Renting Or Owning A House And Costs In Cebu

[TedDBayer]

@ Lou49, yes, I've been to the Philippines, Manila and didn't like it. I'm Canadian but spent most of the last 2 years in China. I don't need to be around expats all the time. If I make some friends and need advice, fine, but I don't need a crutch. I made my only expat friend in China just before I left and I don't speak much Chinese. I managed with having Chinese friends.

 

 Topic... I want to find a place in Cebu and stay for 6 months to see if I want to stay, maybe forever. I'm tired of being cold. I'm at home, we just had an ice storm, power has been off for 2 days. I lived in southern China, not freezing cold, but poor heat and cold enough. The Philippines has better weather, but I'll have to see if the rain is worse than China.

 I didn't think Philippine houses were insulated, maybe the roof, but insulating walls would go a long way to being easy to keep a place cool. The thermal mass of a concrete building would be more like living in an oven, giving off heat in the evenings when it gets cooler.

 If I decide to move permanently, I would bring my pets, I have a dog and cats and realize the shipping would be close to $3000, but that would be permanent. I love my critters and I'd never be satisfied that they would have and equal quality home. I raised pedigreed cats and with most people that wanted older breeding cats at a cheaper price, I had to question what would you do when faced with your first big Vet bill? Having pets is expensive and a responsibility. The price for buying a pet is nothing over the life of a pet, but taking care of it is.

 Leather furniture is the only way to have no fur on them and with a Collie and Maine Coons I'll have carpeting soon enough, just need to hair spray the floors once a week.

[TedDBayer]

BTW, thanks it's reassuring that the online rentals are over priced. I have to pay the expenses on my Canadian house while I'm away. I have a budget of $2000 a month for the Philippines, more if I move permanently.

[TedDBayer]

I looked at Emcor, TVs, tablets etc are more than in Canada, thought they'd be cheaper, closer to China and Japan.

[robert k]

Many people think things should be cheaper and a few things are. I think part of the problem is many of the things sold in the west are bought in large quantities and shipped nationwide to thousands of retail locations. You can usually find what you need or it can be shipped store to store in a couple days. In the Philippines, they order less, may not even have a floor model. No stock sir is a common answer to enquiries. It didn't bother me that much, I looked at it as a scavenger hunt, and sometimes you find a jewel. I think it would wear on me after awhile if I don't plan ahead sufficiently. Bear in mind that I recommended Emcor for availability, I think you can find things cheaper but sometimes not.

[Thomas]

Besides issolation - Higher above sea level = less/no aircon needed.

I believe Greg, who live/lived in the Cebu mountains, don't need to use AC at all.

I looked at Emcor, TVs, tablets etc are more than in Canada, thought they'd be cheaper, closer to China and Japan.

The Philippines have high "protection" custom fees for products, which they make themselves too. (Except for products from the Asia7 countries. I DON'T believe China belong to them.)

 

Second hand prices are high in general,

but nice, specialy custom made, (wood) furniture can be found rather cheap. I don't know about leather sofas, but there are bamboo and wood furniture.

(E g - I don't know if they have production together, but I remember it's a rather big "factory sell" selling (rather) nice looking wood furniture from a warehouse at the other side of the mountains from Cebu city. But I have forgot  - age  :)  -  if it was in Toledo or more north.  I suppouse there are similar at the east side too somewhere.)

[Dave Hounddriver]

it's reassuring that the online rentals are over priced.

 

Here is an online classified site that will give you a realistic view of what is available.  You can do better by pounding the pavement and looking for for better deals but it is time consuming unless you have a network of local friends to give you a heads up when good deals are coming available.  Any 'good deals' posted on line are gone before you can get to them.

 

http://www.cebuclassifieds.com/

 

Here is an example from recent postings

http://www.cebuclassifieds.com/detail.php?id=1312449&ModPagespeed=noscript

[TedDBayer]

Thanks for the link. I've seen listings for small 50-60'm houses, cute but I need a bigger kitchen and house and some yard. I'm used to a 250'm house, but really only use half and I definitely want some yard. I have 4 acres now, but I'm sick of mowing that much lawn. Enough yard for my dog would do. I want 100 to 120'm house.