Buying 4 to 6 hectares in Philippines and buidling a couple of house

[Joe Kano 327]

Pros and Cons?

 

My relative moved to Philippines a few years ago and he is loving it over there.  He is going to move into a bigger house and is leaning toward building.  He said land prices has skyrocketed from what he could get for $500 twenty years ago when he first visited is now going for $50K USD.

 

He asked me if I maybe wanted to go in halves and buy a few hectares and we just each put a house up, that way he could keep an eye on it if I wasn't there for an extended period, which maybe just a 2nd house for me when I spend a few months each year in the Philippines.  I may move there full time, but right now I am more into traveling and wanting to stay in once place for a long time, unless it is my US house.

 

He was thinking we fence off the whole area and maybe a few years down the road we could sell off a little bit of the land in the back area and maybe be able to make some cash since land seems to be going up all the time in the Philippines.

 

He said he thinks for about 140K total we could get some good land outside of  Davao City some where between 4 to 7 hectares.  I would still have to build a house on it, but at least I would let him build his first and go from there.

 

Any opinions on the plan?  

[payxibka 10,045]

A Kano can't own the property 

[jskibo 588]

While I will build in the Philippines for retirement, I wouldn't consider any money spent there an "Investment", more like sunk funds, lost money

[Kby175 115]

Just make sure you hire yourself a good attorney that practices real estate law, there are quite a few people in the Philippines that will come up with some pretty legitimate looking paperwork. My wife and I have 10 hectares of farming land on Negros and we had to go through quite a few hurtles.  Also, be aware of your neighbors if you get land or build a house near noisy neighbors there is not much you can do, one of the houses we rented had a neighbor that liked to start signing at 5 am and blasted their speakers for all to hear.  

[Joe Kano 327]

13 hours ago, payxibka said:

A Kano can't own the property 

My wife can

 

Or my relative wife can.

 

 Third option,  I would just put the property in lease for 25 and put either my wife or my relative wife as the owner and have it auto renew every 25 years, and in my death the land would either go into my wife ownership or my relative wife.

 

 

[Joe Kano 327]

7 hours ago, jskibo said:

While I will build in the Philippines for retirement, I wouldn't consider any money spent there an "Investment", more like sunk funds, lost money

Not an investment for me.  Just have the option to sell some land in future if needed if land prices keeps going up like it has.  

 

I just want a large chunk of land so I don't have neighbors close to me.  That way I can build a house American style and  build it the way I want it.

 

  

[Joe Kano 327]

3 hours ago, Kby175 said:

Just make sure you hire yourself a good attorney that practices real estate law, there are quite a few people in the Philippines that will come up with some pretty legitimate looking paperwork. My wife and I have 10 hectares of farming land on Negros and we had to go through quite a few hurtles.  Also, be aware of your neighbors if you get land or build a house near noisy neighbors there is not much you can do, one of the houses we rented had a neighbor that liked to start signing at 5 am and blasted their speakers for all to hear.  

We have that covered on attorney.

 

My relative has befriended another American over there, his wife is a real estate agent.  He built a huge house in Davao a few years ago, So I am sure they will have the resource to find the attorney to make sure everything is legit.  

 

My sister n law is set to graduate from law school this year, I will let my nephew due the due diligence on the legal aspect of land ownership, he is pretty good with legal stuff.  Plus him being retired over there he has time for that.

 

I am aware of people trying to build piggery near your house, I figure if I get enough land I will not have to deal with noisy neighbors or people trying to have a piggery business in their home.

[Carpe Vinum 2,327]

Did someone have to get a new username again? I would be very careful buying land. Make sure you do your research.

[jskibo 588]

3 hours ago, Joe Kano said:

Not an investment for me.  Just have the option to sell some land in future if needed if land prices keeps going up like it has.  

 

I just want a large chunk of land so I don't have neighbors close to me.  That way I can build a house American style and  build it the way I want it.

