It's Hard to Rent a Condo

[hk blues]

2 hours ago, MotorSarge said:

Hhmm...,

Well.... the unofficial/official PI Christmas season of the PI starts around the beginning of Septembre....ending quickly when their tired right after New Years.

And from our experience most tourist areas become thicker right around that mid-December to the weekend after New Yeras. 

Well, in theory yes Christmas season begins in September but other than seeing a few lights in the malls there is little evidence of it until mid October - at least around me. Even our SM City didn't start selling decorations until the beginning of October.  

[MikeyD]

This probably doesn't apply but last year when we needed to move fairly quickly in Cebu City, I kept trying various searches and finally found something that would work for us when I searched for "serviced apartments".  We found a furnished condo that was month to month that was readily available, no agent needed, we just showed up at the place and asked to view their available units.

[OnMyWay]

22 hours ago, JJReyes said:

Thanks.  I will research AirBNB tomorrow for rentals.    

Find anything?  Before Earthdome posted, I was also going to suggest AirBnb and saw several available for the entire time I put in which was 2 months I think.  You might find more if you are willing to move once or twice.  The places I saw were 50-100k per month.  Not too bad.

We spend Christmas in BGC a few years ago during covid.  Despite the Covid restrictions at that time, we had a really nice time and enjoyed BGC.

[Mike J]

Heavy tourism in Moalboal begins early December and continues thru the end of Chinese New Year.  Slows down a bit but still quite busy until about mid March.  Good for the resorts, resto/bars, dive shops, etc.  Seeing more and more young backpackers, early to mid 20s.  I think many are college students taking a break  from studies.

[JJReyes]

13 hours ago, OnMyWay said:

Find anything?  Before Earthdome posted, I was also going to suggest AirBnb and saw several available for the entire time I put in which was 2 months I think.  You might find more if you are willing to move once or twice.  The places I saw were 50-100k per month.  Not too bad.

Thanks everyone.  As suggested, we searched AirBnb and found a condo that we reserved for two months starting this Saturday.  It's a little small at 37 square meters, on the 35th floor, but the location is excellent.  Price is PHP 125,000 a month.  The building is across the street from the Mitsukoshi Mall and diagonally across the street from the Grand Hyatt.  Next door is a Landers Super Store and there is a Marketplace supermarket a short block away at Uptown Mall.  Lots of restaurants in the surrounding area which is great since our preference is to eat out for lunch and dinner.  Although the unit includes a washer/dryer, we will inquire with the concierge desk for a pickup/deliver laundry service.  Our experience is the machines sold in the Philippines dry up only to about the 80% level.  Another is finding a once-a-week cleaning service,

[earthdome]

Congrats on finding a place.

[Mike J]

22 hours ago, JJReyes said:

Although the unit includes a washer/dryer, we will inquire with the concierge desk for a pickup/deliver laundry service.  Our experience is the machines sold in the Philippines dry up only to about the 80% level. 

Should dry to 100% if it is a "real" dryer?  The spin dry cycle on washing machines are nice but agree you then need to hang them to complete the drying process.  Moalboal recently opened a laundry service and two (at least) quicky followed.  We are now sending out our laundry.  Wash, completely dry, folded, and wrapped in plastic.  190 peso for a large load, eight kilo if I remember correctly.  They also will use unscented detergent/softener at my request because of my allergies.  A bargain in my opinion.

[JJReyes]

28 minutes ago, Mike J said:

Should dry to 100% if it is a "real" dryer?  The spin dry cycle on washing machines are nice but agree you then need to hang them to complete the drying process.  Moalboal recently opened a laundry service and two (at least) quicky followed.  We are now sending out our laundry.  Wash, completely dry, folded, and wrapped in plastic.  190 peso for a large load, eight kilo if I remember correctly.  They also will use unscented detergent/softener at my request because of my allergies.  A bargain in my opinion.

At Seda Hotel BGC, they had a promotional offer of 4 kilos bulk laundry for PHP1,000 plus VAT.  Picked up before 9:00 am, delivered by early evening.  Expensive but cheaper than the individual pieces charge at most hotels.  I recall it's cheaper to buy new socks than pay for the hotel's "wash & dry" service.  We have come across two Mr. Jeff retail laundry services in BGC.  It must be a franchise because they have them in Ecuador.  

When you get to a certain age, having someone else wash, dry, fold your laundry beats doing it yourself.

[hk blues]

5 hours ago, JJReyes said:

When you get to a certain age, having someone else wash, dry, fold your laundry beats doing it yourself.

Agreed - that's what I got a wife for! 

[JJReyes]

We moved into our rental condo yesterday.  The location is great and the first thing we did was stock-up on certain essential items.  This is in preparation for the super typhoon headed our way.  Having Landers next door is so convenient.  A one-year membership is inexpensive at PHP 700.  There is a building overhang that permits entrance access from our condo building without getting wet, if it is raining.  The condo contract is for two months ending January 16th.  Thereafter, we may move to a Makati commercial center hotel.  Because of Christmas, we couldn't find 30 days long stay hotels in a location my wife and I like.