OnMyWay

Yesterday I drove through Olongapo and there were lines at all of those money places. Intrepid, you can send online to avoid the lines. I'm not sure how to send pesos to someone domestically, but you can use Xoom to send dollars to pesos for pickup at several places or into their bank account. Yes, there are fees, but 2 hours in line? You probably burned the fees in gas while waiting! Xoom lists these destinations:

It takes longer to get these out because you have to get the images of a few local politicians printed on the handout bags before distribution.

Ahhh, ok, makes sense! Hopefully Disney Hong Kong will open up for you!

The IRS has no specific information about the payments yet, so anything you read is premature with a bit of speculation mixed in. It may end up being accurate but I would wait for official info from the IRS. I'll be that they have more detail this week. https://www.irs.gov/coronavirus

You must have a very expensive visa! There are no penalties as long as you update within 30 days of the quarantine lifting.

No. I pay taxes the same as if I lived in the U.S. I even pay taxes on 85% of my SS. Bank account would be better. As Rod said, either bank account used for taxes or bank account used for SS payments. In my case, they are the same, but I have not received a refund in a few years. My addresses for both are my PH address but my bank account is U.S.

Of course, it will be different in each market. Going into selling I was always going to be flexible on my price because I didn't want selling to take forever. Then my realtor actually suggested a higher starting price than I had been anticipating. Less than two years ago I had a contract with my tenant to buy it for almost 20% less than I am asking now. He couldn't pull it off and prices went up a lot in the time since then. So, I have a bit of wiggle room and have my fingers crossed that a buyer will be out there in the next few months.

Looks like I will be stuck with an empty house for at least a few months, until this gets resolved in Florida. Terrible timing on my part. I asked my realtor a few days ago, and he said their are still buyers and sellers, but definitely slower. I'm sure I will have to accept a lower price for the house.

My niece in Colorado just reported that she is recovered from the virus. She was not tested but her doctor said he was fairly certain she had it. Apparently she did not meet the requirement to get tested. She can be a bit flaky so I take this all with a grain of salt. What worries me is that she lives with my 71 year old sister who has Parkinson's and some other health problems. My niece says she isolated herself but surely there must have been exposure as they live in the same house. However, my niece lives in the basement and my sister upstairs, so they can stay separate.

This has been posted before but why not again!

I sure miss those Carson nights! No hyper politicized rants by the hosts! Just good funny stuff that everyone could watch together. I was a junior in high school in 73 and I remember going to a friend's house on Friday nights and during the summer just to watch the Carson show.

We just got our quarantine passes for the Subic Bay Freeport. One per household but any qualified household member can use it to go out for necessities. One of the qualifications listed in the FAQ was the user must be between 18 and 59 years old. This immediately raised an outcry from the residents, as we have many like you and also many older retired couples. And many people here don't have their hired help available. I did some research. Nowhere in the National Guidelines for the quarantines is there an age restriction. So, this is an example of an LGU over stepping their authority and creating local rules more strict than the national rules. The president just spoke out against this a few days ago. National guidelines must not be exceeded by LGUs. Find out who controls your local rules and if there is someone you can ask for help with this. Here we have a local neighborhood group to take these issues to. In our case, they already backed off. 60 and over are allowed to use the pass. They changed the wording to "over 59 are allowed to use it but strongly discouraged from doing so."

That is a Baguio Brewery? I think the one in Baguio does OK. I never went but surprisingly, my BIL was going there once in a while, so I figured prices might not be too bad.

Baguio Brewery set up shop in Harbor Point a year or two ago, and like so many places at Harbor Point, it only lasted ~ 6 months. I think they are still going strong in Baguio but who knows what may happen given the current problems.

This evening at just before 7 pm I went out for the first time since last Tuesday. I was hoping to get some Jollibee for the family but they had already closed. Somebody in the neighborhood put together an open / closed lists of markets and restos, and most that are open are closing very early. No dine-in allowed. Pickup and delivery only. It was eerie driving down the main road in the Freeport. Street lights were on but business lights were off, so it seemed very dark. Very few vehicles on the road. There is a curfew effective today, 8 pm to 5 am. In the next few days we are supposed to get a quarantine pass for the house; one person allowed out for necessities only.