草榴社区

Hi,

the problem is in the way they do the accounting. When you make a money transfer from abroad, all they see is that an amount of x PHP was received. They have no idea who is sending the money. This has to do with bank account they are using. It is most likely a passbook (saving book). What we do here in Boracay is to send a copy (hardcopy) of the money transfer to the local accountant. This accountant makes a service invoice out of the payment and the thing is done. Is it a Megaworld/Global Estate unit?

All the best

Andy from Boracay (8 years in the Philippines)

Thanks Andy for your guidance. In fact they have acknowledged my receipts of transfers. Even after that聽 they keep sending me Bills of unpaid monthly HOA and keep on Adding Penalties and surcharges.

TRION TOWERS & Fifth Ave place both in Bonifacio Global City, TAGUIG

What happend here in Boracay was that some unit owners (including me) made a money transfer to the account of the condo corp which is at the Union Bank. However, the money never arrived at that account and was posted within the Union bank to a clearing account. So, the unit owners made a complaint at the sending bank, they contacted the transfer bank, the transfer bank the transfer bank in the Philippines and finally the Union Bank. Then then money was transferred to the right account. It took 3 weeks.

If you have sent the money from bank to bank you can ask your bank to start an investigation where the money went. However, most likely the accounting of your corporation has no idea from whom they got the money.

Consider to pay the bills in cash from your caretaker or pay cash at the branch where the condo corp has the account.

Bill payments in the Philippines is in the stone age but we have to live with it. In Austria the money for my condo was taken from my account with Direct Debit directly. No issues for 30+ years.

Trion Towers and 5th Avenue Place are developed by Robinsons Land Corporation. I did not know their reputation, but at least now I know the accounting department for these two condos are terrible, based on your story. Personally, my bad experience is with my Megaworld condo unit. We had money stolen by an employee of the property management office in 2023, and what the property manager does is now levying a special assessment on all owners, instead of owing up to their fault in mismanagement. Megaworld controls the board of the condo corp by passively not helping to get owners to show up at the condo's annual general meeting, and keep their people on the board. As a result, the property management office continues to be a subsidiary company of Megaworld, and does whatever they want.

I would suggest that in addition to meeting with the property management office, you get the contact information of Robinsons Land Corp, and escalate the concern. There are several other Robinsons Land corp development in BGC, like the Fort Residences, maybe they have the same issue as well.

There is likely a Facebook page and a Viber page for your condo as well, you should join and see if others have the same issue. These social media platforms is the common way for unit owners to share their concerns, even when not much can be done about terrible developers.

聽 聽 聽 聽Wondering what makes a foreigner think investing in condos in the Philippines is a good idea.

@mugtech

My thoughts exactly

Seems for some companies .. condo = con do?

@yiqipo

Thank you so much for your guidance

Sorry to hear of the issues, OP, and hope you get them sorted.

I and others have cautioned against buying condos in the Philippines many times, for these and other reasons such as the units not being completed, lack of oversight, rules against renting, selling, etc.. not to mention the difficulty enforcing one's rights as a foreigner.

Right now there is a 34-36 month backlog of unsold condos in the Cebu City area.聽 What that might mean for future buyers are major discounts being offered especially by people on the secondary market desperate to unload their units.聽 For some reason the developers keep building more and more units despite the backlog. Yes I realize they are getting a lot of returned units (pre-sell units) in which the buyer simply stopped making payments and are profiting greatly on this.聽 I do realize some foreigners especially singles may聽 not be interested in renting or buying a house (when they cannot own the land) and therefore a condo is another option. If you do buy I would urge you to do so on the secondary market and never from the developer. Also stick with reputable communities which are well established and built by reputable developers such as Ayala.聽 Smaller condo units are preferred.

@Morgacj200424

Right now there is a 34-36 month backlog of unsold condos in the Cebu City area

That is a massive oversupply. We鈥檝e seen what has been happening in China. The dearh of buyers in the condo market ( it鈥檚 all condo rabbit hutches there) is weighing heavily on the economy. Consumer confidence has bombed. Add in to the mix that Chinese are big investors in the Philippines market and sooner or later the laws of economics will kick in.

As I have said before on this forum todays luxury condominium in the Philippines is tomorrows tenement block.

As I have said before on this forum todays luxury condominium in the Philippines is tomorrows tenement block. - @Lotus Eater

That's partly because "property maintenance" is a foreign concept that hasn't made it to the Philippines....

@Morgacj200424

Here in our Condo Corp in Boracay are 339 units in 4 clusters. These were built 10 years ago. Up to now the developer could not sell 60 units. One quarter of the unit owner does not pay anything as they have abandoned their unit. Those who want to sell their unit sell it now for 5 to 6M PHP which is below the acquisition value. But Megaoworld / Global estate has plans to make more condo units in Boracay.

