Real Estate Agent Recommendations - Cebu

[dean01]

You better off to stay in a hotel 1 month and find a place with help. As you may end up in a place you do not like. The links above are good contacts but until you get here it will be hard to know what area and street works for you. I was lucky I moved near Capitol and it works for me. But it not for every one.

[sto99]

You better off to stay in a hotel 1 month and find a place with help. As you may end up in a place you do not like. The links above are good contacts but until you get here it will be hard to know what area and street works for you.I was lucky I moved near Capitol and it works for me. But it not for every one.

Hi Dean,Appreciate the advice. That is exactly what I will be doing starting in April. Staying a month to find a place. Thanks,Bruce

[sto99]

Most of the rentals I have seen online are a bit much. A lot are the same as my house payment here in the States. While walking around Cebu I saw a lot of inexpensive places for rent though. I think when I do move I will have to just wing it.

Hi Tuka Ram,Thanks for that info. I am hoping you are correct and the prices I am seeing on the internet are higher than they would be once I 'hit the ground'. It would always be great to save a little extra.Appreciate itBruce

[Bruce]

If you want to save some money, send in my friend 'under cover' to see if there is any price differences. Often you will find 'stacked' comissions as different people all want to get their name along side of yours as they introduce you up the food chain to the 'actual' licensed person or the owner's rep with authority to rent. Sometimes the comission can be as high as 1 months rent.

[Geoff Thomas]

??????????If you want to save some money, send in my friend 'under cover' to see if there is any price differences. Often you will find 'stacked' comissions as different people all want to get their name along side of yours as they introduce you up the food chain to the 'actual' licensed person or the owner's rep with authority to rent. Sometimes the comission can be as high as 1 months rent.??????????Just thought I would give some detail and my guide for people arriving fresh to the Philippines or any other country for that matter!Rest assured being licensed and having the owners permission to actively market their properties is what we have built our good name on.We personally pick up people and drive them to various area's within the city so as to give them an understanding as to where they are and what is available to them.Commissions vary as does the standard of service you are getting but there are set guide lines within the trade that are or at least should be adhered to.Commissions are paid by the property owner at a pre arranged amount, so the actual tenant or buyer does not pay any more or less unless special circumstances arise.General rule of thumb I would use and from past experience would be if the broker or agent is not licensed or working under a license then don't use them, also there are a few warning signs once actually meeting these brokers, if you meet at various coffee shops around the city and are greeted by an entourage of people expecting you to pay for drinks whilst discussing not your needs but their properties which don't come anywhere near your requirements, then walk away. This I would also say would be my personal reaction if I was asked to get into a Taxi to go and view a list of properties that you have not seen any details of but they recommend, it would be a long taxi ride at your expense to again see properties that fall short of your requirements.

Edited February 19, 2012 by Geoff Thomas

[Bruce]

??????????If you want to save some money, send in my friend 'under cover' to see if there is any price differences. Often you will find 'stacked' comissions as different people all want to get their name along side of yours as they introduce you up the food chain to the 'actual' licensed person or the owner's rep with authority to rent. Sometimes the comission can be as high as 1 months rent.??????????Just thought I would give some detail and my guide for people arriving fresh to the Philippines or any other country for that matter!Rest assured being licensed and having the owners permission to actively market their properties is what we have built our good name on.We personally pick up people and drive them to various area's within the city so as to give them an understanding as to where they are and what is available to them.Commissions vary as does the standard of service you are getting but there are set guide lines within the trade that are or at least should be adhered to.Commissions are paid by the property owner at a pre arranged amount, so the actual tenant or buyer does not pay any more or less unless special circumstances arise.General rule of thumb I would use and from past experience would be if the broker or agent is not licensed or working under a license then don't use them, also there are a few warning signs once actually meeting these brokers, if you meet at various coffee shops around the city and are greeted by an entourage of people expecting you to pay for drinks whilst discussing not your needs but their properties which don't come anywhere near your requirements, then walk away. This I would also say would be my personal reaction if I was asked to get into a Taxi to go and view a list of properties that you have not seen any details of but they recommend, it would be a long taxi ride at your expense to again see properties that fall short of your requirements.

The voice of experience! But most new arrivals will spend a lot of time and money learning this. I was lucky when I was undecided about Samar or Cebu and buying a condo on Cebu. Lee helped a lot even though he was not in the country at the same time. I also had a friend there who works for an agent as one of the women in the mall handing out condo brochures. She already knew the ins and out of what was going on and that saved me time and money. I looked at at least 10 places before I decided that while nice, Cebu was growing and too much going on for me. So I decided on Samar where I have a more quiet life.Once of the BIGGEST issues I had, as a potential buyer is the inflexible payment 'schemes'. First, the term 'scheme' is not a positive term in Kano English. And in my case, I do not have a salary or steady income. I did make enough money, but since I owned a pawn / gun shop, my money ebbed and flowed as needed.In Cebu there was, what I call, bait and switch with low payments... but upon inspection, that was for the down payment! After you paid the 20% down, in the small monthly payments for 24 months......THEN you had to come up with the remaining balance...I had 10K USD to put down in cash (in the US, I would need to send it over) and then I wanted 48 month financing with no prepayment penalty so I can throw $1,000 USD at the balance at a time, or just make the minimum payment if need be. I was looking at a 1.5 million peso units +- range, and I figured I could pay it off in 24 months, with an additional 24 months safety net if needed. But no agent or property owners were interested in working with me. Which is a good thing now as I am happy in Samar! Edited February 20, 2012 by Bruce

[santos.phil]

Upon reading this one, this has been a very interesting thing to have. I really just hope that everything would be well to those people would want to live in cebu. I just hope that people would appreciate and follow I guess the recommendation and works of this one. Thanks!

[Bil Brock]

You have already recieved the best advice. Come here & look around. You will find reasonably priced places, if you take the time to look, or have a local to help you. Almost everything on the net is overpriced, as are the agents, wheather licensed or not. There isn't an agent in Cebu that could get us a bette rdeal or price than we got, just looking around with the help of someone who lived close by, & had no vested interest in what we paid or for how long. We have been our present rental for 1 1/2 years & have no intension of moving.

That being said, my wife thinks we should buy, Mostly the same applys there, just wait for the deal to come by.

[Curley]

I was approached by one the the many vendors selling property in a mall, I told them that I was not interested in buying but was looking for a house to rent, the lady spoke to her manager and he said he had a very nice condo to rent and assured me it was luxurious. The price was 35,000 a month so we arranged to have a look. We and our friendly agent were met by an onsite agent who let slip that the price was 30,000....... which caused some anguish to "our agent". The condo, while nice, was definitely not luxurious, once outside "our agent" made excuses that he had to leave urgently and left us to make our own way home. We later saw the same condo advertised at 25,000 which was the going rate for that building. A nice commission for a little deal on the side.

[Bil Brock]

Sounds like 2 "agents" involves=double commission & costs, lol.