Balisidar

Only one thing to say. In the words of my wife. Aye nako😅

We looked at some houses in Lipa yesterday and my wife wasn't much impressed. I wasn't either to be honest. Seems like the newer built houses are smaller in subdivisions that are just starting out and scarcely populated. The prices really weren't in line for what you get even with the multitude of "Discounts". We visited a few subdivisions and were honestly very surprised at the number of vacant houses and foreclosures. I think we'll be talking more to a few subdivisions and banks about these. I actually enjoyed the hustle and bustle of the Lipa area and its multitude of shopping

Hi all, Question in the topic. Anyone know a good, honest real estate agent in Lipa? Right now I'm interested in foreclosed houses but we are also looking for anything that's under 3 million pesos or so. We've looked online a lot but I know that's not most of what's out there. Thanks!😀😀

Thanks HK! I'm prepared to pay for the fees. Looking at the offices I have three that are reasonably close without having to go to Manila. Dasmarinas, Santa Rosa and Batangas city. I'll send them all emails or call to see what's the best option. Worst comes to worst I'll go back to Manila and work with them on the requirements. Don't much care for Manila but you gotta do what you gotta do. Still having a bit of a hard time staying asleep and we just had a little earthquake that we felt here in Pasay city. Philippines is saying welcome I guess.😆😉

Well we got our results in about 9 hours. Both negative. So tomorrow we'll show the hotel the results and we plan on checking out Monday morning. Gives us a chance to relax and get over the jet lag. Then on to my mother in laws place to do our quarantine. Addition to the above information. I got an email from the BOQ Certificate help desk asking us to register on their site and send them a copy of our results for our certificate. Then I guess I have to show that to the hotel or something. I plan on writing up the 13-A VISA process after receiving some clarification from Immig

That's a good point OMW. If members read through the VISA section it's mentioned that you can do the 13-A prior to coming to the Philippines and its (from my very current experience) much easier. I'll post a follow-up on this in the VISA section.😀

Well we did it. Finally here in Manila at the Belmont hotel waiting on our corona virus test results. A few things to pass along. Like others have said, the swab test is a pain...literally. Both nostrils and a throat swab. So the QR scan thing didn't work well for me at LAX. I got the first part done but the second part was a pain. The third part was done in NAIA to register for the test. I had a heck of a time with that one. The first wireless connection I tried from NAIA couldn't connect to it. The quarantine folks showed me to use another wireless account though that work

Lol. I also saw this posted on a Philippines expat group on Facebook😂😆

Which hotel did you wind up staying in while waiting for your covid-19 test results?

I normally go with Asiana as my wife and I really like their customer service and the prices are decent, even in business class. I also like PAL though so no biggee. Belmont hotel isn't answering their phone right now though (I think it's 7:00 PM or so in the Philippines right now) so I guess I'll call them later when its Monday morning. I don't really trust booking online right now with all this additional bull crap. I'm sure they'll need more info than what their online booking is asking for.

Well, it happened as I expected. Asiana airlines changed our flight date and messed up the connecting flight to Manila. Since my wife and I had no desire to stay in south Korea for a week or two waiting on another connection (Any other time than now we would have loved it and toured Korea.). We decided to take members advice and I've booked a flight from LAX on the 1st of October on Philippine Airlines. Booked the flight over the phone and talked to an agent who assured me the flight was almost full and shouldn't be cancelled. As expected a lot more questions. I assured them I had a

Lol. Funny stuff Pinochio!😉😁

Another plot twist. https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/philippines-duterte-pardons-us-marine-convicted-of-murdering-transgender-woman/2020/09/07/db0934ee-f0f2-11ea-8025-5d3489768ac8_story.html

The Laude family wanted him to stay in jail according to CNN Philippines but there was also this bit in the article. The court also took note that Pemberton already paid the Laude family the full amount of ₱4.65 million for civil damages. https://www.cnn.ph/news/2020/9/2/Pemberton-release-order-Laude-killing.html

He probably didn't like the advice given since he hasn't been back in months. Ahh well.