Buy Or Rent?

[russellmania]

I was thinking of buying a medium priced ( P1 to 1.5 million) condo one day in Cebu. My friend has been living in the phils for 5 yrs now cebu city,davao. He rents apts in the middle range around p18,000 per month and he says he will always rent. He has spent around $27k or more on rents since he has been living there and that will go much higher im sure. His point is he could always move if the place turns to sh&t,which is a good point. But if you buy a condo for $25k or 30k and live in it til you feel its time for a change of scenery,then you can rent it out and move to a better location right? What your opinion on this?

[Geoff Thomas]

Condos in that price range ( 1 to 1.5M ) tend to be studio apartments only 22 square meter, with a rental income of approx 12 to 18,000 peso per month, great ROI but as always depends on location, the quality of furnishing and good advertising. As a base to come and go from Cebu could also work for some depending on their needs

Edited January 6, 2014 by Geoff Thomas

[MikeB]

I was thinking of buying a medium priced ( P1 to 1.5 million) condo one day in Cebu. My friend has been living in the phils for 5 yrs now cebu city,davao. He rents apts in the middle range around p18,000 per month and he says he will always rent. He has spent around $27k or more on rents since he has been living there and that will go much higher im sure. His point is he could always move if the place turns to sh&t,which is a good point. But if you buy a condo for $25k or 30k and live in it til you feel its time for a change of scenery,then you can rent it out and move to a better location right? What your opinion on this?

I agree 100% with your friend. Heard too many horror stories. 

[OnMyWay]

 

I was thinking of buying a medium priced ( P1 to 1.5 million) condo one day in Cebu. My friend has been living in the phils for 5 yrs now cebu city,davao. He rents apts in the middle range around p18,000 per month and he says he will always rent. He has spent around $27k or more on rents since he has been living there and that will go much higher im sure. His point is he could always move if the place turns to sh&t,which is a good point. But if you buy a condo for $25k or 30k and live in it til you feel its time for a change of scenery,then you can rent it out and move to a better location right? What your opinion on this?

I agree 100% with your friend. Heard too many horror stories. 

 

 

I agree with renting in general, and condos have their own set of issues,

 

BUT.............

 

Many of us are older than our wives / girlfriends and most likely they will outlive us.  Don't you want to leave them with a place to live?  A rental does not cover this.  Of course, you can leave them cash to buy a home, but either way, it seems that this aspect is one of the good reasons to eventually purchase a home (in the wife's name of course).

[Call me bubba]

RENT? OWN?

you can always choose your friends BUT never your neighbors.

 

as another poster said. TOO MANY HORROR STORIES 

rent you can walk away. Own? you walk away you lose and may lose BIG$$$

[scott h]

We were thinking about getting a condo as a place to get away, or to stash excess relatives when they come to visit. After visiting a few, my main concerns are naturally the size. Most seem very small and the developers cram as many as they can into each building to maximize profit. My other concern is the potential for lack of maintenance. I have seen to many theme parks etc. that once the developers get their investment out, they cut back on other things to maximize profit. There was even an article recently were two security companys had a shoot out at a condo complex over something or other. lol. All in all I personally would prefer a home of one type or another where I was in control of maintenance etc etc

[Tukaram (Tim)]

First, I have not seen anything over here built even close to a standard that I would be happy buying.  Second, as others said, you cannot choose your neighbors.  With a rental you can always walk away.

 

I have no desire to buy anytime soon.  Now if I marry my girlfriend later (quite likely) I would want to leave her a place to live.  But she wants to end up in her old province, and I can't stand it there - or her family.  So I will not live there!  So where to buy a house?  Yeah... rent sounds good to me.

[JJReyes]

RENT first, BUY later. Try to get the landlord to agree to month-to-month. You need to remain flexible during your first one or two years in the Philippines.  

[Thomas]

Condos in that price range ( 1 to 1.5M ) tend to be studio apartments only 22 square meter, with a rental income of approx 12 to 18,000 peso per month, great ROI but as always depends on location, the quality of furnishing and good advertising. As a base to come and go from Cebu could also work for some depending on their needs

Well. I know it's a real estate boom in Manila - many say baloon...   - but it seem in many/most cases it's too hard to even get the buy price back. Your numbers are around 16 percent  (=10 to 22) BEFORE deductions for fees, tax, furniture, repairs, advertising and probably need to pay someone living close to look after it some. In most cases that don't seem to be any good ROI    :)     specialy when comparing with e g "Harvest sharing"  (=One finance and the other do the work, Then the harvest is splited.)

 

BUT sure there are exceptions within real estate too, and I suppouse it's good chance you know where the odds are best.

But if you buy a condo for $25k or 30k and live in it til you feel its time for a change of scenery,then you can rent it out and move to a better location right? What your opinion on this?

Well. Yes, IF you can rent it out for an OK price and get good renters.

I WOULDN'T buy/build anything if I don't plan to stay there "for ever", and probably not then either if I would want to stay in a CITY, because there are many RENT options. 

(But after I have rented a while, I plan to settle RURAL with no close neighbours, so I suppouse I "have to" build because probably nothing suitable to rent there. An advantage with that is small risk to get disturbing neighbours, if not having any  :lol:

[jpbago]

I know of 2 couples (one is both filipino and the other couple is a filipina with a kano) who have made lots of money in the past 3 years by building houses in a subdivision. They do one per year and have no trouble selling for all cash package deals. The advantage they have is with the people they know for the construction and lawyers for the sale and purchases.