Renting a house in Cebu City

[OnMyWay]

13 minutes ago, Jack Peterson said:

 if I was the CEO of a Company I would certainly have my Staff Looking for lower Rents

Unless the condo was for you, the CEO!  

[robert k]

I wonder at what point it's enough money to not need to be in the center of things and just have everything delivered?

I'm certain you could get a fairly nice place for 60k pesos and 71k pesos would cover a lot of delivery.

[Dave Hounddriver]

26 minutes ago, robert k said:

71k pesos would cover a lot of delivery.

Excellent point,  That much money would rent a car, pay driver and other expenses, and let you have complete control over 'deliveries'

[aro]

On 17. august 2016 at 8:47 AM, Johnny C said:

I don't know the neighborhoods of Cebu City and I want to rent a house for up to 60000 p. Any advice as where to look in nice and safe areas of the city?

Did you find anything? I was looking in the beginning of July, the prices in Cebu City is a lot more than in the "Cebu Metro" area (thinking about Talisay and Lapu-Lapu). My budget was well bellow yours at 30-45k and that was a bit to low to get nice apartments or houses in Cebu City. In Talisay and Lapu-Lapu it was plenty! So the real estate marked in the city is does start to have more western prices, especially when you are looking for a western standard. But for 50-60k its quite a lot more options, that my 45k search, but you can not expect to live in Maria Luisa for that price.  If you dont really need to be in the City (dont have to paty all night and not have work in the city) I would suggest looking at Lapu-Lapu as you get a lot more for you money there than in the City.

The only reason we choose Talisay over Lapu-Lapu was traffic, I work near Ayala so have to commute to the city almost every day. To Talisay you have the SRP and traffic there is fast compared to the rest of the city,  going to Mactan you have to go over one of the two bridges and the traffic jams there is close to impossible. 

Cebu is frankly quite safe to begin with, just avoid downtown at night if you want to avoid pickpockets. Inside the City i had looked at the areas of Labangon, Guadalupe, and Lahug. (its quite big so traffic can be bad if you live a long way up...) 

 

[almost there1]

I am coming in July and looking at 12000 to 15000 just outside of Cebu City.  Nothing fancy but nice to me.  2 bedroom and 1 bathroom.  Anybody has knowledge of anything else in that general price range I would appreciate any info as I am not settled on which one I want yet.

[robert k]

2 hours ago, almost there1 said:

I am coming in July and looking at 12000 to 15000 just outside of Cebu City.  Nothing fancy but nice to me.  2 bedroom and 1 bathroom.  Anybody has knowledge of anything else in that general price range I would appreciate any info as I am not settled on which one I want yet.

Outside of Cebu City proper you can get reasonable rent. I considered living outside Cebu and there were some good possibilities. I had a few weeks practice living in Danao while car hunting. A place to live is such a personal choice that nobody is going to be able to tell you exactly where you need to be.

Edited April 15, 2017 by robert k

[almost there1]

I found online some interesting houses or apartments in Minglanilla area.  I am thinking that for what I need (just myself) this may be ok.  I would actualy like to be closer to Talisay but it is ok.  Coming in late June or July

 

[Dave Hounddriver]

8 hours ago, almost there1 said:

I found online some interesting houses or apartments in Minglanilla area.

Just telling my own experience here, but I have never found a house or apartment online, in Philippines, that I liked when I saw it for real.  I have tried it many times.  Looked at many houses and apartments.  But there is no truth in advertising here and so much left unsaid and lied about.  Here are some of my personal experiences.

In one case I went to look and the price immediately jumped when she saw I was a foreigner ("Oh that was an old price in the ad")

In another case I went to look and loved the place and the price but when I went to sign the papers, ("OK we have a deal, just bring the deposit and sign the lease", she said), but I showed up and she had rented it to another foreigner who had offered more.  Playing everyone against each other to get more money.

In many other cases the neighborhood sucked and the house did not look anywhere near as good as the pics which had been taken 20 years ago.

In other cases I found out that a caretaker, (or squatter), goes with the place and there was no negotiation so if I took the place I got a freeloader with it.

Then there are the animals.  They don't mention any lizards, cockroaches, rats, termites, or other animals that you just can't get rid of.

Anyway,  in my personal experience, the stuff they try to sell or rent online are the dregs that they cannot sell or rent by sticking a sign on the gate and having someone walk by and take a look.  Boots on the ground, that's my mantra.  Its a similar story when buying or renting a car but that's a tale for another day.

All that said, many people come here from other countries and are thrilled to rent a place for 15K pesos that I know should only rent for 10K.  For many they say "What's $100 bucks?"  For me I see a 50% price hike.

EDIT: Note to self. Come back and delete this story when I am ready to sell my own house. 

Edited April 21, 2017 by Dave Hounddriver

[jpbago]

9 hours ago, almost there1 said:

I found online some interesting houses or apartments in Minglanilla area.  I am thinking that for what I need (just myself) this may be ok.  I would actualy like to be closer to Talisay but it is ok.  Coming in late June or July

 

Bring rubber boots and a raft:

https://www.google.ca/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&rlz=1C1AVSF_enCA483CA483&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=flood+in+minglanilla

https://www.google.ca/search?q=flood+in+minglanilla&rlz=1C1AVSF_enCA483CA483&espv=2&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwia3aqo7LbTAhUE6oMKHfk_AeoQsAQIKA&biw=1536&bih=736

[robert k]

Elevation and drainage are very important as said in the post above. Cebu City suffered a drought last year and many people just had a trickle of water for a couple hours a day. The price of plastic barrels to store the water skyrocketed. Do lots of homework and as Dave says, don't rent sight unseen.