Please help me find a city to live near

[boyee]

Hi, This is my first post.  My wife (Filipino born) and I will be traveling to the PI from San Francisco in a few months in search of our retirement destination.    We want to live about 20 to 30 min outside a large city.  So province area but not too far from city amenities.  We plan on buying 5 to 10 acres of land and building our dream house.  For now we want to figure out what area or near by city would suit us best.    Once we figure that out we can come back on a different trip and narrow down exactly which town to live in.  We plan on visiting IloIlo, Cebu, and Bacolod but could use some help with other suggestions.  Our trip will be in spring of 2018.  Thank you.

 

Bo

[scott h]

4 minutes ago, boyee said:

 My wife

My first question would be where is your wife from and do you plan on settling in that region? We have members near most of the larger cities if we can narrow it down a bit your responses will be more helpful

Welcome to the forum, you might be surprised at the number of responses you get 

[boyee]

Wow, that was a fast response.  My wife is from Manila.    To be honest there is no way we could live in Manila.  No disrespect but we want to live in the province where the pace of life is way slower.  I have been told it is customary for expats to live near their spouses family and help.   My wife comes from a large family of famous Filipino actors (I won't say who) so fortunately we don't have to worry about financially supporting her family which means we are free to live anywhere.  I should also mention we may be younger than most on this forum.  We live extremely frugal in the states and are able to save most of our income so we can retire earlier than most.  My wife and I are health care professionals and see way too many people deteriorate before they stop working.  This has inspired us to get out the rat race asap and start living.  We have gone to the PI several times for Surgical Missions and I have fallen in love with the people and culture.  I'd like to live somewhat near other expats but plan on learning the local language and would rather live in the local native community.  

 

Bo

[scott h]

Just now, boyee said:

live in the province

In that case my automatic response is Tagayatay, Santa Rosa, Laguna, Batangas or Silang. Google those areas. They pretty much straddle the SLEX freeway which will get you into southern Manila in your time frame. In Fact the first major suburb you would hit is Alabang which is a classy area and should satisfy most if not all of your big city needs. S&R shopping, big malls and some really good restaurants. Naturally the closer you are to the city the higher the land prices, but that's a detail for a later topic. Take a look at those areas and see what you think

[Jake]

9 minutes ago, boyee said:

Wow, that was a fast response.  My wife is from Manila.    To be honest there is no way we could live in Manila.  No disrespect but we want to live in the province where the pace of life is way slower.  I have been told it is customary for expats to live near their spouses family and help.   My wife comes from a large family of famous Filipino actors (I won't say who) so fortunately we don't have to worry about financially supporting her family which means we are free to live anywhere.  I should also mention we may be younger than most on this forum.  We live extremely frugal in the states and are able to save most of our income so we can retire earlier than most.  My wife and I are health care professionals and see way too many people deteriorate before they stop working.  This has inspired us to get out the rat race asap and start living.  We have gone to the PI several times for Surgical Missions and I have fallen in love with the people and culture.  I'd like to live somewhat near other expats but plan on learning the local language and would rather live in the local native community.  

 

Bo

Welcome aboard Bo!  I think you have a lot of homework to do here.  On the upper right corner, you will see our internal search engine.  Just type in a subject of interest, for example "internet" (all content) and you will find many pages of discussion, about 154 pages.  Here's another one -- "moving to PI", about 106 pages.  

Good luck Bo, you've come to the right place to do all your research.  Respectfully Jake

[Gary D]

The three places you mention in you 1st post all speak different languages to your wife. Not an insurmountable problem but perhaps something to consider.

[MikeB]

10 hours ago, boyee said:

 We plan on buying 5 to 10 acres of land and building our dream house.

I can't tell you the best place to live but consider that most foreigners who move "permanently" to the Phils stay 5 years or less and property can be very hard to sell there. I don't have statistics to back it up just several years of empirical observations of the foreigners I've known and the forums I've read. Many reasons for leaving. In a million years I never would have foreseen what drove me to leave after 5+ years but thankfully I rented.  Something to consider before you buy/build.

[Jack Peterson]

11 hours ago, boyee said:

 So province area but not too far from city amenities.  We plan on buying 5 to 10 acres of land and building our dream house.

 Whoa now, think on my Friend I have a friend here that bought 2.000 meters and got scolded plenty on taxes and  BIR dues. Me, I bought 500 meters and he Loves it that it costs so little in tax against his, in the province but near to the City will cost you plenty in purchase and taxation all is now Zoned against  Building and Agricultural land, Yes you can get waivers but they cost. 

 Just a little to say here, Land can be a real PITA, 5/10 Acres has to be looked after, if you don't, the locals will (and can you imagine how many Cows and  Goats they will put on it when your back is  turned

 JMHO

[Dave Hounddriver]

10 hours ago, boyee said:

We have gone to the PI several times for Surgical Missions and I have fallen in love with the people and culture.

This is interesting because I am puzzling over where I would recommend that is 

11 hours ago, boyee said:

20 to 30 min outside a large city.

If you have been to large cities in the Philippines then you probably have an understanding of how much traffic there is in the cities and how slow it moves.  So trying to find 5 to 10 acres to build your dream home on where you only have to drive 20 or 30 minutes to a large city is a tall order.

Example:  A friend of mine from Texas is doing something like what you suggest.  He bought his wife a big plot of land up near the golf course in Sibulan where they can build their dream home.  Now that works IF you think Dumaguete is a large city and IF you consider the 20 minute drive to be in the middle of the night when there is no traffic. (At any time when the stores are open you can double that to a 40 minute drive and if its peak hour then it could take 2 hours). Dumaguete is actually a small city, which is why you can find 5 to 10 acres relatively close to the urban part.  I cannot picture doing that near Cebu or other large cities.

[boyee]

Okay, thank you all for your different points of view.  In terms of the language difference we don't need to live where locals speak Tagalog.  My wife's family speak Taglish around me all day so I am used to being ignored.  lol.  We can learn the local dielect.  Perhaps 10 acres is a bit on the grandious side.  We just want enough space to build a few houses with an orchard and small farm.  Enough space for the dogs to patrol.  We plan on building a perimeter wall around the property hopefully keeping the squatters at bay and the animals from escaping.   Our budget for the houses and land is 25,000,000p. This should be about $500,000 US dollars.  the equivalent to the cost of my front door in California. Not really but close.   Maybe someone can comment if this is a realistic cost.  In terms of being 20 min from city I guess that is a bit convenient.  Willing to stretch that to 45 min if doable.  My Wife is a US citizen now but we can get her PI citizenship back now, which is how we plan on buying land.   Anyone live near Iloilo, Bacolod or Cebu know if these parameters are doable?  I really appreciate this awesome wealth of knowledge you guys are feeding me.  We are buying our tickets soon so if anyone has a better suggestion for a city to look at suggestions are welcome.  

 

Bo