Living part time every year in Philippines rent own or?

[RBM]

Nobody can accurately  (except Dave or was it luck) predict the exchange rate, in fact have read articles have so called experts have been more than 50% off the mark.

When I bought.....oops  (paid for) land and built I brought money over in stages, think it's called dollar cost averaging. Anyway had some great rates and lousy ones. 

After renting here for some years no regrets now about building  just the hassle of construction was a pain. Far more contented with having a place to call home, no rent to pay, knowing in due course it's going to somebody whom needs it.  I did spend some years in a condo, just not for me. Like green grass....

Yes as been thrashed out, not without risks, still for me I wish not go through life thinking the never ending what if......If one is prudent there are safeguards out there.

[stevewool]

3 hours ago, Dave Hounddriver said:

That is the general rule of thumb but let me put it to you this way:

Suppose I had CDN$100,000 sitting in the bank in Canada 1 year ago and decided to bring it to Philippines and buy a condo, to keep up with inflation in Philippines.  I would have had 3.4 million pesos to work with as the exchange rate was 34:1

By leaving that cash in the bank earning ZERO interest, it is now worth 4 million pesos as the exchange rate is 40:1

I am thankful I left my money in a Canadian bank last year.  However, many know I did buy a tiny row house here in Philippines 3 years ago.  The exchange rate at that time was 42:1 so I got the timing right (through pure luck) and it worked for me.  There is no guarantee that buying property in Philippines is a better investment than leaving your cash in a foreign bank.

(I was just talking to an American friend on Wednesday who was expressing his misfortune of building a block of apartments last year when he got 46 pesos for each US$ and now he would have got 51 so he has already lost a years worth of rent by not leaving his money in the bank.

Bottom line:  Anything you do with your money is a risk and just because the people who did it before you made money does not mean you will.  That logic is what made Bernie Madoff rich.

Its funny you never think of it this way until someone writes it down.

We have said if the peso does reach the dizzy heights of 70 to pound we shall buy a lump sums worth , but i hve been waiting a long time .

[stevewool]

2 hours ago, Snowy79 said:

As Dave says the exchange rate is a big influence. Probably more so than inflation at times. My mate tells me the rate was almost 100 peso to the pound, when he arrived in country now it's hovering around the 65 mark and a few months back it was at 58. A bit of a kick in the Gonads if you're living off of a monthly pension and your income has now reduced by a third. 

His condo when he bought it was just over 7m peso. Its huge and in Makati, at todays price per sqm he thinks its worth about 20m. Each bedroom is bigger than a lot of condos I've been in. 

He also says his overheads have more than doubled to maintain the same standard of life. He's fortunate in that he's working here and making serious money but he's seen his fair share of friends return home to build their nest egg up again. 

Stick your money in a bank if you think it's safe but at the end of the day as prices increase way beyond your interest rate your money will soon become less and less valuable. 

I can only see the Philippines growing in the next ten years and it's currency becoming more valuable. 5m peso in the bank will make you about 5,000 peso interest per year. That can easily be wiped out by the current exchange rate changing by 50 centavo or a small increase in utility bills. Just look at the latest increase in Phil Health. That's wiped all interest out over night. 

To me if you don't have at least twice the money you think you'll need I'd look at an investment, as you can bet in 20 years time when everything costs a lot more and your health will have deteriorated costing you more money. 

In 20 years time most of us may be dead, think of today and tomorrow first,

t must be hard if you are trying to plan for your families future , but we just have each other and its a little cheaper that way for me.

[sonjack2847]

32 minutes ago, stevewool said:

In 20 years time most of us may be dead, think of today and tomorrow first,

t must be hard if you are trying to plan for your families future , but we just have each other and its a little cheaper that way for me.

Whatever I decide to do investment wise it is not for me but my wife and daughter.I want to make sure they are ok when I go to the big pub in the sky. I was given some advice by a friend,in Dalaguete,a few years ago he said to buy land as it will increase and they can sell it at a later stage.I bought some land last year for 1500 PSM and the lot next to it just sold for 1850 PSM. That to me is a good return on your money.

[Snowy79]

22 minutes ago, sonjack2847 said:

Whatever I decide to do investment wise it is not for me but my wife and daughter.I want to make sure they are ok when I go to the big pub in the sky. I was given some advice by a friend,in Dalaguete,a few years ago he said to buy land as it will increase and they can sell it at a later stage.I bought some land last year for 1500 PSM and the lot next to it just sold for 1850 PSM. That to me is a good return on your money.

Yup. I heard there not making land anymore. Unless your Chinese and looking at the Sprately Islands. 

[Dave Hounddriver]

1 hour ago, Snowy79 said:

I heard there not making land anymore.

Quite the opposite, and worth noting for those foreigners who have a dream of beachfront property.  Land on the seashore erodes away with the tides and the DENR are getting quite "bossy" with people who want to put up seawalls to reclaim their land.  Its a game where people win some and lose some.  I walk along the beach quite a bit and see where unattended properties have been eroded away and then someone comes along and builds a wall and fills in behind the seawall so they get their land back.  Sometimes DENR comes along and puts a stop to it and other times they let it go.  Must be something to do with the mood they are in.

[Snowy79]

2 minutes ago, Dave Hounddriver said:

Quite the opposite, and worth noting for those foreigners who have a dream of beachfront property.  Land on the seashore erodes away with the tides and the DENR are getting quite "bossy" with people who want to put up seawalls to reclaim their land.  Its a game where people win some and lose some.  I walk along the beach quite a bit and see where unattended properties have been eroded away and then someone comes along and builds a wall and fills in behind the seawall so they get their land back.  Sometimes DENR comes along and puts a stop to it and other times they let it go.  Must be something to do with the mood they are in.

They're also getting more stringent on issuing titles. I've researched plenty of areas with tax declared land only. Some areas are now designated protected zones and as such will no longer get permission to build on.  I've lost count of the sellers telling me it's just a formality when in reality you'll probably never get a title or they'd have titled it already and made a fortune. More and more land is being transferred to computer records  instead of paper ones so the authorities get informed sooner if someone tries to title land or applies for a building permit.

[sonjack2847]

1 hour ago, Snowy79 said:

Yup. I heard there not making land anymore. Unless your Chinese and looking at the Sprately Islands. 

Haha look around Cebu island and see how much of the sea they have reclaimed.

[Queenie O.]

Hi Old55,

I think that I'd go the route of staying in one of the smaller resorts in an area. Many often will give a good rate for folks interested in a month or longer stay time. Also the small resort could be your home base, and sort of a vacation in a vacation I'd think. I know of two offhand in the north here that do that type of rental, although I don't have any experience with anyone doing that that I know personally

You bring up a good question too about the pros and cons of spending your time part of the year in the Philippines, and the rest in the States or another country. It took me about two years to really get used to living and enjoying my life here permanently.  Every time we would come here for an extended visit before that, upon returning home all we'd dream about is getting back to Cebu again. I would think that personally one would never truly acclimate living in one place or another because they would always be thinking about the other place. Just my take on it.

Let me go out on a limb and say that my gut feeling sees you and your family retiring permanently in Cebu. In your posts you seem to have a long history here and have fallen for the place.  I could be totally off on this, but it's something to really consider as I'm sure you and your family do.

Maybe some folks who are snowbirds or part time visitors to the Philippines start a new thread about their experiences living in two places over time.

[Gary D]

We currently intend to be snowbirds, at least while we are fit enough to travel. Plans keep changing so only time will tell.