Andy

What I don鈥檛 understand is how owning a property in the Philippines can be justified when rents seem so low in comparison. Mine is an imperfect analysis because I鈥檓 going off apartments for sale and apartments for rent of the same bedroom size in the same development, but from a limited number of developments in Manila and Cebu but consistently I see that renting is significantly cheaper than owning. I don鈥檛 understand why the difference is so marked and why anyone believes owning to be a viable proposition. Am I missing something?

Brojeslov said . . . . I don鈥檛 understand why the difference is so marked and why anyone believes owning to be a viable proposition. Am I missing something?

***

Dismissing owner occupied . . . . Many purchased as an investment for the future and the future as of now seems bleak.

The Federal Government owes $34 Trillion and if it reaches $40 trillion it will go bankrupt plunging the world into a economic disaster.

The total debt of the US is $167 Trillion. Poof their goes you savings, assets, ss, IRA's and pensions.

Brojeslov said . . . . I don鈥檛 understand why the difference is so marked and why anyone believes owning to be a viable proposition. Am I missing something?
***
Dismissing owner occupied . . . . Many purchased as an investment for the future and the future as of now seems bleak.
The Federal Government owes $34 Trillion and if it reaches $40 trillion it will go bankrupt plunging the world into a economic disaster.
The total debt of the US is $167 Trillion. Poof their goes you savings, assets, ss, IRA's and pensions. - @Enzyte Bob

When the debt hits $39 trillion gonna drain my IRA's.

鈥淭he Federal Government owes $34 Trillion and if it reaches $40 trillion it will go bankrupt plunging the world into a economic disaster.

The total debt of the US is $167 Trillion. Poof their goes you savings, assets, ss, IRA's and pensions.鈥�

Where does the above information and analysis come from.聽 The stock market is doing fine economy not too bad right now. A shakeup is needed but not to the extent this doom and gloom statement suggests.

I said聽 .聽 聽.聽 .聽 . The Federal Government owes $34 Trillion and if it reaches $40 trillion it will go bankrupt plunging the world into a economic disaster.

The total debt of the US is $167 Trillion. Poof their goes you savings, assets, ss, IRA's and pensions.鈥�

***

Morgacj2002 asked . . . .Where does the above information and analysis come from. The stock market is doing fine economy not too bad right now. A shakeup is needed but not to the extent this doom and gloom statement suggests.

You can Google the $34 & $167 Trillion figures. The interest on $34 trillion is outrages.聽 The interest for 2025 estimated by the CBO will be $960 billion.

The current deficit is at 106% of the Governments income

@Enzyte Bob

So what ! The government will simply print more $. Hard to go bankrupt when you can make as much money as you desire聽

聽 聽 聽 聽 聽 Sure, print 34 trillion dollars tomorrow, pay off the entire debt!!!!!聽 Might effect foreign exchange rates.

@mugtech

Exactly right!!! Hey Ken USA鈥� BUILD A HOUSE! Condos here in the Philippines are a complete joke. Besides. They are the size of bird cages.

While we are off topic one simply wonders how the wealthiest most powerful country in the world could rack up so much debt and both major players (parties) are to blame. What happened to fiscal policy?

I know well in my house you don't spend more than you make nor can afford, simply called a budget.

Yes mugtech the money you print needs to be backed by assets, gold is the cornerstone as are bricks and mortar. I actually find it hard to conceive that the national debt is 167 trillion, seems many live on other peoples money.

Back on topic, I wouldn't touch a condo with a 40 ft barge pole, difficult to deal with and your bit of concrete sitting up in the air gets torn down after 40 or 50 years,,,,,,, compensation? Who knows, probably marching orders.

As another member stated it's cheaper to rent and gives a lot of flexibility, been there.

OMO.

Cheers, Steve.

bigpearl said . . . . I actually find it hard to conceive that the national debt is 167 trillion, seems many live on other peoples money.

**

Off the top of my head, the 167 Trillion is accumulation of:

(1) Federal Government deficit

(1) Federal debt (treasury notes/bonds)

(2) State & local bonds

(3) Unfunded pension plans

(4) Personal & Commercial Loans

(5) Mortgages

(6) Student loans

(7) Charge Card debt

(8) Interest on most of these

@Enzyte Bob
So what ! The government will simply print more $. Hard to go bankrupt when you can make as much money as you desire - @Morgacj200424

As long as the international markets rate a countries credit rating as good there is nothing to be concerned about in the short term.

Moodys have USA PLC at triple AAA. I鈥檒l take some of that.

The greenback much to Fred鈥檚 chagrin is the king of the currency markets and the Fed can print as much money as it likes because borrowers ( Treasury bond holders) know Uncle Sam are good for the loan.

The US is a dynamic productive economy.

