Mr Lee Posted October 3, 2011 Posted October 3, 2011 As many of you probably know, my wife and I own condos in Winland Towers, Cebu City, where we reside part of the year each year. I have noticed construction issues but I feel for the price we paid for them, we got what we paid for. Some of the tiles have hollow sounds when tapped on, but I can live with that, and the front doors are not perfectly aligned, but close and lock well, many tiles were cracked when we bought the unit, but the builder replaced those, the ceilings are not even close to straight, but we did not notice that until we had crown moldings installed and then it became even more noticeable, the walls are far from smooth, but not enough to bother me, the paint they used was garbage, so we had it repainted, and of course they use the cheapest toilets and sinks but I installed top quality flaps in both toilets and have not had any problems since, so I guess what it comes down to is you sometimes get what you pay for. Yet I have been saying for some time that some of the higher end much more expensive buildings were not much better, and some people told me I was crazy. HERE is an article about Citylights I just found online while reading through the news, which shows to me that I was correct in my opinion when we looked up there a few years ago with member Bruce because he thought he might be interested. People this is the Philippines we are talking about, and Philippine workmanship, so while I have found some workmen do excellent work when paid a good wage, my guess is that builders pay the least they can to workers, so they too get what they pay for, and unfortunately the owners end up the ones who suffer in the end. Once again it is my opinion that if you wish to buy a condo, then buy the lowest price unit, or even better a even lower priced second hand unit that you can get that is within the range of life you can live with, so while Winland is far from top end, it is also not bottom end either, and I have seen much worse, so I can live in Winland and be happy, but I would suggest that others who have not lived in a third world condo, or have not lived in a third world country for any length of time, should never consider buying until they know what to expect or they may be very unhappy. HERE is a link to photos of our condo which I consider to be almost first world while inside, yet waking up to the reality of second world once outside our doors. Oh and as far as walls being made of junk as in the article about Citylights, I had one wall 7 feet wide opened up between our two units and I punched a hole in one wall which is between two units to put in an exhaust fan, so I could move the air from one side to the other more evenly, since we only run one aircon, and I can tell you that the walls in our unit are solid as all hell because even with a drill and a sludge hammer, the walls withstood a lot of pounding and were not easy to remove. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Inspector Posted October 3, 2011 Posted October 3, 2011 Without insurance, I would always be worried about this.... Of course, it doesn't take any magnitude to cause this... Timber....Highly PROBABLE.... While some seem to not like to read these posts, I hope that people will learn from them and not make themselves a target by buying homes and condos exposed to the earthquakes and shoddy building .... without having any insurance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Lee Posted October 3, 2011 Author Posted October 3, 2011 I am not sure where you got the idea that you cannot buy insurance in the Philippines, I had insurance on our condos for two years and only gave it up because of the little known embedded thing they put into even insurance here in the US, that if the home is empty for over a few weeks (I think that is the time but it may be a month) then the insurance is void. I am lucky that we have a friend from up north who stays in our Florida home part of the time when we are not here, but we dropped the insurance on our condo and I fully knew when we bought them, that I might lose my money if an act of God came about, I just hope it never happens while we are in them. :no: Anyway, as many of us say, and I think you are included, never spend money in the Philippines that we cannot afford to lose. Oh, and I am even having a hard time keeping insurance here in Florida because of them damned hurricanes. I have been dropped a couple of times now and am in the insurance pool, which to me means that they will probably go broke before they pay out if a big one hits. Oh 2, did I forget to thank you for posting it, I appreciate it because I like to know what I might face, especially the link to the earthquake in Cebu that I did not know about.