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Buying a house with a mortgage

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Acordant
  4/15/2014 21:52 EST

I am planning on moving to Sagñay, Camarines Sur in July and I would like to buy a house near the beach. I will have about 1.2 million PHP when I get there. I would like to buy a 3 bedroom house, preferably one floor as I have COPD. I'm not sure if 1.2 million PHP is enough to buy/build the house.
I have heard that mortgages are rare in the Philippines but do exist. What kind of experience have you had with mortgages?

joncena
  4/15/2014 22:53 EST

there are a few loopholes you can try if you want to own a home. but its so cheap to rent, im not sure why anyone would feel the need to own. but legally, you cannot own land in the Philippines. you can own a condo, but not land.. so a home would be impossible unless you want to put it in your Filipina's wifes name (if you have one). I been here for 5 yrs and I love the freedom that renting gives me. I pay 11k pesos per month for a fully furnished single family home in a gated community. you can find many homes on the beach for 25k per month. my suggestion would be to rent for atleast a few years first. the medical care here is a complete joke if your not in st.lukes hospital in manila. whatever your decision, take your time in anything you do here

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Acordant
  4/15/2014 23:02 EST

I have heard good things about Mother Seton hospital in Naga, which is less than an hour away from Sagnay
I will be marrying a beautiful wonderful caring woman and the house will be in her name. My major reason for buying a house is to give her and our small children some security. If something happens to me, I would like her and our family to have a place to live.
I will take your advice on renting into consideration.
Thank you for your reply.

joncena
  4/15/2014 23:15 EST

if your intent on buying a home.. hopefully your wife is a pag-ibig member.. if not, a bigger downpayment is required.. or even better, you can pay cash. just know that everything here is negotiable, so a home that's listed for 1.5m can be had for 1.2m or less. just be sure to thoroughly investigate the title because theres a lot of problems here with title companies that will give you a clear title, come to find out later that there is a lien on the property

creativeblox
  4/16/2014 02:48 EST

does your wife work? if so, her employer would be taking out taxes and she can make contributions towards her pagibig fund. from what i understand you can not qualify until you have contributed for a couple of years.

I am also renting and have no desire to buy but my wife keeps bringing it up. Im 50 now and a loan for 30 years just doesnt sound that appealing.

joncena
  4/16/2014 03:12 EST

I agree with you creative. we are both the same age. I wonder if there is a pre-payment penalty here. a lot of mortgages are under 10k per month.. I wonder if its possible to double up on the payments without getting penalized

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BillLeland
  4/16/2014 05:42 EST

You've more than enough for an American quality house that will laugh at the super typhoons. really. bILL

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