Investing in Executive flats??

[tiger31]

well i,m building a 2 storey extension onto the side of my bungalow and my builder has told me not to engage a building inspector unless I want to pay 60,000 pesos and be subject to lots of visits .he said once you have built it then get the permit because there is not a lot that can be done once you have built it .The thing I like here is that you can build more or less what you want on your own land without planning permission ,once you engage city hall then a barage of fees follow in most cases .If things were to get to hot then I would just jump on a plane back to blighty lol.only buy or build here if your are prepared to write off your money is my advice as it takes a long time and lots of fees to sell a house here unless its in the low end of the market .The only reason I bought this little house was because it was very cheap and if I lose it all then so what i,ve still got my house in the u.k to fall back on .

[fred]

well i,m building a 2 storey extension onto the side of my bungalow and my builder has told me not to engage a building inspector unless I want to pay 60,000 pesos and be subject to lots of visits .he said once you have built it then get the permit because there is not a lot that can be done once you have built it .The thing I like here is that you can build more or less what you want on your own land without planning permission ,once you engage city hall then a barage of fees follow in most cases .If things were to get to hot then I would just jump on a plane back to blighty lol.only buy or build here if your are prepared to write off your money is my advice as it takes a long time and lots of fees to sell a house here unless its in the low end of the market .The only reason I bought this little house was because it was very cheap and if I lose it all then so what i,ve still got my house in the u.k to fall back on .

Be careful tiger.. There are some pretty hefty fines here for doing that..
Our building permit cost around 6k.. The drawing 20k.
Its just not worth not having one IMO..
I have no idea what your worker is talking about?? 60 k??? To do what exactly?

[tiger31]

Be careful tiger.. There are some pretty hefty fines here for doing that..
Our building permit cost around 6k.. The drawing 20k.
Its just not worth not having one IMO..
I have no idea what your worker is talking about?? 60 k??? To do what exactly?

he just said it will cost around 60k to have building inspectors around etc etc but I will look into it further and get second opinion

[milesaway1113]

Dear All,

Would just like to say thanks to everyone for taking the time out to offer your advice. I think I will continue to research the pros and cons of this type of investment.

I have to admit that the advice that: if you were to successfully invest in the Philippines you could be in grave danger-was slightly disturbing to put it mildly!! Is this really the case?? I do appreciate the advice, but surely this outcome is incredibly unlikely??

I might have looked to invest in other parts of South East Asia, but because my wife is from the Philippines, it makes such an investment much more straightforward from a legal perspective.

I am also curious about investment in new condos depreciating in value in the long term?? There is no evidence of this happening in a European context, where in order to make money you have to be in it for the very long term, but I realise that this is a completely different context. Are these condos incredibly badly built?? I know its a cliche, but surely location is everything, if you can find apartments in the bay area of Manila, within easy striking distance of the airport, I would have thought that they could be a clever long term investment? But I could be completely wrong.

We originally came out to Asia to work with the idea of investing our hard earned money back in the UK. But having been out here for nearly a year, I'm honestly not sure if we want to go back. And it seems to me that there is the potential for good money to be made in the South East Asian property market. But, this is pure speculation.

Thanks again for all your expertise-it has been invaluable.But, I am keen to keep this conversation alive, to gain a fuller picture of the pros and cons of investing in the Filipino property market.

Thanks again

Asa