Retiring in the Philippines

[sjr09 155]

Just some food for thought!

Words from an Expat living in the PI.

All about Philippine real estates. Foreigners may not own real property in the Philippines, except condominiums. Even though having your "own place" is irresistible, give deep consideration to renting instead of owning. Buying is much easier than selling. There will be a limited market for your multi-million peso dream home. You may wait years before finding a buyer. If your neighbor decides to raise pigs or start a karaoke bar, you'll wish you had resisted the lure of home ownership. A renter can just move on. If you own a home you must just bear whatever happens or become involved in foreigner v. local squabbles which you're unlikely to enjoy.

Generally speaking, there are two types of sellers; those who hold real estate as an investment and are willing to wait as long as it takes to get the price they want. Holding property for years in the Philippines is easy as real estate taxes are so low. Then there are those who are motivated sellers who really want to sell and are willing to negotiate. Some motivated sellers have unrealistic expectations, hoping to strike it rich, especially if a foreign buyer shows up. My approach for either type of seller is to decide what a property is worth to me and make an all cash offer. It may be well below the asking price. Probably it will be refused. Be very polite. Don't lord it over the seller. Explain the problems you have in paying more; kids in college, exchange rates etc. Leave a calling card and ask them to contact you if they change their mind. Be patient. Eventually you'll find a property you like and a motivated seller.

For the foreigner retiring to or retired in the Philippines another important consideration is health and health care. You may feel perfectly healthy when you retire at 55 or 60 or 65. No matter how fit you may seem now, chances are that you may have major and possibly disabling illnesses in your future.

Monthly rentals suitable for foreigners seem pretty abundant, with monthly rent ranging from P6000 to P25000 per month with P6000 to P8000 typical for two bedroom apartments and P10000 to P15000 for a decent but not lavish house. Really nice free-standing houses to rent can be quite hard to find.

　

Is that beautiful beach property you dream of with easy reach of reasonably good medical care? It's very possible to go from seeing a doctor once a year to seeing a doctor or doctors once per week. Is that practical from your proposed property? If you rent you can easily move to accommodate changing circumstances.

Medical care is more affordable in the Philippines but, for a serious illness, it still it can be expensive. If you're from Europe or North America you're entitled to free medical care. Will it make sense to return home if you have a chronic illness. If so, what will happen to your dream home in the Philippines? If you rent you can more easily accommodate changing circumstances.

If you're a foreigner who's married a younger Filipino spouse, does the property make sense as a home for her after you're gone? Are you leaving her with the means of supporting herself and maintaining the house?

But, before you leap, consider why such undeveloped rural and beach properties are so undeveloped and so inexpensive. For the Filipino there is no work. Whenever one (Pinoy or foreigner) needs decent medical or dental care, whenever you want the most rudimentary imported groceries, whenever you want to dine out, whenever you want a shopping mall, whenever you need a hardware store, you may have to drive hours over rough provincial roads. Not once, but each and every time you need to see the doctor or dentist, for every shopping trip. Emergency medical care in the Philippines is poor in the cities. Outside the cities there is none. There will be no Internet access, no Goggle and easy access to the world wide web's rich resources for you or your kids, no Skype to keep up access to your family at home, no email and no blog. For all practical purposes there will be no police protection. If you have kids, the public schools for your kids will unlikely be what you have in mind. There will be no private school alternatives. You will be tremendously exotic to your neighbors, some of whom may never have seen a white foreigner before. It's likely that there will be no English speakers to chat with.

Don't get me wrong, living such a life in the rural Philippines can be richly rewarding, but I contend that it's a rare foreigner who could really be happy without the conveniences and necessities mentioned above. Bless those that can.

Our budget in the Philippines. We find that we can live fairly well in Iloilo City on about $1,700 per month. The main cost of living questions you need to adjust for are:

Prescription drugs and medical care. A $1,700 per month budget may cover routine medical and dental care for a reasonably healthy couple. Someone requiring expensive prescription drugs or expensive medical care needs to adjust the budget accordingly. A reserve account to cover emergency medical expenses is a must.

Support you provide to your spouse's Philippine family — routine and special such as medical emergencies.

Family size.

Dining out, entertainment

Expenses in ones home country.

Immigration fees.

Overseas travel.

Any installment payments such as for a motor vehicle.

