Where would you stay?

[Ynot]

In about 14 months I will be there, renting a house at first whilst I look for somewhere to buy and then build.  I get the feeling you get better value if you build a house yourself instead of going through a package deal.  From what I can gather what you get in a package deal is over priced considering you can buy land and build a house for less, but that's my opinion.  

But my question is, do you live in gated community or do you live amongst the locals?  Previously I built a house in Thailand amongst the locals and have never felt threatened whilst staying there.  Yet from what I've read on the posts a lot of people recommend living in a gate community as supposedly its safer! Perhaps bad news makes the papers more so than good, therefore all we read about is when the foreigner was stabbed, shot or killed.  Good news stories don't sell as well.   Nevertheless, what have you chosen to do?  Are you living amongst the locals or are you holed up in your gated community, from which some accounts is not all that safe!

Edited March 27, 2016 by Ynot

[stevewool]

My sister in law moved into a gated community from her old place , the old place was in a place where i would never live but she was there for many years so everyone new each other, the only reason she moved was for the kids sake,

But this new place well its just like her old place but there is space between the houses, dogs running everywhere, roasters making noises all the time, cars everywhere some abandoned , yet there are signs up at the gatehouse saying none of these are allowed, may be its down to what you are wanting and what you can afford, by the way the new house she brought was over 2.4 million peso but with intrest its going to be over 4 million

[Dave Hounddriver]

46 minutes ago, Ynot said:

But my question is, do you live in gated community or do you live amongst the locals?

I live in a gated subdivision, with guards who sometimes patrol the area, and we leave the house alone for days at a time when we go on vacations.  Jack does not live in a gated community and mentioned in another thread that he is concerned whenever leaving the house unattended, even with the 3 dogs on patrol.

Second example:

My good friends live in a gated and walled compound without security guards and have each been robbed at least once (in one case it was a home invasion), on the other hand I lived in a house in the province of Biliran for 3 years with no walls, and just a couple of dogs.  we would go out for days at a time and never had a thing stolen (except some tilapia stolen by birds  )

 

So the answer is:  Your mileage will vary.

[Queenie O.]

We live among the locals in a house that we had built.  Our place is along the old National Road but since a mainline road was built we don't get much traffic going by our place. There is ocean on two sides and a rocky cliff across the street, so not too many houses directly near us. Further up the road there are houses also with foreigners, but you rarely see them come out. I've never even met any of them. We are friendly, visible, and on good terms with our local barangay neighbors, so far we haven't felt threatened living where we are.  We like to think that nearby neighbors try to look out for us as we try to look out for them.

 There is a high gate and wall on the street side, and we feel that having a well-lit perimeter is important, and helps to keep any potential intruders wary of coming too close at night. Our two askal dogs are very alert and protective of their yard.

 

There are no guaranties about being completely safe no matter where you settle of course. I think as Dave  said, it depends on your likes and circumstances. For us, a gated community would not be our taste, although we could never go away like he does, without someone staying at our place overnight or for an extended period of time. That is just common sense in our neighborhood. Going to the city or surrounds though, as long as we lock our gate and doors, we don't worry about going out for the day.

 Living among where the local people live, and the sense of belonging to a barangay and town is just comforting and appealing to us.

 

[mogo51]

2 hours ago, Ynot said:

In about 14 months I will be there, renting a house at first whilst I look for somewhere to buy and then build.  I get the feeling you get better value if you build a house yourself instead of going through a package deal.  From what I can gather what you get in a package deal is over priced considering you can buy land and build a house for less, but that's my opinion.  

But my question is, do you live in gated community or do you live amongst the locals?  Previously I built a house in Thailand amongst the locals and have never felt threatened whilst staying there.  Yet from what I've read on the posts a lot of people recommend living in a gate community as supposedly its safer! Perhaps bad news makes the papers more so than good, therefore all we read about is when the foreigner was stabbed, shot or killed.  Good news stories don't sell as well.   Nevertheless, what have you chosen to do?  Are you living amongst the locals or are you holed up in your gated community, from which some accounts is not all that safe!

They put on a good news radio station once and it lasted about 6 months, nobdy wants to feel good anymore!

I havethe same time frame as you and I have the same quandry as you.  I want to have easy access to a pool so I am down to gated community or condo.  I need the pool for back exercise and love to swim.

We will rent for awhile, see what floats our boat.

[manofthecoldland]

If your major concern is security, I'll put my money on a local neighborhood every time and I'll explain why, shortly, along with inclusive provisions. 

I've lived for three years in a gated community rental and had no problems. It was in an unimpressive duplex. Down the street my friend, who lived in an expensive custom built, had several home invasions. The guards in the guard house were totally ineffective, despite making nightly rounds.  After the first episode he hired a private security guard for his home and when the culprits returned, shots were fired. Maybe an outlier, but they came because it was where they thought the looting would be good. Inside the gates, personal dwellings were as well fortified as those without, and the security factor didn't seem to any better inside than outside. The wall and gate were of limited deterrence.

    Since everyone inside was security conscious to begin with, the added protection of a wall and gate guards was slightly incremental at best, since the bad guys just came in over the outer walls to prey upon the richer targets. The guards were low paid students mostly, who were usually half asleep  inside the guard house at night. They did a minimal job. Pretty much an illusory first line of defense that dissuaded only the ignorant, casual and non-serious opportunistic thieves. That might be worth something. It never stopped the serious professionals.... who were the real threat.

If you want true security, you need to enlist the all-seeing eyes of good neighbors. Nobody enters my neighborhood without alerting 'the hood'. They are always aware. The trick is to make them your friends and allies so outside threats know  that they are under observation and suspicion from the outset. Inside threats... everyone knows each other's business, so its not much of an issue.

Gated communities have a large number of other advantages, and disadvantages, but I don't believe the security factor is the most important.

[OnMyWay]

1 hour ago, mogo51 said:

I want to have easy access to a pool

Make sure to check if the pool is free.  I rented a place not knowing that the pool was p150 per use.

[ITGeek]

I just moved into walled community in Cabanatuan and have to say I would even feel safe here even in the event of a zombie apocalypse.  The community is still new and have yet to meet the neighbors, but most of them of are well off (businessmen, doctors, etc).  I see security patrols driving around about every 30 mins.  Hoping it stays this way in future.

[Jack Peterson]

17 minutes ago, ITGeek said:

 Hoping it stays this way in future.

Ahhh! Now there is the Question. Tomorrow is another day

[ITGeek]

7 minutes ago, Jack Peterson said:

Ahhh! Now there is the Question. Tomorrow is another day

If I could predict the future, I would've already won the lottery ;)