Real Estate Agents Cebu City

[OnMyWay]

45 minutes ago, Gator said:

Bottom line….the BIR’s assessed value may not always be accurate, but it still might be worth checking. You might be able to get the assessed value of some of the neighboring properties / houses as well (provided they are of similar size and condition) to use as a baseline. If anything you can see if the taxes have been paid and are current (strongly recommended to check that). 

Yes, and that is that great thing about the MLS (and related services) in the U.S.  Taxes and assessed value are readily available, as well as past selling prices, and should be reliable.  I look at past selling prices and taxes on services like Realtor.com, Zillow, etc.  The data seems to be centralized, at that may be at MLS.com.

[OnMyWay]

14 hours ago, MikeyD said:

Does anyone know of a good real estate agent/agency in the Cebu City area? 

In 2012 we visited Cebu to look at houses and met with a recommended agent.  We described in detail what we were looking for and the price range, which based on the internet listings, was reasonable.  She took us to 4-5 properties, and all were 50% bigger in size and price than we wanted.  "OK, take us back to the hotel".

In 2013, a recommended agent toured us around Subic Bay Freeport, mainly looking at rentals.  She was nice and no pressure.  We did not rent through her and remained friends.  Then she made a big sale and used the money to move to the U.S.  The reason I mention this is because the brand new house she sold for 16 mil pesos was the highest price we had seen back then.  It looked really nice.  It started falling apart in the first year.  It is now a cement shell and the current neighbor / owner has a lot of boats parked on the lot, while he pretends to work on the house.  Most of his large crew (he has some kind boat and imported car business) spend their time working on cars and boats, which is not supposed to be done in the neighborhood.  Money talks.

Most of the agents work like this.  The seller tells the agent how much they want to net from the sale.  Then the agent determines how much they want their commission to be, and they mark up the price they will display to buyers.  So an agent might be told the seller wants 10 mil, and the agent wants 2 mil, so the advertised price will be 12 mil.  Nice gig if you can pull it off.

If possible, I highly recommend a good property inspector be involved with you purchase.  Not sure if they exist here, but they must.  If they find nothing, fire him and find one who will be on your side only.

[MikeyD]

16 hours ago, Jollygoodfellow said:

Yes. I just asked my agent friend if he had houses and he does. He is a really nice guy that lives in my tower. So if you want I can connect you.

Jollygoodfellow,

Yes, that would be nice, my wife and I would be interested to talk to him about available houses for sale in the Cebu City area he is aware of.  I tried to message you directly but got a message about "You are only allowed to send 0 messages per day. Please try again later." so I thought I would just reply this way.  Maybe I'm too new to the forum to be allowed to message people directly or just didn't do it the right way.

[Jollygoodfellow]

14 minutes ago, MikeyD said:

Jollygoodfellow,

Yes, that would be nice, my wife and I would be interested to talk to him about available houses for sale in the Cebu City area he is aware of.  I tried to message you directly but got a message about "You are only allowed to send 0 messages per day. Please try again later." so I thought I would just reply this way.  Maybe I'm too new to the forum to be allowed to message people directly or just didn't do it the right way.

I will change your user group now so you can message 

ADDED. Done, you can PM

[Kingpin]

On 7/20/2023 at 8:26 AM, Gator said:

Wouldn’t the BIR have the tax assessed value? I don’t know if it’s public record or not.

Sales are not and never will be public, the best you can get is "zonal values" : https://www.bir.gov.ph/index.php/zonal-values.html

 

On 7/19/2023 at 7:31 PM, MikeyD said:

Any insights/experiences/suggestions are appreciated.

Rent, don't buy. In your city, decent guard-gated properties start at around a half million USD, partly because everyone knows this and there are so few of them available. Even worse than that, after you spend that half mil, you aren't even allowed to own it under the law. Rent, don't buy, rule #1 for expats.

 

[Lee]

Wasn't MS the poster who continually sucked up to the mods in the past ? That ship has sailed apparently.

Anyway, back on topic, IMO housing leads can often be found on FB market place for your local city.

Getting accurate info can be tough. If you get serious about a house try to meet the owner in person and hash out a deal on your own.

Look at all paperwork carefully. If you buy a house, taxes will have to be paid to BIR---who pays them is negotiable.

Expect to be lied to or at the very least misled.

Edited July 22, 2023 by Lee
added info

[Lee]

On 7/22/2023 at 11:18 AM, Jollygoodfellow said:

Tomorrow my new website should be finished where rentals will be listed and the agents are Filipinos.

At some point are you going to post the link to your new website?

[Jollygoodfellow]

21 hours ago, Lee said:

At some point are you going to post the link to your new website?

Probably not