Keep calm - small earthquake in Chile.

Lotus Eater said . . . . As long as the international markets rate a countries credit rating as good there is nothing to be concerned about in the short term. Moodys have USA PLC at triple AAA. I鈥檒l take some of that.

*

Moody's was fined in the past $864 Million dollars for giving misleading & inaccurate credit ratings during the 2007-2008 financial crisis,

Moody's charged those banks, regulators & investors to assess their creditworthiness.

It appears they didn't want to downgrade the firms who paid them.

During that crisis the combined expenditures and decreased revenues was over $2 Trillion Dollars.

So who is going to bail out the US Treasury& Federal Reserve?

@Enzyte Bob

Let me see now. Both Fitch & Standard & Poor have the US credit rating at AA+

Good enough for you Bob?

Back on topic yet again.

We leased a condo in Manila some 13 years ago and there were no association dues as the 22 story building was a year old and told by the condo corp that the company that built it carried out repairs and maintenance for 3 years.

When we had driving rain from the north, 2 of the bedrooms and the loungeroom windows would leak copious amount of water that we had to mop up with towels, reported this 4 times and in 12 months never addressed, not even looked at.

It was a 3 bed/bath unit which generally means 4 to 6 persons living there, if we invited our guests for a swim in the pool we had to pay an extra P100 per person as they claimed there was only 2 of us living there,,,,, go figure. An antiquated office on the ground floor still using typewriters and carbon paper, they have since built 3 more towers over the years and one wonders where the owners will be in 10 or 20 years. Very different scenario to western standards. Never again for us as mere tenants.

OMO.

Cheers, Steve.

Same when we lived (rented) in Citylights Gardens in Cebu, Steve. Beautiful units and grounds, but lots of maintenance issues and at one point the deep wells went dry and they had to truck in water to fill the tanks, which destroyed the roads...

But I do agree that renting is probably the best way to go in the Philippines, for the most part, at least financially. Although building one's own home has it's own rewards and you can leave it for your better half to have old age security. But buying a condo has too many risks, imo.

Remember being accosted outside Palawan's main shopping-mall by a Manila condo salesman. First and last time one ever saw a men's business shirt and tie in the Phils.

To save time, we just asked him how much? And also, how much could one sell it for in 5 years?

His first answer was immediate, all up, eight million. The second answer was a slow puzzled shrug.

Being aussie, where housing very rarely ever depreciates in value, one then explained how your appartment always went up in value.

That concept was entirely foreign to him.

So this real estate pro simply could not understand how an apartment could go UP in value after being purchased.

We smiled at each other, and both walked away. Nothing more to say really.

One wonders the vacancy level in condo complexes mostly to my way of thinking purchased as an investment and then can't get a tenant because the owners are greedy and with so much choice are always negotiable, eventually they sit on the market with a dreamers price and wonder why they can't either rent or sell their bit of concrete.

Yes P1, bricks and mortar on a titled lot, 40 years with 15/20 properties I always made good money. Even here in PH with the title in the better half's name and a long term lease in 8 years the value has tripled, a unique sort after area with plenty of buyers it seems, the old saying "location, location" and no supposed almighty power telling what you can and can't do, no plants, clothes or a bbq on the verandah only a table and chairs etc.

OMO.

Cheers, Steve.

One wonders the vacancy level in condo complexes mostly to my way of thinking purchased as an investment and then can't get a tenant because the owners are greedy and with so much choice are always negotiable, eventually they sit on the market with a dreamers price and wonder why they can't either rent or sell their bit of concrete....

Cheers, Steve. - @bigpearl

Yes, this thread has got me a little curious about buying-condo price-wise

Lamudi seems one of the more popular online realestate resources ..

Appears an average price (1/2 bedroom) is around 7.5 million peso?

They say ..

Why Buy Condos in Metro Manila?

.. While new developments are set to emerge, numerous condos are currently on the market, already available for occupancy. For a single young professional working in Quezon City, many condominiums in Katipunan and Eastwood City come in a wide range of prices. Many flats in this city are also located near top educational institutions, making the city a perfect option for families with children.

For those who prefer to be close to the CBD of Makati, the most sought-after locations for flats are Salcedo Village, Legaspi Village, Rockwell Center, and Century City.

For something cosmopolitan, flats in Taguig are a top choice. Bonifacio Global City, a township developed by Ayala Land and the Bases Conversion and Development Authority, is a massive development that will soon replace Makati as Metro Manila鈥檚 premier business hub.

--

Interesting P1 and though not for me will suit many expats that like inner city living and inflated prices even with an over supply, as we all know the thinking here is a little different when it comes to property,,,, many things for that matter.

As my long departed father taught me the value is what you pay and hope and pray you can turn a profit when it's time to unload it.

Cheers, Steve.