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Inspector Posted October 3, 2011 Posted October 3, 2011 No problem Lee, the earthquake would keep me from buying a condo here, and in California (even with Insurance)...I asked many home owners here if you could get insurance, and all said no. Maybe it was communication, and they thought I meant do you HAVE home insurance. I wonder if that is the case with Art...who said he does not have it. Just a choice. Being able to get reliable insurance would then at least allow more consideration in purchasing a home here...but again, not having my name on the ownership would stop me from a house buy. That and of course I have yet to see a house built without problems for a white expat...always takes too long, costs way more ect. People have to realize that this is a third world country, and things can change quite quickly on the political front. Take Davao City...now it's actually fairly safe. However, what happens when a new mayor comes in that is not as open with the muslim population?...do we once again have to worry about kidnappings, airport bombings and the rest? IMHO, Cebu CITY is a polluted, corrupt shethole. But, that is MY opinion...based of course on facts, many of what you post daily in the news section....as well as many other forums, and my living there for two years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Lee Posted October 3, 2011 Author Posted October 3, 2011 No problem Lee, the earthquake would keep me from buying a condo here, and in California (even with Insurance)...I asked many home owners here if you could get insurance, and all said no. Maybe it was communication, and they thought I meant do you HAVE home insurance. I wonder if that is the case with Art...who said he does not have it. Just a choice. Being able to get reliable insurance would then at least allow more consideration in purchasing a home here...but again, not having my name on the ownership would stop me from a house buy. That and of course I have yet to see a house built without problems for a white expat...always takes too long, costs way more ect. People have to realize that this is a third world country, and things can change quite quickly on the political front. Take Davao City...now it's actually fairly safe. However, what happens when a new mayor comes in that is not as open with the muslim population?...do we once again have to worry about kidnappings, airport bombings and the rest? IMHO, Cebu CITY is a polluted, corrupt shethole. But, that is MY opinion...based of course on facts, many of what you post daily in the news section....as well as many other forums, and my living there for two years.I agree but it makes my wife happy and so far has been a good investment for us, but I know that could change any day. The pollution has taken its toll on me, so I stay home more often when we are there and find our condo air pretty clean and no problem at all for me to breath. We then go from the condo to the taxi and then to the mall or wherever. Sort of like we do when in Florida, but I have a vehicle here. The Philippines sure ain't for everyone and buying a home or a condo is always a chance a person takes no matter where they are. Here in Florida I have been through a few pretty strong hurricanes and have seen people lose their lives and their homes, sort of the chance we have to take to live in a sort of paradise. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jollygoodfellow Posted October 4, 2011 Posted October 4, 2011 Oh 2, did I forget to thank you for posting it, I appreciate it because I like to know what I might face, especially the link to the earthquake in Cebu that I did not know about.. That was not an earthquake in Cebu,that is the same video I posted a long time ago,it is in Manila and the building just started to lean on its own. I think I remember the builders being arrested. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Art2ro Posted October 5, 2011 Posted October 5, 2011 Correction! I didn't say I never had insurance on our home, because when we first bought our home 10 yrs ago, Property Mortgage Insurance (PMI) for fire only, was required by the mortgage lender with BPI, which was included in our monthly payments! Now that our home is paid for, we no longer carry home insurance, but I eventually plan to get home insurance again, because property value has doubled or tripled in our area. Home insurance is available in the Philippines and this time I'll get a more comprehensive type coverage that covers mother nature, but will cost a little more, 4 to 5 times more from what I used to pay! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldutot Posted October 6, 2011 Posted October 6, 2011 (edited) nice place that you and Nila have. Edited October 6, 2011 by oldutot Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Lee Posted October 6, 2011 Author Posted October 6, 2011 nice place that you and Nila have.Thank you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Art2ro Posted October 6, 2011 Posted October 6, 2011 (edited) I noticed too that your surrounding area still has squatter homes, but I'm sure the developers will try to buy them out to improve the areas around your condo to attract more investors! Where we live, it's the norm for developers to buy out squatters in order to improve the over all view of prime areas in order to attract home builders and eliminating the eye sore which in turn increases property value and which will also influence builders to use better materials and workmanship in the construction of other condominium or home building projects in the future! Edited October 6, 2011 by Art2ro Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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