What Size House, Lot Or Condo Is Good To Have Here?

[Mr Lee]

This thread is sort of a continuation of THIS thread which is now moving toward homes and I wanted to give everyone a place to talk about their homes here. So I am wondering from those of you who bought or built homes or condos, why did you buy what you did and now that you are living it it, do you feel you could have done with less?As I pointed out in the other thread, it can get rather expensive if a home is too large, for instance we only have a little over 80 square meters in Our Condo and there is nothing special about it because I believe in living way below our means, but we do use the aircon most of the time, and it costs us p7800 a month for electric to air condition it 24/7 even when we only have two triple sliding glass doors with room darkener curtains on both that keep out the heat, and then only two small windows in the bathrooms that are not exposed to the outside and are actually in an air shaft so no sun gets on them and the bathrooms stay cool even without the aircon. Of course most people will only aircon their bedrooms so that will cost less but I am spoiled and like my comfort, so I prefer the whole condo cool while we are here. So all, tell us your thoughts on this and why you did what you did and would you do it again or do something differently?BTW Uzi, you have a very nice home you posted a picture of in the other thread. :thumbsup:Oh, and if I had it to do again then I would do exactly the same thing we did.

[TheMason]

I don't own a home or condo here, we rent instead. When we lived in Baguio we rented a 2 bedroom apartment that was about 65 sq. m (700 aq. ft.) in size. The bedrooms, kitchen, and CR were all spacious, but the sala was very tiny. If I was sitting on the sofa and stretched my legs all the way out in front of me, they hit the other wall. Now that we're in Manila, we're renting a 17 sq. m condo (180 sq. ft) for 12,000 k. Obviously, it is a studio with a small kithen area and CR, with enough room for a double bed, desk and cabinet. It would be a great size if I was living alone, but its cramped with 2 of us here.If I was going to buy a condo, I would want one between 50-70 sq. meters and if I was building a home, I would want between 80-100 sq. meters on a 150 sq. m lot.By comparison, the last home I owned in the US was a 4-bedroom, 206 sq. m (2200 sq. ft) home on an 800 sq. meter (0.19 acres) lot. Downsizing my house was the easiest lifestyle adjustment I had to make when I moved here. I don't miss the larger home at all. When we return to the US later this year, we'll start out renting a small apartment. A small 1-bedroom in the US is still about 40-50 sq m. in size.

[Art2ro]

This thread is sort of a continuation of THIS thread which is now moving toward homes and I wanted to give everyone a place to talk about their homes here. So I am wondering from those of you who bought or built homes or condos, why did you buy what you did and now that you are living it it, do you feel you could have done with less?As I pointed out in the other thread, it can get rather expensive if a home is too large, for instance we only have a little over 80 square meters in Our Condo and there is nothing special about it because I believe in living way below our means, but we do use the aircon most of the time, and it costs us p7800 a month for electric to air condition it 24/7 even when we only have two triple sliding glass doors with room darkener curtains on both that keep out the heat, and then only two small windows in the bathrooms that are not exposed to the outside and are actually in an air shaft so no sun gets on them and the bathrooms stay cool even without the aircon. Of course most people will only aircon their bedrooms so that will cost less but I am spoiled and like my comfort, so I prefer the whole condo cool while we are here. So all, tell us your thoughts on this and why you did what you did and would you do it again or do something differently?Oh, and if I had it to do again then I would do exactly the same thing we did.

If I had the chance to do it over again, I surely would, same place here! I would like to have a single level home and our own pool with a studio type cabana, patio and a big stainless steel BBQ grill! Still can be our future plans! Yeah right, if I can live long enough to make it happen! :tiphat:

[Mr Lee]

