My Offer Is Philippine Retirement On $800 A Month

[JJReyes]

I am requesting from forum members assistance in preparing a feasibility study with the possibility that someone from the group may want to live in a beautiful farm for free. A comfortable Philippine retirement on $800 a month is possible by eliminating rent and reducing food costs. You can grow vegetables and raise a few chickens for meat and eggs. Prior farm experience is helpful, but not necessary. Retired military is also a plus because tough love is sometimes necessary in running a working farm. Phiippine culture requires generosity and sharing bounty to a point that a significant portion of our farm produce is lost to sampling. A disciplinarian is needed to say that a few pieces are okay, but not by the crateful. I am part owner through inheritance of a 40 hectares property located about 60 kilometers from Metro Manila at an elevation of 1,200 feet. With the passing away of two brothers this year and no close relatives interested in farm management, I may takeover. This is challenging since my retirement is still a few years away and my present location is Honolulu, Hawaii. The commercial crop is mango from 1,000 trees planted by my father about 40 years ago. There are other fruit trees including coconut, rambutan and citrus. Additional crops that will grow on the farm include about 10 other tropical fruits and maybe 20 varieties of vegetables. As a mango agri-business, the farm is marginally profitable with losses during years that early rains and typhoons destroy the blossom. The Philippine government definition for AgriTourism is broad. They seem to be focused on promoting regional food festivals. My preference is the USA and European definition, which is farm visitation or farm stay programs to experience rural life. The proximity to Metro Manila makes the location ideal for families whose children have never experienced harvesting fruits from trees. Pick your own mangos and pay the farmgate price, which is usually around 50% of retail. The feasibility study and a survey will determine whether or not there is sufficient interest. Photos taken last month have been posted in the gallery. The one with the swimmers is a river located inside the property near the main entrance. One breathtaking feature are natural swimming holes fed by a mountain stream on the opposite side. There is also a spring producing 500 to 1,000 gallons per hour of potable water. You just stick a bamboo pole into a crevice. The family planted Philippine mahogany (narra) as our commitment to reforestration. At one time the area was mostly rainforest. The hardwood trees were cut by well-connected illegal loggers. The "slash & burn" subsistence farmers destroyed the second growth. What remains is cogon, a tall grass. What really bugs me is the photo showing a group gathered around several crates. Several real estate agents accompanied me because I am interested in buying other properties sometime during my retirement years. While visiting the mountain stream with the natural swimming holes, someone must have requested farm workers for samples. It wasn't me. By the time I returned, they were busy dividing the harvest consisting of one crate of calamansi, one crate of rambutan, and one crate of buko. Anyone interested in helping me? AgriTourism is a good business investment, but the remaining family members are not willing to spend money for improvements. I will have to source for development money elsewhere. The immediate need is a feasibility study and identifying someone interested in farm living. The tentative name is, "Eden Garden Farm." My father would sometimes say to his guests, "This is my Garden of Eden." I can promise that there are no apple trees in the farm. They don't thrive in the Philippines. Of course, the sin of Adam & Eve was not in eating an apple. It was something else. JJR

[Jake]

Your property looks beautiful! I may have the military discipline background, which may get mein trouble if I lock and load on people stealing my profit....he, he. Beside that, farm work wouldbe too much for me. I wish you the very best of luck, respectfully -- Jake

[Old55]

What you need is a trusted respected local Filipino manager.

[Art2ro]

JJR,Not being pessimistic or optimistic of your good fortune, I'm surprised you still legally own that much pristine hector of farm land in the Philippines without land grubbers taking an interest in acquiring your inheritance under dishonest ways and selling the land from under your feet, because your pictures of the land really looks very appealing and anyone would want to have such a place! The reason why I say this is because it happened to my sister-in-law and her brothers and sisters all now living in the U.S., where they inherited a good size of land in the Philippines in Cavite when their parents passed away, one of their cousins acquired it illegally and sold the land from under their feet worth millions of pesos! Now, they have no recourse in reacquiring the property, because a few of their relatives have been killed just by inquiring about the property! So, they gave up in trying to reacquire their inheritance! So, when was the last time you were in the Philippines? Do you hold the land title free and clear, property tax paid up to date and it's in your name or some one else's? Is the entire property you inherited bordered off with fencing? Do you have road access easement rights onto to your property? Are there any squatters living on your property? Squatters may already own some of your land legally! A friend of ours owns hundreds of hectors of land in La Union in Northern Luzon and pays property tax annually, the people living on their land threaten to kill them if they ever try to sell the land from out under their feet even though they don't own any part of the land, but are just profiting off the land and not paying any property taxes! Annual property tax on their land is about P300,000 or more a year, but don't make any profits off the land, except for those living there! More thought should go into your pending offer to outsiders! With that kind of a pristine property, you should have no problems in finding help to maintain your property, but then again it's going to cost you to do so in annual property taxes and hired help to maintain your property and to protect your property and rights!

Edited October 21, 2011 by Art2ro

[Dave Hounddriver]

It all looks wonderful. My thoughts on it are that the opportunity is fantastic but fraught with headaches, expense, stress and danger. Starting with the danger, I have seen beautiful pieces of land around Cebu owned by people like L'Huillier and Ayala and those pieces are fenced and protected with armed guards. I suspect that is because they are needed, not because they just like to spend money on armed guards. Also, when a foreigner has anything to do with it then people assume there is a lot of money involved and the potential for being a target increases. The headaches, stress and expense come as a result of not being a part of the family. If family members are running it now then there will be a huge resentment for someone coming in to change things. Especially someone who is not a family member. To stop the losses it would surely be necessary to follow the same course of action that people such as Ayala would do. Armed guards and fences. Just my opinion.