 

  

Putting a CHB fence around that much land will cost you more than the house 😉

[Joe Kano 327]

17 hours ago, payxibka said:

A Kano can't own the property 

Actually that is incorrect

 

You can own property,  building and condos.

 

It's the land you can't own

1 hour ago, jskibo said:

Putting a CHB fence around that much land will cost you more than the house 😉

What is a CHB? Certified Hollow Block?

[Joe Kano 327]

3 hours ago, boris64 said:

Did someone have to get a new username again? I would be very careful buying land. Make sure you do your research.

I will let my relative take care of the due diligence part.  He is living over there, and has the time.

 

 

[payxibka 10,045]

10 minutes ago, Joe Kano said:

Actually that is incorrect

 

You can own property,  building and condos.

 

It's the land you can't own

What is a CHB? Certified Hollow Block?

I said property and didn't say you couldn't own the improvements to said property 

[jskibo 588]

2 hours ago, Joe Kano said:

Actually that is incorrect

 

You can own property,  building and condos.

 

It's the land you can't own

What is a CHB? Certified Hollow Block?

Concrete Hollow Block

[Joe Kano 327]

On ‎3‎/‎1‎/‎2021 at 1:33 AM, jskibo said:

Concrete Hollow Block

I heard there are actually different grades of hollow blocks you can buy

 

The machine made ones are suppose to be the superiors ones.  I know some of man made hollow blocks I have dealt with over there will almost fall apart in your hand they are so poorly built.

 

Not sure on price or material for a fence, I would think a average house would run at least 100k to build, maybe more.  

[seekingthetruth 1,246]

Visa Journey is about moving to the U.S., not moving to the Philippines.  The advice you get here will probably be biased, but could still be good advice.  Remember that many here on VJ are trying to get loved ones OUT of the Philippines, not IN.  And most have good reasons for leaving the Philippines.

 

Covid was the straw that broke the camel's back, for me.  It makes you realize that you, as a foreigner, and also the common citizens, don't have the same rights as you do in the U.S.  Less freedoms.  I will have been here almost 10 years when we move next year.  I want to move to Texas, and you want to move from Texas.

 

I visited Davao to consider it as a place to live, before I settled in Subic Bay Freeport.  It was ok in 2012, but the main reason I would not choose to live there is because you are limited to one area if you want to be safe.  I like to drive and take my family on driving vacations.  I would never risk that there.  Gen San is a two hour drive from Davao City.  I would never risk it.  So basically, if you live in Davao City, you are on an island and can't go anywhere.  There are those who live in S. Mindanao and will argue that it is safe.  It only takes one incident to change your mind.  It might only be NPA shaking you down for some money if you are lucky.  Abu Sayyaf, good luck.

 

I know people in Davao and they like it  Also in CDO.  They had a all out war in Marawi City not long ago, and that is less than 3 hours from CDO.  A friend of mine was in the U.S. military several years back and spent long time in Gen San as part of the anti-terrorist advisors.  He ended up marrying a girl from there.  They built a family compound there, walls and everything.  He has not felt safe to go back there in a long time, so the house is for the family now.  He said even though they tried to keep his visits quiet, and he would go from the airport to the compound in a dark tinted car, everyone in the whole area would know he was there immediately.  His wife still visits, but not him.

 

On 2/28/2021 at 3:14 AM, Joe Kano said:

He said he thinks for about 140K total we could get some good land outside of  Davao City some where between 4 to 7 hectares.  I would still have to build a house on it, but at least I would let him build his first and go from there.

Are you saying 4-7 hectares for 140k USD?  Good luck.  I just Googled and it said Davao City is p40,000 - p70,000 per square meter.  Just call it about $1000 per square meter.  So a hectare in a safe area in Davao would be $10,000,000.  Doesn't sound right.  So you would buy in some unsafe area?  A wall won't help much when NPA decides they want to stay with you for a while.