with allexperts.com since About.com has bought both companies and are in the process of integrating them)
Education/Credentials some college 2-1/2 years - no degree - I've been traveling since I was 18, almost 30 years.
Awards and Honors Luckily, my wife and I have been semi-retired since we were 30 years old, more than 15 years.
Question QUESTION: I am looking at purchasing a house from filipino living in the u.s. We are going to meet her in PI this may. How does buying real estate work. Ensuring both parties get their title and money. My money is in the u.s. and I was told that it takes one month for a check to be processed?
when should I expect to get my title. Does my money go into an escrow until money is verified? how does the transaction work. I do not plan to use a bank.
ANSWER: WAIT A MINUTE sounds like you are in a hurry and we would NEVEWR advise anyone to expect to finish such a purchase in only one month because of several possible complications. First of all foreigners are NOT allowed to buy or own land DIRECTLY even though there are secure ways of acquiring properties. The very common nature of most property in the Philippines being complicated by belonging or attached to HEIRS, having years and years of unpaid taxes ( although usually not a large amount it does need to to be checked and paid )and often have loans or finance companies holding the title or tax declarations. Actually the great majority of property in the Philippines is NOT TITLED but attached to a TAX DECLARATION aka acting as a secure form of proof of ownership. Forget about ESCROW and ALL that you know about real estate transactions in the States; it's completely different here and things such as this type of transfer, contracts, tax clearance ect ect TAKE TIME. For example it may need to be re-surveyed or for the first time.
Don't get me wrong, my wife and I often considered approaching Filipino Americans to sell so much of their stagnant wealth here in the Philippines. So it depends but it could be a "steal of a deal" GREAT INVESTMENT but we'd need more details before advising you further. Almost all real estate purchases here are done by paying CASH within a 6 month to 2 year period withOUT interest as the paperwork clears and transfers completed.
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QUESTION: The house is located in xavier estates in cagayan de oro, a nice subdivision. The owner said we can pay down and pay the rest later. The house for sale is 2 million pesos. If we meet her in may we will not have the full amount, but 2 months later we will. The owner will be in PI for May only and said if the house is available later we can buy it from her agent. is payment in cash?
Answer Yes cash meaning you can have a cashier's check and sign the papers and the transaction can be done in front of a local attorney / public notary inside the same bank using the bank manager as a witness. OR you can open a local peso and U$ bank account with the minimum account balance enabling to always deal with future payments through a local bank with any special instructions being followed by the Branch manager.
If your wife is Filipina it does make a big difference but as of now you have NOT included such an important detail. And a word to the wise about such a deal, the U$ is at an extreme RECORD low and the peso, at an unusual high of P41.88 ( reached 40.5 )=U$ is likely to become weaker in the upcoming 6 months up to the next couple of years. So for example, P2M is U$40,000 at P50=U$ ( and it went as low as P57=U$ meaning P2M=U$35000 )but at present P2M =about U$48,000. You need to check the land office at the Capital Building that the house and lot is FREE of any liens from banking or financial institutions.