Here's our expenses for 2008 (in U.S. Dollars)

Auto – fuel and maintenance 449.94

Bank Charges 103.96

Books, Mags, Music, News 229.41

Charity 143.10

Clothing 182.33

Computer Expense 282.27

Dining Out 758.56

Entertainment 10.15

Help to our Families (US and RP) 3,107.81

Gifts 43.17

Groceries 2,886.83

Household 1,100.89

Insurance: 32.49

Investment Exp 48.85

Legal & Immigration 19.47

Total Medical & Dental 1,187.70

Misc 490.78

Photography 597.31

Postage-Shipping 226.37

Recreation 10.81

Rent 6,000.00

Subscriptions 138.00

Taxes: 524.98

Real property Expense 192.72

Transportation 53.75

Travel 359.67

Utilities:

Bottled Water 56.52

Electric 744.39

Propane 28.96

Telephone & DSL 518.11

Utilities – Other 1.59

Total Utilities 1,349.57

House Help 581.87

Expenses – Other 0.25

Total Expenses $21,113.01

Notes. Our rent is very high by local standards. You can rent a nice apartment in Iloilo for P6500. Our is very deluxe — an unnecessary luxury.

Would be Philippine retirees often ask if they can live in the Philippines for $600 per month or $800 or $1000 per month. The answer to all these is yes. If you are healthy, can be happy living in a rural area, riding public transport, shopping in the public markets, avoid imported foods and can get along without air conditioning and maybe Internet access (if you're reading this maybe you can't), you can live on very little.

Now they are building a home in Iloilo.

March 27, 2010 Construction Expense Report. Covers 60 work days since beginning of project.

House Construction Expense Report

1/1/2010 through 3/27/2010 (in U.S. Dollars)

Equipment 2,484.79

Labor 4,783.31

Materials 18,039.56

Soft Costs 950.25

OVERALL TOTAL $26,257.91

[DARUMA07 25]

Very well said and informational sjr09.....

[sjr09 155]

Very well said and informational sjr09.....

Just a small snippet!

I've been following this Expat for sometime, he offers some valuable and logical insight on many topics, in my option. He has a really good topic on Banking for Expat's I'll post it when I get a chance.

[A and T 82]

I don't have a lot of money but my wife has a good job in the phil and likes it there. I went and enjoyed it as well, if our paper work fails im going to fly there and live with her, and probably wont come back.

Life is better there, in a lot of ways , things seem more reasonable and the people are very nice.

My fears would be medical care mostly , and the heat /pollution is bad in manila

[sjr09 155]

I don't have a lot of money but my wife has a good job in the phil and likes it there. I went and enjoyed it as well, if our paper work fails im going to fly there and live with her, and probably wont come back.

Life is better there, in a lot of ways , things seem more reasonable and the people are very nice.

My fears would be medical care mostly , and the heat /pollution is bad in manila

If you don't have a fair amount of money or some type of income you will have to relay on the good faith of your wife, hand to mouth, if you get my point. Life can be very hard in a lot of ways and things may seem reasonable on the surface. "It is an impoverished developing nation with about the same land area as the State of Arizona, but with more than 90 million residents. In cities poverty pollution and environmental degradation are everywhere. Open sewers and the smell of sewerage are frequent companions. Trash is strewn everywhere. There are hardly any parks. Power blackouts are frequent. The creatures of the land and sea have mostly been devoured by a hungry population. Vehicles belch black diesel fumes along main roads. Mangy dogs wander the streets. The raucous beat of karaoke shatters the night and ever-present roosters wake you at four in the morning. You'll need walls and bars on the windows of your house to prevent break-ins".If you're careful, decent routine medical and dental care can be found in the larger cities,sorry but this is the hard reality!

As for medical care there are many excellent doctors in the Philippines and some not so good. It can be hard to tell which is which. A suggestion go to one of the top Philippine hospitals; St. Luke's or Asian Hospital in Manila or Chong Hua in Cebu City. These hospitals have web sites which list doctors by specialty less incompetent doctors are less likely to be tolerated at the top hospitals. That said, there are excellent physicians elsewhere, but it's hard for the newcomer to distinguish the good from the bad. Sorry but this the reality, in city and province.

The United States Embassy has hospital and doctor recommendations at its website. They've recently added a new and expanded downloadable section for Manila doctors. These lists certainly don't include all good doctors and hospitals in the Philippines but are a good starting point.

.

[Fudpukker 18]

nope not gonna happen, maybe if they will work on the brownout situation then maybe, but for now nope..............