[Mr Lee]

My thoughts are that JJR is offering a wonderful deal to someone who might at least wish to look into it. Quite a few people I have seen on forums have been farmers in their home countries, so if all the other details have been worked out, then free room etc might be a great deal for a couple or a family to look into, but of course it will take the right couple or family, so hopefully someone will read the OP and contact JJR to at least look into it. As I read it, I thought about my wife's family of which many are farmers, so if I was younger and needed the income to make my dream come true, then I would have looked into it and possibly brought a whole bunch of our family, to help them earn a living and help me and my wife keep an eye on all the goings on. Not for me but I am sure a deal for someone.

[JJReyes]

Below is my response to the first five replies: 1. Jake - There is no farm work. We have caretakers and their families, and we can hire additional farm workers when needed. Someone has to be on-site who can communicate with me in English. Paying a salary to a foreign national would violate Philippine law. Providing someone free accommodations is okay. 2. Old55 - My father was extremely generous. Family, relatives and friends are accustomed to free farm produce. During my teen years, I tried charging everyone for the pineapples, watermelons, papayas, etc. they were harvesting. It was strongly suggested I be immediately sent to a military school, specifically VMI (Virgina Military Institute) where my older brother graduated. Since my mother had eight children, they also suggest her giving back one to God and that I should become a priest. All that grief because I demanded payment! My preference is a non-Filipino on-site so we can charge visitors for the farm produce. 3. Art2ro - The Philippines passed a law recognizing dual citizenship, which gives certain rights and privileges to former Filipino nationals including land ownership and paying taxes. No squatters. Tenancy farming is not a problem. Precautions include no rice fields, which becomes an issue under Agrarian Reform. While well meaning, Agrarian Reform and tenant farmer rights are the main reasons for the land grabbing, family fights and killing. It is also why the Philippines went from self-sufficiency in rice production to a huge importer. (I believe coconut plantations are also covered under Agrarian Reform. Recently, the government discovered 95 million coconut trees are senile. They bear little fruit. Land grabbing tenants never bothered to replace them with younger trees, It now threatens a major export industry. Politicians are demanding money so they can help poor farmers replace trees.) All the heirs are on title. We may change it later to a family trust corporation. We pay land taxes, which the municipality doubled this year. There is farm income, but it is insufficient. The present system is bidding for the future harvest at approximately 5% or one-twentieth the retail price for mangoes. My preliminary estimate is we can increase farm gate revenue 5x or 10x through Agri-Tourism. 4. Dave Hounddriver - No need for guards at this time. If it gets to that point, my brother-in-law owns several agencies with a total of 4,000 armed security guards. We have friendly relations with the neighbor across the river who are ex-military (WWII guerilla fighters). They don't like strangers trespassing through their property. No family objections to my takeover. In fact, they are glad to pass the headache to me. 5. Mr. Lee - My immediate need is a foreign national on-site who can pretend he doesn't understand this unique Philippine custom of giving away farm produce as a gesture of hospitality. The feasibility study group will look into achieving higher revenues through Agri-Tourism. This would be the popular U-Pick farm experience that is helping small American and European farmers survive. Large commercial farms owned by corporations now control most production and distribution. If U-Pick mango revenues are potentially sufficient, I may suggest to the family a group management contract. The management fee -- a percentage of gross revenues -- will be paid to a Hawaii corporation. It can then be legality re-distributed without violating Philippine laws and paying Philippine income taxes. Since IRS taxation is based on world-wide income, there is no problem with payouts to Americans from Hawaii. It might be in the form of Sub-Chapter S dividends. This business is weekends only and seasonal. One early idea is a Php 250 entry fee, which includes 5 kilos of U-Pick mangoes. Someone has to be at the entrance to collect the money and weigh the mangoes as visitors exit. There is an extra charge for anything over 5 kilos. It can be a simple business with minimal headaches. The main responsibility for the management group is someone being on-site to collect money for the harvest. If it's a Filipino collecting, they will want to haggle over the price for mangoes. An American can politely explain that they are paying for the farm experience, not the mangoes. Should anyone need it, my email address is: americaninstitutes@gmail.com Aloha - JJR

[sjp52]

whats the house look like. Any pics

[JJReyes]

Sorry, I did not get a chance to take pictures of the house. I went to the Philippine last month after receiving word that my brother was terminally ill. It was my last opportunity to say goodbye. While at the farm, there were text messages requesting for prayers and asking family members to rush to the hospital since the doctors were expecting him to die within hours. All the pictures posted are from the farm gate to the mountain stream on the north boundary line. It is not your rich man's hacienda. The house is basic and rustic built on the side of a hill. On one side, my father planted coffee trees for his daily cup of joe. The farm caretakers informed me the coffee trees are gone. By the way, no electricity. The power company wants to charge a king's ransom to string a line from their pole located on the national highway. We have or had a generator. If not, they sell solar power panels in the Philippines. More eco-friendly. Aloha - JJR

[joeatmanila]

if i was retired and single sounds as a good plan. Put some nipa huts by the lagoon/waterfalls so filipinos can eat and a couple of nipa huts where they can sleep and enjoy a night or two of "living in a farm".In valencia buquidnon i seen a similar project, they had a huge land and by accidentaly removing some ground (while digging to make a tube nest so to keep their alcohol cold when they picnic there) they found a huge stream of water, they routed it through man made small swiming ponds and pools, some minmal lanbdscaping and there it became the tourist and locals attraction of the area, it is daily visited by approx 100 people, 80p entrance fee (no mango collecting there:) ) and there they go making their nice income.