It might be worth noting here that even a very rich man such as Manny Pacquiao feels that a p7 million home is good enough for his mom, so I have to wonder how big or how expensive a home an expat really needs? And it might also be noted that it is called a mansion and at p7 million, so that might give us all a clue as to the home we may live in might be called and thought of by the locals and family.MANILA, Philippines -- The new house of 'Mommy' Dionisia Pacquiao in General Santos City has become a tourist attraction to the Filipino boxing champion Manny Pacquiao's legion of fans. The 300-square-meter mansion, a gift from the 7-division world champion, is just a stone’s throw away from her old house.The P7-million mansion was just recently blessed. It has four big bedrooms complete with expensive furniture, including a P700,000 dining set bought in Italy.You can read the whole story here

[Patsada]

well, the question is very individual: how much does one need/want/can afford/can handle ........we (2) live in a 300sqm+ Villa on a 8.000sqm land and after 3 years now, we definitely feel it much too big for us.we want to remain on Camiguin Island but in a not so far future we would like to move to smaller place but always in a great location with stunning sea views.....Patsada

[Mik]

Our house is single level, 112 sqm (1207 sq ft) with a big front terrace. The lot is 1228 sqm. It's 3 miles to the nearest beach, should have been closer but this land was a lot cheaper..

[Art2ro]

It might be worth noting here that even a very rich man such as Manny Pacquiao feels that a p7 million home is good enough for his mom, so I have to wonder how big or how expensive a home an expat really needs? And it might also be noted that it is called a mansion and at p7 million, so that might give us all a clue as to the home we may live in might be called and thought of by the locals and family.MANILA, Philippines -- The new house of 'Mommy' Dionisia Pacquiao in General Santos City has become a tourist attraction to the Filipino boxing champion Manny Pacquiao's legion of fans. The 300-square-meter mansion, a gift from the 7-division world champion, is just a stone's throw away from her old house.The P7-million mansion was just recently blessed. It has four big bedrooms complete with expensive furniture, including a P700,000 dining set bought in Italy.You can read the whole story here

That's cheap for a PhP7 million mansion! Php7 million where we live is just an average 2 story house on a 500 sq. meter lot! But the PhP700,000 dining room set isn't cheap though! I also heard gossip that Manny Pacquiao owns a home in Brentville, an exclusive gated community in Laguna just off SLEX on Mamplazan Road. Homes there are into the PhP30-60 million range! Edited February 21, 2010 by Art & Jho

[Travis]

I am single & I rent a 38 sq meter place & it is good enough for me & maybe 1 more & the electric is cheap because it is small to cool

[scianna54]

When I first moved to the Philippines, I had a 65 m2 1 BR condo but I felt too isulated and sold it. Now I am married and we have a house which is approximately 150 m2 on a 220 m2 lot. We are only using about half of the 150 m2 for us (rest my wifes family) which is plenty and 2 BR out of 3 are basically storage rooms. We have a big terrace of about 20 to 25 m2 overlooking some trees and plants which is quite nice. We also have A/C in the living room but don't use it all the time.

[UZI]

It might be worth noting here that even a very rich man such as Manny Pacquiao feels that a p7 million home is good enough for his mom, so I have to wonder how big or how expensive a home an expat really needs? And it might also be noted that it is called a mansion and at p7 million, so that might give us all a clue as to the home we may live in might be called and thought of by the locals and family.MANILA, Philippines -- The new house of 'Mommy' Dionisia Pacquiao in General Santos City has become a tourist attraction to the Filipino boxing champion Manny Pacquiao's legion of fans. The 300-square-meter mansion, a gift from the 7-division world champion, is just a stone's throw away from her old house.The P7-million mansion was just recently blessed. It has four big bedrooms complete with expensive furniture, including a P700,000 dining set bought in Italy.You can read the whole story here

P7 million will buy a lot of house in a place like Gen San but a modern style house in Cebu or like where I live in Sta Rosa it will get around a 200-250 sqM lot with a house size around 150 SqM. Ours is 191 SqM lot & 115 SqM house and some are smaller than ours. There are a number of sub divisions around us with house & lots in similar size & price range (P5-8 million).This 3 bed house & lot which just recently sold for P7 million is one of the larger houses on our estate, next to the clubhouse & pool:

Location Santarosa Estates, Barangay Don JoseOffering One specific individual property unitName Santarosa Estates 2 by Avida Land