[TOM&Riz 4]

Just not sure how you managed to only pay 775 for a years worth of electric service, we have one aircon unit in our bedroom and only run it at night and our electric bill is 75.00 a month ? we have no major appliances except a ref and a tv

[WorriedPinay2 0]

Just not sure how you managed to only pay 775 for a years worth of electric service, we have one aircon unit in our bedroom and only run it at night and our electric bill is 75.00 a month ? we have no major appliances except a ref and a tv

I agree with most of expats figures. Of course everyones is different depending on your lifestyle. I do agree with you that the electric seems very low. Like you, I only ran one aircon mostly at night and my electric bill was much higher. And even though I had a nice house my rent was much lower. The only other figure that I was much much higher on was recreation and travel. How can someone only spend 10 dollars a year on recreation? And living in that part of the world, I travelled as much as possible. Overall, it is a helpfull guideline that you can adjust based on your personal lifestyle.

[Loolie 56]

Just some food for thought!

Words from an Expat living in the PI.

All about Philippine real estates. Foreigners may not own real property in the Philippines, except condominiums. Even though having your "own place" is irresistible, give deep consideration to renting instead of owning. Buying is much easier than selling. There will be a limited market for your multi-million peso dream home. You may wait years before finding a buyer. If your neighbor decides to raise pigs or start a karaoke bar, you'll wish you had resisted the lure of home ownership. A renter can just move on. If you own a home you must just bear whatever happens or become involved in foreigner v. local squabbles which you're unlikely to enjoy.

Generally speaking, there are two types of sellers; those who hold real estate as an investment and are willing to wait as long as it takes to get the price they want. Holding property for years in the Philippines is easy as real estate taxes are so low. Then there are those who are motivated sellers who really want to sell and are willing to negotiate. Some motivated sellers have unrealistic expectations, hoping to strike it rich, especially if a foreign buyer shows up. My approach for either type of seller is to decide what a property is worth to me and make an all cash offer. It may be well below the asking price. Probably it will be refused. Be very polite. Don't lord it over the seller. Explain the problems you have in paying more; kids in college, exchange rates etc. Leave a calling card and ask them to contact you if they change their mind. Be patient. Eventually you'll find a property you like and a motivated seller.

For the foreigner retiring to or retired in the Philippines another important consideration is health and health care. You may feel perfectly healthy when you retire at 55 or 60 or 65. No matter how fit you may seem now, chances are that you may have major and possibly disabling illnesses in your future.

Monthly rentals suitable for foreigners seem pretty abundant, with monthly rent ranging from P6000 to P25000 per month with P6000 to P8000 typical for two bedroom apartments and P10000 to P15000 for a decent but not lavish house. Really nice free-standing houses to rent can be quite hard to find.

　

Is that beautiful beach property you dream of with easy reach of reasonably good medical care? It's very possible to go from seeing a doctor once a year to seeing a doctor or doctors once per week. Is that practical from your proposed property? If you rent you can easily move to accommodate changing circumstances.

Medical care is more affordable in the Philippines but, for a serious illness, it still it can be expensive. If you're from Europe or North America you're entitled to free medical care. Will it make sense to return home if you have a chronic illness. If so, what will happen to your dream home in the Philippines? If you rent you can more easily accommodate changing circumstances.

If you're a foreigner who's married a younger Filipino spouse, does the property make sense as a home for her after you're gone? Are you leaving her with the means of supporting herself and maintaining the house?

But, before you leap, consider why such undeveloped rural and beach properties are so undeveloped and so inexpensive. For the Filipino there is no work. Whenever one (Pinoy or foreigner) needs decent medical or dental care, whenever you want the most rudimentary imported groceries, whenever you want to dine out, whenever you want a shopping mall, whenever you need a hardware store, you may have to drive hours over rough provincial roads. Not once, but each and every time you need to see the doctor or dentist, for every shopping trip. Emergency medical care in the Philippines is poor in the cities. Outside the cities there is none. There will be no Internet access, no Goggle and easy access to the world wide web's rich resources for you or your kids, no Skype to keep up access to your family at home, no email and no blog. For all practical purposes there will be no police protection. If you have kids, the public schools for your kids will unlikely be what you have in mind. There will be no private school alternatives. You will be tremendously exotic to your neighbors, some of whom may never have seen a white foreigner before. It's likely that there will be no English speakers to chat with.

Don't get me wrong, living such a life in the rural Philippines can be richly rewarding, but I contend that it's a rare foreigner who could really be happy without the conveniences and necessities mentioned above. Bless those that can.

Our budget in the Philippines. We find that we can live fairly well in Iloilo City on about $1,700 per month. The main cost of living questions you need to adjust for are:

Prescription drugs and medical care. A $1,700 per month budget may cover routine medical and dental care for a reasonably healthy couple. Someone requiring expensive prescription drugs or expensive medical care needs to adjust the budget accordingly. A reserve account to cover emergency medical expenses is a must.

Support you provide to your spouse's Philippine family — routine and special such as medical emergencies.

Family size.

Dining out, entertainment

Expenses in ones home country.

Immigration fees.

Overseas travel.

Any installment payments such as for a motor vehicle.

Here's our expenses for 2008 (in U.S. Dollars)

Auto – fuel and maintenance 449.94

Bank Charges 103.96

Books, Mags, Music, News 229.41

Charity 143.10

Clothing 182.33

Computer Expense 282.27

Dining Out 758.56

Entertainment 10.15

Help to our Families (US and RP) 3,107.81

Gifts 43.17

Groceries 2,886.83

Household 1,100.89

Insurance: 32.49

Investment Exp 48.85

Legal & Immigration 19.47

Total Medical & Dental 1,187.70

Misc 490.78

Photography 597.31

Postage-Shipping 226.37

Recreation 10.81

Rent 6,000.00

Subscriptions 138.00

Taxes: 524.98

Real property Expense 192.72

Transportation 53.75

Travel 359.67

Utilities:

Bottled Water 56.52

Electric 744.39

Propane 28.96

Telephone & DSL 518.11

Utilities – Other 1.59

Total Utilities 1,349.57

House Help 581.87

Expenses – Other 0.25

Total Expenses $21,113.01

Notes. Our rent is very high by local standards. You can rent a nice apartment in Iloilo for P6500. Our is very deluxe — an unnecessary luxury.

Would be Philippine retirees often ask if they can live in the Philippines for $600 per month or $800 or $1000 per month. The answer to all these is yes. If you are healthy, can be happy living in a rural area, riding public transport, shopping in the public markets, avoid imported foods and can get along without air conditioning and maybe Internet access (if you're reading this maybe you can't), you can live on very little.

Now they are building a home in Iloilo.

March 27, 2010 Construction Expense Report. Covers 60 work days since beginning of project.

House Construction Expense Report

1/1/2010 through 3/27/2010 (in U.S. Dollars)

Equipment 2,484.79

Labor 4,783.31

Materials 18,039.56

Soft Costs 950.25

OVERALL TOTAL $26,257.91

this is very informative...but it really depends on the lifestyle and the place where you want to retire...

my american neighbor before he was getting more or less $1000 per month from his pension...(as what Ive heard from the neighbors and his wife)... he was renting a house for 3000pesos, had internet access, air conditioning, telephone, always go to sm mall and grocery because he can find imported items and goods that he wants... and was able to buy a big bike...plus some spendings for girls and nightouts...so you can live quite like a king if you have that much...

its not that bad to retire in PI, you just need to save money, choose the best place for you and your family, and live a simple life like everybody does. thats all.

the problem is...some americans dont know how to adjust and dont want to adjust... unlike filipinos... hehehehehehe...joke.

God bless us all.

[tallcoolone 102]

me and my husband are into it also,,, we got started paying the land taxes, it will be in General Santos City -live there with my parents and in Cebu, particularly in Municipality of San Fernando. Living in Philippines would be our next future.

GenSan is suppose to be full of Muslims, I had started to go there a couple of times and been warned to stay away.

[tallcoolone 102]

For me it's a No Brainer to retire in Philippines.......

[Dakine 26]

GenSan is suppose to be full of Muslims, I had started to go there a couple of times and been warned to stay away.

ANYWHERE on Mindanao isn't looking to good for future retirement. Abu and MILF don't make the best neighbors.

Not that bad I guess if you don't "lose your head".

[tallcoolone 102]

ANYWHERE on Mindanao isn't looking to good for future retirement. Abu and MILF don't make the best neighbors.

Not that bad I guess if you don't "lose your head".

I will strongly disagree. Davao is probably the safest big city in Philippines for Americans.

[Loolie 56]

ANYWHERE on Mindanao isn't looking to good for future retirement. Abu and MILF don't make the best neighbors.

Not that bad I guess if you don't "lose your head".

abu and milf have feet... they can go anywhere they want to in PI...so its not just mindanao btw...hahahaha...

[Dakine 26]

I will strongly disagree. Davao is probably the safest big city in Philippines for Americans.

YEP it is NOW! But! Anywhere in Mindanao isn't looking to good for FUTUREretirement.

Would you take a drive from Davao to Zamboanga City? Would you want to be stuck in Davao and not be able to cruise the rest of Mindanao?

I/we cruise all over the other islands without to much worry. Yeah not Basilan or Zulu.

My wife owns 20 hectares in Kabasalan and we or her relatives can't eevn visit it for fear of "losing our heads".

Anyone want to buy it cheap and retire there . Proberty is near the beach and loaded with avocado and mangoe trees.